Let’s be honest here, everyone loves a good workout that gets your body going and makes you feel like a beast. But do you know the worst thing that could happen to you even before hitting your workout? Going to the gym and finding it busy. It happens to me from time to time and I absolutely hate it. From people taking all the equipment to waiting in line for a shower, going to a busy gym is not something that I would like to experience ever again. And that’s exactly why I make sure to go when it’s the least busy and that includes YMCA as well. With that being said, What are YMCA’s most popular hours? And when is the best time to go?
The majority of YMCA gyms are most popular and busy during the evening and afternoon of weekdays when all people get off work or school, which means that the best time to train is either very early in the morning or very late in the evening. However, it’s better to contact your local YMCA for accurate information.
In this article, we’ll talk about YMCA’s most popular hours as well as the best time to go to enjoy a comfortable workout.
YMCA Most Popular Hours
Just like any other gym, YMCA also has times when it’s completely busy and times when it’s empty, but it highly depends on several factors such as your location, seasonality, holidays, and so on.
The best way to find out the most popular hours of a gym including the YMCA is to put yourself in the shoes of people that train with a limited amount of time. I’m talking of course about people that have a day job and students.
In the United States, most people with a day job will start their work at 9 AM and get off it at about 5 PM and most students will start their school time at about 8 AM and finish it at either 12 PM midday or about 3 to 4 PM.
With that being said, the majority of the time, these people will either go to the gym before starting their work/school time or after finishing it.
This means that:
- People that work will most likely be present at a YMCA gym either before work between 6 AM and 9 AM or after finishing work between 5 PM to 8 PM.
- Students will most likely be at a YMCA gym either afternoon between 11 PM to 2 PM or after finishing their school time between 3 PM to 6 PM. (students are too lazy to go early before their school time)
- Additionally, people will most likely be present at a YMCA gym during weekends and holidays at pretty much any convenient time.
So if we combine all these data, we can conclude that YMCA’s most popular hours will be between 3 to 8 PM during weekdays, between 11 to 2 PM, and it might even be slightly popular between 6 to 9 AM during that same time. Additionally, a YMCA gym will most likely be popular and busy during weekends and holidays.
I know this data might be confusing to grasp which is why I made this graphical representation of it to make things easy to understand.
When is the Best Time to Go to a YMCA Gym?
Going to a gym and finding out that all the equipment is taken or all cardio machines are being used is the last thing you want after a busy day. And that’s exactly why you should plan your visit to your nearest YMCA beforehand so you don’t fall into the trap of finding it busy.
Just like I mentioned in the beginning, you need to put yourself in the shoes of people that work and students.
This means that you need to go when they’re most likely not gonna be present at the gym (if you have the time of course). And the best times that fit this criterion are:
- Very early in the morning between 5 AM and 9 AM while everyone’s asleep or preparing to go to work or school on a weekday.
- At 10 AM when both students and people that work are busy during a weekday.
- Very late in the evening between 9 PM to 12 PM on a weekday (except for Friday this time) when the majority of people are tired and preparing for their next day.
However, this time may vary according to your location and might be the complete opposite for you.
So the best way to verify this kind of information is to contact your local YMCA and ask them about their popular hours since they’ll probably have a history of databases that will point out the exact time their gym will be busy.
Conclusion:
Now that you know YMCA’s most popular hours, I hope that your next visit to your local one will be different and you’ll enjoy yourself in an empty gym full of equipment that you can use freely. Just remember to put yourself in the shoes of other people and do the opposite of what they might do, and contact your local YMCA to find the most accurate information.