A little love for my Y

After yesterday's rant about the asshole in the gym, I feel like I need to express a little love for my Y. Chain gyms and Y's get a pretty bad rap in the CF community, and while my Y has its downsides, its upsides more than make up for it, at least right now.

Biggest upside? The price, which for me is zero. Nada. For me and my entire family at every Y in the NWNC YMCA area. That's nine facilities spanning an area from Wilkesboro to Kernersville. The only thing that could make that better is if it included the Hartley Y, since I spend so much time in High Point.

My Y is one of the biggest, both in terms of membership and facilities. We have a 25 yd pool, 3 full-size basketball courts, 2 racquetball courts, 2 indoor tracks, a large fitness room and a number of other amenities. And because I'm a Y employee (I'm a lifeguard and the Masters' swim coach), my kids get significant discounts on sports and other youth activities. The staff is friendly and helpful. Except for the lifeguards - we're all pretty snarky and relatively antisocial. :p

Are there things that frustrate me? Sure. The crowds are a major source of frustration, as I bitched about yesterday. The Y has several wealthy benefactors, but the board and/or executive director can't seem to decide what needs to be done. A new and/or upgraded pool is badly needed, as well as a general facilities expansion. The free weight area needs more equipment, especially as more people are drawn to programs like Crossfit. There isn't enough gym space to accomodate all the youth program needs. I could go on and on.

To answer Daniel's question from yesterday: I have a kinda-sorta home gym in progress in my living room. I can develop it to a certain extent, with KBs, a pullup bar, some parallettes, etc - what I think of as CF-specific equipment. A fully-equipped home gym, with racks and weights and such, is not really feasible for us right now.

So despite my sounding off yesterday, the Y is meeting most of my fitness needs for the time being. I need to make a pilgramage to one of the local affiliates, if for no other reason than to get some instruction. I haven't made it a priority, mainly because of money (my kids consume the bulk of our recreation/sports budget). Maybe I will make an affiliate punch card a birthday present to myself.