Salem YMCA

I go here during the winter to use the pool for kayak practice. The women’s locker room is always clean on Sat evenings. Floors are mopped every few hours it seems.

This place is awesome. I just became a member here. My only complaint is that the fitness floor is small, especially the dumbbell and barbell section. The floor staff does a great job in keeping it clean and they are very accommodating. Would definitely recommend it if you live in the area. They can work with you on the price.

This is a classic (old) ymca. Has a single basketball court, typical (high chlorine) pool, room for dance, spin, and other classes, and a weight room w the typical cardio machines and an okay array of lifting equipment.
So the equipment looks like they either bought it new in the 70s and have replaced whatever’s broken over time — with different models (nothing matches) or a good garage sale.
They have 1 of most things — which is okay bc the lifting area is always about moderately full. Never that full.
The treadmills are always busy — especially around 5−6pm, you often have to wait.
Overall it’s fine. The nice thing is that you can use all the local Y’s, most of which are said to be pretty nice.

Almost as good as my old Vic Tanny’s.

I am giving the Salem Y 4 stars based on ymcas in general, not comparing them to other gyms. It is busy but like most gyms, you just need to tune of the «noise» and focus on you and your workout. I never have to wait for cardio machine or other equipment. And they have started to give the place a bit of a face lift. The main lobby was painted and looks good. I use the Salem Y because it is the closest gym to me, therefore my odds of going are greatly increased.
When I went for one of my three free personal training sessions I was in no way pressured to sign up for more! I found this amazing!
Other Pros
— They have a steam room which I enjoy using.
— They price is right.
— Helpful front desk staff

I used to belong to Healthworks in Porter Square, which was as expensive as it was luxurious. It also introduced me to the lovely idea of having a steam room and a sauna as a daily part of my workout routine (aka it spoiled me). Lo and behold, the Salem YMCA has both a steam room AND a sauna! And they are clean, functional, and a delightful way to end a work out.
Facilities: the facilities are well-​kept and clean. Pools, equipment, weights, sauna/​steamroom, showers. Plenty of availability during peak times of day (after work, weekends), which I didn’t expect from a gym in an urban area.
Staff: INCREDIBLY friendly! Nicole at the front desk is the sweetest, so helpful, and remembers everyone’s name as they walk in and out.
Value: I think the value is great. I pay $ 80/​mo for a 2-​person Salem-​only membership.

I moved to Salem in January and have been going to the YMCA on Sewell Street for the past month or so.
I chose the Y for a few reasons:
* Pool. I like swimming as one of my main forms of cardio and they are the only gym in walking distance of me to have a pool.
* Location — it’s a convenient location for me as I live on Lafayette Street and don’t have a car.
* The Spin class on Wednesdays at 7:!5 p.m. is really awesome.
Now, the cons which, unfortunately, far outweigh the plus-​es.
— It needs a facelift badly. Maybe now that they’ve done over the Leggs Hill Y they can start working on this one. Gross things float (or sink) to the bottom of the pool — no lie, I had a hairball that I thought was a jellfish float by me during my laps the other morning.
— the weight section is ALWAYS taken over by dudes that either don’t wipe off their stanky man sweat when they’re done with a machine, or gangs of guys that spot each other by basically spreading out amongs all the equipment. It’s just an intimidating atmosphere and it kind of sucks cause I’m too much of a wimp to weasel my way in.
–I once had this horrible bitchy instructor for a really shitty class.
— Price. I don’t pay full price but there’s no way I would if I had the choice.
With those things being said, they do have a decent variety of classes and I’ve never had a super long wait for any cardio I needed. If I was able to go the Marblehead/​Swampscot Y I would, but for now, this suffices.

So I moved to Salem in April, 2005. I cancelled my fitcorp membership because I was like in the upcoming late spring/​summer months I am going to do a lot of walking around Salem and then come fall/​winter I will join a gym. I figured the Y because it has a pool and equipment that I want/​need. Well that first winter came and went and long story short I didn’t join until December 27, 2007. Yeah I know about two years later then planned. I was good about walking in the nice weather but not so much in the cruddy months.
But that isn’t the point of this review. The rates are pretty decent here compared to some of the other limited facilities in town for what I want. I wanted a gym that I could work out at and not feel ilke I was at a meat market– so Golds and Bally’s were out of the question and Healthworks was just way to expensive, and none of them had a pool which was key as I love to swim. The cardio/​weight area could use an update. I feel that the Y is trying to cram alot of equipment in a small area. The pool is nice– I have only been in the big one to do laps a couple of mornings– havn’t made it to the small pool yet. I used the sauna once after a morning swim and that was nice= and they have a steam room as well. Overall, for $ 45 a month, its not bad for what you get. Two of the days that I work out are on saturday/​sunday. So there are a lot of kids there– especially on Saturday– which is to be expected with the Y. But when I go on weekdays I got at 5am when the first open and it is nice because it isn’t as noisy or busy. I have yet to «fight» over equipment. The only thing that I don’t like is that I have wanted to try a water aerobics class but they only offer that at night or during the day when I work, that and the facility could use a facelift. its all good though.