West Suburban YMCA

Everything is well-​maintained and clean. I don’t ever wait to use anything. The staff is quite friendly and available and helpful. Sometimes is really busy and have to wait for machines.

The spinning classes are just mediocre most due to the fact that they are only 40 minutes and 5 for stretching. It would be nice to have an hour class like other ymca.
I enjoy janes wednesday morning class at 6:15am because you really get a work out.
I would come more often if you made the morning classes at least 55 minutes and 5 minutes for cool down totaling 1 hour. If people have to leave early, let them leave early.

I wound up rejoining the Y after needing a gym with quality babysitting services. I’ve been very happy since rejoining about a year and a half ago. The equipment is nice, everything is clean, and my son loves the babysitting room. I’ve also been taking spinning classes and all of the instructors I’ve had so far are great, especially April and Jane.
The minuses (the reason the Y gets 4 stars instead of 5) –
— Parking sucks on weekday mornings, especially in the winter.
— The front desk people are, as a whole, not super friendly or knowledgeable about the happenings at the Y.
— Nobody returns phone calls or emails. I’ve called them numerous times to get info about classes, but I never hear back from anyone. This Y is not cheap, so I think this poor customer service is really bad.

Fantastic classes with a really awesome staff of instructors, a helpful and friendly staff, two thumbs up on a clean facility, just wish I could find a parking spot most mornings! Otherwise, no complaints. An extremely reasonable price for great work out equipment and such a nice team all around.

I love this place overall… they have a fantastic field and track and some great workout stuff. Love the charm of the old building and usually staff at front desk is pleasant.
I appreciate the amount of classes and things available and will probably use more when my daughter is a little older.
My only complaint… we have taken 3 sessions of the SKI children’s swim classes and the teacher for the first session was great, then she came back for the second 6 week session and was teaching another instructor and the other one was supposed to take over in the second class and she was terrible… and since that, we have had a mix match of people and some have no idea what to do and waste 5 – 10 minutes in the start of the class (and it is only 30 minutes)… they need to get together and figure that out.

high membership fee but low quality. the employee there are not friendly. You don’t want to put your kids there.

After moving to Newton nearly 4 yrs. ago, the West Suburban YMCA was the place where are kids made friends, we’re educated and has plenty of physical activities. The West Suburban YMCA is more than your average Y, it’s a place of strong community support and lots of laughter!
The staff is simply sweet. From the pre-​school, sports camps, marketing office to the front office team, you all are family to many.
Facilities are clean and modern along with not one but swimming pools! The classes are new and held at varies times of the day to fit your schedule.
We would highly recommend this Y to any family, college student, senior or teen!

The main reason to join this Y is the expansive lap swim hours they have (along with decent pool.) Front desk people are welcoming, and gym has everything you need and is rarely too crowded.
That being said, there does seem to be a worrying trend of poor management. They recently did a renovation and ended up with a poorly designed locker room, and no one bothered to check health code regulations, so you have a long, cold walk to the pool after taking a mandatory shower far away…
Still, 4 stars for the value of what you get and flexibility of lots of lap swim times.

There is no hot water in the showers especially family locker. If you complain they say «this is the way it it.»

My home away from home Y. Chose West Suburban over Oak Square, because, like the YMCA of Greater Westfield, it has that musty, old gym feel. Building itself is historic, some great pictures in the men’s locker room really shed light on the Y’s much different social role during the 1930’s and 1940’s.
Speaking of the men’s locker room, it has a nice, spacious steam room, shaving cream and aerosol deodorant for use on the sinks, plenty of towels, and a big TV room.
Pool is not that great, but the bball gym, cardio and free weights area are stellar. Not sure what to make of the staff — they can be alternatively friendly, acerbic, cold, etc. Ray, an older gentleman who works in the AM, is someone you want to avoid interacting with at all costs.
All in all, 4 stars.

We have had a family membership for years, we have donated and supported the West Suburban YMCA. Today the dirt in the pool and being told that I couldn’t hold on to the starting platforms because they are «rusted and we ar trying to preserve them» prompted me to make a review which allows me to vent my peeves.
I swim, 3 times a week, have been for years. I don’t use the weights (anymore) or the machines, or the courts, or the teen room, etc, etc. Never took a class. So, all that stuff is not the subject of this review. This review is about the nasty debris that is all over the bottom of the West Suburban YMCA pool, which stays there for ever, and about the weak, cool showers in locker room.
First, the pool. Many swimmers do not bother to shower and nobody seems to care, even though the signs say it is required by law. There are signs posted all over «you MUST shower before swimming!!» But you can ignore these, since everybody else does. The guards never seem to bother the many, many people who come in perfectly dry and jump straight into the pool.
Do you have achy bunions, sores, blisters, or maybe an infected toe? Hop right in to the West Suburban YMCA pool with your nasty pus-​stained bandaids on you gnarly toes, don’t worry, you won’t lose those valuable band-​aids! They might come off and drift down to the bottom to join all the other nasty mulch that’s down there, but you’ll be able to GET THEM BACK next time you swim, because NOBODY EVER cleans the pool! They’ll be there a few weeks. I swim often enough to see the same Ariel the Mermaid bandaids time after time, drifting lazily around. At least you can SEE the bottom, so we know a body won’t turn up in the West Suburban YMCA pool like one did in Fall River!!!
Once you are done paddling through the scum, bandaids, and other unidentified chum that lines the bottom of the pool, head back to the showers for a cool spritz! That’s right, a spritz, since these weak, cool things they installed when they re-​did the locker room do not qualify as «showers». Way too weak, and usually too cool. If you go around to check the temperature on several showers you might luck out and find one that is nearly warm enough, if you’re lucky.
There, I said it!

I will admit that my love of the West Suburban YMCA partially stems from the fact that I got my workouts in while on the job! This summer I worked at a camp where the YMCA was offered as a frequent community trip so I got to workout along with the kiddos. Score! This YMCA runs lots of youth programming during the summer months and welcomes children with developmental disabilities.
The West Suburban YMCA offers plenty of cardio machines with personal tvs, weights, 2 pools, an indoor AND outdoor track, a youth fitness center, a gym, a punching bag, snack machines, and even a washer and dryer! Do most facilites have a washer and dryer? Not sure. I was impressed though.
If you go to the West Suburban YMCA and plan on using the pool, make sure you wear a swim cap. They are pretty strict about this but you can purchase one from the front desk for $ 7.
The basement level of the YMCA is a bit of a labyrinth but follow the signs and you should be okay. I don’t like that you have to sign-​up to use some of the cardio machines but that is my only dislike. I wish the West Suburban YMCA was closer to my house because I would get a membership in a heartbeat.

The star rating is tough on this one. There are things about the gym that are worth 5 stars, and there are others that really merit no stars at all. So here’s my pro/​con assessment…
Pros:
–plenty of parking
–plenty of cardio and weight machines
–TVs on most cardio machines
–a big, clean pool
–great outdoor track
Cons:
–women’s locker room is pretty old and messy compared to comparably priced gyms
–pool not available for lap swimming in the hours when most people get out of work (5 p.m.-ish)
–membership staff were slow to respond to my questions and concerns
–front desk staff repeatedly guessed [incorrectly] at answers instead of making a quick phone call to get the right answer (a pet peeve of mine, admittedly!)
There are lots of things that don’t interest me in a gym (e.g. basketball leagues, fitness classes, climbing walls) that might make this Y worthwhile for some folks. For those that want an early evening swim workout, this Y won’t work. For those that just want consistent access to cardio machines, there are less expensive, equally reliable options in the area (e.g. Beacon Hill Athletic Club, Boston Sports Club, Workout World).

I really love this YMCA. It has a great cross section of diverse members – that’s a refreshing environment to be in when you live in Newton ! The people at the desk are warm and helpful, and the admin is very creative with their programs, etc. I love the new circuit equipment ! It’s the best ! My friend Michele teaches a spinning class there that is extremely popular. Great option for a gym membership – oh yeah, the two pools are excellent. Airy, and comfortable throughout. Great for families and every age.

Update: since writing my first review two days after the one fitnesss trainer who was constantly watching me has since stopped. To be quite honest I think one of the ymca upper staff. Read my review and has a chat with her. Which is fantastic. I’ve still decided to hold one star off though because of the weekend crowd. Keep in mind that I don’t usually go to the gym on the weekend. For those who do be careful at this place on the weekend. Kids galore are everywhere running around on the indoor track and even the weight fitness area. The thing is the staff doesn’t really do anything about it aside from put up signs for the kids who probably can barely read two days after the fact. Point being if you’re a weekend work outter this may not be the place for you. For me I rarely go on the weekends so it doesn’t bother me too much.

Oh where in life would I be were it not for the YMCA. I mean, there is even a song from the 70s about it and you will be sure to hear it at every wedding. This YMCA was renovated a few years ago. The renovations were pretty nice. The locker room is nice, the bathrooms and showers ample and clean. The parking lot is insane and crowded. The classes are nice, the spinning classes are great. However, the clientele is kind of annoying and I cancelled my membership because of this reason (and the prices went up like 20% in one year, which is not justifiable to me). I liked going to the YMCA because it felt like a community, but this Y now feels like every other generic gym. Fighting for a parking space, trying to find a 30 minute block to use the treadmill and not finding it during peak times. A lot of old dudes go there and take their sweet/​sweat time on the nautilus and sometimes «forget» to spray it down. The groups of teenage boys who are lifting free weights and chatting loudly with each other and on their cell phones between sets annoys this girl, who only wants the 5 lb weights for 3 minutes to work my tris and biceps. So, I quit this gym. Maybe someday I’ll be back, but I kind of hate the teenyboppers who hog the space in the free weight area, so I think I’ll stick with my new gym.