Half the place continues to be under construction, including the pool, for going on 5 years.read more

The NYC Parks Department maintains a bunch of recreation centers in the city that are often refered…read moreto as City Gyms. These include Community Centers, Field Houses, and Nature Centers and offer services such as indoor pools, weight rooms, basketball courts, dance studios, boxing rings, art studios, game rooms and libraries. The Hansborough center is mostly a gym/sport destination (though they are opening a computer room soon). I go here to work out - lifting weights, cardio on the machines, walking on the track, and sometimes swimming. They have a few classes and offer some after school stuff for kids. I don't know how crowded this place gets on evenings and weekends since I come in the middle of the day, but it seems well-used and therefore well kept. Plus, it's in a historic part of Harlem. The best thing is the price. $50/year for most centers, $75/year for ones with a pool. If you get a membership to one, you can visit ANY rec center in the system in any of the 5 boroughs. If you're looking for a place to work out and have basic needs, then a City Gym is a good choice. This one in particular if you live uptown. They're not all this nice, and the one in Chelsea is rumored to be even nicer. I'd do some investigating to see if the center near you is a place you'd spend time. If you come here, don't be fooled by the 134th street address. What you want to do is walk east along 135th (if you're coming from the B/C or 2/3 stations) until you come to Lennox Terrace apartment complex (just east of Malcolm X Blvd./Lennox Ave.). You'll see a little street that runs behind the building along the parking lot. Turn in there. The Rec center is on the left on a tiny strip of street labeled, helpfully, 134th. Don't confuse it with the Joseph Kennedy rec center at the end of the street.

This review reflects my experience during a facility orientation tour at Asphalt Green this morning…read morewith Fritz, a member of the customer service team. I hadn't visited the facility in many years, despite having been deeply involved in the original community mobilization efforts that ensured this property would be preserved for much-needed neighborhood fitness and cultural programming, successfully pushing back against proposals for additional luxury high-rise development. The Asphalt Green team went out of their way to accommodate me as a walk-in, encouraged by a neighbor who regularly swims at the pool and speaks highly of its state-of-the-art design. While waiting in the lobby, I also ran into a fellow runner who is a frequent gym user, a spontaneous moment that speaks volumes about how embedded Asphalt Green is in the local community. I was impressed not only by the facility itself, but by Fritz's knowledge of membership services and the institution's history, especially as I shared personal memories of my own connection to its development. The tour included the locker rooms, pool, and fitness center. The pool is truly stunning and stands out as a best-in-class facility, thoughtfully designed to incorporate accessibility for users of all abilities. Experiencing it firsthand was unexpectedly emotional, a powerful realization of visionary community leader Dr. George Murphy's hopes for the Yorkville community brought to life. The fitness center was active and welcoming, with members of all ages engaged in individual workouts, stretching, and training sessions. The equipment appeared well maintained, well used, and reflective of a vibrant, inclusive membership. As a community-based nonprofit, Asphalt Green, like many NYC nonprofits, does the best it can with the resources available. From my perspective, the facility is exceptionally well run, thoughtfully maintained, and clearly fulfilling its mission to provide a neighborhood-based, state-of-the-art fitness center that truly serves its community. Thanks to Fritz for her kindness and generosity.

Customer service is poor…read more This used to be a wonderful gym. It's still useful for getting in a workout but very disappointed in a number of things The facility has not been kept up well over the years. Showers, steam room and sauna often broken. Stairs were is disrepair and it took several accidents to get them fixed. They used to have a trainer available to answer questions or help remove a heavy free weight someone left on a machine. Now the only time you see a trainer is when they are working 1:1 doing a personal training session They new gym equipment they got in recently didn't replace old outdated 20 plus year old equipment with modern versions like other gyms have done but rather took away some cardio machines and replaced them with racks and platforms for lifting. So if you're into lifting and body building this might be a fit for you The spin bikes were never properly maintained over the years and although I've made suggestions they simply say - ok I'll send an email. Nothing gets done and now the still falling apart bikes have been moved to a separate building across the soccer field They also took away some gym space by renting part of the gym floor to Spear PT

Normandie Club gets Five Stars now. They really invested my membership money into the latest…read moreequipment. I'm enjoying my treadmill walks more and more! Some training might be nice but I'm figuring it out. I just use the basics Quick Start and set my pace. If you live in Normandie Court I suggest you join the Club. There's lots of perks for members. Free coffee and WiFi. Spacious lounge and beautiful city views. Five Stars it is!

New cardio machines!!! Finally, last month (Jan'23), Club Normandie got new elliptical, treadmills,…read moreand Peleton bikes for the area outside the pool room. Marianne posted a bunch of photos so I won't do it again, but this definitely brings the Club up to at least normal standards. For my needs (cardio, strength training, lounge for work, and attentive staff), I'm updating my review to 5-stars. (My only caveat is that I don't really use the locker rooms, sauna, or pool so I can't speak to those facilities. And the roof decks are closed while the building facades are being repaired, so disregarding that now as well.)

I just moved to New York and needed a new gym to go to. Since they offered a 24 session Groupon I…read moredecided to give it a shot. I have only ever gone here during Covid. Everyone that works here is beyond nice and welcomes me every time I come in. Tiffany at the front desk is always so sweet. There is a cardio room, weights room, machine room, small track, and boxing room. My favorite part about this gym is how there is never a big crowd and how the boxing room is always empty and available. Im surprised to see how so many reviews mention issues with the gym members, I have never experienced this myself. The cons: It is a smaller gym with only one of every machine so sometimes you have to wait. Because of Covid the last gym session on the weekends are at 2pm.

If you're thinking of joining for the pool: Don't do it. The hours are erratic and increasingly…read morelimited if you want to swim laps.

Way too small for how expensive this school is. It's crowded no matter when u go. I have social…read moreanxiety in the gym and having to deal with such rigjt spaced and none of the machines are open genuinely just makes me consider to not work out.

I am beyond disappointed with the dodge fitness center. I am an injured runner and alumni and…read morejoined for the summer to use the pool. Weird pool hours I can understand, but the pool has been cancelled MULTIPLE days due to "staffing issues." They have said they can't get enough lifeguards to staff it. This is inept to me. How could they have not hired more lifeguards? This is my only form of exercise right now and I am PAYING for it. Get it together, guys! Please! Otherwise the gym is clean, pool is clean. Just insanely disappointed with this staffing situation.

Perfect gym with perfect post workout activities like swimming. People are also great they don't…read morejudge and minding their own worlds.

I'm an old original Reebox Club person from the late 90s, before they even sold out so I'm picky…read more All these years later, I've slowed down, and I'm even pickier but in a different way. Mercedes Club is perfect for me. Thank you for keeping the music fairly quiet after a long day of work, and thank you for the fantastic service by management and customer service. Also a shout out for quiet lockers!!! Yes!! Every other club has these slamming lockers and I want to lose my mind. I do wish you had more healthy food options for those nights I'm too tired to cook.....but I'll take a juice any day!!! Cheers to time flying and nice people to workout around.

My child went here last year because we like the pool in this particular building. Other than that,…read morethis place has nothing going for it. You can't enroll online, so you call them and call them and call them. You leave messages, which they don't return. Fill out online requests, which they also don't respond to. Finally someone answers and says you can't enroll until after such and such day. Because although they can't seem to get anything else remotely professionally, they're real sticklers for hard dates. So you wait. You call back and no one answers another 3 or 4 times. Finally they pick up 4 days after the date they told you has passed and now they don't have any classes left. When you do manage to get a class, forget about doing a makeup because they just sell whatever's available to whoever wants to do a drop in with no preference given to people who already pre-paid for all the classes. This is exactly the kind of crappy and unprofessional business that will hopefully be a thing of the past when people start reacting to being treated badly while simultaneously paying out the nose for it. You know what year it is. Fix your stupid website. If you can't get it together enough to have online enrollment, try to get someone to answer your phones. If that's too hard, at least maybe bother to update the locations, dates, times, anything at all so every piece of relevant information isn't completely WRONG.

Took my 2 kids there for a trial lesson. Lessons are given in a residential building that has a…read morepool. The pool and facilities are fine. There were a handful of lanes in the narrow pool, yet at least 2-3 classes given in one lane at a given time. So, even though there was 1 instructor and 3 kids, it was crowded and they had to course around each other. Not great when you're learning how to swim. The worst part was that the instructors and even supervisor had ZERO enthusiasm or knew how to make the class exciting for kids. It was a trial class, and the instructor nor the supervisor even introduced themselves to the my kids. The woman instructor, I think her name was Danielle, never even smiled once. The kids got in the pool and she said "do the backstroke" to my 7 year old. My son, thinking he's a good swimmer and giving it a go, tried to swim or float on his back but only sank. She didn't say anything like, "OK good try" or "let's work on your form". She just told him to swim to the other side of the pool. Meanwhile, he can barely swim. I spoke to the supervisor about my concerns that the instructor is not giving my kids any pointers or tips on how to improve their swimming. Just barking orders. He said, "oh, she must be off today, she's usually good." After 30 min watching her completely destroy all the excitement my son had in learning how to swim, I complained again to the supervisor and even spoke to the Take Me To the Water office on the phone. They said they will speak to the instructor after the class and that we won't be charged. No apology. No other solution. And, they even said that instructor was one of the senior ones. This is a swimming farm that has no business teaching young kids. You're lucky if you're instructor is nice. I ended up booking at Asphalt Green. They have great kid-friendly instructors.

First time swimming in a public pool in NYC! I was initially I was worried about the crowds and…read morewater quality but it all turned out better than expected! After a quick bag search, I went upstairs to the women's locker room which was cleaner than expected. Staff were nice in reminding us to lock up our stuff. As a former competitive swimmer, it was extremely difficult to do flip turns, not only because they closed half of the pool horizontally due to lifeguard staffing issues, but also because there were multiple people moving in different directions. It was busy when it first opened in the morning but then calm downed a bit and folks were able to do more lap swimming. Water was pretty clean and temperature was good; chlorine levels weren't too bad. Sounds like they close for the fall/winter so I'm hoping to come back before it gets cold.

John Jay Pool and Recreation Center is a rare site to see. There's lots of parks and playgrounds in…read moreNYC but I rarely come across facilities like this one. The pool is beautiful and if you decide to go I advise you to check the hours first. The last time I was there it was closed. They have separate Men's and Women's dressing rooms. The pool is well maintained. Lines get long especially when the children are out of school. Funny thing is my landlord just gave me a complimentary membership to the building Health Club when I renewed my lease. Starting November 1st I have access to the indoor pool in my apartment building. I guess you won't be seeing me at John Jay Pool.