A low cost GYM is coming near you

I'm pretty happy with the YMCA; they've stuck with me through thick and thin.

@Uraniumfish unfortunately I don't have a YMCA in my neck of the woods. I am now thankful that we have a small gym in our building itself, its a boon during the winters as you don't have to step out to work out.

One of the reasons I stick with the YMCA is that they have a pool, and for less than a membership would cost at a gym without a pool. I've gotten pretty serious about it and even taken swimming lessons to improve my technique and, you know, learn to swim efficiently. If you do it right - and now I've learned how - swimming really is the best form of exercise.

I'm glad a low-cost gym is coming to Manhattan. It is about time. I hate the YMCA because you never know what riff-raff hangs out there and dirties up the place.

The 92nd Street Y has great fitness programmes, as well as interesting lectures, talks, seminars, etc. A worthwhile institution!

@hhusted Riff-raff? Really?

@Uraniumfish youre so right about swimming. I am a pretty decent swimmer and do enjoy doing laps and now that I live in the tropics, I am happy that swimming can be an everyday affair for me.

@ajadedidealist I don't think the 92nd Street Y classifies as a YMCA. (http://ymcanyc.org/index.php). Moreover the prices of its fitness centers and other activities are way higher than those of a YMCA.

@Everyone Danny Segelin the head trainer of the New York Fitness Institute however advises using the city that is NYC as your gym!-
http://friendfeed.com/dirnewyorkcity/938c3d9d/make-city-your-gym

@Uraniumfish: Yeah. I went to a Y once, and it was filthy. Homeless people were hanging around. I just didn't like it so I left. I'm not saying all Y's are like that, just the one I went to.

Both the Y 's in Chinatown and Brooklyn Heights are amazing, clean, modern facilities with great pools! How long ago were you inside a YMCA - the depression era?

@hhusted The Y is not the same place it was in the thirties. You should check it out in modern times.

@uptowngirl There is a Planet Fitness in Brooklyn - and it's only $20 a month. But I think you do pay more dearly in that the place is pretty much packed to the brim during gym rush hours and especially in the beginning of the year when people make those crazy resolutions.

@BroadwayBK Perhaps when Planet Fitness opens in various locations around the city it will ease the pressure on any one particular one? Was wondering has the opening of Trader Joe's in Chelsea and on the UWS reduced the pressure on the 14th street store?

@BroadwayBK Perhaps when Planet Fitness opens in various locations around the city it will ease the pressure on any one particular one? Was wondering has the opening of Trader Joe's in Chelsea and on the UWS reduced the pressure on the 14th street store?

@uptowngirl I usually hit up the TJ's in Brooklyn, but it's always fun to check out a new store... Let me get back to you on that one.

@NeverSleeps thanks a bunch ..the husband is headed to NYC at the end of the month and I want him to go to TJs to buy me some of their Belgian Dark 70% half pound bars. Dark chocolate is quite expensive here and the Lindt bars don't really satisfy..TJ's does a chunky square which is immensely satisfying.

I haven't been to TJs in such a long time... not since the dead of summer. Though I suppose it would be a good idea to get out and stock up on goods before it gets to be too cold for me to leave my apartment.

The original TJ's is a lot slower now. I'm so glad the Chelsea one opened. It doesn't have a wine shop but it's pretty close to me!

I bit the bullet and joined Equinox. Yes, it's crazy expensive, but the place is amazing. You don't have to bring anything for showering there. They, seriously, have everything you need but clothes and makeup. And, the classes are pretty unbeatable and I get bored easily. I feel like I have to go almost everyday because of the price and because I like the classes so much, it's actually a better deal. I actually go rather than paying for a cheaper membership and never showing up because I dreaded it so much.

@JenMac good for you! here in HK I have a few options- my building is located near a green hill so on some days I hike up the hill which is quite steep. The gradient always causes my calves to protest but then I see all the old Chinese people trudging up so I go on. This upward climb leads to a leafy walking path that has been carved into the hillside which also has small exercise stations along the way that are quite neat. On other days I tend to go to the complex's well equipped gym or pool depending on my mood but you're right its difficult to stay motivated constantly.

I go to Harbor Fitness - which was once voted the best gym in Brooklyn by some website, a fact that they like to wave in front of prospective customers - and it's pretty okay. I've been to better gyms. If I lived in the West Village I think I would join Printing House. I'm not sure about their classes, but I've worked out there a few times and their amenities are gorgeous.

@NeverSleeps just had a look at the Printing House website. What a cool gym! Can't help but wonder why is it called Printing House though? unusual name for a gym isn't it?

@JenMac Yeah, equinox is pretty great, with all those Kiehl's lotions and things. Pity they don't have a pool.

@Uraniumfish and BroadwayBK: When I was talking about the conditions at the Y I went to, it was last year, not in the '30s. For your info, I was not born then.

@uptowngirl It really is an amazing space... You have an awesome view of the city and the Statue of Liberty from the treadmill and there is a rooftop deck and little swimming pool that has one of those currents so you can swim "laps." I worked out there for a few days but didn't end up joining because I felt like the commute wouldn't be something I would be willing to make very often. I just know I'd be making up all kinds of excuses as to why I couldn't make it to the gym on any given day! My current gym is about a block and half away and I don't think I would often go it it were any further than that, ha.

@Neversleeps actually I think its a proven fact that a Gym membership is more effective if the gym is located within close proximity of your residence/work place. Until my apartment building built a gym I used to be loath to go to one now I have no excuse since its in the building.

@uraniumfish: The Greenwich Equinox does have a pool!

@uptowngirl You can't argue with facts. Since moving about six blocks closer to my gym I am constantly hitching up my pants.

@NeverSleeps Good for you! Here in Asia surrounded as I am by skinny folk I am in a constant state of depression even though I diligently go the gym and eat correctly/ Anyway I have figured out the secret to their skinniness its all the tea that they constantly drink must be melting the fat as it rots their teeth for unlike Japanese cuisine Chinese eats are not very healthy.