YMCA Auckland City Fitness
149 Greys Ave, Auckland
Opening hours: Monday – Friday: 5:30-21:00, Sat and Sun: 8:00-16:00
Cost: Usual cost is $15 per session or $30 for a weekly membership. However, if you stay at the YMCA hostel you get your first session for free, and casual visits are reduced to $10 thereafter. There is no reduction to the weekly membership rate though.
Note, there is an option to register for a one week free trial on the website. However, it states this is for NZ residents only – so good luck!
Location and Entry
YMCA Auckland City Fitness is located in central Auckland and staff were very friendly, and didn’t even ask for proof of stay at the YMCA. As they were closing the day after I arrived (it was Good Friday), they told me I could take my free session in Saturday instead, even though I was actually checking out of the hostel on Friday morning.
Facilities
The YMCA Auckland gym is truly excellent, as large and well equipped as any big chain. You’ll find it’s extremely spacious with mostly new equipment, a lot of floor space and functional training equipment, eg TRX’s, kettlebells, Swiss balls, Bosus, trampettes, skipping ropes, mini hurdles etc.
The extensive weights area includes dumbbells up to 50kg (good news if you’re super-strong!) and you’ll see fixed weight barbells up to 55kg. That’s in addition to plenty of adjustable bars, benches and incline benches.
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They’ve also provided an extensive range of modern cardio equipment, including treadmills, bikes, cross-trainers and rowing machines.
The changing rooms here are large and very clean with hairdryers in the Ladies (and possibly the men’s, I didn’t attempt to go in!).
Comfort – perfect. Well-airconditioned and an ideal temperature for working out.
Please note that YMCA City Fitness Auckland has undergone significant investment into its weight training facilities since I published this. These include a new rig and further investments into additional dumbbells.
Classes
Check out the images below for timetables – you’ll find lots to do here! Yoga, Pilates, Tai Chi and Spinning feature, as well as a number of virtual classes such as HIIT.
Summary
YMCA Auckland City Fitness is a superb backpacker-friendly gym with very reasonable casual rates for New Zealand. Many other gyms are simply not interested in catering for the backpacker market and charge unaffordable casual rates.
Looking for something else?
Check out my review of Jetts Fitness (CBD) Auckland.
Note on accommodation: I stayed at the YMCA hostel in order to try out the YMCA Auckland gym for free, and whilst the hostel facilities are overall very good, I found the dorms to be incredibly small – there was barely room to store luggage around the beds in the 4 person one I was in! Luckily I’m here for a week so there was no real benefit to staying any longer at the YMCA and I moved to the more comfortable and spacious (and more expensive) YHA the next morning. (This is in contrast to the YMCA in Christchurch which was much better)
Want to stay in a hotel? Please note that the YMCA can offer preferential rates at both City Lodge and Amora Hotel, please contact them for details.
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