Cape Ann YMCA

I love the updated equipment, the place is clean, the staff is super friendly and I cant say enough great things about the babysitting room staff! They have helped my daughter so much!
Only downfall is the street parking and the limited fitness room space. I would love to see some TRX, arc trainers and barbells. The metered parking only allows you to stay for up to two hours :(

Alright, I freaking love this place. The membership fee for a family put me off of joining for a few years, although I did take a swim class with my baby and just paid more. But then I realized that if you are low-​income, you can get a pro-​rated membership, and also to make it cheaper you can limit your membership to that YMCA only. So now it’s about $ 56 a month, which is still expensive, but that’s a family membership — it means I can take 6am workout classes before school, swim with my kids during open swim, they can go to free playdates and the gymnasium room is open during school vacations (YES!), and best of all, they babysit while I work out — this is a huge savior for me since my husband works overnights, it gets us all out of the house and I can even get a shower in without worrying my kids are destroying the house. OR, my husband and I can have a cheap date by playing basketball without having to stop to chase a crawling baby. The babysitting is a huge help for me — as a full time student, it was really hard to get «me» time, but I can watch TV while I work out! The individual TVs on the eliptical machines are awesome. Cable and everything. The staff is really great and I’m amazed they always remember me and my kids. And it’s two blocks from my house, so I walk all the time. I was really on the fence about joining, but I’m so glad I did.

If you want to join a gym on a budget, this place is for you. Oh, you can’t afford it? Sure you can: the cost to join is based on how much money you earn. I paid less than $ 30 a month when I joined and it was very much worth it.
After I joined, I got a tour of the building. In addition to that, I also had someone teach me how to use the Nautilus machines properly. Because of that, I felt comfortable being there and didn’t worry about looking like some idiot kid who didn’t know what she was doing.
If I had a choice, I would work out before 2pm, because it was less crowded and the highschool kids were still in school. There were only five or so treadmills and it could be a pain to try to get one if it was busy. The upside is that there’s a sign-​up sheet: you’re limited to 30 minutes per cardio machine, so it gives everyone a chance to use what they want to use.
I never bothered to use the pool, but it’s there if you want to swim. Hours are limited, though. I meant to sign up for one of the free classes they have– yoga or something– but never did. I mostly spent my time on the treadmill, using the Nautilus machines, or in the basketball court. Even though I never fully took advantage of what a Y membership included, the monthly fee was worth it.
Minus one star for street parking only (I suck at parallel parking, so this was always a struggle for me) and the annoying preteens/​teens that were often around.