Somerville YMCA

Over a year later, am still a satisfied member even though I don’t come here as often as I used to, due to work reasons. Am happy to report that they did buy color coded bumper plates for the squat rack which makes deadlifting a lot easier, and these thicker plates are also less prone to slide if you happen to lean slightly to one side while squatting or deadlifting. They also added a free-​standing pullup and dip station in one corner of the mini-​track, which is slightly wobbly but is still nice to have during peak hours when the weight room can get a little crowded. Unfortunately there are still no plyo boxes.

Being that the gym I usually went to had moved, I decided to give this place a shot. For one, this is an extremely old building and it was sort of a trip being inside of it — it feels like a fallout bunker. I used this facility mainly for the Health Center, which is what they call the gym. The gym is essentially divided into two pieces. One side has a couple cardio machines like treadmills, ellipticals, and bikes with resistance machines scattered around them, and the other side is free weights and more resistance machines. The free weight area has a couple benches, a cable station, a smith machine, various resistance machines, and a squat rack. The barbells used for the squat rack & the bar are in ‘pound’ denominations but are color coded in a similar manner to Olympic weightlifting plates (red, blue, yellow, etc.). They’re also made from tough rubber (bumper plates) which makes deadlifting pretty smooth. There are dumbbells in the free weight area but they only go up to 80, which can be an encumbrance once you get stronger and more experienced with weight training. Both the freeweight area and the «cardio» area are pretty small — there’s not a whole lot of space to warm up, stretch, or work your core. The freeweight area could probably fit 5 – 7 people in it comfortably, but any more than that and it can feel pretty crowded.
The gym area (s) seems more geared towards hardcore-​type gym goers. I think if you’re expecting to be catered to with towels, squeaky clean facilities, and attentive staff, then this is definitely not the place for you — however it definitely has what you need to get the job done. Compared to other gyms in the area, the price point is definitely lower than the average. Also, you tend to avoid the typical knuckle-​head stereotypes that you frequently see at other gyms. The people that go to this gym seems pretty low key and come in to get some work done and head home, it’s pretty no frills. The gym sections, specifically the free weight area, are small but rich with character. There are newspaper cut-​outs of Somerville High athletes from the 80’s, old local-​yokel articles, and motivational quotes written on lose-​leaf sheets of paper. Outside of the freeweight area is a really old track with a heavy bag and random pulldown machine sitting in the corner — I presume for some sort of variety.
The locker rooms are extremely old and some of the lockers do not stay shut, so locking up your belongings while you work out can turn into a locker-​hunt for one that will actually stay closed (even with a lock on it). The showers are pretty basic, but work. Like everything else in the building, the shower area is really old so I’d recommend wearing flip flops, which you probably should be doing anyways.
Overall, it’s not a bad gym — not great, but not bad either. The free weight and cardio areas are separated by a couple stair cases and winding hallways, so it can be a little bit of a pain in the ass to go between each. If you’re looking for a less-​expensive alternative to the other gyms in the area, and respect yourself enough not to go to Planet Fitness, then the Health Center at the Somerville YMCA deserves a chance.

Not impressed by the staff, or the efforts to keep this place clean. Also, no air conditioning, which was decently uncomfortable. But it had character and is cheap. I still will not go there, even though it’s just a gym. It seemed gross.

This gym is old and awkward but it is, hands down, the most unique gym I have ever been to. I love that everything is out of date, but I still thought it was clean and well looked after, considering it’s age. It doesn’t feel shabby inside so much as antique. I love the labyrinthine climbs, narrow hallways, the giant fireplace in the women’s health center, the bizarre miniature gym and track. The pool in the basement is probably the most exotic – like something from a greek bathhouse. I am not a big gym person, I pretty much hate them actually, but something about this gym felt right to me. It’s not for people who like to lift up their shirts and stare at their abs in the mirror or those who want to pick up women. It is an unassuming, unpretentious place to quietly and privately enjoy a workout. It has all the basic equipment you need plus a sauna and steam room.
It’s like a Wes Anderson film in there!

Cons: Closed on Sundays, unprofessional staff (took a few months to receive an ID card), consistently broken treadmills, the entire facility is very much a labyrinth, and everything is generally very run down.
Pros: very low membership fees, flexible cancelation policy, close proximity to my house.
If you don’t mind old, limited, usually broken equipment, this is the place for you.

$ 32 per month to work out with the weights. They don’t have all the equipment as a regular gym but the location works for me and is much cheaper than the other gyms.

Swimming pool small and too much chemical in my eye and not friendly staff because they yelled at me he though I could hear no not totally I’m Deaf How I know? I saw his throat and mad. I’m disappointed because I like Somerville

i don’t need to be wow-​ed at a gym, but no. do not go here. i go to the charlestown Y and figured i’d try somerville. it’s dirty and old. if it was a free gym I still wouldn’t go.

Listen, I go here a lot, and it gets the job done. Three stars are given because the staff is really 5-​star terrific. The facilities, however, are about 1-​star terrific. Overall, the place is a hot mess — not for lack of effort on the part of the staff — it seems to be just terribly under funded.
If you’re here to cruise for dates, you’re at the wrong gym, dummy. It’s the Y (and not the one on 92^nd street). Here you will find a nice cross section of Somervillians of all ages, shapes, and sizes. This is a community gym.
There’s a crazy little indoor track over a tiny basketball court that appears to be from the 1920s (be careful on that track, it’s really tilted, ankles were injured), a teeny lap pool (nice and warm!) with four lanes, a free weight room and a cardio room with three treadmills among various other equipment. It could use more treadmills, but I’ve rarely had to wait.
I have a premium membership that provides a nice clean towel, and access to the women’s health club which has a sauna, a steam room, and a jacuzzi (this last of which I would not enter for any amount of money, but it’s nice to have the option).
If you’re just looking to work out, and not looking for a scene, you may have found your gym. If you’re a squeamish diva princess, move on, sweetheart, move on.

Went here and got a day pass to check it out. This gym is inexcusably filthy/​gross. I asked a staff member about the steam room, and she said herself she’d never use it because it was not clean.
I wanted to love this place, but it was foul.

apparently I’m the duke of the Somerville YMCA, to all you people who said I would never amount to anything, put that in your pipe and smoke it. This place is good if you just want to get your workout done in a no frills way.

I have been a member of the Somerville YMCA since October 2011. This is definitely not a gym with any frills, but for $ 30/​month it seems like a great deal. The staff are generally friendly and the hours are, for the most part, convenient (there have been a few times when I wished they were open later than 4pm on Sundays). The exercise room also has basic weight machines that are in relatively good condition — I’ve never felt the need to go to the other side of the building to use the weight room. I have also never used the pool or the gym area, so I cannot comment on those areas of this YMCA.
In the main exercise room, this YMCA currently has four elliptical machines, three treadmills, two exercise bikes, five stair masters, one rowing trainer machine, and one arc trainer. In the evenings during January and February it can get crowded and you may have to wait 10 – 20 minutes for a treadmill or an elliptical (or just work out on a different machine than you planned to), but it is rarely crowded other than these peak New Year’s Resolution times. I’ve never had a problem finding a machine on a weekday morning or on a weekend.
I would definitely recommend this YMCA to anyone looking to get/​stay in shape who doesn’t need the extra frills that (I assume) come with a more expensive gym. This place definitely gets the job done.

Unlike the Malden YMCA which is crawling with kids this YMCA isn’t crawling with kids but nowhere near as beautiful.
I joined this gym for the pool and because it’s closer and cheaper than Malden. But with that comes some sketchy characters. So if you can deal with that and the old equipment (that’s still pretty much works… I said pretty much). It’s worth thr thirty bucks.
And the best thing about this gym is Wednesday night Zumba.
Also why is the website from 1992 and every other YMCA around has a beautiful easy to use website?

Ok… First off i dislike gyms in general. I feel that you can exercise effectivly without a gym membership.
However, over the summer an injury forced me to get a gym membership.
First it was cheap 30.00 a month.
I mainly chose this gym because they have a pool, which has a reasonable schedule for adult laps. Also, 80% of the time i had a full lane to myself, and occasionally had to share a lane.
The staff is alright… if they are young they are friendly. If they are old they are disgruntle and slow to buzz you in.
If you are looking for eye candy this is not the place. It is mainly 40 – 60 year old people with a few sprinkles of younger women. I can honestly say in the 6 months i used the gym I did not see one women I would have asked out.
Now my biggest issues. I mainly had to use the exercise bike, which was had a broken pedal for 4 months. I mentioned it a number of times to the staff, but they didn’t seem to know what to do.
So, I have never had an issues with skin problems or anything, but after two months at the «Y» i got ring worm on my foot, which i can only assume is from a lack of cleanliness.
What can i say. The best thing is the pool. And everything else was below average.

I’ve been a member of 4 gyms, so I feel like I’ve experienced the gamut of what’s out there.
After moving to Somerville, I joined the Somerville Y for 3 reasons:
1.) It was cheaper than the Cambridge YMCA
2.) It was closer than the Cambridge YMCA
3.) It offered a few aerobics classes that interested me
Cost:
I pay $ 30 a month for my membership and an additional $ 60 for bootcamp classes (they would be about $ 120-​$ 150 without the Y membership).
Distance:
It’s about 2 miles from my house, so I can hop in my car and drive over after stopping at home for a snack after work. Also, there’s always plenty of parking.
Classes:
Bootcamp (8 pm — 9 pm, Tues and Thurs; 11:30 — 12:30 pm Sundays) — My first night of bootcamp I was slightly intimidated because I wasn’t sure what to expect. But our instructor, Mac, isn’t a drill sargeant by any means, and instead, is encouraging with lots of «You can do it» and «1 more minute, keep it up!» I don’t respond well to Jillian-​of-​the-​Biggest-​Loser types, so it’s great that there’s no in-​your-​face yelling and singling people out for not giving it their all. The women in the class range from early-​20s to mid-​50s and they’re half the reason I attend these classes. From the first day, they made me feel welcome and showed me the ropes, even encouraging me when I was exhausted. If I miss a class or two, they notice and call me on it, which promotes a group atmosphere and makes me feel like I’m letting my ladies down if I’m lazy and just skip the class.
Pilates — I had tried a pilates at-​home DVD several years ago and after getting myself twisted and falling into furniture, I was hesitant to try it again. But there are several great things about this class. First, the instructor Ramon, is very patient with pilates beginners, like myself. Due to the small class size (a few times it’s been just him and me, so I had one-​on-​one sessions), he can walk around and correct positions so you really feel the stretches and know you’re working the proper muscles. Second, this class is more than just pilates. It’s pilates and TRX, a suspension weight training program that uses straps and your own body weight to work out.
There are one or two nights a week that I’ll just use a treadmill and the weight machines, and those work just fine. As other Unilocalers have mentioned, it’s not high-​end, super new machines, but they get the job done and allow me to get in a good workout.
I feel good having a gym membership to the Y for altruistic reasons too. I like knowing I’m not just paying some corporate mogul to build a billion other faceless gyms. It feels good knowing I’m helping family and teen programs, as well as supporting a place for people to live.

I just moved here and have amembership to another Y so figured id check out this YMCA for free before I pay for a gym.
This ymca is not nearly as nice as the woburn (north suburban) or reading (burbank) ymcas I have gone to before. However the weight room has all the essentialls that you need. It has a basketball court, punching bag, a couple of nautlilis machines and a few cardio machines. The equipment is old and outdated, and there arent many ellipticals/​treadmills. However it seems this place never gets crowded and it has everything I need to workout. Only thing it could use is some mats for doing abs and stretching.

The rest of my review still stands — but this is in regards to the infant swim class — parent/​child class. Let me start with that I am a former lifeguard and swim instructor, and swim teach coach. However I was really looking forward to someone else leading and participating in a class — as it’s been over 10 years, not having to refresh my skills to teach.
Denise, a teacher of 20 years, was awesome. She interacted with each parent and child, blew bubbles, sang lots of songs, kept things very upbeat.
However, she was away for well over half of this session, which meant that a lifeguard who was an assistant, and then a 15 year old boy lifeguard, «taught» the class.
The rest of the sessions were TERRIBLE. They did not DO anything — no games, no songs*, no interaction with the child or the parent, no guidance! They stood in the pool. My friend and I spent half an hour each Saturday bouncing our child in the water, swishing them around, and hoping for some instruction. Oh and let me add, I signed up over the phone and was never given a schedule — same with my friend — so when a session was canceled we had dragged ourselves there for nothing. (this is prime nap time for the baby so this sucked even more!) The week I missed: my friend’s husband lead the class in song because no one was doing anything!
The songs bit — the very nice but horrible assistant lifeguard said the first session she covered «I hope you don’t mind I’m not a good singer» or something to that effect. So there were NO SONGS. Except (here comes the kicker) when she sang the «Clean up» song… perfectly. What a crock. This happened week after week.
When the 15 year old boy assistant assistant covered the class one week, I approached the usual female substitute and asked, is someone going to teach the class? She pointed to the boy and said he was teaching. He had his arms stretched out on the side of the pool and was observing or playing with the pool toys. (I was video’ing the class to capture my husband with the baby and yup, there the boy is in the video as I describe) I said, this is my husband’s first time in the pool with the baby and he doesn’t know what to do. Can someone give him some guidance? She wound up going in the pool, the boy left, and she still did nothing but at least she wasn’t hanging onto the side of the pool watching.
When a 30 minute class ends early and starts late, because the instructor isn’t in the pool, this is yet another crappy element of this class. (She was eating this time)
I called and spoke to the aquatics director and he seemed unaware of the situation. He said he was there last week (when I was the ONLY parent with baby) and that he saw her singing songs. I was like, what?! What songs were these? (Maybe it was another session?) Because other than the clean up song, there was nothing, and there never has been. I tried to suggest these are NOT bad kids who were «instructors», but that they have no idea what to do or how to interact or lead the class. I suggested that the nice young woman work with Denise to learn what to do in her absence. I expressed my feelings that there were originally MANY (20?) families in the class, and it ended with just me — this was a direct result of a subpar class. The director responded that Denise is coming back this weekend — when my session is OVER of course. There was no offer to take a class or two for free, though he did apologize and said he’d take my thoughts into consideration.
This was the biggest waste of money I have probably ever spent. As a member of the Y I could just take my baby to the open swim family time.
VERY DISAPPOINTING. Just because it’s a cheaper Y doesn’t mean that the (substitute) teachers should be able to do nothing. I would NEVER sign up for this class again.

This Y is a bit rough around the edges, but in this economy, who really gives a crap?
Going from Fitcorp to the YMCA is a transition I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to handle, but I’m realizing the Y has things that fitcorp does not, and I can honestly say, I love it. Despite its appearance and no-​frills atmosphere, you can pay $ 23.00 a month and enjoy a decent work-​out, play some b-​ball and finish off your visit with a quick swim in the pool. Also, they offer a «family» membership for something like 35.00 per month for 2 adults. If you have a partner or «roommate» that you could join with you can save yourself even MORE money by joining the Y.

After I made the ridiculous decision to sign up for a triathlon, I realized I needed a place to practice swimming. I traded in my beloved Gold’s Gym membership for one to my local Y. I miss Gold’s but the Y is sufficient for my needs. Here’s what you need to know about this location:
Membership Levels:
There are a variety of different membership levels at this particular Y. You pay based on what areas of the gym you want to use — the pool, the Nautilus Center, women’s section, etc. If you ask any members of the staff to explain them to you, you will get a different answer each time. It doesn’t really matter what you pick because none of the teenage boys who take your ID when you come in will ever pay attention to what section you decide to use.
Swimming Lessons:
For just over $ 30, I enrolled in an 8 week intermediate swimming class. My instructor, Philippe, was fantastic and spent a lot of time giving individual attention to each class member. Even now that my class is over, he will still observe me during lap swim and give me pointers.
Lap Swim:
The pool is tiny so only 6 people are allowed to swim laps at a time. This normally isn’t a problem but on a few occasions I have had to wait a short amount of time. Don’t bother going when there has been a lot of rain. Twice this summer I have gone only to find out that the pool is closed due to flooding. Also, don’t look down in the deep end unless you want to see massive hair balls floating under you.
Weight Room:
I have only been in the weight room once and I will not go back. The equipment is old and more suited towards hard core weightlifters. On the night I was there a boot camp class was being held in the basketball courts so the teenage boys who normally play basketball were hanging out in the weight room eating Doritos. I was uncomfortable enough trying to remove the massive amounts of weight left on the equipment. It didn’t help to have a group of 15 year olds munching on Cool Ranch chips following my every move.
Nautilus Center:
There’s not much to this area. There are a handful of your basic machines — treadmills, ellipticals and stair machines. I have never had a problem finding a machine and often have the room to myself, which can be a little creepy late at night.
AWAY Program:
This particular YMCA participates in the AWAY (Always Welcome at YMCAS) program. Basically, you can visit other AWAY Ys for free or at a discount. You have to check with the location you are visiting to see what restrictions they may have.
Overall, the Somerville YMCA is an acceptable place to work out. There are no frills but there also aren’t high monthly fees or long term contracts.

You know what? I’m ok with you, Mr. YMCA Somerville. I think it’s mostly because I am a female, as I’ve heard some nightmare stories of nekkid 50 year olds hanging out in the tub on the men’s side…
But I usually have the entire women’s area to myself, which is nice, because I mostly hate people.
The equipment is (duh) outdated a little, but it does the f-​in job, you know?
I don’t need high tech mahjiggers, overly dramatic yoga instructors, Evian in the water cooler (well, ok that would be nice). Just give me a damn elliptical and some weights and I’m fine!
40 bucks gives you access to everything. You can quit/​rejoin anytime.
It can be your dirty little secret.