New York Health & Racquet Club

Tiny place but it has all the necessary equipment you need to get a good workout. Some of the machines are old, but in good shape. It’s never too crowded when I go after work at around 6. The staff is awesome and the trainers seem very nice. Good gym for a reasonable price.

I been going to the gym for five years I worked near 21^st St. But I go to the gym very often from Monday to Friday. The women’s bathroom is always dirty. There’s one or two women in the ladies locker room sleep or in the massage room. They need new management. From Monday — Friday the same thing lazy female porter that are rude. That hang in the massage room all morning. I want to speak to the owner of this company.

I’ve been going to NY health and racquet for a while. It’s close to home and the staff is very accommodating and super friendly. I also train with Andre is is a phenomenal trainer is very he is very ambitious, knowledgable of all aspects of training as well as nutrition. He is very motivating and makes my workouts enjoyable. I have gotten compliments everyday since I have been training with him. I highly recommend him for a trainer.

This is one of the closest gym. I don’t mind the apartment feel compared to the ‘meat market’ like feel at Equinox. Never have an issue getting a machine or waiting for one.
Also, I train with Andre who is a great trainer. He is a good motivator, encouraging, and goal oriented. In two sessions I have felt so good and energetic after each training and not worry about not being lost in a gym

New York Health & Racquet Club is my favorite gym on the upper east side mostly because of the amazing people that work there. Abu, my personal trainer, really helped me turn my life around through his knowledge, skill, kindness and kick butt exercise routine. The rest of the staff — from top down — is pretty down to earth and honest. Even though it costs more than NYSC — it is worth it. The environment is calm (you never have to wait for a machine), it is clean, and there is free Wi-​Fi.

This is the closest gym to my apartment, which is why I go here. Honestly there has never been a time where I was unable to get a cardio machine and I go around 7:30pm (however there is only one stairmaster that is usually occupied by the same person for an hour, which is frustrating because its my favorite cardio machine). Like many others I wish there were more treadmills and stairmasters.
The weights are on the second floor and is usually not very busy at all. They have everything you need from a squat rack to a rowing machine. The machines are not the newest, but they are in great condition.

This place feels like you are in an apartment, and I’m pretty sure it is an apartment.
There is a very small cardio area, 2 studios, a spin class area, very small stretching area. The pool is a joke –more like a wade in the water or teach kids to swim pool.

This is a mini location, and is difficult to navigate when busy. It has all the equipment I need and gets the job done, but there is nothing luxurious, special, or very nice about this place.
Pros:
— clean locker rooms
— friendly front desk staff
— steam room in locker room
Cons:
— tiny locker room
— limited cardio equipment
— old treadmills
— the men’s locker room often smells like weed from the staff area (how healthy)
— odd layout upstairs in weight area
— the smallest pool — really, don’t even think about swimming laps seriously here; it’s two strokes and then wall
I can get a quick workout in on lunch, so I like it, but this is not my preferred location. It’s not comfortable.

I was a member of Equinox for many years when I decided to join New York Health and Raquet Club on York Avenue.
The club has improved in the recent weeks and I am very pleased to give it a great review. I think that the reason the club is so much better has something to do with the new manager, Danny Sokolowski… happy to have him on board, the place is run much better now and I can definitely recommend it.

I’m not sure why this gym has such a bad rep. This is a fair gym for the price point; I mean you’re not going to get the «lifestyle» as you would at Equinox, but if you’re looking for something to help with you health régime, it gets the job done. The lockers and bathrooms were clean, and the equipment are not too crowded.

NYHRC is a great middle-​of-​the-​road gym. I can’t speak about cost because my membership is subsidized through work, but I know it’s less expensive than NYSC and Equinox. The only real complaint is that this gym is not very large, open, or airy, but they’ve done the best with the space they have.
They have a variety of equipment and classes, the front desk staff is very friendly, and I’ve also done personal training here and had a great experience with Reggie. It can get a bit crowded, so you just need to learn when to go. There’s always someone walking around cleaning machines and locker rooms, and re-​racking weights.
I’d definitely recommend NYHRC if you’re looking for a nice, normal, clean gym without bells and whistles.

If you work at the hospital, live within a few blocks, and are budget-​conscious, this is your best bet for a gym. Prior to signing on for 6-​months, I looked high and low in the UES and midtown area near the hospital. The deciding factor was definitely the cost (roughly $ 75/​month for hospital employee) and being 2 blocks closer than NYSC… which in the winter/​snow is a big deal. NYHRC offers an adequate amount of standard equipment (treadmills, ellipticals, free weights), has plenty of groups/​classes, and employs knowledgeable personal trainers (and when you sign up, you get 1 free hr session). Although the pool in the basement is small, it exists, which is saying something. And the whirlpool is usually empty even during peak hours. All in all, it has everything you need to get your work-​out in.

I’d compare this to a Planet Fitness, but a lot smaller. My major gripes are the low ceilings in the weight room and the shortage of cardio machines. If you’re going to be using a kettlebell any doing and over-​the-​head maneuvers you have to do it in a different room for risk of putting a hole in the ceiling, unless of course you’re 5’4″. As for cardio, there are about 6 – 8 assorted stairmasters/​eliptical machines, and 9 treadmills. Basically, don’t expect to do any cardio between 5−8pm Sunday-​Wednesday.
What I like is that it’s fairly well-​maintained; there’s always someone on cleaning duty in the women’s locker room, and there’s almost always someone putting away weights and mats upstairs. They definitely have no shortage of equipment, as far as mats, balance balls, and weights. No kettlebells between 10 – 35 lbs, though…
I can’t speak to classes — not my thing, but there’s rarely a crowd in the weight room, which is great. At least, I’ve never had to wait while doing circuits.
I definitely would pass on doing training sessions — I can highly recommend my independent trainer, Amy Serfass, but unfortunately they don’t let outside trainers in here. The PTs here are always distratcted/​texting and pretty lacking in energy overall, save for 1 or 2 of the guys. The rest of the staff is not engaging either.

This place is horrible. No matter what special is going on, expect to pay an initiation fee + at least $ 100-​$ 110 per month.
Also, I have seen the GM be very rude to the girls at the front desk. At one point he made of the girls cry. I have since canceled my membership, and will never purchase any services from this company again.
There are plenty of other gyms in the city, some that are much more affordable than this dump. Also, the other gyms that are highly priced have management that are much nicer and respectful to their hardworking employees.

I’m not sure why this club has such a low rating! As clubs go in NYC, it is clean, has a pool and the staff are super friendly. Sure, its the Upper East Side neighborhood gym and they don’t have a lot of space, but for what they lack in space, they make up for in top-​of-​the-​line exercise equipment, lots of group classes, and a beautiful swimming/​sauna area. The trainers there are knowledgeable and friendly but will not hesitate to kick your butt. The membership is extremely affordable and the location is great for those who live on York.

When I first visited this location of nyhrc, I hated it. It’s small and the machines are just too close to each other for comfort. I couldn’t imagine taking a class here because of how small it is, but then I moved to the area and started going here for convenience. Turns out, the space for classes is way better than at the other locations even. The rooms are wide rather than long, so everyone fits and you can still see the instructor. The yoga rooms are pretty small, but somehow it works and they are very comfortable. The staff is excellent and everyone is very nice. It’s clean and organized and yes, while it is small, it is also convenient and they had to use the space how they could. I like most of the nyhrc locations, but now I like this one too.

Buyer Beware! This gym runs a very dishonest scheme.
I was a month-​to-​month client and had to go out of the country for work. I cancelled my membership online, in what looked like a fairly straightforward process. A year later, and they are claiming that I owe them 5+ months of membership, despite the fact that I clearly signed up for a month-​to-​month contract and even told them that I was doing so because of the likelihood that I would be traveling abroad for several months. I even asked the salesperson (a woman named Sheila) how to cancel adn she lilted «just go online», which I did and even mailed in the printed confirmation. Yet, they have gone so far as to try and send a bogus collections agency after me.
A very dishonest, scheme indeed.
Avoid this company at all costs.

Pretty typical health club… It’s 3 levels with a small pool. Locker room and pool are located downstairs, cardio on the ground level, and weights are upstairs. Good equipment and friendly staff. They do a good job keeping the men’s locker room clean, too.
My biggest gripe is that the cardio equipment is packed tightly next to each other, especially the elliptical machines, which makes it difficult to get on/​off the machine if there are people on both machines next to you. Otherwise, I don’t think there is much else to complain about.

Terrible gym. I liken it to an over-​sized, bad hotel gym.
I belonged here for literally a day. I’ll admit that I should have inspected the facilities more closely before deciding to take the plung…pun intended. .. because I was too excited by the idea of having pool access.
The pool is not worth it, since all of the machines are super old and the benches look like decades-​old torture devices. All of the work-​out areas are small and it feels like you’re on top of everyone in the room. The cardio room is also like running in a sauna. .. it was so muggy and gross. .. I felt nasty.
I was also disappointed that the gym had like 10 TV channels available on the cardio machines. I like to watch YES (yankees games) while I run and they don’t subscribe to this basic cable channel. How does a gym (gym = sports/​athletics. .. hello???) not have a channel for their local sports team — every other gym in NYC has YES. .. strange.
Canceling my membership was super annoying, also. After only 1 day, I was forced to mail a certified letter and form saying that I was canceling and explaining why. I couldn’t believe that after 1 day I couldn’t cancel by simply stopping the charge on the card. The charge didn’t even go through at that point on my AMEX and I was considering just calling AMEX to have to stop the charge, but I figured I wouldn’t make a fuss, even though it was ridiculous to have to send a certified letter after such a short period of time had passed.
It’s a weird, outdated way of doing things, and they clearly only do this in the hope that you won’t actually remember or motivate yourself to mail the letter, therefore forfeiting the ability to cancel within the 30 days.
I’ve heard other NYRC’s are much nicer, but this one needs to step it up.

The club is small but cute. It doesn’t look updated but the location on York Avenue is the most convenient for me. The pool is fine. Just be aware that the pool is small. What bothered me is that the staff is extremely pushy to get a contract signed.
They didn’t even want to tell me the monthly rate. Way too pushy and unfriendly and too expensive for such a small club. I would consider Equinox on 74^th Street.