Fitness Center recommendation (Ellicott City, Reisterstown, Owings Mills: YMCA, price, gym)

[shohoku81]

I want good quality gym near Ellicott city. With sauna, possibly indoor bball court.
How is Golds Gym at Owings mills? is it pretty big?
How about YMCA at ellicott city?
Planet fitness at ellicott city?

[whycry30]

As this was posted in the summer, I'm sure you have your answer. But, I'll give my input anyway.

The YMCA in Ellicott City is fantastic! It was just renovated and has a sauna, pool, and great cardio room. Single membership is only $50/mos.

[nurider2002]

Trust me, Gold's gym Owings Mills is bare bones. I belong there for two reasons; 1., it is dirt cheap; 2., it's close to home. Other than that, it has few redeeming qualities. It is a fairly small gym, no indoor bball, there is a small sauna in the men's locker room and I assume the same in the women's. A decent amount of nautilis machines but many are very dated, e.g., the stationary bikes rock back and forth while you are on them, weight training machines missing pins for locking weights, etc. Free weight area is fine but could use more benches. They pack a lot of equipment into a fairly small space so, not a lot of room for stretching, or doing anything free form. They do have a decent amount of classes, if thats your thing. Overall cleanliness and maintanence is the worst of any gym I have ever belonged. Frequently out of disinfecting towels for the machines, the locker room and shower area is nasty much of the time, several lockers have the doors ripped off of them, like I said, this is a no frills inexpensive gym. A lot of customer turnover here, and not terribly crowded most of the time--which is great. Prior to Golds I belonged to the DAC downtown (a great Merritt owned gym) and the Merritt in Owings Mills (VERY small but better maintained than Golds). If you are looking for a nicer facility with more upscale equipment and room, check out Life Bridge Fitness behind the Barnes and Nobles on Reisterstown Road; very nice, but pricey. There are also two JCC gyms in the area that offer a bit more but I haven't worked out in either. There is also a new gym in Owings Mills operated by one of Gold's ex-trainers over near the Owings Mills emmissions testing site. Can't recall the name off the top of my head but you could google it. From what I've heard, its not a large gym but is well maintained. A lot of folks from Gold's went their with their trainer's in a mass exodus last Spring. That said, if you just want a basic combination aerobic and weight training gym without a big crowd, that is cheap, Golds is the place to be. I tend to forget what nicer gyms are like until I travel and go to a higher end place so, it's all what you are used to. The other thing with Owings Mills Golds is, they seem to change manager's pretty frequently so, at times it is better maintained than others.