YMCA Notre-Dame-De-Grace

I am not much of a fitness guru. That being said, and not to point out the obvious, I know a good place when I see one.
I don’t know the necessary criteria for rating gyms so I will use four criteria. 1. cleanliness 2. facilities 3. ambience 4. Staff.
1 — Cleanliness — For an older facility there is the wear and tear you would expect, older floors, and the outside looks very dated. I personally enjoy the flaws and the character. The showers are very clean, the locker rooms have floor mats, and you can tell the staff takes real pride in this place.
2 — Facilities — This place is not the biggest, however they do have everything you would need. A cardio room with enough machines there is barely ever a wait, a large weight room with free weights and machines to satisfy ever muscle you can think of. There is a 3 lane 16 meter pool (don’t quote me on the length), the change area for the pool also clean. 2 Saunas and extra showers as well. There’s a full basketball court that doubles for badminton (cool thing there is a CD player for the stereo to play jams while shooting hoops).
3 — Ambiance — For me this was very important. As a chubby dude most gyms are intimidating. Everything Is white, silver, with bright lights. The people are usually more competitive than friendly. This place is the exact opposite, warm wood staircases, nice older lighting, friendly people (while signing up 3 non staffers said hello).
4 — Staff — The staff is excellent, not just friendly and helpful, but you can tell they truly love what they do. John helped me with the sign up and was an absolute star, joke cracking, friendly, and down to earth. He was especially proud of the sign he had built and hung over the entry way, the sign reads «Here there are no strangers, only friends we haven’t met yet» and he was very proud of it, and swore by it. It was great.
Overall this place is great, it’s not for people who want to work out with headphones on and spend the time looking at themselves in the mirror. This place is perfect for people who want to be proactive in a community and enjoy their surroundings while having fun.

no frills, nothing fancy but just what you need out of a gym.