the Dowd YMCA is the gold star of YMCA facilities within the Greater Charlotte area. The staff is friendly and the facilities are always being upgraded with the latest equipment or fitness trends. they even just completed a fully functional coffee shop and co-working spaces. The YMCA is the social hub of fitness and friendships. Top notch instructors and classes offered daily read more

Based on the new parking vendor Metropolis Memberships now limits workouts to three hours. After three hour members will have to pay to park . Gym hours are posted at the front door... make me understand how members that drive and park are now limited to 3 hours to allow Metropolis to make a profit. Membership at the YMCA is not cheap. Members are not treated equally based on those that park and don't park. How can the Y now limit membership work out time???? We pay to use the facility at our leisure!! read more

Great location, awesome rooftop, and various fitness programs at this branch. For $70-$80/month- it's not a bad deal! Make sure you stay connected using their YCLT+ app! read more

Highly recommend the Y! Multiple workout spaces, a variety of classes, and a lot to keep you active and busy. read more

Dowd Branch YMCA - Rooftop Workout Space - Gyms Near Me - Charlotte, North Carolina

The lot is large for parking but there is also a multi level parking deck if you need additional parking. Lots of equipment. A variety of classes. Good instructors. Various age groups. Classes all day and late into the evening. No excuses not to get your workout on here. read more

Dowd Branch YMCA - Getting ready for Cardio Dance. Dance Alissa is Tuesday. Beverly is on Thursday. - Gyms Near Me - Charlotte, North Carolina

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Impossible to cancel membership unless you go in person - so 20th century. You go to their web page to supposedly cancel but (of course) that page on their website does not work. Also cannot get anyone on the phone. Just terrible "service" all around. read more

Outdated equipment. Rusty dumb bells all over the place. You have the audacity to charge people over $60-80 a month and have equipment as old as the 1990s? No staff floor presence. Carpets in the lockers? Musty smelling and rusty floors. Sad excuse of a YMCA. Layout is all over the place and not to mention sanitation here is an absolute disaster The hours are very limited for people with actual careers and/work in off hours. So much for coming in if you work until 8/9pm Yikes... we signed up for a month and going back to our old gym. We don't have kids so this is not the gym for us. The rooftop is nice and some of the amenities were a plus but the cons outweigh the pros by 100x They also have a crappy cancelation policy where you have to pay for the last month as well. read more

This gym reminds me of Equinox in NYC so much. I feel at peace here because they have a cleaning crew that is on top of their maintenance like no other. Super clean especially during times like this however I agree with the reviews below that the mask requirement is pointless. When I first moved to CLT, my home gym was Gateway where I was a part of their CrossFit tribe however since Gateway is no longer - I decided to rejoin the Dowd last month. I have been to a ton of boxes and I really appreciate the conservatve approach amongst the coaches. As with many boxes, coaches will always vary however here they are super attentive, never on their phone at all and really care that you get better. Outside the gym rate, the membership price is relatively lower compared to other gyms yet, you definiitely get more bang for your buck at the Dowd. At boutique gyms, you are very limited however at the Dowd, I have a variety of choices from swimming, Barre, Pliates, Cycle to Functioning Training. Participating in Cardio Dance class after work reminded me how much I missed options. I totally forgot that I was in class as the playlist was filled my favorite Soca and Caribbean tunes - I felt like I was at a party. If you are like me and you dont want to do the same routine everyday when it comes to fitness, join the Dowd - they truly have some thing for everyone. For me, this is the best workout facility in Charlotte in terms of value, variety as well as networking. Plenty of equipment, cleaning stations, comfortable locker room's and friendly staff. While I miss my cozy spot, Gateway, I am also a huge fun of this location. read more

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Had the pleasure of visiting this fancy renovated YMCA. I'd been wanting to check it out for months and now that I have... I love it! The best part is the rooftop track and workout area. Gyms can be so overcrowded these days and to be able to workout on the rooftop was amazing! I do currently belong to another local gym, so I won't be joining the Y any time soon but I definitely recommend this location if you are on the hunt for a gym. I went on a friday morning around 9AM and the rooftop was fairly empty. We brought weights into the middle area and did HIIT and ran laps in between. It was a beautiful sunny day and working out with that view was just lovely. Can't wait to go back! read more

Dowd Branch YMCA - Beautiful rooftop track and workout area. - Gyms Near Me - Charlotte, North Carolina

Awful place to workout. The gym culture is terrible. People snaking racks, no one puts their weights away, and the staff literally does nothing. Good thing there's only 3 other gyms in south end and they're tiny or I would go elsewhere. Begging for someone to open a competitor to the Y cause there isn't a YMCA that isn't trash these days read more

Dowd Branch YMCA - Gyms Near Me - Charlotte, North Carolina

I have been calling for 2 months to cancel my membership and nobody has called back. maybe a call to the Better Business Bureau will help?

I had to QUICKLY cancel my gym membership at the #DowdYMCA ‍‍ after only 1 week. Dowd stressed me out every time I went in for a workout! It was so overcrowded and trying to get equipment felt like a mad dash for free Beyoncé tickets ‍! read more

Dowd Branch YMCA - Dowd YMCA - Gyms Near Me - Charlotte, North Carolina

The good - great facility, beautifully renovated, clean, doesn't smell sweaty like some gyms, lots of variety of classes, towels are provided, all props/equipment for classes provided (except yoga mats), two indoor pools, convenient app to check class schedules, child care provided, most employees are very nice The bad - traffic, parking, how crowded it gets, some employees have a lot of attitude and can't be bothered to be nice They are putting in a cafe soon (spring 2020) read more

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"Do I recommend this business?" Absolutely not - the more attempts I try to make this gym my home gym, it's just not. Go in and see for yourself - not even worth my time trying to point out all of what's wrong with this place when you'll find out first hand. I've been in the industry for over a decade and gyms all over the world from private home gyms and family operated to franchise large scale gyms that are poorly managed - and this is by far the worst gym Ive ever been to. Consistently. read more

Pros - unlimited amounts of equipment, 5th floor outdoor track and field area/rooftop. Large areas of additional bench presses and squat racks, also a big cardio area. If you attend during non-peak hours, you will be fine in getting your workout complete within an hour. If you go during peak hours, go with a workout partner/friend or you'll be battling for spots/machines. Cons - hours of operation, they are strict about closing time and begin shutting down before the actual times. Saturday's at 6 pm? Really? Extend it to at least 8 or 9 pm. Pool reservations in the app are also tricky, especially if everything is already booked and locked down. Peak hours it's a packed house and tough to find empty equipment. read more

Whirlpool, Showers, Steam Room need work This is not the standard Dowd Y once maintained. A lot of cost saving going on. Really miss the lunch service that left about 5 years ago. read more

The gym is absolutely wonderful. Plenty of machines, many amenities. It was also super crowded. I went at 7:00am and found my self waiting for each of the lifting machines (Leg day). I am visiting from out of town and assume that this is the normal for the gym. You can tell that there definitely was a fitness culture vibe going on. In some sense I was irritated. It also was inspiring to see so many people being committed to living healthy lifestyles! read more

the only place in town where 4 wall Handball is played. I moved to Charlotte in 1979 because of the Handball program. There were about 125 players then with many tournaments around for competition. Now? There are about a dozen active Handball players. Still hitting ball today. read more

Need to monitor hot tubs to make sure members are following policy! Hire more employee if you need to!!

Overall pretty average weightlifting equipment, coming from a smaller Golds Gym I still notice myself wanting to use equipment that the DOWD doesn't have. It's pretty crowded during the classic "busy" times. Overall pretty clean, and the amenities are great. I would give the amenities like steam room, sauna whirlpool, swimming pools, a 3.5 out of five stars and the weightlifting equipment a 2.5 out of five stars to average my review. SUGGESTION: I really really wish they would extend the hours, not for the whole gym but just at least for the weightlifting section. It doesn't have to be 24/7 but on Sunday it's only open 12-6 and sometimes that's difficult for me and others to make. read more

Haven't updated my review in a year, since the renovations. So now that the renovations have been done for a few months...I can still confirm this is the BEST ymca in Charlotte! And in my opinion the best gym in town. Here's why - -new building -new rooftop!! -new gyms (Hines & Keith) -new machines -new parking lot & garage -new yoga room -new barre room -new CrossFit studio -new locker rooms -new bathrooms -new child watch area -new new new, everything is brand new and so nice!! AND. Not only have the renovations made this gym so nice, it's still the cheapest gym, most bang for your buck. Not a planet fitness but also no commitments, and they can calculate a gym price especially for you based on your income. The classes here are legit. Especially group power, athletic conditioning, total strength, barre, and yoga. I've been a member here for years, and I love it. If you're thinking about joining, try it out - 5 free passes so you can decide if it's the right fit for you. read more

They had everything I needed ... and plenty more. Very clean. Only thing was it took awhile to get a parking space. I will definitely come back and get a good workout on the rooftop gym. read more

I came here as a guest and I absolutely loved my workout. The last time i was here was about a year or so ago when Dowd was undergoing construction. It's so crazy to see extremely different it is! It is super super spacious and I feel no detail was left unnoticed. One would think that parking is only around the building, but I like how patrons of Dowd can utilize the parking garage nearby as well. The front desk staff was friendly and greeted me upon entry. Staff was seen throughout the Y as I was working out and they were friendly as well. The locked rooms are clean, spacious and well lit. I was shocked at the small LED screens that were located outside of the rooms that would inform persons on class schedules. I feel that's an innovative way to let people know about classes as opposed to a paper schedule or telling someone to look up the schedule online. I don't have any children, but the daycare looked clean and there was plenty of room and "things" for kids to do to keep themselves busy. The only complaint I'll have is the low ceiling where the stair-masters are located. I had to be careful to avoid hitting my head on the ceiling, but I'll still give this place 5 stars! read more

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As far as gym equipment and facilities, this Y is fabulous. Unfortunately, you can't use any of these facilities because the gym is too crowded. Expect 10+ minutes to find parking and then waiting around for 20-30 to use any machine. There is no time a day where you can get a good workout at this gym. If you want to socialize and look good, this is the gym for you. If you went to get an actual workout, I recommend going elsewhere. Too bad! It's a nice gym! read more

I've been training for about 10 years at this point, and I can honestly say that out of the 20+ gyms that I've been a member/guest at, this gym is the most toxic workout environment I've ever seen. This is going to sound really obnoxious, but for the people out here trying to get an actual workout in, it will make absolute sense. Let's start with the young crowd: Love to see kids getting an early start to their fitness journey, but the amount of filming and setting up film equipment in the way of other guests is out of control and too cringy. Today I witnessed someone with absolutely no muscle on their bones shoo someone out of their video so they can go back to their pointless movements and then flex in the camera. Now let's talk about the old crowd: Again, love to see it and it's necessary to keep moving your body at that age to enjoy freedom of movement as long as possible. BUT... most of the old men sit on the machines and do the lightest weight possible while staring down every single pair of yoga shorts within a 1-mile radius. Then, there are the old guys on TRT... honestly, they're getting after it, keep it up! Pretty much everyone else I see is in there making the best use of their time, but it is simply too busy for the amount of members they allow in the gym at once. If you go before 8am or after 5pm, I can promise you my first born with absolute confidence that you WILL NOT get a good workout... even on Sundays of all days to train. Bottom line is there are waaaaaay too many members at this gym and it makes everyone visibly uncomfortable because the aforementioned groups routinely line up as many pieces of equipment and benches as possible. If there were any other gyms nearby as nice as the Dowd that I could walk to, I would without hesitation. Not to mention the vast disparity in membership prices. For example, my friend and I both make the same amount of money yet their membership costs $40/month whereas somehow I got stuck paying $70/month. That's alot of money to not be able to use the gym. read more

The best and safest workout facility in Charlotte. Plenty of equipment, cleaning stations, comfortable locker room's and friendly staff. I love this place. This the best YMCA I've been to in 30 years. read more

Dowd Branch YMCA - My Place of refuge the roof top track! - Gyms Near Me - Charlotte, North Carolina

Clean, additional parking in lot, nice staff, many options for classes and to work out independently

Do not use childcare at DOWD. We have been to multiple YMCA's around Charlotte and used their childcare and the DOWD's is the worst. Our child hates going to it but open his arms to workers at other YMCA's. They let his diapers overflow and leak into his pants, they leave him in a bouncer when he is way too big for one and they don't have many toys or anything to occupy him. Go anywhere but DOWD for childcare. Lake Norman is by far the best. read more

Sad. Does not have enough mirrors to watch one's exercise form, does not have enough equipment, when something break, it takes forever to fix, and employees turn off the lights before closing time to aggressively signal to leave. For the amount of money that I pay, it is not worth it. read more

Dowd Branch YMCA - Sad. When something break, it takes forever to fix, and employees turn off the lights ... (read full review) - Gyms Near Me - Charlotte, North Carolina

I never knew I could love a gym so much! So if you look at this gym from the outside, it looks a bit outdated. Before I started going, I knew alot of people went there which perplexed me since it looks more like an office building from the 60's rather than a gym. But step on it and everything changes..... They have a beautiful lounge area that reminds me of a lounge area on a cruise ship. Tons of comfy seats, windows and free wi fi too! Free wifi at the gym? Yes, I totally go to the YMCA to get my wi fi on. They also have a cafeteria-esque food joint. I can do that because of the spacious locker rooms they have. They have lockers you can rent out on the monthly or bring your own lock and use one of the daily use ones. In the women's locker room they have the standard showers, whirlpool, sauna, steam room but they also have a separate workout room down there complete with cardio machines, machines and free weights. Their showers are bigger than the ones at my house which is pretty small so I can go workout, shower, dry my hair, go to the lounge and "lounge" with free wifi for a couple of hours. Oh yeah, I guess I should talk about the actual gym component eh? I've been to different Y's in Charlotte and Y's in other cities and the Dowd has the most recent models of treadmills, ellipticals and weight machines I've seen. For people without cable (like me) they have tons of machines with tv's, hooray!! Yeah, it gets busy in the morning or right after work but they are open until 10pm on weeknights so there is more than enough time to go! read more

Dowd Branch YMCA - Gyms Near Me - Charlotte, North Carolina

Insanely too crowded. Most machines are taken, and lots of people are waiting for it.

Has sooooo much you can do. Love that yoga and yoga is free just by being a member. Great customer service for the most part

Great facility. Too big to only have 2 basketball courts and no active childcare drop off center. Overflow parking across the street is always available. Finding parking in the attached lot can be tough at times. read more

Please clean the cockroaches out of the Sauna and lockers, would be nice gym if it was clean

If I could give 0 stars I would. The saunas never go above 155 which is baffling to me. The point of a sauna is to be hot. Crowded gym, lack of parking and rude staff and members. Overall this is the worst gym I have ever been to. On top of that you have to give a 30 day notice to cancel a month to month membership. read more

It's nice. And it's the second biggest in the country. Honestly it's not big enough. There is never any machine available. I wish there was. I can't get here till 6:30 but it's just way over crowded all the time. People just stepping over reach other. Other than that it's a great gym. Love the roof top view when running read more

Dowd Branch YMCA - Gyms Near Me - Charlotte, North Carolina

The renovation of the Dowd was a big factor in my decision to join the YMCA of Greater Charlotte. I had heard good things about the group fitness classes and the outdoor track on the roof , so when I finally got tired of my previous gym , I chose the Y. This particular location is located very close to I-277 near uptown Charlotte and 'South End' Charlotte. There's private parking, Street parking , and a deck on a adjacent block you can park in for up to about 2 hours I believe ( if visiting the gym). There is ample room for weightlifting and cardio on one floor. There is a special CrossFit gym, two studios dedicated to Yoga and Barre. Dedicated cycling and advanced Pilates room ( I believe ). There are also some things that make it stand out : a substantial women's only workout room within the women's locker room , family locker rooms/bathrooms, free day lockers with combinations, refillable water bottle stations, free towels. These little extras go a long way, and really make the higher monthly cost of the Y worth it . The group classes and instructors included in membership are top notch. I've tried several, and there's something for everyone's level of fitness. I don't get bored going because there are so many options, therefore I get the most of my membership. read more

I was in town for a few days and asked a friend where I should workout. He told me that Dowd YMCA was my best bet. After telling my bestie that I was going to check it out, she co-signed his recommendations. Since I receive a number of great reviews for this place I had to check it out. I arrived on Saturday around 12:15pm. It is easy to locate, just off the highway. The parking seems like it may become problematic, but I found a spot with no issues. I am speaking of the lot next to the actual building. It is possible that there is additional parking elsewhere. I must admit that I was a bit overwhelmed when I walked in. However, I found guest services with no problem. The staff immediately assisted me with being able to utilize the facilities for the day. He was very friendly and even instructed me where to go based on my desire to weight train and do a little cardio. He also provided me with the location of the women's locker room. The locker room area is pretty massive. I would say the gym was crowded during the time I was present, yet there were ample lockers available. The area was clean, and I even witnessed staff taking out the trash! As suggested by the staff, I headed up stairs after securing my belongings. There was a dedicated area for cardio, however I did note that some cardio equipment was sporadically placed throughout the gym. Some were strategically placed in front of a window, which is a nice idea. I was able to snag an elliptical with no problem. The machine was pretty awesome! You are able to watch live Tv and even log into your Netflix account! How amazing is that? Can you imagine doing cardio and catching up on your shows??! Every cardio machine had a towel and sanitation spray. I noted that most people would wipe down the equipment after use. I am not the biggest fan of cardio, so after about 15 min I was done with the elliptical! Next - the weights- my real love! The plan was to hit my shoulders and do a small glute/ leg workout. This is where I ran into my first problem. This gym is stocked with free weights, v bars, straight bars, and machines. The issue- there are more people wanting to utilize the Mae items. My shoulder machine required two v bars and two sets of weight: 5 and 7.5 pound sets. Finding a free v bar was easy. However, there were no 6 pound weights anywhere. The next issue, where do I stand and workout? It was so awkward to be standing directly behind someone. She kept standing directly in front of my view of myself in the mirror. The weight training area is too crowded for my liking. I am thinking that if you find a sweet spot when the patron count is small you will be winning! I eventually went downstairs and was able to complete my routine. There were fewer people, but also limited equipment. Overall, this gym far exceeded my expectations. I will go as far to say it's the nicest gym I have worked out in. Who knew that the YMCA was so stellar! ?!? read more

Iam going to drop my review to three mainly bc finding any assistance here in the free weight areas is like a childish easter egg hunt. This location prides themselves for being an "adult gym" yet they hire young adults that aren't quite there mentally with service and knowledge of the facilities. Also , you are not just an adult Gym, there are families that come here that have children , which is why there is a child care facility on site . No one explained to us a reservation was needed for the child care facility, and Where's your cleaning staff, every gender neutral restroom had pee on the toilets, really adult. Do better , please. Also, can there be a rule for one person not to take 4 different sets of dumbbells to themselves so others can have the option to use them , why do you need 15', 20s, 30s , and 40s at your bench at the same time sitting there on your phone for 30+ minutes. This gym is like a mini circus, no rules people . Come one come all. Enjoy the show. read more

Make it impossible to just cancel my membership. Need a 30 day notice to cancel a month by month membership. Always packed. Equipment is average. It's $80 dollars!?!? read more