YMCA Malden

The gym equipment are old, and most of them are not even working. The shower rooms are dirty and looked like they have not been maintained. The pool is so small and also dirty. Just no no

It’s astounding why anyone would pay for this place when Planet Fitness offers a better service, newer equipment and cheaper price at $ 10 vs. $ 51 a month. For $ 50 a month for a gym I’m expected luxury, not old equipment, rude staff and dirty facilities. The weight training equipment looks like it has never been replaced, they only have 2 squat racks and 1 power rack for a facility this size. The dip machine for some reason is elevated compared to newer types, so if you’re not doing assisted pull ups or dips you’re hanging in mid air. Real safe. The locker room is rusted over, leaky and downright gross.
They’ve started enforcing an arbitrary 8 visits a month for members from other gyms, which no other YMCA has this rule. They’re extremely rude and yell at you about it now. YMCAs in Boston allow you visits as long as 50% are at your home gym.
Compared to other YMCAs that are new and clean and you get what you pay for, this is definitely not the case. There are better gyms in Malden, you don’t have to resort to the YMCA Malden. Assembly has a new gym, Gold’s Gym, Planet Fitness is another at $ 10 vs. $ 51 a month. YMCA Malden is a joke.

Signed my two young children up for swim lessons. It was a horrible experience. It was truly a huge disappointment. I felt like the swim instructors were not the greatest with young, fearful swimmers. There were too many kids in a class with only having one instructor. My kids sat in the water and waited for another turn more then they actually participated. There are sometimes two classes sharing the one pool. At one point the instructor who had been teaching my kids for several weeks some how «forgot» my kids were in his class! My kids were in the water next to the other kids in the class but he was completely ignoring them for about 15 – 20 mins. My husband who was watching the class through the window in the lobby had to walk into the pool area to remind the instructor that they were in the class. How does that happen?! If we were not there to watch, I can only imagine what could have happened with my kids since clearly no one was watching them or paying attention to them. At that point I no longer felt comfortable having my young children learn to swim there.
The Family changing room/​bathrooms and locker area are dirty. The floors in the pool area are dirty because people were wearing outdoor shoes in there and tracking dirt. During one class there was a band-​aid floating in the pool. There were also several incidents of kids having an «accident» in the pool. That was just disgusting because for one the kids stayed in the water while they tested it. Like other places, young kids should have to wear a swimmy diaper with no exceptions. When this happened things got hectic because they would then move the kids into the lap pool which is cold and already jammed packed with people. It was just really unorganized and poorly planned out.
It’s too bad because when the YMCA first opened in Malden I heard all wonderful things but I think they have gone down hill fast. Hopefully they can clean up their act and make the place great again.

Staff can be busy but they’re friendly. It’s a community gym not a Gold’s gym. For the price, I think it’s decent. It offers a lot of classes.

Aweful I just have to review this place I used to be a member here it is expensive which wouldn’t be so bad if the gym would be up to standard they have cleaners vacuuming loud as your working out never any paper towels to clean machines dirty bathrooms old class schedules posted around the place for that type of business I will go to planet or wow for $ 10 a month vs $ 51 ! Noone really cares problems don’t get fixed take your money else where.

Fitness amenities: 6-​lane lap pool and second warm water kiddie/​therapy pool
Relaxation: Hot tub, sauna, AND steam room
Two fitness class studios
Basketball court
Indoor track
The usual weight and workout equipment
Separate locker rooms for men, boys, women, and girls. Also plenty of private family changing rooms
I only use the pool, sauna and stream room. And of course the locker room, so I will comment on those.
Cons:
Men’s locker room is too small. Boy’s locker room is probably bigger than needed. I can’t speak for the women’s and girl’s locker rooms but it’s probably the same situation.
During peak evening times, it is common for only one lap lane to be open to adults due to so many kid’s classes. This means that the adult lap lane can often be overcrowded on weekday evenings. Rarely there may be zero lanes for members on the schedule, which they should never do to members who pay $ 51 a month in a six-​lane pool.
Most of the time when members loiter in the shallow end of the lap lane without actually doing laps, the aquatics staff and lifeguards don’t do anything about it unless you complain to a staff member. This happens despite the rarity of open lap lanes sometimes. After being admonished, the offending members will often go back to loitering again, and the lifeguards will continue to do nothing about it. This happens way too often at the Malden Y and is the single thing that most often ruins my experience.
Men’s showers are not private — just one open room.
Hot tub is kept at 99 degrees — not hot enough to do anything effective. (Again there is a steam room and sauna though). Hot tub is frequently broken or otherwise closed.
Sauna has no drain. Water (or is it sweat?) accumulates on the floor and leaks out the door, ruining the drywall near the sauna door.
Free Wi-​fi no longer works.
Pros:
(See also the amenities section)
The second, warm pool draws many kids and families away from the lap pool, so kids running around the lap pool aren’t often a problem.
Pools are clean and in good condition. The lap pool is kept at a good temperature for doing laps. Most other gyms keep the pool too warm.
The main lockers in the men’s room are pretty big — not half-​size.
Plenty of free parking. (This could change when Malden builds the new city hall where the parking lot is now, but that may be years away.)
10 minute walk from Malden Center T station, in a central Malden location.
Vending machines are fairly priced and even take credit cards.

So far I’ve had nothing but great experiences at the Malden Y. Helpful staff, clean facility, friendly class participants, and easy parking. We’re even looking into sending our son to their preschool next year.
Don’t let the kid-​hating egomaniacal reviews deter you. If you’re looking for a swanky gym with towel service and valet parking, this place isn’t for you.
But if you’re looking for a family-​friendly, completely non-​creepy or intimidating place to get a good workout while knowing that your membership makes crucial programs for at-​risk children and youth possible, I think you’ll be quite happy here.

These staff are freedom takers. They suck. They tell you to do what they want and if you don’t do it, you. can’t go to the pool. I want them expelled. First my mom got two memberships for me and my brother to swim for fun. The next day we came to this place we decided to cancel. It is because the fat dude staff made us put on dirty body red heavy things in ourselves. Then he said to put on a bracelet that is yellow and it is filled with other children neck germs. Gross! I don’ t wanna have germs from other people you know. Their bathroom was slippery. That is how we canceled. You know so don’t sign up for memberships. You will lose money. Any way if you go to Malden Y you will see thousands of jerks that will make you cry all your life. I hated this place.

My review is entirely based on swim classes. Signing up for a class as a non-​member is very difficult. They NEVER answer their phone at the front desk and most of the time the VM is full. The online sign-​up system is also pretty crappy, not very user friendly. Very hard to get a hold of someone there.
The pool is nice and seems to be well maintained. It helps that the overall facility is relatively new in comparison to other Y’s and that’s why I continue to go back for swim.
I’ve done several sessions of classes with my kids and have not been impressed with many of the instructors, all very young. Our most recent instructor seemed robotic and not someone who would or should be working with young kids. Never got a warm feeling which you want when it’s your children.

I keep hoping that as malden gets better and nice, so would the Malden Y, but nope, just nastier and more neglected towards adults with each new year.

Terrible gym for group exercise: there is no large studio! Nearly all group ex classes are held in a small yoga room, on a rubberized concrete floor.
The floor in this yoga room (Studio 17A) is dangerous for group exercise. Class participants cannot pivot or turn safely because the flooring «grips» their shoes. The torque is transferred to ankles and knees, twisting those joints in in ways that they were never meant to move: it’s a recipe for joint damage and injuries.
The yoga room (Studio 17A) is badly ventilated, so when people start sweating in a cardio class, the mirrors fog up, and actual PUDDLES form on the floor. It is very slippery! At first, people get used to the floor being sticky, then, suddenly, it becomes slippery. It’s hazardous.
17A is small and cramped (there’s hardly any room to move) and it’s set up as a wide L-​shape, so if you’re on the other side of the room, you cannot see the teacher. Bad sound system, tiny speakers with no bass. Windowless room, with exposed fluorescent lighting mounted in the low ceiling.
Malden YMCA holds a couple of classes in the basketball court, but it’s not great: no mirrors, can’t hear the teacher over the echoes, and no fitness equipment available (weights, mats, etc) so the only class they hold in the gym is Zumba. Plus the basketball court is usually not available, because it’s being used for sports.
The building is huge, is there really no room for a large group exercise studio?
I gave the management this feedback three years ago, they still haven’t fixed this problem. Why not?
My guess: Group exercise classes are mostly attended by women. Building a group exercise studio would require Malden YMCA to spend money on a facility upgrade that would primarily benefit adult women. Apparently, children’s programs and weightlifting equipment are a higher priority than women’s safety.

Bunch of thieves in this place. But the aquatics are great which is why I’m still with them

This isn’t a BAD place to workout. I liked many things about it: the lack of weight loss propaganda, focus on community, major diversity in terms of age, race, etc., overall friendliness of other members, etc
It is just not in any way tailored to a working adult. By this, I mean I had several conversations, wrote letters, etc. to the Aquatics Director to explain why I thought their aquatics schedule unfairly favors children. They have two pools. The «therapy pool» (i.e. kept at a certain high temp to adhere to approved use by Arthritis-​having people) would have been great except a.) it doesn’t open until 8a and all the after-​work slots are taken up by kids’ lessons. If you work 9 – 5, you have to come back at 7 or 8p. They essentially use the Arthritis-​Association-​certified pool as a little kid swim lessons and weekend party HQ — it seems a real misuse of that resource as most little kids don’t suffer from arthritis. The regular (colder, larger) pool opens earlier but there are only a handful of lanes open for adult swimming in the precious «after work» hours. This is a double whammy of sorts because this Y is right close to the T which would make it ideal as a post-​work, pre-​home stop. It’s not uncommon that once many people are home, they’re far less motivated to go back out to go workout. All of my issues with pool overcrowding/​lack of adult accessibility are exacerbated by «camps» in the summer that add to the schedule.
That said, this arrangement DOES work well if you are a parent of small kids in swim lessons and want to take them right when you’re done with work — but that’s about the ONLY group it works well for on a regular basis. And, not coincidentally, parents pay for the swim lessons so I suppose they have to prioritize on what pays the bills. Then again, who knows how many more working adults might join/​keep memberships to help pay those bills if the schedules were rotated more fairly and gave everyone a shot at having the priority at prime workout time?
Beyond that … well … the place is overrun with little kids not usually on their best behavior supported by lax parenting. A major part of the Y’s mission is kid development so I don’t fault them, I just don’t like it. They’ve established an «adult locker room/​18+» and «family and under 18» locker room but members do what they want and the Y doesn’t have the staff to be really enforcing it. After a while, it’s grating to watch people just do whatever they feel like doing despite clearly posted rules. The focus on kids also means that sometimes the pool goes into emergency shut down (because a little kid poops in it) and you arrive to swim only to have to turn right around. Again, not something I entirely fault them for but they also don’t have any good alert system in place (i.e. having people opt in to getting text message updates about unplanned closings and schedule changes).
Most of the facility is sparkly and new, modern and clean looking. The locker rooms are cleaned frequently (I always saw staff cleaning) but they are fundamentally dirty (stained ceiling tiles, rusty lockers, gross tile floor, etc.). The locker room will always look dirty to you.
Last, most of the staff are teenagers and as such, they’re a mixed bag. Some are eager, friendly and really doing a good job. Others are blabbing with friends and ignoring you, or respond to queries with «I don’t know» rather than «let me check,» or not enforcing policies they should be enforcing, etc. It’s not that teenagers = bad, it’s that teenagers = inconsistent experience. I prefer a consistent experience.
Wait — actually — last … price. A single adult membership is $ 51. A membership to nearby Boston Sports Club is $ 59 (with deals that can make it lower). With all the compromise I was making as a working adult trying to use the Y, it wasn’t worth the cost — too much cost for not enough availability. Family memberships greatly reduce the cost per person but single adult memberships are decidedly not competitive or a good deal. My advice: if you are not a parent of small kids in swim lessons, see if you can get a trial week to see if it’ll really work out they way you hope/​expect. I kept wanting it to be different, kept hoping but eventually gave up, decided it is what it is (and they have no interest in changing or responding to the needs of adults) and voted with my feet.

I joined the Y so my children can take swim classes. On our first day it was completely unorganized. The changing rooms are gross. I HATE public restrooms as is as they make me crawl, so I cringed every time I have to use one. the changing rooms in this Y are completely stomach turning. The staff seem pretty young and uninterested in the members. I am still trying to figure out how do they know how are memberships valid if no one swipes their card.
When we finally went in for our swim lesson the pools are shared with the other levels of swim lessons. I could not understand how the advance swim class and the pike swimmers were sharing a pool. How can this make a fearful swimmer comfortable with all the chaos. People sit in front of the window and watch the lessons go on. I know the area are suppose to be for the parents of the advance swimmers but I don’t think the creeps watching the kids in the pools are Parents. They need new swim instructors, ones that really know how to handle a fearful swimmer such as my son. The swim instructor completely ignored my son who wouldn’t let go of the life of me in the water. He cried until his feet could touch the bottom of the pool. I actually walked out mid class when the instructor swam away from my son who was too scared to jump in the pool. After about two classes of being ignored and my son being overwhelmed and fearful. I just took the 59.00 dollars as a loss and never took him back.
A few weeks later, I enrolled him in the Karate program. He LOVES it and I LOVE it. It is the only time I go the Y. Sensei Rob is AWESOME. My son was the youngest in the class so he attention was not there all of the time but he quickly warmed up to Sensei Rob and now my son is a yellow belt. I will continue to take my son to Sensei Rob’s Karate’s sessions as long as he is there.
I would go for my own fitness and health reasons but one Friday I took a zumba class (which was blah) before work and I came out and someone hit my car! The Parking lot is a disaster! There is never any parking! The driver was nice and was startled as my car was parked but that was the last time I went to the Y for myself. I don’t spend enough time in the Y to complain about other kids because I am in and out but I have seen parents leave their kids in the karate class and leave when the child has to go the restroom the parent isn’t around. Or Sensei Rob had to go to the front desk to call the parents to pick them up after class is over. The Y isnt a place for people to drop their kids off and go it is a place to become healthy as a family to enrich the kids. I hate to say it but rotten apples really do spoil the bunch!

i work in the wellington area, i work late hours and my original gym is by home which is in roxbury.
roxbury gym sooooooo much brolic men and cutesy women dont have enough space to get my work out in. a friend of mine insisted i try this gym out. he states they have a pool, jacuzzi, new equipment!
went in there for my first time. amazing completely one of the best facilities ever renovated. so much space, enough equipment that you dont have to wait!
very clean, have spray bottles and towels at pretty much every angle of the cardio and strength facility.
it is mbta accessible which is a plus!

Great place to work out! Has everything you need… basketball courts, pools, free weights, indoor track, boxing area, hot sauna, all exercise machines, exercise classes (some are free)

I used to have some good experiences at this facility with the gym. However, they are increasing day passes prices ($ 10/​day) and also the younger staff can be very rude and unpredictable at the front desk. I waited patiently (instead of going in as so many other people were doing) as I saw a front-​deskperson give attitude to a man about his expired membership– yet she let him in anyways. However, when I presented my active membership to another YMCA, she said it was their policy only to accept New England memberships and refused to explain this to my current YMCA who had promised away passes.
She was not only rude and full of unprofessional attitude, but also discriminatory. Why did she make the decision to make an exception to let a inactive membership person in right before me and refuse to allow me in with a paid active membership at another YMCA? If you’re going to play the policy card, maybe it should be to be consistent and play by the rules all the time instead of when you want to.
I asked her to talk to her manager Tamika and both did not offer a good customer service solution. If you’re claiming sticking to policies, then maybe you shouldn’t let in people who don’t have an active membership ahead of someone who regularly pays the YMCA for the past year. Completely unfair and does not reward people being honest.
They need work on their customer service and consistency. It failed the stated mission on their website to «help build a healthy spirit, mind and body for all with the core values of caring, honesty, respect and responsibility at the heart of everything we do.» Good job for being an obstacle to the goals to workout and be healthy!

If I could give the facilities and the excercise classes a 5. But seriously most rude people, kids crawling all over the place, parents who let their kids roam free and if you can ignore all that…
Spin classes are really really good (aka kicks my butt). The pool is REALLY nice. Again too many children crawling around. But pool is really nice. The cardio huge newish machines and did I mention spin equipment/​instructors really good.

Single adults subsidize this kids’ clubhouse.
I completely agree with Lati D.‘s post from 12/​10/​2010: kids come first at the Malden Y. Just look at their brochure: page after page of children’s programming, with very little for adults. Clearly, the management at YMCA Malden (YM) have their priorities in this order: children, then weightlifters, then people who want cardio, group exercise, and yoga/​pilates/​etc.
The pools are nice, but the management has them booked solid with children’s programming of all kinds. The little bits and scraps of time left are designated as lap or «adult» swim, both of which are open to teenagers. I saw a kid throw up in the pool, it had to be evacuated. In the evenings, it is common for parents to crowd into the entryway of the building to watch their kids swim; it’s hard to squeeze through. Some parents even move lobby chairs into the entryway, creating a fire hazard.
The locker room situation is atrocious. They are very dirty, with standing water everywhere, hair in the drains, bad ventilation, it’s smelly. YM’s towel racks are just stick-​on hooks, several were broken for months while I was there. Children are not allowed in the adult locker room: there are signs on the door that say that caretakers are supposed to accompany children into the children’s locker rooms. But there were always children in the adult women’s locker room, leaving me feeling very uncomfortable about undressing.
After children, YM’s second priority appears to be people who want to lift weights (at this place, almost all men). Apparently, YM spent a large amount of money on the weight room, and, indeed, the offerings there are impressive. All the equipment is new, and it takes up a large amount of space, almost an entire floor. This wouldn’t be a problem if they had bothered to leave sufficient space for cardio equipment, but they didn’t.
The cardio machine offerings are shabby for the size and newness of the building. There are not enough of them, there’s always a wait, and there’s a 30-​minute limit.
The treadmills are new, with individual TVs, everything else is old. There are only about three stair steppers and four upright stationary bikes, none of which have TVs (or even group TVs). One of the bike seats was badly damaged (a big piece ripped off) and was not fixed for months. All of these machines are in a very sunny hallway; it is uncomfortable to work out with the sun shining directly on your face through an unshaded window.
In the other room they have about five recumbent bikes, which are in disrepair. The pedals grind and the seats rattle. YM does not have ANY elliptical machines. They only have arc-​trainers, which are uncomfortable to use, and there are only about five of them. In the area with recumbents and arc-​trainers, there are no individual TVs, just a few group TVs, so you’re stuck watching the news or whatever other people are already watching. And these machines share the big open space with the weightlifting room; I have seen men openly staring at me while I’m working out on the bikes or arc-​trainers.
Children are not supposed to come in and use the machines unattended, but they do: I have seen children about 6 years old clambering on the stationary bikes (which are in a mostly-​unattended hallway). This creates a distracting dilemma — should I interrupt my workout to alert the staff?
The group exercise classes are badly organized. Many of the classes are in the morning, when many people are at work. YM may have two or three classes in one evening, but most of them overlap by at least 15 minutes (some of them overlap entirely). YM has one night where there are three adult classes at once, so if you like to do classes back-​to-​back, too bad. You’re really not getting very much class for your money. Most of these classes (and the equipment, including the aerobic steps, workout balls, lighter free weights, etc) are in the cramped, musty basement. I’ve seen grown women, paying customers, sitting on the floor in the basement hallway, waiting for their classes.
It’s seriously like three different gyms: the children’s fantasy playland, the king’s marvelous weightlifting palace, and the cramped cardio closet. Single adult women pay a high membership rate for a place that is dirty, cramped, musty, subterranean, in disrepair, and crowded out by kids.
If you don’t have kids, and don’t lift weights, you would be far better off getting one of those $ 10/​month gym memberships, and picking up a dance, yoga, pilates or Zumba class somewhere else. You’d get more of what you want while saving money. That’s what I am going to do.
I am dissatisfied by Malden YMCA. I was dazzled by the beautiful exterior of the new facility and by the sheer size of the space. I loved that friendly feeling of being in a «community center». But now I see that I’m getting a bad deal: the management allotted their space and time in a way that, on average, puts kids first, men second, and women last.

After visiting the House of Horrors known as the Cambridge YMCA (how have I not written a review of this yet? It must be remedied!), I really didn’t have high hopes about any Y location, to be honest. It’s walking distance from the Malden T stop, which was a plus since that meant my partner in crime could just meet me there without my needing to drive into the city.
I was surprised by a few things:
–The unbelievable cleanliness
–The incredible friendliness of the staff AND members
–The class schedule
I ended joining only a few minutes after I toured the facility. In the last few weeks, I’ve attended the following classes:
–Spin (I only went once on a Saturday. The instructor was super nice, but it was a bit too much for me)
–Step and Sculpt (Don’t remember the instructor’s name, but she was great. Also, Bobbi, who is an instructor from another class was there. It was nice to see instructors taking other classes with members)
–Dance Fitness (This class was pretty boring. I think they have a new instructor and she wasn’t really good about telling us in advance what modifications she was making, so it made it difficult to follow along).
–Zumba (Yes! Three times a week in the evening??? You can’t beat it!)
–Body Sculpting (with Bobbi, see above. This class was really great. Bobbi keeps the energy levels high)
I haven’t used any of the weights, weight machines or equipment since I really joined for the classes (and the pools, of course the pools).