Berkeley YMCA Review

Great facility, friendly staff, welcoming & inclusive.

Great community center and gym. Separate women's workout area with cardio, weights, machines, and a stretching/meditation room.

I was out of country and I asked them to put my account on hold by email and they responded late after I got charged. They charged me for a whole month instead of the hold fees. They kept my account for a two month hold then recharged me again without my notice and my authorization. Worst service I have ever seen. They don t care for their costumers. Only care about money. Poor place I don t recommend it.

The place is abominable, especially do not go there and keep a little dignity! The place smells so strong and unpleasant that you will not sleep at night. The cleaning is very brief or almost nonexistent. The staff is absolutely not competent and that for any question. You need your key if you need to pee at night. I found roaches in my room and under my bed, an anti-rat. You will not be well at all. The lights are neon lights which gives you the impression of being in prison. My room overlooked a wall, the light did not pass. The worst "hotel" experience of my life.

Awesome location and facility! And the staff is great too! Very nice and responsive to all my questions and concerns. In my opinion it is very clear that everyone there cares very much about ALL of their clients!

Anyone looking for a club should definitely seriously consider coming here!

An open friendly place with great choice of classes and equipment...

I'm a big fun of YMCA, was a member in NYC, Boston and just purchased membership in Berkeley. Came this morning for second time. Stuff told me I'm not allowed use more then one towel ( btw their towels extremely small) otherwise I'll be charged from my account. Nobody warned me about anything when I was signed, I asked if exception can be made just this time, since I had no idea. The answer was no. Pay or leave.
For someone with disability and low income, every penny matters
So yeah, I have to leave :(

Before I even walked into this place I called them. They were so incredibly rude I was taken aback. THe person answering tried to dismiss me as fast as possible and offered no real explanation for my questions. Since this is the most convenient location for me I thought it may be worth a shot anyway. I was wrong. Just take the time to go elsewhere, you're worth more than this.

Full of super old men who stare the locker room is disturbing feels disgusting pretty sure I got a foot fungus can be poor drainage in the showers for men u have too pay for more then one towel because 60$ a month isent enough the staff seem a bit self centered and occupied the membership is not cheap and I m my opinion not worth it unless u like being divided in the workout areas so u never see women and the hot tub is something you should never use I m going too 24 hour elcerrito just opened one sadly I thought ymca was good but now I ve realized I never liked it I ll give it two stars for the new equipment

DIRTY! The equipment is great and it could be really nice, but there is nothing to wipe the machines down with, that I could find and the machines look like they have not been given a good wipe down in awhile. You see dust and grime everywhere. I feel so gross and not from sweating. It has all the makings to be a beautiful gym, but geezus, get the dust off the ceiling and clean your machines! Everyone is stressed about getting sick and it does not feel good to touch equipment that you can't easily clean.

Joined from Crunch SF ( good place too) . This Y and the one at Emberc'o have great facilities and very customer focused staff. Great pool, clean and bright.
Start my day at 5.30 am there and enjoying it

I have only been going for a little while but I love it. The whole family can get fit and they have tons of programs. The staff is super nice so nice it's almost weird. I guess I'm use to that cheesy gym experience but this place is really cool. The game room for the kids is nice and the pool is a bonus. As for work out equipment they have it all. This Y has free weights, machines weights, and tons of cardio equipment. An added bonus is they have a day care so the kids can get dropped off and parents can work out. That alone make this place rock

Keep it moving! Even if you have to go at it alone!

It's funny not until I read other reviews did I realize that this Y is a little different. The people were rude and tended to stare. It seemed they recognized I wasn't a regular. I also was yelled out for being on my phone. I was surprised that it was such a big deal especially since I didn't see a sign. Still a nice facility, amazing steam room!

Why is YMCA open when virus is all over ? I thought it s all about health

My kids take swimming lessons here. They last 30 minutes, which is perfect.

It's... alright. I sometimes walk in and love it but then there are other times where it seems like they cut the air off and the smell of everyone who worked out that day is just lingering and filling the atmosphere with dank and damp sweat.

I'm also not the biggest fan of the hours it's open on the weekends, but I'm a person who likes to work out at night so that might be a personal issue.

Overall it's a gym with decent equipment and a pretty low key and non judgmental atmosphere (other than that older guy in the weight room who seems to stare at people with daggers). Really not a bad place to work out but not outstanding either.

The YMCA is a mixed bag. I think many people pay their membership just to come doddle and complain about others because they are spiteful, jealous have a vendetta etc. People here are extremely opinionated and most are bad at working out which is why they make a lot of money on training. The fitness director quit because people here complain about every little thing every day(No cell phones, no video recording, no loudness, no talking etc) and the rules are arbitrarily enforced making it miserable and subjective for everyone, basically hell if it was a gym. Add the snotty nimby hippies, old creaky building and badly placed LED lighting and your in for what feels like a disorienting and threatening workout experience which is not for the faint of heart. It's mostly overcrowded and needs a massive rule and structural overhaul as well as new blood. This gym is cool because it has everyone from little kids to old people who don't know how to work out but also everyone from strongmen, people who deadlift 400lbs to people who do olympic weight lifting are here. Problem is keeping peace with all those groups is nauseating contentious if not impossible. It's also really annoying when a parent brings their 6 year old into a room with people deadlifting 400lbs and the first floor has only 3 single person bathrooms so it's impossible to get into one. Be weary, if you are serious about fitness (Athlete etc) you should consider another gym or prepare for a headache, else if you are an old person or have a family and will come around from time to time and dont mind lighting a match to 60-110$ a month this may be for you.
Overall the Berkeley attitudes and entitlement here are what make it the worst to workout at.

Great place, always clean, everyone friendly, love it!

I only come here to swim when I was pregnant w my first baby I attended the prenatal swim classes the water was perfect always warm & soothing I honestly felt like all that swimming helped my labor I m grateful that I was able to attend throughout my pregnancy and now my son whose turning 5 this year he s in love w the water he s like a little fish & enjoys swimming so much he never wants to get out

I've been a member since 1989. Raised 2 boys as single parent with the child watch,swim lessons, birthday parties at the y . Went from dance airobics to body sculpture to Pilates and yoga. All the while the y was my place of sanity. I love the kindness, community, my spin classes, the sauna . My place for all my stages, ages. Five stars, well lighted and clean.

All around awesome gym! I ve never belonged to a gym before but this one is perfect for its location, price (not cheap but definitely doable for a student if it ll motivate you to exercise), and services. The classes are great, especially cycling, and no matter what day or time you come to work out alone, it s never crowded. Everything is clean and neat, and it s a very calm, quiet, and friendly environment.

Please note my review is not about the whole YMCA, but about their yoga class. The other facilities of the Y are actually great, and I'm glad to be a member. But on to my review of yoga instructor Scotty M...

I took my first yoga class at the YMCA and was appalled. First off, the class itself was pretty mediocre for my level; I get that the class was noted as "all levels" but ultimately, it was below my skill level and I just didn't get much out of it. The instructor, Scotty, seemed to have no plan and had to pause for at least 30 seconds in between every pose while we all waited for him to come up with what to do next. Come savasana (corpse pose) at the end, I decided this class just wasn't for me and wanted to leave.

I get up as quietly as I can and put away my mat. I turn to tiptoe to the door, and Scotty says, "Please don't get up and leave." At this point I'm confused, since 5 people have already left and he didn't say anything to them, so I assumed this was an acceptable thing to do. Not wanting to disrupt the class any more, I continue tiptoeing to the door. He repeats, "I'm asking you not to leave," and I whisper, "I'm sorry, I need to be somewhere." He says, "Don't come back." Excuse me?

I have never been told to not come back somewhere. Literally every yoga class I have ever been to, people are allowed to come and go as they please. What if I have an emergency? Have to pee? Have an important phone call? Are we held hostage? Is the door locked? Are we not all adults here?

I completely understand that my leaving can be disruptive to the rest of the class. But I repeat, I made every effort to be as quiet as possible, and it would have taken me all of 5 seconds to get my things and be out the door. Instead, Scotty tried to make an example of me, after others had already left, and turn this into a completely rude and hostile interaction. If anyone was being disruptive here, it was him. The professional way to handle this was to let me leave quietly like an adult, but instead he seemed to have a big ego trip and got mad I didn't stay for his whole class.

Look. This isn't Esalen. This isn't an ashram in Rishikesh. IT'S THE YMCA. It's a free class in a metropolitan location that I try to fit into my busy schedule, and sometimes I'm going to have to leave earlier than I thought. But in this case, to put it bluntly, I wanted to leave because his class wasn't good; I gave the excuse that I "had to be somewhere" so as to not turn this ugly, but obviously that didn't do any good. At the end of the class, I realized this wasn't for me and I wasn't going to sit there for 20 more minutes doing nothing (every other yoga class I've ever taken only allotted about 5-10 minutes for corpse pose; 20 minutes is just ad nauseam in my opinion.)

I was so stung by his remark that I just slipped out of the room without saying anything back. I felt attacked. When you think of a yoga instructor, you think of someone happy, kind, accepting, understanding, positive, gentle, spreading good vibes. Not Scotty. He is rude, egotistical, and quite frankly a grouch. His class was not a welcoming environment. I will gladly not return.

I got a staph infection here in spite of wiping equipment down. It happened 3 times. The Y now has a lot of homeless who live on the street downtown to shower and hang out there. It s gotten to be a filthy place. Especially the wet areas.

I've been a member of this community from young woman to 64 years old, raising two boys as single parent. Using dance aerobics ( back then..) to family swim, child watch, childrens' birthday parties, to now, spin class., womens' fitness center, pools, the SAUNA, the Y has been my pillar for good health and community. Knowledgeable, friendly support, in a cheerful environment make me come back again and again. A healthy place for every age!

The pool is always full. Don't sign up unless you are willing to share a lane with 3 other humans that swim very, very, very slowly.

It's 5 stars for what it is, which is a down to earth, inclusive gym and nonprofit. Obviously it's not the fanciest place, but it is a Solid gym. The staff is warm and helpful. The community is kind. The facilities are pretty good. I'm all about the women's gym upstairs. Locker rooms are a bit cramped, but it's no biggie. I always feel safe here, rarely self conscious, and the stretching room is FABULOUS. Seriously, the women's gym. The Women's Gym. Go to here.

This gym is really well-equipped for the price you pay. I like that they have weightlifting platforms and bumper plates in addition to a lot of free weights and machines, trx bands, etc. Even the cardio equipment (not my thing) is better than average. It can get pretty busy, but there are also times where it's practically empty. There is a women's gym upstairs, which is cool, but doesn't have the same variety of equipment. They also have tons of yoga and other classes. I'm happy I signed up for this gym.

I come here exclusively for the workout room. While it's very convenient for me since it's very close to my apartment, there are a few things about this Y that I feel like need to be improved. I probably wouldn't go here if it wasn't a 5 minute jog away. The first issue I take is the poorly stocked bench weights. When I go around 4, the bench weights never seem to be in the right place, and they seem like they could use a few more. I constantly need to take plates from other stations to get the weight I want. The second issue is that there even are bench stations. These 4 bench stations would be much better off as squat stations that can be adjusted to be bench stations. The reason being because the 4 squat stations they have almost always being full when I get there. Maybe that wouldn't be a big deal if it wasn't for issue number 3: high schoolers. I'll admit, this is mostly unique to when I go, since I go very close to the end of school. Unfortunately, I don't have much of a choice to go another time; I leave for work at 6:15am, and I'm the cook of the house, so I should be back at home around 5 to get stuff going. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that the youth are that go here are developing healthy habits. The issue is, they spend so much time doing one exercise with way too much break in between. They easily get distracted by other high schoolers, they all crowd around each other, and often half of them aren't working out and aren't even properly dressed. This should be unacceptable. If you aren't working out, you shouldn't be in the work out room. If you are taking more than a couple minutes between sets, then you are spending too much time goofing off. Some high schoolers are working hard and aren't goofing around, but a huge majority have no respect for any of the other members' time.

I don't want to hate on this Y too much. The staff is always very kind, and I like the equipment there. They just need to buy a few more plates and clear out some of the people that are goofing off.

Rude staff. Have never been turned away at the gym. I guess there is a first now.

Great neighborhood group with fantastic community programs.

large swimming pool, clean and spacious environment, comprehensive classes, is expensive, but worth it.

Great staff. Diverse programs, staff, members. Decent equipment

Whoever designed the weight room never lifts. I feel like a light saber is piercing through my eyes when I bench. I come out blind after every set