YMCA of Metropolitan Milwaukee

The Milwaukee area YMCA’s declared bankruptcy June 2014
… and as a member I have been watching the YMCA go through a slow death during this bankruptcy as employees quit or are let go and services and cleanliness decline. Do you think that they have money to pay for someone to clean the showers during the bankruptcy or fish out the floaters after the kiddies have been in the pool?
So you want to join a health club going through bankruptcy? Seriously?

The good parts: Great place for the kids to take classes.
Nice big pool, two nice size gyms (four full size basketball courts).
The bad side: you can’t play basketball with the kids, because the adult games don’t care about kids and will run them over without thinking twice.
If the kids aren’t in a class, not a whole lot they can do.
The fix: make the upper gym for families and kids. The downstairs for adult pickup basketball games.

First off, do not come in the after work hours (4 – 6). It is crazy busy and full. Early mornings before work might be the same (I wouldn’t know as I’ve never made it there before 9 a.m.). Of course, I’m not deducting stars because I’m sure that’s the case at any gym. I come during midday or after 7 p.m.
The cardio room is big, filled with tons of machines. If ti’s especially busy, sometimes I don’t get my first choice, but I will get my second. The pool is big and nice, and this Y is conveniently located next to hiking/​biking trails, so a jaunt outside to break things up (when it’s nice out, of course), is a great diversion. Because this location is near the woods, be very careful driving at dusk– there are tons of deer.
But the best thing about the Y has to be the trainers. My favorites are Karen and Lydia. When I first joined, Lydia set me up on the weight machines and is always willing to help out. When I haven’t been in a while, she says it’s nice to see me (but spares me the lecture). They have this cool computer system where you log your cardio workouts and 10 weight machines are connected, which record your settings (where the seat goes, what your last weights were), and then once a month you get emails that show you how many elephants you lifted and hot fudge sundaes you’ve burned off. It’s a big encouragement.

I’ve been a part of many years of childhood mischief at this place. Fun times.
However, after growing up a little and going here as a serious adult trying to workout, I was somewhat disappointed.
This location has a great pool, many basketball courts (unfortunately they are almost always packed), and many many cardio machines.
What was lacking, however, was the free weight section. Stuck down in a dark dungeon is a small area for the heavy lifters. If you are looking for a good atmosphere to pound the weights, I’d check elsewhere.
They have so many programs for children that, if you have children this is a great place to take them, but if you hate children, this is not a place for you as there are always crowds of them.