Oshawa YMCA

I understand that the YMCA is a non-profit organization but it's not an excuse to let your Oshawa location become in dire need of a face lift. The staff try their best but you can tell they get absolutely no support from managment or corporate. 10 years ago this place was flourishing, members and staff were valued, machines and equipment were refreshed before reaching the stage where they would be difficult to sell used, now some of them would be considered scrap. The exact same machines I used in grade 7 or 8, I'm now 30 years old. Peterborough, London have amazing facilities, so clean and full of energy, amazing layouts. Oshawa has been left in the dust, one can assume the businesses or people that donated to the facility are no longer around or able to. Please fix this facility for the broad health of your own community residents. Its just a shame until then! All the best!

The rock.wall was such a well used assest, and shamefully there had. It been a date set for its reintroduction to membership. I for one enjoyed both its use and guiding newcomers through its basic use. Great feature for a great gymnasium - anticipating its reintroduction!

Enrolled my 7 year old in the Children’s swim otter class (first level) and at first it seemed great! Instructor was super nice, child seemed happy and place is clean. Then the 4th class before the end of the lessons, they tell me that my child has to redo the same entry level cause he’s not kicking straight and to register again! He has 3 more classes to improve so why has he failed? Seems like a complete money grab! The worst part is that the instructor is so misleading, tells my son he was doing a great job by giving him high fives every time she asked him to do something and then fails him! I understand positive reinforcement helps build their confidence but there’s a difference between that and being fake.The entry level is just to get you familiar with the water and the very basics with flotation devices. Why do we have to redo this level because you don’t like the way he kicks? He’s 7 and doing exactly what he was supposed to: get familiar with the water, jumping in, head underwater, front and back float and pool safety. Instead of praising him for not doing it the way you want, why didn’t the instructor correct him and show him what she wanted him to do? We observed every class and thought my son was doing great by the praise and high fives, and if we took it that way, how else would a 7 year old. If I saw that my child did not do well and he genuinely should not have passed, I would agree with the instructors assessment. However, I strongly disagree and feel that the classes are overpriced for incompetent instructors and a complete cash grab!

Too many etiquette rules broken and nothing done. Used to be a nice family facility. Not anymore. Not a suitable place for people with traumatic brain injuries, PTSD, on the autism spectrum and various other mental illnesses. Too many people dropping/slamming weights. I suffered from a TBI and the repeated dropping and slamming of weights causes anxiety/panic attacks. Was told by management that with my issues it would be better I find another place.

GREAT PEOPLE...this place has been AMAZING, my partner and I joined during the height of 'The Vid' but we have always felt safe going here, as it is super clean and mask wearing/sanitizing is enforced. The showers are clean and private, and the changerooms offer so many lockers, they have hairdryers, lots of benches and mirrors. The gym itself has enough equipment that you don't have to wait to use a machine and it feels like a safe, non judgmental space.Okay now that the boring stuff is covered, let me go over what made this gym so great...THE PEOPLE. From day one, everyone was so incredibly kind and welcoming. Jake, who is a personal trainer and supervises the gym area is so friendly, he is willing to help anyone learn, even if its just understanding how to use a machine. There is also several different people who have greeted us to look over our vaccine passports/check ID, who we always look forward to seeing as they are just so kind. I wasnt able to catch everyone's names but there is, Ally who makes any paperwork stuff so easy and straightforward, Natalia who will always greet us with a smile, a really friendly man who always called us 'Team' , and so many more lovely individuals. We sadly have to leave the Oshawa location, as me and my partner are moving, but I would recommend joining to anyone who is interested! THANK YOU

Too expensive considering 85% of the classes are taught by volunteers.I went to the Y for more that 5 years and price kept going up and up. When I finally quite it was $55 a month. I went to a better gym for $40. I heard the fired all the older staff (ones that actually knew what they were doing) and hired a bunch of young kids to replace them to save costs but for what they were charging I couldn't believe it. No wonder that place was a ghost town on Monday nights when it used to be packed.

Good variety of work out options, the gym itself is sort of smaller than most gyms, the basketball court is nice quality, a good pool, and a nice atmosphere to work out, not much free weight options in the gym though.

I would not recommend now. I was a member many years ago and loved it. Now classes times are not geared to the working classes. Geared to seniors which yay they are able to go during the day and for youths. Come on how many people are curling? AQUAFIT! THE BIGGEST JOKE GOING. I can never get into a class no matter what time the class is, the ones that sign up cancel their spot about 15 minutes, so you want me to be at your beck and call, no thank you. Let me tell you what happens the rare time when I have been graced by the Y to go. There is a group of men who have no interest in aquafit, they stand there at the back of pool and yap the whole time. WTH...so my spot is being given to people that just want to sit in a pool and have social time? Another incident I experienced, I get they can only have so many in the people pool , HOW dare you not sign up! Or little Suzie is shamed as she is asked to leave the people and everyone staring as she makes the walk of shame to the change room.BACK TO CLASSES..WHY not have a body fit or total fit at night chair yoga at night. I am asked to make suggestions, those green papers go filed in G! If your looking for classes the high price to fund the Y is a rip off if you work 9 to 5. If your using the gym..mmmmm still better and cheaper places. I have cancelled as the YMCA has made changes not for the better, but for the worse. Maybe pay professionals to lead classes and not depend on your volunteers to run them. They work hard and can only do so much. I get the understaffed situation...but that excuse can only go so far.This is my experience and opinion.

I've been coming here for years, but I'm strongly considering cancelling my membership. This place used to be great, but it's been steeply declining over the past five years or so. This place used to be packed in the evenings, now it's practically deserted.I'm not sure who is in charge of the Y pricing and programs, but they should be fired. This place is extremely expensive now. The gym equipment is just ok, lots of worn or broken equipment though. They seem to have cancelled many of their programs and got rid of most of their staff. They have severely cut back the open hours of the facility to the point where I can hardly use the membership on weekends. I mean there is another gym around the corner from here that is a fraction of the cost, has a larger selection of better equipment, and is open 24/7. Not sure why the Y doesn't seem to be able to offer similar services when they are charging 3 to 4 times the cost of similar gyms in the area.The only redeeming feature of this place is the children's swimming programs are pretty good... But, they recently jacked the price for classes (which are not included in the already expensive family membership prices) way up, almost doubled the cost! If it weren't for having kids in swimming lessons here, I would definately cancel and go elsewhere.

Can never get in touch with anyone to discuss services.