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YWCA Midtown
Rating Details »
Categories: Massage, Gyms, Child Care & Day Care [Edit]
2121 E Lake StMinneapolis, MN 55407
(612) 215-4333
- Hours:
Mon-Fri. 5:30 a.m. - 11:00 p.m.
Sat-Sun. 7:30 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Price Range:
-
$
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Accepts Insurance:
- Yes
- By Appointment Only:
- No
7 reviews for YWCA Midtown
The YWCA is probably your best bet when you are looking for a gym membership in South Minneapolis. Some of the local AND chain gyms around here are small and uber-expensive like over $60 a month. YWCA offers household memberships at a discount so get your roommate to join and you are good to go. They also have deals for certain jobs and insurance that cancels the reg fee, for example oif you work for the City.
When you get a membership to the Y you can go to Midtown (this location), Uptown, or Downtown.
Downtown has no parking. Nuff said.
Uptown is crazy busy, even outside of peak hours. AND you have to pay for parking. Only if you stay until past 10:30 pm will they let you leave without paying. There is one really cute worker there but other than that I see no reason to go unless it's past 9 pm.
The Midtown location is by far the best. I go later than most so I've never had trouble parking. The facility is huge and there are less people than at Uptown so it's not crowded; there's a max 15 minute wait if you sign up for a cardio machine and plenty of space in the stretching rooms. At uptown I always felt like somebody's crotch was very near to my face.
Anyway, this place is big, clean, and has a diverse crowd so people-watching while you run is pretty great too--I see families at this location and that's always uplifting. Also, they play The Biggest Loser on television in front of the ellipticals and gosh darn if that isn't some good motivation.
There is a whole lot of Bush walking around this locker room, and I am most surely not talking about either of the former presidents. I have never been in a locker room with so many comfortably nude women. YWCA should change their slogan to "Empowering women...to show off their hairy vagina."
But for serious, I love taking swim lessons here (don't laugh!) I am a member at a certain corporate gym, but my dad bought me lessons here and the lady who teaches my class is pretty awesome. I wish I could be a member, but I can't cough up the $220 they want all at once for college students. That only works out to be about $2 less a month than I pay for 24/hr gym privileges at the 20 or so Lifetime Fitness centers around the cities.
Midtown YWCA, you should offer a college discount with a payment plan, because many college kids can't afford to cough up hundreds of dollars at a time for a gym membership.
i like this Y better than uptown in atmosphere. i wish it offered more dance classes for adults. and for children who are not toddlers. dance studios are very expensive, but dancers bodies are beautiful.
i wish the instructors were better trained. i took a hip hop class of a woman who isn't teaching there anymore that was really good. i wish there was ballet/jazz for adults. hip hop would be good. a fun work out gets people to the gym more than a body pump or some boring working out.
i have left many suggestions in their box but no one cares. my biggest complaint is that.
A word of warning - Please do NOT make me have to ask you to get off of the cardio machine that I signed up for.
Seriously, I've never been to a gym where such a large number of people refuse to abide by the rules set up for using the machines. The only people I believe don't know about the rules are the children, but their parents should be watching them (not to mention, WHY is there a 10 year old on the elliptical in the first place?) I go 5 or 6 times a week and not a week goes by where I don't have to be the THERE IS A SIGN UP SHEET FOR THIS SHIT police. You are an adult and you KNOW there is a sheet so just use it.
Other than that, the place is huge, clean and newish, so life's not that bad. I'm not a big fan of the hours, though. I made the mistake of getting up super early on a Saturday and driving out there (I live on the opposite side of town) only to find out that they open at 7:30. I've been a member of gyms that have all opened up by 6 on the weekends, so that has taken a little getting used to. Last weekend I showed up at 8:30 at night, got on the machines and suddenly the lights went out. They close at 9? WHAT. I could have sworn it was 10. Whatever.
Oh, and to the just-out-of-high-school teeny tiny girls moving like maniacs on the ellipticals, all slumped over and looking like you are about to pass out - just stop. Please. I can keep up with you, but I'm a big girl so I look like I'm just dedicated to eventually MAYBE looking like you. You, on the other hand, just look like an after-school special.
I love this pace! It's a beatiful, clean place to work out. I also love that it's not just another for-profit yuppie fitness mill, but it's a community non-profit whose mission is to empower girls. Awesome. It's also nice that the membership is so diverse, in basically every way you can imagine.
And the yoga classes are good, too.
The Y-dub is a great deal if you're a gym goer. The Midtown location is just a couple of years old, mammoth and ship-shape. The fitness center is part I most used, and that has enough machines to prevent waits except at peak times. They have a good sign-up system so that even if it's all full you can usually get what you want within a half hour (make sure you sign up as soon as you get here - then go change in the locker room - good strategy). Huge windows cover the long long length of the far wall. They look out on the parking lot, but watching people come and go is surprisingly meditative when you're having a good run.
Lots of trashy magazines, which is important for lengthy bike work. They also offer some free classes, so you can do CORE Power in the studio if you show up at the right time.
Saunas in the locker rooms and an Olympic sized pool for the aquatically inclined.
Not enough parking, for which it loses a star. I also had some issues with the way they billed me - mostly it's confusing because you pay a couple of months in advance. But they'll take insurance credits, which is nice and if you sign up with a couple of friends it works out to about $40 per month. That's a great deal for all the amenities here.
Winter time is the only time I can handle the gym, and it's coming. I wish I still lived near this Y.
I have been a member for over 2 years. I love the place. They have Badminton courts set up Sunday-Tuesday which is a huge plus for me.