Torrance – South Bay YMCA

After over 25 yrs. of a «family» membership, we cancelled because we just got tired of the disrespect. Our family consisted of 4 and than just me and my husband for the past 15 yrs. and the monthly fee is $ 84. We go to the YMCA 3 — 4 days a week to join the spin class. The Y’s «policy» for high profile classes is to hand out wrist bands 30 min. prior to start time on a first come first served basis to reserve a spot. Four times this yr, we walk into class and no cycles are available even though we have the bands «guaranteeing» a spot. We were so incensed that administration, again, would not accommodate us and provide a cycle. Yes, others are gaming the policy with no consequence. We were astonished to discover that members who come in an hour before the «30 min.» lineup get wrist bands if they’re taking a class before the cycle class. Some members must be more equal than us. To add insult to injury, the staff has actually looked at the clock when we appeared 5 min. before the 30 min. restriction. My husband volunteered as a Jr Lakers coach, and as a certified spin instructor bailed out the Y many times when an instructor did not show for class. He has cancer and relied on the spin classes and weight lifting to stay ahead of his illness. We recently tried to enroll our great-​grandson whom we babysit and were told we would have to pay an additional fee each time we bring him in and only for the pool, and only during open swim, no toddler classes. Why pay «family» fees and not be allowed to bring in a family member and why pay, follow their rules and still not get to join the class. Where is the «Christian». DONE

Growing up the YMCA was part of my youth. The Y as we say was instrumental in helping us along after school with an array of activities. That’s was decades ago.
Today I visit the Torrance Y every month for open swim, and some other open activities.
This place is packed with good staff, modern build, and fun spirits.
From the kids to the parents, and all the very cool staff.
Bottom line, compare what they offer to what your going to pay in the beach cities and it’s a no brainer. Once you decide to get serious on an activity you can always jump to a coach or trainer, but comparably speaking you can’t beat it.
Y for Life!

I’m a little fence sitter when it comes to the Y. I’ve been a member before at the YW and the YM both. Mostly to use the pools for lap swimming.
Now, suffering from RArthritis I use the machines for the «use it or lose it» therapy my joints need.
After getting back to speed I started using the Sauna and Steam for the benefits of the heat.
And it has been a great deal of help.
I expect to try the pool exercise in the future and wish they had Tai Chi classes.
The not so good stuff happens when the members don’t obey the rules and impact the rest of us.
*People using strange ointments, oils and fauna in the sauna/​steamrooms are ignoring the possible side affects to allergy sufferers.
*The machine hogs can stay on the bikes or treadmills, while people are waiting, for over an hour.
The staff are mostly too shy to deal with either issue and therefore the rulebreakers, especially in the steam and sauna, are generally the rule.

The Good:
Lots of classes, Yoga, Spin, Zumba, etc. Instructors are generally good and willing to work with you, answer questions, etc. Classes are not competitive.
Gym members are generally friendly.
Lots of trainers walking around to answer questions
Good or Bad, your call…
Not for fashionistas. You won’t see bare midriffs or super expensive gym clothing.
There is a mix of ages, trending older, families, not so much 20’s.
The Bad:
Your high school senior/​college student is no longer part of your family. Once a child turns 18, even if full time student in high school, you are charged extra.
Showers are too close together. Water will bounce off a person showering next to you and land on you. I find this unappealing.
As a single or a couple, you are paying for the child using the pool as a toilet. A childless couple pays the same as a couple with 3,4, or more children. Extremely strong chlorine in water will eat through your bathing suit relatively quickly. If your skin is sensitive to chlorine, expect a rash.

The TSB Y is the nicest facility in the whole city. The staff are pleasant and there are a million classes offered. I highly recommend it!

Amazing staff! my son loves the YMCA jr basketball program!

This place is solid. Not fancy but has a lot more variety than most gyms. Weights, cardio, swimming, classes, basketball, indoor track, climbing wall. Would be great for families although I’m single and still think the place rocks. Only thing keeping it from 5 stars for me is that the weight rooms are small. They are split up into different rooms which isn’t my favorite. Cardio room, free weights room, and weight machine room. The weight/​cardio equipment is surprisingly new (ish) and pretty clean, and the variety is decent but not great. The basketball court is awesome and has 6 hoops to shoot at. It’s hard to find a good gym other than some slimey 24Hour or LA Fitness, that has a basketball court. Of course you have to watch the schedule because there are a lot of kids activities on the court. The place gets a little crowded in the evening just like almost every gym in America so that’s not an issue for me. Would recommend this place for families and weekend warriors. It would work for a lot of fitness junkies as well, maybe not hardcore weight lifters though. Also great for fans of the Village People,

They provide a great free one-​week pass for non-​members. Their exercise rooms have a good variety of equipment including ellipticals and free weights and weight machines. They have a nice looking rock climbing wall too, although I didn’t get to try it.

I know it looks a little weird for me to write a 4 star review on this facility, literally just a few days after cancelling my membership, it should make sense by the time I’m done.
To start, I’ve cancelled my membership once before, rejoined a few years later and basically can say that I have been a member here on and off for the last decade or so. In both cases, I cancelled without any ill will and there’s a good possibility that I’ll rejoin again someday.
The reasons for my cancellation are a matter of economics and really only one major negative for me.
For many years, this YMCA has been hooked up with a system called FitLinxx, which keeps track of many of the exercises that you do and helps you set each machine up according to your previous workout on that machine, goals etc. it’s a great step-​by-​step guide for your workout.
Aside from giving you the ability to track what you’ve already done via the kiosks at the YMCA and online, the more important aspect of FitLinxx for me is that it keeps a record of my set-​up for each machine, which would be a lot for me to try to remember on my own. For the treadmill, it tells me how fast I run/​walk, how long, incline, etc. For weight and resistance, it tells me how much weight I want to use, as well as the angle settings for seats and feet and such. It also keeps track of any changes that you may make to these settings.
Reluctantly, I got into FitLinxx with this YMCA a few years ago and, initially, I thought it would be just another pain in the butt to deal with. However, it turned out to be a great benefit that has helped me a lot with my workouts. Sadly for me, this YMCA is cancelling their use of FitLinxx system at the end of the year and will not be replacing it with a similar system.
In my eyes, not having FitLinxx downgrades functionality of this this the gym to being not much different than any other gym, so I figure I might as well save a bunch of dough and go where I can get the same workout for a lower price. See? Economics.
More Economics: I am paying $ 84.00 for a family membership, but my wife is too busy with work and a long commute across LA Rush Hour Traffic to get to the gym and my 3 year old isn’t getting much out of it right now either, so I’m the only one using it. I could downgrade to a single membership for $ 47.00, but there are cheaper options out there.
So, I’m trying out Planet Fitness for at least the next year, depending on how it goes. It is a lot cheaper and there are other things about it that make it seem worth trying out, but I won’t go into more detail here, since this review is about the Torrance Y and not Planet Fitness. I will probably write a separate review about Planet Fitness after I’ve been there a while.
So those are the only 2 reasons I’ve cancelled my YMCA membership for the time being, but it is important to note that if the Y had not decided to cancel FitLinxx and not replace it with a similar system, I might have eventually downgraded to a single membership, but I definitely would have not have even considered leaving at this point.
There are still plenty of things to like about this facility, which again, might bring me back at a later date. The staff are friendly, knowledgeable and there is a strong sense of community here.
There is a sauna and steam room, but be warned that some of the other members may not be completely sanitary in how they use these facilities, but as much as this can disgust me sometimes (I stopped using them myself), I do realize that this can be the case in any gym that has these facilities. Sometimes members/​customers really should just use some common sense and common courtesy and I also realize that gym employees can only do so much policing.
If you are single, it is highly unlikely that you will find a hook-​up in the gym at this Y (or probably any Y), but if you’ve reached that point in your life where it’s all about the family, so is the Y. They have free daycare for your kids while you work out (Family memberships only), all kinds of classes for adults and kids, a gym room that is (mostly, but not completely) for kids and teens. They also have some sort of basketball program going that I think might have some link to the Los Angeles Lakers. I’m not versed on this, but I’ve watched the kids play a little and they are having a great time.
There’s also an Olympic sized swimming pool, kids pool, Jacuzzi. There are non-​gym related programs too. I believe I saw some folks show up for some kind of Square Dancing for seniors night once.
So yeah, even though I just cancelled my membership, I would still recommend this Y to others, especially but not exclusively families. And again, maybe I’ll be back when my daughter is a little older and/​or if my wife can ever get her commute trimmed down significantly.

Love each staff here. They have a big area for the child care watch. Rock climbing on a specific days. Pool is amazing. (:

This ymca is way better than my local one with more machines and bigger and cleaner facilities

The classes I attended were really nice, the instructors are friendly but the staff the ones that wear blue shirt some of them are not costumer oriented and will choose the people they greet! I felt out of place. In the women’s locker /​shower room, please be careful with your valuables for I went home with just my towel my whole bag was stolen! no security camera, staff unsympathetic! Call the police yourself policy. Apparently I’m not the only victim, the ladies in the locker room said, their valuables was also stolen even it was placed in the locker. I cancelled my membership. They should investigate it if it’s happening too often!
The swimming pool is always crowded :(Sorry I’m not going back!!!

Clean large and has more than most ymca good parking. But the employees are annoying and controlling I’ve been a member since 85 and I got some disrespectful people and seem uneducated, pretty wierd encounters ect. They act like the entry to the gym is the US border or tsa check points. So the facility is good. Workers can be very odd. Exempt member services office had normal nice people suited for the job.

We joined the swim lessons (YMCA Torrance, CA) mid-​session and were not explained that we have to do make-​up classes or else the missed lessons will be forfeited. NO ONE told me. Swim manager is a very inexperienced, rude lady who knows NOTHING about courtesy. I complained to Art, the swim director and had to shoot a zillion emails to him to get a refund. NO compassion. They even believed the terms and conditions were given at webpage while signing up whereas NOTHING of that sort exists. Overall a very pathetic experience. We just wasted time because of rude, inexperienced staff fighting to death justifying their mistakes and trying to pocket my money. I complained to Art about the swim manager’s ignorance and behaviour, however he defends her without even considering what she made us go through. Now we don’t even want to be members of the YMCA anymore.

I’ve been going to this location located along Sepulveda for quite a while. It continually has machines available and is less crowded compared to other gyms. The facility is clean and the employees are friendly. Parking can be hectic, but there is a huge parking lot.

I strongly suggest not going to the YMCA to workout or bring your kids.
1. The parking lot is known for breakins. On top of that, expect to get your car ding’d by another car because the idiots that go here have no respect for other people.
2. Forget swimming with your kids. Its too packed, and you’re lucky to have a little space for them to swim two feet to you. We signed up because we were under the impression that the swimming was convenient, but the schedule is so unorganized and it gets so full, its just not worth it.
3. The cardio equipment isn’t bad if you can actually get access to something.
4. The machine room is completely silent, and all you hear is the stupid tone of the electronic machine that keeps track of your progress. If you don’t wear headphones, you’ll seriously hate your workout.
5. The upstairs running track is great if there is no kids events below you, otherwise its so load, its literally unbearable. And it isn’t even the kids, its the guys with their whistles blowing insanely loud and screaming at the kids.
6. If you cancel your membership, be prepared to pay an extra 30 days, its their way of sneaking another month because you have to cancel 15 days before the billing cycle. I did it 15 days, and nobody go back to me 3 days later, telling me I was past the cycle.
If you are planning on spending money on a family plan, save your money. You’re going to be paying about $ 85 a month with a first month setup fee that I believe is around $ 150.
The only thing that I found useful is the daycare center. But thats not why I signed up here.
Find better options. You’ll thank me later.

The reason I go to the Y is because I want to work out. Yes, there are a lot of snacks lining the desk that are super unhealthy. And yes, if you run out of water you will probably end up over there buying a bottle and being tempted.
However, I go to the Y to workout and because of that I appreciate that this facility is clean; the machines are in perfect order and are all NEWER model; It’s quiet in the cardio room. There’s a pool that makes me want to become a better swimmer; There are a ton of families here with kids so it inspires me to be healthy and return. Yes these are the good reasons.
Now the greatest of all reasons is that the have a climbing wall. And I am so excited about the opportunity to go for it! I can’t wait… accept… the wall seems used only by the 5 – 12 year old set and I’m not sure when I can jump in. But rest assured. I will find out. And I will climb all the way to the top! Let’s go!

Greeted by staff who weren’t enthusiastic about their work. It was a drag to talk to them about getting a day pass for me, since the two kids I was watching for the day were already members.
Giving it a three stars because the kids had fun. But seriously, the staff need to be more customer service oriented.
Oh and if you plan on buying snacks, make sure you have cash with you. They do not take cards, nor do they have ATMs inside.

There are two staff behind the counter who don’t do their jobs. They give customers mis-​information about classes and how to register because they are to lazy to do it there at the YMCA. So they say you have to do it online. Why would I have to fill out paperwork at the YMCA for a class but then go online to pay for it? Why? Because your ass is to lazy to put my info in the computer. Management needs to either re-​train you or fire you and get real helpful employees who don’t tell customers mis-​information to get out of doing work, and putting your feet up while sitting on your ass getting paid for doing nothing!
Facility is clean. Some staff are excellent.

Really good gym. family oriented. Kiddos take Swimming lessons here. the wifey and i play Badminton on Friday nights, which is awesome.
you get wifi and the cardio machines have their own tv with basic cable on it.
weight room is tiny, but overall this is a good gym with lots of extra classes.