No squat rack? Easiest one-star I've ever given.

The only reason I am able to give this facility two stars is 1. Modestly priced for all it comes with and 2. It is close to my work. However, anyone that has been to a quality weight room/gym will be extremely disappointed with the weight room as well as the restrictive rules of the free weight section. The place is a zoo anytime after 5 PM and when you do get your hands on the weights you need, dear God, whatever you do, dont drop them THE LEAST bit aggressive or you will be swarmed by staff condemning you. I am not one to grunt or clang weights, but when you are looking to gain strength, you need to lift heavy weights! This is not okay by YMCA standards and if you cant control the weights with a controlled, delicate handling throughout, its too heavy for you! I also understand being careful with the weights preserves the longevity of them, but if I am deadlifting and you have to tell me I am going down too hard with the weights and to be mindful of the offices beneath, thats a major design flaw. Wouldnt recommend this place to anyone who is serious about lifting. read more

My review is mostly from the point of view of the fitness classes so keep in mind I haven't had much experience with other aspects of this Y. The facility is quite nice and the pool is great. The memberships are more expensive, though, perhaps to pay for the nice facility. :) It's downtown, so parking can be a pain, but it depends when you go. The staff is nice and mostly friendly (mostly college students it seems), although they often don't seem to know what's going on, especially with fitness classes. I've been pretty impressed by most of the fitnesses instructors they have--this was better than I expected. The communication about fitness classes is poor, overall, though...not just to students but I've seen poor communication from the Y to teachers as well...not telling them when the Y is closed for construction, when there's break in classes, etc. So then teachers don't know either, and the Y often doesn't communicate with people by email about class cancellations, etc. Class updates don't appear to be part of the standard text updates either..I can't figure what those are for...it seems like they only update about the pool and the bathroom. In addition, the web site (which is clunky overall) isn't always accurate for which classes are actually happening and which ones aren't, so you really have to call the front desk and sometimes they don't even know. They really don't seem to have much of a system checking people into classes, either--sometimes they check your punch card or online registration, sometimes they don't. You have to pay a lot extra in top of a membership for most of the fitness classes at this Y (maybe that's true of others Y's as well) so it's pretty frustrating to have to deal with the communication issues and mis-management of these when you're paying so much for them. It's nice they offer the free classes during the mini-sessions, though, and I have been pretty impressed by the variety of their class offerings. read more

I am remaining neutral on this business - it used to be that the Y was interested in the community and cared about patrons. Now, they seem rather indifferent. read more

I second Sue D's review! She sums this awesome gym up to a T.

This YMCA is really nice inside - clean, open, and bright. There's plenty of machines, nice big rooms for classes, the pool looks nice (I don't swim, so I've never used it, but it looks nice) and the locker rooms are relatively clean. Cons: 1. The joining fee - you have to pay this again even if you are re-joining after a period away. I was a member for 3 months, moved away temporarily and moved back 4 months later, and I had to pay $60 again. 2. Time limits on cardio machines. I understand this in theory, but the whiteboard is disorganized and impossible to read, and people just write their initials on random slots anyway. I don't appreciate being kicked off a treadmill in the middle of my workout, and people just sign up and don't show anyway. 3. The staff are rude. There was one super nice guy at the front desk who remembered my name and greeted me every morning with a smile, but generally it looked like a bunch of highschool kids hanging out behind the front desk. 4. The parking situation is atrocious. The machine to pay your parking ticket broke about 5 times and I had to wait 10 min whenever this happened until someone could be bothered to fix it, which they did with an attitude. I feel like they should just let you out of your 2 dollar parking ticket for the inconvenience of being delayed 10-15 min on a weekday morning at 8am when you're trying to get out the door to go to work. Another time, my ticket got eaten and when I pressed the help button, I was given some serious attitude about it. Sorry but I didn't go out of my way to escape a 1.50 ticket. Your machine sucks, let me out. Third, it is RIDICULOUS that they charge for parking. Ridiculous. You have to pay a $10 fee to get a swipe card, and then $1.00-$2.00 every time you go. This is insane. 5. The classes are too easy. They are fun for a change, but there is nothing challenging about them, and considering you have to pay for most of them, it's disappointing. All in all, the YMCA is a great gym is you a) aren't concerned about price/fees//rules b) live downtown and can walk c) aren't training for a race and don't need the treadmills and d) aren't concerned with wanting a ton of challenging fitness classes. read more

Our family has had a membership at the Y since 1996, when our oldest children was two. Thus we had experience at the old YMCA and the new one. Though the facilities at the old Y were very limited, staff were always welcoming and warm, went out of their way to be helpful, and fellow members were for the most part friendly and accepting. We have had a very different experience at the new Y. Staff for the most part are remote and impersonal. If one has young children it is easy to connect with other families, but now that our children are older and rarely come with us, we have found most other members to be "cliquish", remote, and often judgmental of those who are less fit or who have less financial resources as evidenced by their lack of the latest workout clothing. Unless one is part of their circle, most patrons do not even acknowledge those they do not know. I talked with staff about it, and staff who had worked at the old Y acknowledged the change and said that it was the result of the increase in membership and the change in the population of patrons. They did not feel that it was possible to re-establish the welcoming, warm atmosphere that had been characteristic of the old Y. Once children turn 18, even if they are still in school and living at home, they can no longer be carried on a family membership and need to purchase their own membership. It seems to me that graduation from high school might be a better criterion for family membership. Parking is very hard to find, and this makes access to the facility difficult, except early Sat and Sun AMs. For these reasons, we are giving up our membership of 18 years and will look for a gym that is truly welcoming and accepting of ALL members. read more

Honestly, for $28 a month, I don't know why this place doesn't have five stars from more reviews. I've been to a couple gyms, all more expensive, and none of them were this nice. Tons of new equipment, lots of staff members who are always around to help with questions, clean showers, big pool, nice classrooms, etc. I've never had to wait for anything, the class I'm enrolled in is fun... and I can walk here in under ten minutes! My dream gym. read more

Love the Y. It's always very clean and the employees are super nice. The equipment is brand new and easy to use. The place is usually packed @ 5-6pm during weekdays and you may need to wait to use a machine. read more

The staff was courteous, and hours flexible enough that I was able to swim whenever I wanted to. I love the things in the locker room that spin your bathing suit almost dry; I wish there was one at my YMCA! read more

I love the Y because it is so community oriented. The have so many programs for families, and tons of classes in addition to tons of equipment, a sauna, and 2 pools. The only thing I don't really like is the smell of the men's locker room. read more

One thing that I didn't see mentioned is that the family membership can be any 4 people living together, which is great from students. The scholarship process is really very easy and not invasive. My complaint is that there is a gap in things to do for tweens. The child care is really for 1st and 2nd graders. They've made some improvements in age appropriateness for those mid-kid years but mostly they have board books and dress-up centers. The "teen" center starts with about 5th grade and goes to about 13-14 since after that most kids could go home and let themselves in, and includes some 4th graders. I would like to see more active stuff going on in there. i think they just got a wii though. When child care is closed (evenings and weekends), kids can swim in the pool or go to the gym unattended but they can't use any equipment or the track until 14, which means, what are they going to do while you work out? They're unlikely to get invited into any pick-up game in the gym so even if they are up there they get kicked off a net by adults and the pool is fine but gets old after awhile. It would be nice if they had a 10-14 room with a wii and maybe yoga videos on tv for kids or is there equipment that is age appropriate to kids? Otherwise the Y is great. read more

Newer to the Ann Arbor area and love this YMCA. Super friendly and helpful staff. I workout in the mornings and the gym, pool and locker areas are always clean. Very convenient location and hours. Great diversity. read more

The people who take care of the kids are great. The gym is nice. The lessons, for the most part, are great, but the swim lessons are so crazy that I have to warn people. The kids that work there are great. So until recently, my kid was in lessons there, a nice kid taught them how to swim and how to use a kickboard and swimming basics. My kid struggles to float on his back so he needed to repeat. Cool. So I put him into the class again, this time all the kids had to wait on the side of the pool to hop in the pool for a chance to float for a minute. No swimming, no kickboards, nothing that will help save them from drowning, just how to float, which is great but you know learning how to get to the edge of a pool would be sweet too. They wanted him to do it again and I had to peace, leaving I noticed level three was filled with kids way too old be swimming as poorly as they were. I hate to pay for goldfish but man, paying money for my kid to stand on the side of a pool for 30 minutes and float for 10 minutes is insane and counter-productive in getting a kid to love the water. I do have experience with swimming, and I have never seen such ineffective instruction. read more

I love to swim in my spare time, and as a single professional rarely finds time for more than 1-2 hours a week to swim. I called the Y, their fee is 100 dollar initiation plus about 70 dollar a month!! That is A LOT of money in a recession time, and they will NOT allow individual session without membership. I have been to the pool several times as guest of members, it is HEAVILY chlorinated- guess the staff have not read the latest medical reports on EXACERBATION OF REACTIVE AIRWAY DISEASE (I.E. ASTHMA) WITH POOL CHLORINE. Frankly I find this type of Gym elitist and culturally and social-economically INCOMPETENT. read more

The price is great but after work it's so crowded! There are time limits for the machines and you have to sign up and hope someone doesn't erase your name, parking is horrible and the staff can be so rude read more

I am from out of town, visiting Ann Arbor for a coaching clinic. Came to YMCA asking to buy a day pass. Wouldn't allow that, all I wanted was a quick workout after walking there from UM Campus, but they wouldn't allow it. Small request, would have been in and out in an hour, best they did was suggest another gym a mile away. Terrible service. read more

Highly recommended for: swimmers; families; users of cardio machines; short-distance runners; people who like yoga and other types of classes. Most of the very low ratings I see here are from serious free weight people. For anyone else, I think this is an excellent facility. As a swimmer, I can attest that the pool is rarely crowded; most of the time there is only one other person in my lane. The Y offers an incredible program for those with pre-diabetes. The hours are great, the staff are friendly, the place is very clean. The warm family pool is a great feature for people with kids. Only reason I'm withholding one star is, in Canada, almost every Y has a hot tub. No hot tubs at most Ys in the U.S. including Ann Arbor. Sad face. read more

This YMCA is really nice. I wish they had some squat racks, but they seem to have everything else I would use. The facility is clean, they provide free towel service, the locker rooms and showers are adequate, and the prices for both membership and fitness classes are reasonable. Everything a gym should be. read more

I'm not very athletically inclined, and I really hate working out, but the Y is a great place to check out if you need a good gym. Full disclosure, my membership here didn't last very long, but that's due to my own laziness. The actual facilities are great. It's a pretty new place, so everything is nice and up-to-date, with nice equipment. They have tons of classes you can take, and it's a great place for families too, with lots of stuff for kids as well as adults. Most classes are discounted for members, but you don't have to be a member to take a class. It's a good central location. Parking is an issue sometimes, but there are meters all around, and if you go frequently you can buy a parking pass in their lot. Membership is very affordable, they have a cheap pass for teens under 18 so if you have a teenager that wants to go play basketball or work out, that's a great option. For families I believe it's about $60 a month. For individuals it's about $30, so a dollar a day I think is definitely worth it for these facilities. As people have said they do get busy here, so if you get a membership you should scope it out for the best times to go. read more

I have been going to the Ann Arbor YMCA since I was a child in the 90s. since organization lost one of its administrators mr. fitzsimmons who retired around the time of the last recession, this place has completely gone to utter trash. I was just in the men's sauna yesterday and the stove literally fell off the wall and spilled boiling hot water and rocks near an elderly mans feet. I inspected the sauna and it had been mounted on the wall with 2 inch steel screws. total incompetence! on top of that, most the staff on the weight floor spend their shifts commenting on the clothing apparel of the latest high school age girl to come into the workout area. they stand around and fold towels and talk about fighting. not a family friendly environment. the pool has horrific electrical lighting problems and the men's locker room has medieval drains, if you shower in there the drains back up all the time. also most of the staff spend their shifts on the phone or computer and when I mentioned to the life guard about the falling hot stove he barely got out of his chair to help. don't waste your time with this place. read more

Friendly, clean, great classes and equipment. Will make your day better every time you go there. Always a fantastic community feel. Makes living in Ann Arbor great. read more

Stopped in to use the bathroom and was told, "We don't have public bathrooms." Real nice, community based facility.

This YMCA is amazing. I've been to other Ys and this one is the nicest I've been to. The staff is great and helpful and actually have great service. I really enjoy the pools. They also have all the cardio and weights you need for someone like me to reach my fitness goals. I've been curious as how the personal trainers are, but from what I've seen they are very friendly and the clients always look like they are enjoying themselves. My one and only complaint or issue, is the lack of classes during the 2-5pm range, but I also have odd work times. Other than that, it's a great place for families and those that want a place to work on their fitness, not their bulging six packs. Thanks YMCA! read more

Having recently moved from Chicago, I was unsure as to whether I'd find something in the Ann Arbor area that compared with my previous gym. I usually make it 3-5 times per week and appreciate good weight equipment, cardio machines and challenging classes. I'm happy to say that the Y here has exceeded my expectations - reasonable prices, staff are friendly, equipment is in great shape, classes provide a variety of options. So grateful to have this facility and service just a few blocks away! read more