Mystic Valley YMCA — Local services in Malden

12/30/2018 I've been a member here for several years and would say its a welcoming and diverse place with bodies young and old and there is a spectrum of cultures.

The locker room can get very humid and the building's age shows here more than other places. On the bright side it does have a sauna and steam room split by gender which is awesome. It's true that the floor is often wet from other people dripping after using the pool, and I've seen a few patrons using cell phone cameras or parents with kids on the adult side. I've never had trouble getting a day locker.

There are a few types of pools and the lanes aren't too crowded, but it is not the cleanest. I've gone to a few classes and spin with Brad and Zumba on Friday nights are both popular and good workouts. The weight section is the best, lots of benches/squat racks/mirrors/functional lifting such as sandbags/grip builders/tires etc., but that means it can feel like a male dominated space. The ab mat section was replaced with a horrible material, but that mistake was quickly corrected.

My biggest concern is the wifi. The connection is so spotty its difficult to listen to music when working out--and you can forget about streaming a favorite show during cardio. In the past month, a senior member of the staff decided they wouldn't support it at all and turned the service off (see photo). This seems like a basic gym amenity to me and I could see the parents waiting to pick up their kids from swimming or basketball having issues with this as well.

There is a fairly high staff turnover and some of them do rush you out of the building at closing time. Meanwhile they could be more assertive kicking kids off of cardio/weight equipment. Hours on Sunday often feel tight with the early closing at 6pm. Parking in the winter can be more challenging, especially with the new resolution folks coming in and the spots lost to snow.

It also drives me a little nuts that holiday hours are only posted with physical signs at the gym (not on the website or via e-mail) and snow closings require you...

2018 Update:

Better pool hours now. Staff have been professional and kind on the occasions we've visited this year. The Melrose YMCA is still much better for swimming with your toddlers, and there's still not much in unstructured (no extra cost) play options for toddlers outside of the pool. Upgrade from one star in 2017 to 3 in 2018.

2017 review:

The schedule and policies are clear: families with young children are unwelcome.

Say you have a two-year-old that you want to spend time with at the Y. There are two places the kid can play: absurdly, the basketball courts (so safe!) and the swimming pool. The pool has one hour a day when the kid can swim with a parent (they also have lessons, for extra $$ of course, and that's not parent-kid time).

During the week, that one hour is during the workday.

On the weekend, the hour is limited to 50 people at a time, including the adults. The 51st gets to wait... while watching the other kids play. Right. No indication of its being full before you change. There is another pool next door, but the lifeguards are not empowered to open it to those under 18 for overflow.

But say you do want to wait, and take your kid somewhere a little more friendly than explicitly watching others play when they can't? They have a daycare room where one can leave children and go for a workout. Parents are permitted to stay with their child there for 15 minutes, which should leave young children perfectly comfortable the first time, shouldn't it? It has limited hours anyway, and in this case it wasn't even open at the time that we would have needed to wait. Could they open it so a parent could play in the play room with their child, fully supervising them while no one else is using the room? No, the room could only be used by the daycare staff for the daycare during its hours.

With just two hours that we can potentially use the entire Y as a family, and those two hours being unreliable, the policies inflexible, it was simply...

THIS PLACE IS HORRIBLE!! After being mostly in bed from cancer and treatments for 4 years. I thought water therapy would be great. This woman brings me in a room with tiny pool, it had to be over 100° in the water, serious! She gave me a styrofoam board and had me walk in the low end, from one end to the other and a few kicks. Thank God my son was there. She left and said I was done, when I walked up the stairs to get out it felt like I had 150lbs extra on me?? All I can say is it had to be the water. As I was walking up the stairs I had to stop. It felt like every organ in my body from my stomach down even female organs we're going to come out side of me, thank God they didn't!! something is wrong with my gastrointestinal system since that day from one day in the hundred plus degree water. My doctor who is great ordered 6 weeks of Aqua therapy before I had went. Before the girl left the room she had specified that I was only having one Aqua treatment and it was not because I can't swim, I have swam my whole life. It is all about the money there they have great equipment and a full-size pool and she put me in very small pool even if it was a sauna it was way too hot and I don't care how nice the equipment was I will not go back there again. I would not suggest this place to anyone. They will take any insurance just to get the money but in this case I can say it wasn't me I've done therapy before and never had this problem. Good luck to anybody who reads this and needs therapy. Aqua therapy is great, I suggest getting a letter from your doctor if you have an ailment and you can go to YMCA or some of the other gyms with pools a cheaper cost depending on your ailments you might be able to get your insurance to pay...