Guelph YMCA-YWCA - Guelph, Ontario

Julie R.

I can't say enough good things about our local YMCA! The staff here is absolutely amazing—always friendly, helpful, and genuinely dedicated to making everyone feel welcome. The facility is impeccably clean, making it a pleasure to work out and enjoy the various amenities. My only improvement, as an early bird would be an earlier weekday start for the gym, as it opens at 6am.

The children's programs are outstanding! My kids love the activities and swim classes, and I've seen them grow and learn so much since we joined. It's a fantastic environment for families, and I appreciate the focus on health and community. Highly recommend this YMCA to anyone looking for a great place to stay active and engaged!

Amy P.

I love this place! The main reason I am excited about this particular YMCA is that parents can exercise with their kids ages 10-12 in the gym, as long as they take a short 1-2 hour session together with a personal trainer at the YMCA! ♥️ They also require that a parent is always within arm's length of the child when the child (10-12) is working out. My child loves working out with me! Other parents are respectful of the rules as well, and their children are always at an arm's length. Also, this location has a huge teen presence! It is great to see so many teens excited to workout! This gym definitely has a positive vibe. It is also regularly quite busy with people, which adds to the energy of the room. They also have super thick gym mats for doing stretches on; I have never seen ones this thick! ♥️

Family change room: It is enormous and well maintained! It is wonderful to have so many individual stalls for kids to get changed in!

Equipment/Gym: See my pics for some of the equipment. They have the main gym room and many rooms throughout the building with gym equipment. They also have a basketball court that is always filled with teens and sometimes men. There are squash courts. The weight machines have holders for your water bottle! ♥️

They have a water bottle filling station.

Lockers: You need to bring your own locks, and your lock can't be too thick to fit through the locker hole if you are using the lockers across from the gym.

Staff: The custodian went out of his way to help me with something for my child -- really wonderful person! One of the personal trainers is particularly friendly (the really tall guy). The girls at the front desk are friendly. The swim instructors have been lovely people as well.

Bathrooms: They are kept incredibly clean! Wow!

Food: They have vending machines and a cafe. The cafe has limited hours. They have tables and chairs in front of the pool to eat and watch your kids.

Pool: It is smaller than the Cambridge YMCA's pool, but it is adequate.

Hours: See my pic.

Wheelchair accessibility: The bathrooms and doors have wheelchair buttons. See my pic. There are a ton of wheelchair parking spots. I have never seen this many in one area!

Parking: There is a shocking amount of parking in their massive parking lot.

YMCA amalgamation: You can use your membership here or at any other YMCA in the Waterloo or Stratford/Perth regions. However, each YMCA has different policies, so that may affect your experience. For example, the Cambridge YMCA has a minimum age of 15 or 16 to use their weight machines. At the Guelph YMCA, it is 13 with no training. See my first pic: "Fitness Age Policies."

*I took the indoor pics on an unusually quiet bad weather afternoon, so don't judge the foot traffic by the pics.

Theo J.

For the most part the experience has been positive but the general hygiene of a larger part of the gym population has decreased dramatically lately. Causing me to think of going elsewhere. When other members including staff express similar thoughts, and I’m told nothing can be done it makes you wonder.

Kevin S.

Just left and signed up with the fiancé and had such a good experience dealing with Arjun! This man deserves a raise! So kind and thoughtful in helping us choose the right membership and helping us get our daughter setup for swimming lessons! And giving us more information on the PCC program! I would recommend anyone to the YMCA after dealing with Arjun! Great customer service!

Terry M.

Our home away from home. Friendly, helpful staff. Always clean. Machines in good repair. Locker rooms always clean. Best part is it is not pretentious!! Very friendly atmosphere without the ‘jock mentality’ of other gyms/pools. Great café!!

Jonathan R.

Facility is clean. Staff are nice and helpful. My biggest issues are in regard to the hours of operation, and swimming lessons.

I wish the gym stayed open a little later than 9pm. But most of all, I wish Friday they were opened to at least 9 or 9:30pm. Fridays are great days to sneak in a late work out because you're not worried about being up early the next day for work.

As a young dad weekend hours closing by 6pm are impossible to work with, so I have to fit in any exercising from Monday to Thursday.

The swimming lessons for kids greatly varies from teacher to teacher - and a lot of time the teacher is overwhelmed by 3 or more kids per teacher. The kids end up doing nothing but jumping in a pool over and over again.

A P.

These people here are prejudice and and liars. I think they forgot that I'm paying for this membership and not being sponsored. If you're a person of color you might want to consider other options for you and your family especially your kids.

S A.

As a valued member of the YMCA community, I wanted to share my feedback regarding the swimming classes provided
at your facility. Overall, I appreciate the effort put forth by the instructors and staff to create a positive learning environment. However, there are a few areas where I believe improvements could be made.

Firstly, I've noticed that the duration of the swimming classes is quite short, with only 30 minutes allocated per session. While I understand the importance of time management, I feel that this timeframe may be limiting for effective learning. Additionally, a significant portion of each class is dedicated to general discussions, with 5-10 minutes spent at the beginning and end of the session. While communication is essential, I believe that the balance between discussion and practice could be adjusted to maximize the learning experience.

Furthermore, I've observed that there is a lack of individualized attention given to each student during the class.
It seems that the instructors are unable to focus on the specific needs and abilities of each child, resulting in a one-size-fits-all approach to teaching. In my opinion, grouping children based on their skill level, with separate classes for beginners and those who have already learned some swimming techniques, could greatly enhance
the learning process and ensure that each child receives the support they need to progress.

In conclusion, I believe that by addressing these issues and making necessary adjustments to the swimming program,
the YMCA can continue to be a leading provider of quality swimming education in our community.
I remain hopeful that my feedback will be taken into consideration, and I look forward to seeing positive changes
implemented in the near future.