Bedford Stuyvesant YMCA

It’s sufficient and one of the only gyms in the area, hence me being a member. However, the equipment is subpar, the locker room has a funky odor all the time and the free weights are neglected.

I was a member at this gym for five years prior to my accident and I froze my membership and eventually had to cancel due to my physical state. When I re-​joined 2 years later, it was a completely different place. All of the quality instructors I had been taking classes with had either left, been fired (some illegally), passed away, or just mia. Pool closed more often than not, so what type of aqua therapy is possible? One or two specialty instructors were still there, trudging it out. The facility’s formerly clean, well maintained, great staff have fallen to whatever excuse of a gym it is now. The business department? A sham. I cancelled my membership almost a year ago, yet and still I receive charges to my credit card. Mind you, I get the charges plus increases for their new rates. Phone calls, emails, physical paperwork to cancel have gone ignored. The two stars are only for the great teachers that toughed it out and the really nice lady at the front desk. The rest? Missing, just like the service they used to provide.

I recently signed up for a swimming class at the Bed Stuy Y. So far it’s good. Our instructor is very nice and knows what she’s doing but I definitely need to practice a lot n order to get it. An hour in a small lane with 5 or 6 other people once a week — you just can’t learn properly in that tight environment. Beginner swim classes here seem more designed to get you used to being in the water, underwater, jumping in, getting your technique & rhythm together and not being afraid of the deep end. They have plenty of accessories to help keep you afloat before the big day when you toss those styrofoam noodles to the side! They also have «open swim» during the week where everyone can go in and play or practice. Take advantage of it. I even got in my bathtub and just started blowing bubbles through my nose in the water just to get used to it. Even a big bucket will do! Now I’m much more comfortable and can actually focus on learning from the instructor instead of being afraid of drowning in 4 feet of water lol.
Here are a few other tips on what to expect at the Y:
1. Come in at least a week BEFORE the first day of class to get the lay of the land. Check out the locker rooms and ask for a free tour.
2. If you’re taking swimming, you will need to bring a padlock, swim cap (purchase a jumbo swim cap by Lock Journey on Amazon if you have big natural hair or dredlocks), swim goggles, towel, change of clothing and undies, flip flops and toiletries. In the ladies locker room they have an electric automatic «wringer» to squeeze the water out of your swimsuit, a sauna, a blower high on the wall to dry your hair, showers and toilets.
3. This is a neighborhood gym. It’s clean and does what it’s supposed to do — give you access to modern exercise equipment, aerobic classes, weights and a pool. If you’re looking for the NY Health and Racquet Club and watercress sandwiches, this ain’t it. But you shouldn’t be looking for that for YMCA prices either so get real.
4. Always bring your ID. If you do, you won’t have any problems getting in. I wouldn’t want them just letting people come in off the streets without ID anyway — would you?
5. There are kids… lots of kids. If you don’t like em, this place isn’t for you.
So the bottom line — this Y is great because it’s close to home, clean, isn’t overly crowded (in the late afternoon at least), has what I need and is inexpensive compared to Manhattan. If you want luxury, save up a little more and go to a different place. If you want to get in shape or learn something new without a lot of frills, Bed-​Stuy Y should work out very nicely for you.

The place is the absolute pits. It’s dirty, and smells and the staff is rude. One goes to the gym to release stress not to be aggravated to the point you want to do violence. The pool is gross too. Just save your money. They lost my nephew during basketball camp. Never again.

I am a member of the Bed-​Stuy YMCA. Today I did not have my pass. So, when I walked in I asked the person behind the counter what I needed to do. She said very abruptly and without any iota of pleasant customer service, «If they had my ID photocopied there» I did not have my ID as I only had my gym bag with me. I said «I don’t know. I don’t think so.»
Then another girl Tiffany who seemed to be in charge of checking people in took over my needs. She looked up my name and confirmed my address. Then she said she could not let me in because I did not have an ID on me. I said «well don’t you have a picture of me that you could look up since you took my picture when I signed up. She said pictures only come up when we scan our membership cards. (well, that seems a major flaw in your system.) She went on to say that because I was let in 1 time last year that she could not let me in again. This confounded me. «One-​time last year and you won’t let me in?» I pointed out that she confirmed my identity by asking my address and phone number. She again denied me entrance. At that point, I asked to see a manager. She rudely stated, «I am the manager.» I could not believe that I can get access to my bank account over the phone easier than entering a YMCA at 7:30 in the morning.
It became obvious to me that this was more of a power struggle for her. I told her that I can walk 5 blocks back to my house to get my ID but I feel offense to the customer service that I am encountering.
I walked home walked back and handed her my ID. When she handed it back to me I said: «Don’t you need to make a photocopy?» She looked at me with attitude and said: «why?» I said «Because don’t you need one incase this happens again? She said they already had one on file, they made one when I signed up it’s with my application. I looked at her and said, «you mean to tell me you had a copy of my ID this whole time?» She just looked at me and said «Yes.»
This tells me that I was blatantly treated disrespectfully and that my basic customer needs were not only not granted but done so with spite.
This is my neighborhood YMCA. My children go to swimming there. I am disappointed and offended by the treatment of one of your employees. Tiffany claims to have been the manager, if this is how you hire people in positions that deal with the public in customer service, there might need to reevaluation the hiring process or training because this is simply unacceptable.

If you love positive high energy work outs, you should definitely go to JoJo’s zumba classes on Mondays! AMAZING instructor. He only teaches once a week, sadly, but it always makes my week a little bit better starting it off with his class. Everyone is very friendly there too!

Billing cycles are maddening. They bill monthly (which is great) but require 15 days notice to freeze your account if you’re traveling etc. Think about it… You have to plan your life months in advance just to figure out when you’re going to be gone and when you need to contact them to make the freeze happen in time. Every single time I’ve planned a trip I’ve missed the window between my billing cycle and the advance notice I need to give to freeze membership; which means I am constantly paying for an active membership when I’m not even around. REALLY frustrating and totally unacceptable when you should just be able to do this kind of thing via website or app. This is 2016!!!

This place gets skankier by the week. Was in a few days ago and the cardio room smelled like human excrement. It was also exploding with loud, disruptive teenagers who seemed more interested in socializing, and macho dudes dropping weights so that the place shook like an earthquake. There’s less and less room to do anything here, thanks to overcrowding and poor use of space. I don’t understand how people feel comfortable putting their mats out right in the middle of walkways and doing elaborate «stretching» moves while blocking thoroughfares and impeding the people on machines. Really? Total, stinky chaos.

If you read all the reviews that have less than 3 stars, you will get a true picture of this gym. I have been a member for 9 years. Almost every time I go there I get mad. If it’s not the rude cleaning person, it’s the rude trainer. If it’s not the staff it’s the super aggressive guy who uses the gym as his personal gym. The dumbbell situation is miserable. I have complained for years. No improvement. The equipments are really dirty. Luckily they have wipes for you to clean it up before using it. Most people come here because it’s the only option. WOULD SOMEBODY PLEASE OPEN A REAL GYM.

I’m a casual user, not an intense gym/​fitness person, just trying to get in better shape. so that’s where I’m coming from.
I’ve really never seen this gym overcrowded. I’m not even sure i’ve ever seen the treadmills completely filled up. I most often go later at night like at 9 or 10, so maybe that’s why. in any case, the other gymgoers are friendly at best and just keep to themselves at worst. haven’t seen any bad behavior at all and i’ve had some fun conversations in the sauna. i also like the fact that there are often kids running around, meetings, community groups having bake sales or whatever.
Oh yeah, they have a sauna and steam room. AWESOME. Many a time I won’t feel like working out but then i remember i can use the sauna afterwards so i go.
Staff — it depends on the person. Usually fine. I did try their fitness coaching program, which they made sound kinda like a «lite» personal training program for beginners — someone teaching you how to exercise, basically — but i had a really bad experience with it. i won’t bore you with details, but in a nutshell the guy was condescending, i felt like he was laughing at me at times, and he didn’t seem to want to actually work with me rather than stick me on some machines in a prearranged order (without finding out anything about my fitness level, goals, or experience) and leave me to my own devices. could be just this particular guy shouldn’t be working in a program that is specifically for fitness newbies. though the program description is pretty vague tbh. but that is the one and only bad experience i’ve had here.

It’s the only option in bedstuy right now. But as soon as another gym opens I’m out of here. The staff is rude, but I guess pretty typical of the bedstuy demographic. The free weight room smells like a high school locker room, and it’s always full of a bunch of guys who look and act like excons. Maybe if you come here for treadmills and yoga classes you’ll have a better experience. If you come to lift weights be prepared to wait for benches and get stared down by Jamal the 300 lb cage fighter.

An excellent neighborhood gym, with friendly staff and a congenial atmosphere. It’s one of the few areas in Bed Stuy to swim, which makes it an attractive choice for swimmers. I religiously swim at the YMCA’s pool at least three times a week and would never consider swimming anywhere else. The price for adult swim (Beginners, Adv Beginners, Intermediate level and the elite level, Advanced class, which I believe is seldom offered) classes for YMCA members is 141 dollars (close to 200 for non-​members), which is honestly among the best values one can get in the city for structured swim lessons.
As for actual instruction, the swim classes are challenging, but you feel as if you have truly learned the techniques at the end of the eight week session. For example, Anderson, the aquatic director, is a superb coach and instructor, he is always actively involved in teaching all classes and ensuring that all students are performing the swim techniques carefully and correctly. I love the nice promotion cards that are given out to students at the end of the course because they act as a means of encouraging students — both adult and youths — to persevere and never quit swimming.
The promotion cards are also proof that a student’s swim skills have been legitimately verified by the swim staff, too. A minor critique would be that the promotion cards should include an area with commentary from the swim instructors that provide individualized suggestions for areas of improvement, especially for those who are not yet promoted to the next swim level. Some students learn to improve their mistakes visually or verbally; others solely by means of written commentary. Private swim classes are also relatively cheap (at time of this review, 30 – 45 per lesson I believe) compared to other elitist, aloof and high priced Manhattan swim schools. The great prices accentuates the YMCA’s mission to make sports and other recreational activities affordable to the general public. If prices for swim classes were much higher than what are currently offered at the Bed Stuy YMCA, I probably would not have learned how to swim… Most of the private lessons are conducted during family recreation swim, which promptly begins at 6:25 — 7:25pm Monday-​Thursday. Students are assessed for their ability to tread water, freestyle swim, backfloat, and breath (underwater exhalation).
Given the popularity of private swim lessons at the Y, there is usually a long wait list; however, Anderson and his team work tirelessly to ensure that everyone is contacted and scheduled for their private lessons, but given swim instructor availability, it may not be during the exact times the prospective swim student requests. Needless to say, the entire Aquatic team exudes the highest level of professionalism and ensure that safety before fun is paramount at the Y. Thanks, Beverly :)
Erwin was my swim instructor for beginner level swim, and I must say he is an asset to the team; he teaches beginner level swim on most days of the week, so if you are lucky, do request him, then try to polish up your swim skills during family swim or adult lap swim. The swim classes alone do not make an individual an excellent swimmer: Consistent practice does. Advanced Beginner is the next level of swim at this YMCA and refines many of the techniques learned in Beginner swim, including life saving skills such as treading, floating, and swimming with a life jacket. Advanced beginners is one of the best classes because of the variety and versatility of swimming skills the student learns in the eight weeks.
The aim of the beginner’s level swim classes is to teach students basic competency in the water, including treading, backfloating, front/​crawl (freestyle). More advanced strokes such as the backstroke, freestyle, breaststroke and elemental backstroke are introduced in Advanced Beginners, then refined in subsequent levels such as Intermediate (which probably represents an amalgamation of Intermediate and the old Advanced class). Once a beginner student can comfortably and confidently move from the shallow to the deep end, then they are advanced to the next level.
Intermediate seems to be the new «Advanced» level class. I recently watched a class and saw that many of the students learn to dive, which is something I will look forward to doing soon (Hopefully).
Otherwise, swimming at the Bed Stuy YMCA is a near perfect experience. The pool is clean and always staffed with at least two lifeguards. I want to thank Aquatic Director Anderson Seales, Kay, Beverly, and Erwin for their excellent swim instruction and encouragement throughout the past 10 months. I expect to advance to intermediate swim in the next few months. Highly recommended pool for anyone willing to learn how to swim or for advanced swimmers who wish to stay in shape and keep their skills fresh.
Thank you!

I have been here before the renovations and I dig it. I went for swim today with my free pass and I got in without a hassle. The pool is smaller than what I am used to, since I typically use the one at Medgar Evers college which is pretty darn big. However, it is really clean, the life guards are sweet, and it was quiet (10 am). I will be back!

The equipment was recently updated, the bathrooms renovated, and the air conditioners were replaced. I love it here, it’s like «Cheers» everybody knows your name when you walk thru the door. Saturday mornings are super busy, because of the many programs that are available to children including swim instruction, ballet, karate, and Jr. Knicks basketball league. Child care is available for the little ones. I strongly suggest the sauna or the steam room after spin class. Zumba on Tuesdays have like a cult following, it’s packed with Soca music and good vibes. The spin classes are the best, up beat music, engaged instructors, and new improved bikes.
Gary’s 8:00 a.m. boot camp also has a loyal following and he works you out.
Sunday mornings here are peaceful and relaxing, treadmills are easily accessible late Saturday evenings and all day Sundays. Yoga on Sundays include music candles, dim lights, and meditation.
It’s a bit pricey, but your paying for ambience, familiarity, and community, you can’t get that at Blink.
Discounted memberships are available for municipal and government employees and financial assistance is available to all who qualify.

One of the best gyms I’ve ever been to in Brooklyn. It has a real sense of community. The upkeep of the machines is pretty good and there are plenty of classes and programs for both adult and children. I just wish my salary would go up every year like the membership fee does lol.

A solid gym, but with a few shortcomings.
Let’s start with the broad strokes. It’s a bit pricey unless you get some kind of deal (low-​income, state employee, family plan, etc.) it’ll be around $ 50/​month. This is an expensive gym compared to Blink Fitness or one of those other budget gyms, but this one has more stuff, like a pool, sauna, b-​ball courts, funny little mini track, yoga/​spinning classes, etc. So you might find it worth the extra cost. If you don’t take advantage of those sort of things and are looking for a more basic, budget gym, this might not be your place.
Other reviews have said that this YMCA has been a victim of its own success. I would kind of agree with this statement. The main problem with this gym is that too many damn people come, all the time, and the weight room and treadmills are often full.
The weight room is poorly laid out, and just small to begin with. It could use another squat rack so badly, and another flat bench press station. I often find myself substituting a decline bench press in for my regular flat bench workout, because I just don’t want to wait 20 – 45 minutes for it to open up, and to be assertive about claiming my spot in line.
Also, other small various complaints:
1. treadmills often are «loose». I don’t know how else to describe it, but as a fairly heavy guy (200 lbs), some treadmills skid out a bit under me when I’m running 8+ mph, and about 25% of the treadmills here do it. I come often enough to know which ones are the shady ones, but if that is important to you, then keep it in mind.
2. half of the drinking fountains don’t work, because there isn’t enough water pressure. Bummer.
3. When spinning classes are going on, they really blare the music. You can hear it in the weight room, and it clashes with the also-​bad music they blare in the weight room. I wish all gyms would just stop playing music. C’mon, every single person has headphones in, and I really doubt it’s the same song.
Good things:
1. There is a nice community feeling here. They use some of the money for good stuff, and there are a lot of nice people who go here. Even if I resent them for making me weight to use the treadmills and squat racks.
2. The sauna is awesome
3. The hours are great. They are even open late (until 11 PM) on Fridays. Nice! Get a workout in before going out drinking.
4. Nice, funny little bike room off to the side. It’s about the size of a bedroom, and clearly used to be an office or something, and was repurposed. But it’s great if you like to bike. It is nice and quiet in there, except when someone is in there and sings along to their music (weird, but happens a lot) or when spinning class is going on, and then you are really in for it.
5. Location is great. For me, at least.
That’s about it. Members, do you agree? Still, this place earns 4 stars, because I freaking love it, and go almost every day. But eventually depreciation will get the best of it.

At this point, I only come here because there are so few options. Overcrowded, poorly laid-​out weight room, dingy locker rooms overrun with schoolkids and a pool schedule that leaves few decent slots for lap swimming. Indifferent staff, regulars who camp out all day in groups. Classic example of «good deal for NYC,» meaning you’ve just gotten used to making do with less.

This Y has grown on me. While I still do not like all the kids that go here as their ‘school gym’ and that some of the patrons piss me off, like any gym if you figure out the right times to go, you’re in workout heaven. Even better are the classes offered. I took swimming lessons here this past summer and the instructor was fantastic. The customer service here still needs some work, but even that has improved in the past year so not too many complaints on that front either. As the Unilocal stars say, ‘Yay! I’m a fan.’

I would have loved to stay at the Y, but this is not the best gym for those who do floor exercises and yoga. I had to switch gyms because I got hit in the head by someone’s free weight because of the lack of floor space (floors are crowded whether you workout in the morning or night). I would have also liked to see the space have more than one set of 15 pound weights.
Otherwise, the staff is very friendly and it’s a great gym for those looking to do cardio.

This place has great modern equipment. More than that it’s reasonably priced, which is not typical of other city Y’s. That being said, the cheap membership fee means that this place has a ton of members… it gets crazy busy!
Nice place to work out, worth joining!