Robert Lee YMCA

Decent gym — very new equipment, repairs are done fast, very clean equipment and change rooms.
It isn’t a serious gym. Beware of fools. It’s also downtown, so beware of rude middle easterners.
Can’t comment on the pool, classes, or other services.

I used to be a regular at the Robert Lee before I moved. It is a really great facility, the equipment is all new and well taken care of. The space itself is pretty cool with a few different free-​weight and machine areas, a studio room, a pool, and the basketball court all on different levels integrated with the Y offices and spaces throughout. They offer regular and plus-​member (for extra per-​month) changing rooms which is cool. Even just the regular changing rooms were clean, and nice. They even had hair dryers which was great. The plus-​changing rooms are what you would expect, well even more actually. It has a lounge area, any products you could imagine if you prefer not to bring your own — or forgot something. They had flat-​irons and curling irons for your hair. and a bunch of additional perks. One of the biggest being that it has even more space, and less people while you are trying to do your thing and get ready which is awesome when you are there pre-​work and most definitely worth it if you are willing to dish out the extra per month. I only ever used my membership for the gym areas but they offered so many great classes, including yoga classes, all included in the monthly fee.
I would always be there Mon-​Fri for open at 5:30am and the front desk staff was easily the most pleasant I have ever encountered in any gym. That is a big bonus when you are coming in every day before work. It was a facility I looked forward to visiting first thing in the morning and definitely miss it!

Here’s part 2:
5. Hours. The hours are very reasonable, until 10:30pm on weekdays, and 9pm on weekends and holidays. I don’t generally workout very late, but on the occasional weekend when I have no plans, I like the option of working out until 7 or 8pm if I have things to do during the day. In the distant past I’ve joined some gyms, but they closed very early (like 4pm or 5pm on weekends), so I wouldn’t be able to get to the gym in time before it closed. Also, they are open on most holidays, unlike community centers which close on all stat holidays. (Bonsor is the only community center that I’ve been to that is open on holidays.)
6. Lockers. There are plenty of lockers at the YMCA, and while during peek hours I might have to spend 30 seconds looking for a free locker, I have always found one. Back in 2012 I was a member of another gym, and for many reasons I quit, one of the reasons being is that they had too few lockers. But I’ve always been able to find a locker at the YMCA, and you don’t have to worry about bringing a lock or remembering a combination; instead you insert your membership card into a slot in the locker, which releases a key. (If you forget your membership card, you can borrow a temporary card.)
All in all, I love the YMCA, although it isn’t perfect. But it’s pretty damn good, and after spending two years trying to find a gym to join, I realized that the YMCA was the best choice for me. The YMCA is a solid 4 stars, however, due to the lack of no scent policy, I have to drop it down to 3 stars.
I have severe scent allergies, and while I understand that no place can really regulate people wearing scents (just like our city «regulates» cigarette smoking), I appreciate it when there is an official no scent policy and POSTED SIGNS, so that if you are having a reaction to the inconsiderate idiot drenched in perfume who just has to choose the machine beside you, even though there are plenty of machines available, you do have a leg to stand on when you politely ask them to GTFO, in between your gasps for air. So good thing that the YMCA is near St. Paul’s Hospital. Although St. Paul’s is due to be relocated, if it doesn’t crumble in an earthquake first…

Very good gym.
Equipment is high quality and fonctional, stretching room is well equiped with everything you need.
Squash rooms available on request with equipment, volley ball /​soccer /​badminton /​basket ball.
Steam room and pool, different classes and yoga classes, everything for a reasonable price.
Just avoid busy hours (6/​7pm)

Great space, tons of machines, tons of lockers, big lap pool, lots of options for classes, and a big court. I came here for the first time over the weekend and got free entry for a first timer. The front desk people are really friendly and helpful. The change rooms are clean and equipped with lots of lockers (more lockers outside on the upper level as well). It does get busy due to the prime location and we faced some disgruntled gym rats but other than it was an overall positive experience.

When I need a place to do my workouts while in town, I come here. At $ 15 per drop in, the price is standard for these days. But it is worth the $ 15.
The change rooms can get crowded but are fine. The lockers have keys that you take with you after you lock your stuff up. Change room is in good condition.
I do not use public pools, so cannot comment on this one. However, it is always busy looking, and from what I hear, is pretty good.
The weights room is great. However, if you come to the facility at peak after-​work hours — it is SOOOO crowded! You really have to be creative with finding space and equipment. Luckily, it is a big place with a few levels.
There are rowing machines on the 3^rd floor too, as well as a small weight rack that goes up to only 20lb of free weight (or 25lb, I can’t remember), but is sometimes less crowded.
Even though it gets more crowded than a county zoo, there are usually some free cardio machines available to do your warm up/​cool down/​cardio portion. Like the zoo, there are all kinds of people here which makes for very interesting people watching if you are doing something dull like walking uphill on a treadmill for 30 mins. Also, the gymnasium is huge and has glass walls so you can look at everyone messing around in there. In fact, the whole layout of this facility is excellently designed in a very open-​concept way. You can see so much from almost every vantage point. Who needs the TV when you have live action all around!
So I highly recommend this place as a place to go to get your exercise fix. Since I am not a regular member, I cannot comment on its specific programs or the consistency of how things are. But the many times I’ve dropped in, I’ve always had a good time. I keep coming back, so that says something, eh.

It’s not much of an exaggeration to say this is basically the only choice for a gym in downtown Vancouver. There’s Steve Nash, but every time I checked one of those out it was depressing, with the low ceilings, out of date equipment and high pressure sales. The YMCA was built (or rebuilt) to be a gym. It’s a beautiful building and has everything.
The downside is that everyone goes there, including the certain percentage without basic gym etiquette. Re-​rack the weights when you’re done, and conversely, don’t leave the weights on the bench press for 5 mins and expect them to be there when you get back.

Love this gym! It’s absolutely GORGEOUS! All top of the line equipment and a lot of room compared to many other Vancouver gyms. Rarely wait times for benches and machines. Great friendly staff, sometimes a bit slow but that’s ok because the customer service is good (which explains the wait time). My only problem with this location is that they NEED to provide free parking for their paying members! A discounted parking rate is great and all but when you workout for 2 – 3 hours at a time…6 $ a day adds up fast! Please get free parking for members!!!

I wish it was bigger and brighter (I’m a big fan of the downtown Ys in Edmonton and Toronto), but it’s still the best gym downtown (although I’d probably go to Steve Nash if they had a simpler way to pay).
The pool’s small compared to other Ys. The weights area is just way, way too crowded. It’s claustrophobic — I wish they’d put the cardio machines somewhere else entirely (or get rid of some — it’s Vancouver, we can run outside).
Other Ys are great places to meet people — this is a place where you want to get your workout done as quickly as possible and get out.

A+ facility!
— Indoor Basketball court is maintained very well. No dusty spots. My bball heads know how annoying dirty bball floors are for indoor courts. Thank God!
— BIG Olympic sized (i think?) pool. Plenty of classes for youngins too.
— Inexpensive monthly plans. I pay 48 bucks a month with no commitment.
— Tons of Cardio equipment — Rarely do I ever see 100% of the cardio machines occupied. During the peak hours 4−6pm, machines are usually 80% occupied. The cardio machines can also connect to your cell phone to charge it or play music from it.
— Weight room is decently stacked with dumbbell weights up to 100lbs. No meat heads here either. A+++
— Lockers are provided. NO need to bring your own lock.
— Restrooms are probably the only downside to the facility. They’re not always clean. And most of the time, there’s an old dude that’ll be walking around or drying his butt crack at the hand dryer thing (COME ON MANNNNNN!!! SMH!!)
— Staff is very friendly! A+++
— Juice bar is fairly inexpensive.

The gym is pretty nice. Can get ridiculously busy at times, however I am a bum so I go while other real adults are working. Works out nicely for me.
Only complaint is that there are apartment buildings nearby, so I can’t slam my weights down when done a set. Their rules are really holding me back from achieving ultimate douchebagery.
Could use a few more olympic bars as they are normally in short supply. I have seen people almost come to blows over the squat rack.
I don’t do cardio because cardio is anti-​gains so ask someone else about that.

The downtown YMCA is a great location for me seeing as I live quite near. Having a nearby gym to go to is key in getting myself to actually go workout. I do like the facility, it’s clean, up to date, and friendly. I usually swim a couple laps in the pool as well besides using the exercise equipment. and the steam room comes in handy when fighting a cold. I just wish it wasn’t so darned BUSY all the time! And I also wish it didn’t close at 10:30 pm on weekdays and 9 PM on weekends. I’d prefer it to be open 24 hours, but besides that, it’s a great facility.

With tempuratures close to freezing, there was no way that this Southern California boy was going to be swimming outdoors. The Robert Lee YMCA was the perfect place to for me to swim while on vacation. The pool is a 25 yard pool located inside the YMCA. The pool is UV filtered. The water temperature was perfect for swimming laps fast.
The pool was a good pool to swim at. It has an infinity edge where the edge is at the same level as the water. The waves you make will not splash back at you. Additionally, it is nicely tiled which makes the pool pretty quick for swimming laps. Nice pool for a nice workout. Lifeguards are on duty watching out to make sure you are safe.
Great place to swim! It is better to swim indoor in Speedos than outdoors in freezing temperatures.

This place is awesome. Hands down. Clean facilities. Great sports programs and classes. Been here multiple times with no regrets.

It’s OKAY. It’s a lot smaller than I imagine. It’s also quite busy. I do wish the space was a bit bigger so people are in a more spacious environment.

Our family has been visiting this location for 2 years now. The staff at the front desk are friendly enough and mildly helpful. Nothing to write home about. Our toddler was on the swimming lessons wait list for more then a year. Why not open more programs?
I find the child centre staff unmotivated and unengaged… two things you need when dealing with children. We recently had a very terrible experience with childminding. We witnessed an infant left unattended on a sofa with no staff in sight «minding» the infant. A toddler had time to pull the infant off the couch and finally the sound of the infant wailing alerted the staff to give the infant attention. I am no longer comfortable leaving our child there.

We’ve been members of the Robert Lee YMCA for the past year. What a great affordable investment for our family! After years of sticking our kids in community centre swim lessons and no swim skills to show for it we are impressed with the Y’s instruction. Our kids are swimming and they look forward to their lessons.
I find the fitness classes top notch — great and knowledgeable instructors and my husband enjoys swimming laps before work in the mornings. Looking forward to exploring the after school drop in program and tae kwon do for the kiddos.
The staff are very friendly and it’s always a pleasure using the facility.

My favorite gym, her clean, great service love the facilities and love the members plus change room. Have yet to try the classes but looks fun!
But the pay parking machine has a problem. Will double or triple charge your credit card…

Beautiful & clean facility. Good machines, great stretching/​floor work area. I like that there was lots of natural light & that they offer eco-​friendly microfiber rags & spray to clean the machines.
I was just passing through town so I can’t speak to the membership or rates, but I enjoyed my workout.

Beautiful facility. Clean, bright and welcoming space with programs for everyone.
Spacious cafeteria with an assortment of healthy food, smoothies and even macaroons from Organic Lives. It would be great if they sold fresh fruit as well.
Free WiFi!