Yonkers YMCA opens new fitness center

Ernie Garcia
elgarcia@lohud.com

YONKERS - In a bid to cater to more discriminating fitness tastes, the Yonkers Family YMCA opened a new exercise room yesterday with health-club-style equipment.

Officials from the Y and the city gathered in the building's basement to inaugurate the new Wellness Center and the building in general, which was closed for the past two weeks for extensive cleaning, repairs and reorganizing.

The $50,000 renovation to the basement allowed the Y to install more than 35 Cybex, Life Fitness and Hammer Strength fitness machines, some equipped with such trendy features as high-definition televisions and iPod docking stations.

"We're trying to give them the best of both worlds," said Y Chief Executive Officer Shawyn Patterson-Howard. "So they can come in, work out, become healthy, reduce their risk for obesity, high-blood pressure."

At yesterday's ribbon-cutting ceremony, Patterson-Howard said the Y wanted to cater to the downtown's longtime low-income residents as well as to its affluent newcomers.

"Whether you're on public assistance or a millionaire, you could come here to work out together," she said.

Membership at the Y costs $25 for a sign-up fee and $29 a month, with use of the Wellness Center, pool and other facilities.

Leslie Garcia, 15, a 10th-grader at Saunders Trades and Technical High School, used the weight resistance machines as officials made their speeches yesterday. She said the machines were a big improvement.

"There's more machines, so people don't fight over them, so it's better," she said.

Elected officials who spoke at the event marveled at the equipment. Several said they were inspired, but they didn't promise to start breaking a sweat.

"I look at all this equipment and, while I can't commit, there is a desire in my heart," state Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins said about exercise.