McGrath Family YMCA — Local services in Rancho San Diego

Our family has made the difficult decision to cancel our YMCA membership.

I want to start by highlighting the positives. Our children have truly enjoyed the gymnastics program, and the childcare staff have been kind, caring, and supportive. These programs have been great, and I’m thankful for the positive experiences we’ve had. Personally, I’ve had a mostly great year, attending the gym almost daily and feeling welcomed every time.

However, I must share the reason we are choosing to leave.

I had two very upsetting and frightening encounters with an older male member at the gym. On both occasions, he aggressively confronted me while I was using a leg extension machine, yelling at me to get off — even though I was actively using it, with normal 30-45 sec. rest periods between sets. He didn’t like that I was using my phone during my rest breaks.

This man was doing a circuit workout, jumping from machine to machine, slamming weights and skipping cleaning protocols — despite the YMCA having two dedicated circuit areas. When I calmly told him I had just finished my first set and had three more to go, he continued yelling at me. He remained standing directly in front of me, intimidating me while I tried to finish my workout. I left the area in tears, humiliated in front of others, and feeling completely unsupported. I can’t understand how any reasonable person expects someone to do four to five sets without any rest.

After the second incident, I reported the situation to staff. I was visibly upset. Multiple staff members told me that this man — possibly named "Ron" and referred to as "Coach" — had done this before. He had been spoken to previously, yet the behavior continued. Nothing changed. He still comes regularly.

Worse, I began to notice some staff gossiping about the situation, which only increased my discomfort. I even started timing my gym exit to avoid being in the parking lot at the same time as him — that’s how unsafe I felt.

It’s disheartening that someone with a known history of aggressive behavior is allowed to continue threatening and intimidating members, particularly women. As a mother, I expected the YMCA to be a safe place not only for my children, but for me.

I’m sharing this not only to explain our departure, but in the hope that this feedback leads to real change. Every member deserves to feel safe, supported, and respected in this community. Unfortunately, I...

I don’t recommend anybody to sign up to a personal trainer at ymca because they are not reliable and its so hard to find a personal trainer matches with your schedule or your availability because most of them are booked already and you should be the flexible one when setting the times for the session not them ! I signed up for personal trainer and paid for 10 sessions asked specifically for a female personal trainer then in got surprised by male personal trainer calling me to set the appointments for my session because he is the available one then I called the supervisor Karen so she said it was a mistake and they didn’t realize your preference, then 3 weeks after finally a female personal trainer called me asking about my availability so we set the times together, I took 3 sessions with her she was good but unreliable she canceled my classes like 4 times at the fourth time when I told her this is your fourth time cancellation with a short notice like 30 minutes prior to the session with different excuses and I’m committed with a work schedule she text me that she can’t promise there wouldn’t be more cancellations and she can set me with another trainer! I was thinking if the personal trainer’s coordinator like that what about the rest ! it was such a bad experience , I asked to refund my money and she said her supervisor authorized the refund and she will be at the gym the day after to process it and until now I didn’t get my refund, left many voice messages to the supervisor asking about my refund she never called back! I thought when I signed for a personal trainer and paid all that money I will get service depend on my availability but unfortunately my experience was the worst and until now I don’t know when I will...

Unfortunately it’s come to this. Overall, a great facility but needs much improvement on the maintenance aspect. Approximately 6-7 months ago, they closed half of the men’s locker room due to supposed locker break ins and theft of personal belongings. By closing it, they removed all the lockers in that half. So now you have a very crowded half locker room, where if you enjoy having people in your personal space or sitting on another mans lap, then this is the place for you. Then on top of that, they hire so called managers who can’t answer simple questions, such as when will the locker room be completed. After complaining several times, they finally painted the walls. Then a month later, new carpet. But still no lockers and a closed room. It’s ridiculous at the response, or lack there of since in all reality, it’s not a cheap facility to belong to compared to others. And what’s even worse is the fact that the thefts were most likely because people like to put stuff in the lockers without locking it up. They still are doing that, so what’s next, no lockers when these idiots get there stuff stolen for not locking them? Very frustrating. And I know I’m not the only one, have talked to other guys who are considering dropping membership. I hope they get their stuff together, because I’m tired of bumping knees with everyone in the locker room. It’s not that...