West Morris Area YMCA

★★★★★Philip Doyle

Excellent exercise programs including free for Veterans warm water aquatic exercises every Wednesday. Really good boxing program 8 am on Thursday.

★Vasyl Maksymiv

We regularly come to this pool with our children on Sundays, and on Sundays children are allowed to swim without life jackets. However, when we came on Monday, we were immediately told that life jackets were required. This is very confusing for my child because it is the same pool, the same lifeguards, the same water depth, and there is always one adult supervising one child. Because of this, it is difficult to explain to a child why one day it is allowed and another day it is not. My child wants to learn how to swim without a life jacket, just like on Sundays. I also do not understand how a child can properly learn to swim if they must constantly wear a life jacket. This situation causes a lot of stress and frustration, and my child becomes extremely upset and has severe meltdowns when forced to wear one. I would appreciate a clear explanation for why the rules are different depending on the day and would like to ask for a more consistent approach so children do not experience unnecessary stress and confusion.

★★★★★William B. Johnson II

Before I begin, I will preface that I am only leaving five stars out of pure pity. I'm sitting here with my glass of water, letting time pass before I fall back asleep and I see the recent reviews that my YMCA has gotten. It makes me upset. I want to uplift the people and places that are a part of my daily lifestyle, a full circle lesson that will be understood at the end of this review. Living in Morris County for all my 72 years, I love my EGYM; it is one of the greatest inventions for my physical needs and abilities. Unfortunately, that may be the only thing management takes out of this review. They see the five stars, they see a compliment and decide to run with that while ignoring the rest. That scenario is a microcosm of how the YMCA is being run. As an elder member, I feel very comfortable at my YMCA. While going station to station with my EGYM, people are nice, the staff is inviting and I feel a sense of community. At my old age, I like to walk the track. Recently, I have felt a sense of neglect to do so. When leaving the cardio room and heading down the stairs, which admittedly takes a bit more time than I'd like, I have plenty of time to ask myself, "do I really want to do this today? Do I want to see our younger generation belittled and treated like trash?" When I enter the basement, I see our younger generation treated like captive zoo animals. Every move is being watched from a distance and any mistake made will quickly be reprimanded by our staff. On the contrary, there is little to no encouragement when something is done correctly. These young people should be commended for making good, positive choices with their youth. They could be out doing heaven knows what, but instead, they choose the YMCA to be their place of gathering. I will say, there is one individual who does a nice job interacting with the youth, but outside of that, they are shunned. The YMCA should have a sense of belonging and not be run like a God-forsaken prison when it comes to the young men and women. It's okay for the kiddos to enjoy themselves. We are all at the gym for one reason: to stay active and better ourselves each day. Unfortunately, both management and staff have lost sight of that and are running a non-profit like a Fortune-500 company. We, similarly to how I did with this review, need to be uplifting and encouraging to the younger folks. Despite the recent poor service, I decided to be the bigger person, look past it and give a five-star review, which again is out of pity, but go me! If I were to give an honest score, I'd say closer to a 3. I only have so much time left on this earth and it saddens me when a young man is scolded for wearing improper footwear. Yes, rules are rules, but we don't have to embarrass and harass individuals for doing so. I recently saw a young lady with her daughter kicked out of the free weights section because her daughter was not of age to be in the basement. We do not need to be vigilantes. Rules are rules, but there needs to be a bit of leniency. What lesson did that teach the little girl? She saw her mother trying to set a good example and, in turn, was treated as a criminal. That experience has been weighing on me; who knows how that changes the trajectory of her poor daughter's life. She may never go to a gym again because her mommy was yelled at. I'm happy to have finally gotten it off my chest. Regardless, let's move forward this holiday season with change. Be the reason that people want to stay rather than go. Treat others with kindness and they may or may not reciprocate, but at least you can be proud of yourself. I like seeing younger people being active at my YMCA; it makes me feel younger. But, there has been a clear decline from that demographic and it is sadly easy to see why. Let's make sure everyone feels welcome, not just me and my friends, who can easily be in a retirement home ;) Your dearest friend, Bill. William B. Johnson II

★michael faust

Worst managed gym. I’ve been a member of many gyms and have even worked at a few. This place by far is the worst run. My main issue is the random unannounced closing. They are happy to send 5 emails in a day to tell you about hvac issues but won’t send one telling you they are closing early or even closing for 2 weeks!! Multiple times I have shown up to a sign on the door as many other cars were as well.

★★★★★Pat Behnke

My husband and I love this Y and feel it is very much part of our community. We both take a variety of fitness classes- pilates, barre, yoga sculpt, core, etc. The instructors are really good at their jobs- planning interesting classes, changing things up, giving good cues, and ensuring that people of all fitness levels can participate. We are stronger and more flexible for it. We also do strength workouts on the egym and use the equipment in the cardio room to maintain good cardio health. It's a place that people of all ages with a wide variety of health goals can feel comfortable.