New York Sports Clubs

A solid NYSC. Good amount of machines — even during after-​work peak times I can find some free. The location right above Grand Central is super convenient.
One star off for weak air conditioning. When it’s in the 80s outside, the air conditioning should really be stronger in a gym. I was warm even before beginning my workout.

Well, the towels are still cocktail napkins made of sandpaper, you can’t properly control the shower temperature, and the fitness equipment is below average — at best — but they are now selling $ 8 juice by the front desk, which is nice — really shows they are in touch with what is important.

This location was really crowded when I went and the weight training area smelled like body odor. It was so bad that I had to leave. Yuck and these people have the nerve to charge you $ 70 a month and continually raise your rates. Im so glad I cancelled my membership and joined a normal gym

I’ve been coming to this location of NYSC for a couple of years. It is located within the mezzanine area of the Metlife building /​Grand Central Terminal. I find it to be one of the best NYSCs in the city. The entrance, locker rooms and cycling studio are all located downstairs. The men’s locker room is spacious with generously sized lockers. It can get a little grimy in there during peak hours, but a pretty good effort is made to keep it tidy.
The main workout facility is upstairs. It is a large, open space that is very well lit as opposed to many other NYSCs that are dark and gloomy. They very recently did some renovations to freshen up the floor, wall mirrors and painting in the facility as well.
There are moderate amount of benches, free weights, squat racks and cables. It can get crowded in this area during peak hours. The free weights are almost never racked correctly, if at all, which can be frustrating. There is a very good number for selectorized machines throughout the facility. The amount of cardio equipment is tremendous with several rows of threadmills, ellipticals, stationary bikes and treadmills. Each machine has its own TV which are usually in good working order.
There is also a large workout studio, a turf area, some stretching mats and a private physical therapy office within the upstairs space.
Beware that the maintenance staff here will quite literally attempt to vacuum or mop under your feet or face as you workout. I appreciate the effort to keep things clean, but this can get quite annoying. Besides this, the staff is generally friendly and helpful though.
This used to be a ²⁴⁄₇ facility, but the hours were adjusted. They remain generous on the weekdays, but close a bit in the early side on the weekends.
Lastly, it’s not unusual for the gym to be low on or completely out of towels, which can be frustrating as well.

I’ve been a NY Sports member since 1987. Better than most NYS Clubs but the sauna has been out of order for weeks/​months now. I’m paying more than most (passport membership) and even with my teachers discount twice what new members pay.
FYI front desk staff– I love you guys!!!

First, let me say that the front desk staff, the fitness manager, the administrative manager, and the trainers at this gym have all been, without question, superb. So why the low review? Well, like the review before me, dealing with the back office is soul draining, and an exercise in complete frustration. The gym was being renovated for a month. Members got very little notice, but in view of the renovation, which we were told would be dusty, dirty, and would involve noxious chemicals, I called to put my membership on hold, as well as cancel my personal training for the month. I spoke to someone, who seemed to have it all under control. She told me «because you’re doing this after the billing cycle begins, we WILL be billing you for this month, but you’ll get everything back next month.» All well and good, I was fine with that.
You guessed it. It didn’t happen. AND… I got charged two «freeze fees.» One for the membership in the gym, and one for the personal training. I called, and spent 45 minutes on the phone, NOT getting it resolved. One representative (and I DO have names), yelled at me «NEXT TIME, READ YOUR CONTRACT BEFORE YOU CONTACT US.» Excuse me? I asked to speak to a manager, gave all of my numbers. First, I was told «it’s first come first served, you’ll get called when one is available.» That was three days ago. I called back, and I got yelled at again, by someone who didn’t understand that «NO, I do NOT want to cancel my sessions, I want the refund you promised me.» Her response «then why are you calling us, we don’t deal with that. Deal with your branch.» Again, I asked to speak to a manager or supervisor (and again, i have names). I was promised a return call «tomorrow morning by ten, no later.» That was 2 days ago. I STILL don’t have a refund, I STILL don’t have a phone call, and I’m angry as can be. I also emailed, and got no response. So, just be warned: you’d better have some friends at the branch who know what they’re doing, because if you act like a professional, and try to get things done through normal channels, it will NOT happen

The gym itself it decent — and I would have stayed a member had it not been for the consistently horrible back office that can’t seem to get their act together. When you sign up they offer the ability to put the account on vacation suspension — something I tried to do with little success. I had written confirmation from the site manager, yet they still billed me the full amount — and then for the next two months their collections group keeps calling daily saying I owe an additional charge for the suspension request in addition to the full charge! Even the site manager hasn’t been able to get the back office to fix this for weeks. Back office is miserable. Gym itself is fine.

I joined the gym and was so excited about it because I could go before work. However, I canceled my PTM contract within 24 hours and still have not been issued a refund of $ 316. IT HAS BEEN FOUR WEEKS. And I’ve called numerous times and the managers tell me something different every time.
DO NOT JOIN IF YOU THINK YOU MIGHT CANCEL BECAUSE YOU DO NOT GET YOUR MONEY BACK.

Really disappointed with New York Sports Club and this location in general. I’ve been a member of NYSC for over 10 years and for the last 4 months have spent hundreds of dollars per month on top of my normal membership on a personal training membership. I asked to freeze the rolling personal training membership as I will be away for part of the holidays and won’t do enough training sessions to make it worth it, and they told me if I do that I have to also freeze my normal membership. Seems weird that they won’t take more money from me for a full monthly membership and are requiring me to freeze.
Secondly, they are now telling me if I want to cancel my training membership, I need to give 30 days notice otherwise they charge me for a full month. They had never mentioned this when I signed up, and they are basically now threatening to steal my money if I cancel the membership.
I’ve tried to deal with the employees at the counter, their managers, and other higher ups I’ve been directed to, but nobody gets returns my calls.
Terribly run company. While the gym is «cheap» relative to some others, I absolutely hate giving them my business if after 10 years this is how they treat me as a client.

I used to frequent this NYSC location when I worked near Grand Central. My review only covers lunch time (12−2pm) timeframes.
Pros:
— Could almost always get on a Concept2 rower
— Could always find room to stretch
— Dry sauna is among the hotter of the NYSC’s I’ve been to
Cons:
— This location is dirtier than most
— Men’s locker rooms were consistently and constantly crowded
— Showers were disgusting, despite seeing the cleaning crew on a regular basis
— Clientele were sloppy and dirty (making the clean up crew’s jobs even harder)
— Equipment was always very crowded (could not get on weight lifting equipment without working in or waiting)
— Treadmills are in need of an upgrade

I can get in and get out doing the stuff I want to do so satisfied. Class selection is fine. Machines work so not sure what complaints are about. Though I did speak to the manager at one location who said they choose not respond to complaints on Unilocal because some of those are disgruntled and the troll nature of Unilocal.They try to quietly resolve or address them. I still believe they should address each complaint or tepid review.

Super crowded. Don’t expect the patrons to be friendly either; they think they own the equipment and will be hostile to you if they think you’re «taking» their bike (at spin class). I hate coming to this location but it’s sometimes too convenient to not.

I’ve been a member for about a week and I like the facility so far. I do wish they had wifi so I could watch shows on my ipad. Other than that, everything is pretty good: clean locker rooms, equipment is always available, people are friendly, etc.
As far as classes go, I’ve taken pilates and vinyassa yoga. Pilates was good but not a huge challenge. I’m giving this a 3 instead of higher because I took a yoga class today and was left with mixed emotions about the class. Thembi was the teacher, and at the beginning of class she asked if anyone had areas to focus on. One girl mentioned her hamstrings and she condescendingly replied «you can’t really avoid your hamstrings in yoga» and then proceeded to be kind of rude to the girl throughout class. She also grunted and rolled her eyes when she had to demonstrate the first move of class. I’ve been to lots of Vinyassa classes and I normally can keep up with the flow. She whipped out new moves, which I always welcome, but she can’t expect everyone to know what to do when she rattles off unfamiliar terms and then awkwardly call people out for doing them wrong. She seems like a nice person, but I don’t think her teaching style is what I’m looking for when I want to do yoga. Not too relaxing.

This is one of my favorite NYSC locations – as many people already know, you don’t get anything fancy at NYSC, but for me, my workout is more important than being able to steal kiehls products and use scented towels (Equinox). This location is smaller than some, but has all the necessary items, and I’ve never had to wait for a treadmill (I go after work around 5:15 during the week). Also, if you get the chance, go to Pilates Mat on Tuesday’s with Rita. She is amazing!

I went to this one today and it was great. Mind you, it was a Saturday, in August, at about 4pm so I am sure it is more busy during the week. But what I love is that it is put together pretty well, everything is on the same floor. They have a big UXF area with sleds and the rope thing, lots of kettlebells. Tons of cardio machines, treadmills, with tvs that work. Most important, TWO, count it, TWO free standing squat racks. Major bonus points in my book. Tons of weights and everything a NYSC should have well it does.
Locker was a bit messy, but that isn’t the staff’s fault. I saw the guy going around and picking towels off the floor. Really burns me that in this nice part of town, the clientele is so ignorant as to toss things on the floor. I feel they do their best to keep it clean, which is more than I can say for other NYSC’s.

Coming from LifeTime Fitness in KC which is HUGE, (basically the Equinox of KC, but not nearly as douche-​y) I knew I wasn’t going to expect anything extra fancy during my search for a new gym in the city. I know what you’re thinkin. «Well, you’re definitely not in Kansas anymore!» — you don’t have to tell me twice.
Anyway, I decided to join NYSC mainly because there are so many locations, especially surrounding my office that I can go to. The Grand Central location (in addition to the Union Square location) is one of the larger clubs that you’ll find in Manhattan, which is nice especially coming from a state where space comes in abundance. They have a cleaning person on-​site in the locker rooms and the gym itself is fairly clean. There’s a good amount of machines and the weight lifting area is OK, kind of small but it gets the job done.
Overall, it’s not a bad gym — the staff is nice and trainers are respectful of your space in the workout area.

I must say that I enjoy the gym, the staff and the equipment but what I don’t enjoy is the fact that my cell phone was stolen right out of my locker today between 1:30 pm and 2:30 pm and I had a combo lock on it. When I got back to the locker room, my lock was open and my cell phone was gone. Another member’s lock was completely gone and his cell had been taken as well. Since they do not have cameras in the locker room, there is no safe place for belongings and when I filed a police report at the 14^th precinct they told me that 50 larcenies on average happen at this gym every month.
For the future, please install cameras so that we can see who is ripping us off! I will try to find out who did this myself in the meantime.

Before NYSC did away with them completely, this Grand Central location was the last of the 24 hour clubs. So much for getting your late night owl sweat on. NYSC GC is now kaput at 11pm during business days and till 8pm on the weekends.
Considering it is Grand Central, one might expect the gym to be a gargantuan version to match the epicness of the host venue. Sadly, there is one spacious floor of equipment, which includes all of the regular fixins of a typical NYSC: decent cardio machines and a whole slew of machines for resistance (love the rope climbing machine!). The floor is clean and even the water fountains have a little bounce to them.
Not a huge fan of the service. I’ve seen a lot of overflowing towel bins and issues in the locker rooms that could use (sometimes, immediate) assistance. I do my part and try to them know, but they’re not always quick about it. I do miss the late night shift — despite being slow, at least it was easier to get their attention. In terms of crowds, it’s always pretty crowded here, especially during the early evening and morning rush. That just simply comes with the territory in this part of town.

I haven’t set foot in an NYSC in about two years since I cancelled my membership and joined my corporate gym. Sadly, that gym met my needs less and less over time and I decided that I needed a change. Thanks to a handy dandy corporate discount I was able to join up again and to kick off this event I decided to begin visiting various NYSC’s that I used to haunt and others I had never been to.
My first was the Grand Central gym, which I had good memories of. In general, this NYSC is packed whenever I’ve gone (lunch time, mornings, after work etc.) but isn’t that almost every gym?
Anyhow, the layout of this place and indeed most of the equipment is still the same equipment that I saw two years ago. This isn’t really a bad thing. I mean, how often do you need to swap out dumbbells or benches? What’s important is that after two years, the equipment and the facilities were still well maintained. No busted up seats with tears. No icky mats. No weights long past their prime. Everything was in tip top shape so far as I could tell.
Crowded as it was, I have to admit everyone was as courteous as one would expect. I mean, sure there was the requisite screaming, grunting and tossing down of weights (really, I’m not sure anyone is impressed by this guys). But when I was trying to get around people or get to equipment, many different people were good enough to ask if they needed to step aside. Quite a surprise.
My happiest find were the new treadmill machines that had not been there previously. These new fangled machines don’t just rely on buttons on the front console to increase speed and incline, oh no, they use stick shifts on the left and right for incline and speed respectively. I have to confess that there was something kind of fun about pretending to shift a car when I was actually doing the running!
The shower and locker facilities have been upkept, and I’m pretty sure some of the lockers have actually been replaced since my last visit.
Overall, I’m happy I have a good gym location near my job and look forward to many productive workouts here!

This is a small gym by NYSC standards. But its location really can’t be beat — right in Grand Central. I have to admit it’s a bit hard to find. You have to go up the escalators on the north side of the main terminal and keep left past the Bank of America.
The first floor is taken up by the locker rooms and the cycling studio. The locker room is spacious and has plenty of clean showers and lockers. I’ve never been in the cycling room, so I can’t speak to that.
The upstairs is where the weights and the cardio equipment is. There are a dozen or so weight machines, about 30 treadmills, and 20 or so ellipticals and stationary bikes. If you’re looking to do a lot of weight work, this is probably not the best place to go. But there are plenty of cardio equipment to keep you busy. A warning though — if you come right after work between 5−6pm, there’s a chance you’ll have to wait for a treadmill.