It’s my first time being at the y and honestly it’s actually a good place to exercise and I bring my own wipes so It’s easier than spray bottle and paper towel. I recomend bringing your own wipes so you don’t have to use the proxide spray on paper towel

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 wanted to update my review for the YMCA. I dont think my review from before applies in any way after COVID because the members and the gym are so different. I just joined the gym again after 18 months on a medical hold.Heres what you should know returning the the YMCA:1. Its still strict, you will need to wipe down before and after and adhere to their policies even if they make little sense or arent enforced equally. Respect the community and facility.2. The gym is not getting deep cleaned at least not the machines and they are wearing out even though many are new from the last 5 years.3. They installed ventilation so the gym no longer smells like sweat and the windows are always open now but this means no AC.4. No towel service anymore but you get your own disinfecting bottle which youll need since you have to wipe before and after.5. Rooms have been broken up into a machine room, a free weight room with 4 racks and the old child gym has thankfully been turned into a room with 10! yes 10 squat racks!! That means they increased their rack capacity by like 220% great move!6. No locker rooms or showers.. weird because CC county has them open but this helps lower gym capacity.7. People mostly following the rules but some are not wearing masks right. Probably the gym has a high concentration of people who never believed in any of the COVID rules anyways.8. New online system is nice and gives a record of going to the gym but does not show capacity of the Berkeley YMCA weirdly.9. It is not really crowded mid day at all. Its desolate.10. Some days staff was extremely limited no personal trainer on duty and only one staff member in the front.11. They seem to have added fans all over each room that have some component to neutralize virus particles with blue light. There is also some kind of machine in the stretch area.My suggestions to the gym after a few days of being back1. Deep clean the machines2. Remodel the bathrooms to add more bathroom capacity on the main level.3. Replace more floors with sound proofing and dampening materials when possible.4. Fix the lightening in the new rack room it is falling out of the socket.I personally really missed going to the gym and Bowflex 552s at home and step aerobics is just not comparable to the literal fitness buffet this place offers. I actually spent more last year on fitness equipment than what it cost for the gym (Weights $380, Aerobics board $110, Bike repairs and parts $600 vs $540 for a 1yr membership).Whats it like going back? Well the first few days my body felt like it was on drugs from working out again. I hurt in regions I forgot existed. Food tasted richer and time seemed to slow. This place can be like a magical temple of the mind and body if you make it that. It is legendary.Good luck to the Downtown Berkeley YMCA and hoping it 50 more years of success!

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 cant easily clean.

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!

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, youre worth more than this.

Its 5 stars for what it is, which is a down to earth, inclusive gym and nonprofit. Obviously its 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. Im all about the womens gym upstairs. Locker rooms are a bit cramped, but its no biggie. I always feel safe here, rarely self conscious, and the stretching room is FABULOUS. Seriously, the womens gym. The Womens Gym. Go to here.

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.

I come here exclusively for the workout room. While its very convenient for me since its very close to my apartment, there are a few things about this Y that I feel like need to be improved. I probably wouldnt go here if it wasnt 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 wouldnt be a big deal if it wasnt for issue number 3: high schoolers. Ill admit, this is mostly unique to when I go, since I go very close to the end of school. Unfortunately, I dont have much of a choice to go another time; I leave for work at 6:15am, and Im the cook of the house, so I should be back at home around 5 to get stuff going. Dont get me wrong, Im 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 arent working out and arent even properly dressed. This should be unacceptable. If you arent working out, you shouldnt 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 arent goofing around, but a huge majority have no respect for any of the other members time.I dont 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.

Its... 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.Im also not the biggest fan of the hours its open on the weekends, but Im a person who likes to work out at night so that might be a personal issue.Overall its 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.

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

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.

Im 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 Im not allowed use more then one towel ( btw their towels extremely small) otherwise Ill 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 mattersSo yeah, I have to leave :(

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

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

Its 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 wasnt 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 didnt see a sign. Still a nice facility, amazing steam room!

Joined from Crunch SF ( good place too) . This Y and the one at Emberco 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 its almost weird. I guess Im 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

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 its practically empty. There is a womens gym upstairs, which is cool, but doesnt have the same variety of equipment. They also have tons of yoga and other classes. Im happy I signed up for this gym.

Great facility, friendly staff, welcoming & inclusive.

Ive 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.

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 Im 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 didnt 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 wasnt 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 dont get up and leave. At this point Im confused, since 5 people have already left and he didnt 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, Im asking you not to leave, and I whisper, Im sorry, I need to be somewhere. He says, Dont 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 didnt stay for his whole class.Look. This isnt Esalen. This isnt an ashram in Rishikesh. ITS THE YMCA. Its a free class in a metropolitan location that I try to fit into my busy schedule, and sometimes Im going to have to leave earlier than I thought. But in this case, to put it bluntly, I wanted to leave because his class wasnt good; I gave the excuse that I had to be somewhere so as to not turn this ugly, but obviously that didnt do any good. At the end of the class, I realized this wasnt for me and I wasnt going to sit there for 20 more minutes doing nothing (every other yoga class Ive 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 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.

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

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

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

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

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

Great neighborhood group with fantastic community programs.

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

Great place. Lobby has been remodeled.

Great atmosphere and wonderful inclusive gym

The pool is always full. Dont sign up unless you are willing to share a lane with 3 other humans that swim very, very, very slowly.

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

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

I spent a good time in this place.

Best gym in Berkeley. Hands down.

Fabulous programs for people over 60!

The best Y ever.

Great place

I love soghyr

Bad smell bad wifi bad attitude bad manage

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.

The gym has a steam room and a general sauna, and its very nice because you can use the swimming pool and Jacuzzi if you wear a swimsuit!There is a soap with body and hair shampoo, and one towel can be borrowed so you can come and go!