Movement Gowanus
Overview
Expert Summary
Detailed Insights
Movement Gowanus is a massive, multi-level climbing gym offering diverse activities including bouldering (across two floors), top-rope climbing, a full fitness gym, a yoga room, and a serene rooftop deck. A $40 day pass, including shoe rentals and re-entry privileges, provides exceptional value for an all-day experience, catering to both new and experienced climbers, as well as families and individuals focused on comprehensive fitness.
Key Highlights
- ✓Huge, multi-level facility featuring two dedicated floors for bouldering and a top level for rope climbing.
- ✓A $40 day pass includes shoe rentals and allows re-entry throughout the day, providing excellent value.
- ✓Comprehensive fitness amenities include a full gym with weights and machines, a yoga room, and changing rooms equipped with saunas and foot showers.
- ✓A serene roof deck overlooking Gowanus, complete with hammocks, offers a quiet oasis for relaxation or stretching.
- ✓Generally friendly and welcoming staff, noted for being professional and informative regarding safety protocols for children (e.g., a 6-year-old's visit).
- ✓Effective for adults seeking significant physical transformation, muscle development, and weight loss.
- ✓Offers interesting settings and fun climbing problems, including challenging options for those who prefer harder climbs.
Standout Features
- ⭐Multi-level climbing options: two floors for bouldering and a top level for rope climbing.
- ⭐All-day pass with re-entry, maximizing flexibility and value.
- ⭐Extensive fitness and wellness facilities: full gym with weights/machines, yoga room, saunas, and foot showers.
- ⭐Rooftop oasis: a serene deck with hammocks and views for relaxation.
- ⭐Supportive environment for achieving personal fitness goals beyond just climbing.
Perfect For
Ideal For
💡Pro Tips from Reviews
- →**Check the event schedule:** Consider avoiding 'free climbing day' if you prefer a less crowded experience.
- →**Be proactive with safety briefings:** If you are new to harness climbing and find a safety briefing unclear or unhelpful, politely request clarification, additional assistance, or a different staff member.
- →**Utilize all amenities:** Don't miss out on the saunas, foot showers, or the rooftop deck for post-climb relaxation and stretching.
- →**Consider a family membership:** If your initial visit is positive, a family membership could be a good investment as mentioned by one reviewer planning to sign up their whole family.
- →**Plan for a full day:** With re-entry and diverse activities, it's easy to spend many hours enjoying the facility.
Things to Consider
- ⚠Can become 'extremely packed' on 'free climbing day,' indicating significant crowding during special events.
- ⚠Inconsistent quality of safety briefings: one review cited a young staff member providing a tired, whispering, and unhelpful briefing for harness climbing, which made beginners uneasy and raised safety concerns.
- ⚠May not be immediately beginner-friendly for *harness climbing* if staff assistance is inadequate; one reviewer recommended it more for those who 'know how to boulder' if new to the venue.
Price & Value
Excellent value at $40 for a day pass, which includes shoe rentals and allows re-entry, making it possible to spend an entire day climbing, working out, and utilizing other amenities like the yoga room and sauna. This pricing is highly competitive for a multi-faceted facility of its size and offerings. Family memberships are also available.
♿Accessibility & Special Needs
- •No specific accessibility accommodations were mentioned in the reviews. The facility is described as having 3 levels, which may involve stairs.
🍎Food & Drink Policy
- •Patrons are permitted to 'leave to get some food and drinks, and then come back,' implying that outside food is likely not allowed inside the climbing areas but off-site dining is encouraged due to the re-entry policy. No on-site food options were mentioned.
🚗Parking Info
- •Not mentioned in any of the provided reviews.
👥Crowd Levels
- •Can be 'extremely packed' on 'free climbing day.' No other specific crowd level details were provided, but the 'huge' facility may help distribute patrons during regular hours.
🛡️Safety Features
- •Staff provides safety protocols and points out areas needing attention, noted as professional and informative for a 6-year-old. However, there was one report of a staff member giving a poor, inadequate safety briefing for harness climbing, which raised safety concerns.
⏰When to Avoid
- • **'Free climbing day':** If you wish to avoid extremely packed conditions and long waits.
- • **Absolute beginners to harness climbing:** If you are uncomfortable with potentially inadequate safety briefings or hesitant to ask for explicit, hands-on assistance with clipping in, as not all staff may provide this proactively.
Pricing/Package/Events
Pricing & Packages
Monthly Membership
Starting at $135Duration: monthly
Individual, household, and student memberships available.
Includes:
- •Unlimited climbing, yoga, & fitness at all Movement locations
- •Exclusive gear shop discounts (20% off first purchase, 10% off future retail)
- •Access to all Movement gyms nationwide
- •Discounts on classes & workshops
- •Free yoga and fitness classes
- •Free climbing clinics
- •Monthly guest pass
- •Partner & guiding service discounts
- •Two first-time guest passes per day
- •Free intro classes for you & friends
Annual Membership
Varies (with $0 Initiation option)Duration: annual
Individual, household, and student memberships available.
Includes:
- •Unlimited climbing, yoga, & fitness at all Movement locations
- •Exclusive gear shop discounts (20% off first purchase, 10% off future retail)
- •Access to all Movement gyms nationwide
- •Discounts on classes & workshops
- •Free yoga and fitness classes
- •Free climbing clinics
- •Monthly guest pass
- •Partner & guiding service discounts
- •Two first-time guest passes per day
- •Free intro classes for you & friends
30-Day Membership
$170 + taxDuration: 30 days
Short-term membership with 30 days of access.
Teal Membership
Need-basedDuration: monthly
A need-based membership for those experiencing financial barriers and who otherwise wouldn’t be able to access climbing, yoga, and fitness at our gyms.
Events & Schedule
🛡️Safety Policy
- • Climbing is dangerous and there are inherent risks. Participants and observers must assume the risks of climbing and entering the facility.
- • All climbers, participants, observers, individuals operating a safety system, and anyone proceeding past the check-in area must sign (or their parent/guardian must sign) the participant agreement form.
- • Double-check your partner’s safety system (knots/harness /carabiners/belay device) before every climb. Staff reserve the right to check safety systems at any time.
- • Weight differences between the climber and the belayer can greatly impact the safety of both individuals.
- • All persons using the facility are expected to respect other individuals and conduct themselves in good order. Persons deemed by staff to be behaving in an unsafe or disorderly fashion will be asked to leave the facility.
- • Lead climbing is an advanced form of climbing. Complete the lead climbing assumption of risk only if planning to lead climb/lead belay, or enrolling in Intro to Sport Lead Climbing class.
- • Auto belays are available at Movement Gowanus. Users must fill out the auto belay assumption of risk form.
- • Personal ropes used for lead climbing must be a single UIAA approved rope at least 40 meters in length.
📅Booking Policy
- • All climbers and observers must check-in at the front desk before entering the gym.
- • Every guest must complete an online participant agreement (waiver) to speed check-in.
- • Parents or legal guardians must sign waivers for anyone under 18. Legal guardians must present proof of guardianship.
- • For minors under 18, a parent/legal guardian must sign the lead assumption of risk.
- • Monthly members can bring one guest per month (12 per year), with gear rental included. Guest passes reset January 1 and do not accrue. Guest passes cannot be used when membership is frozen.
- • Members can bring up to two first-time guests per day for free, with gear rental included. These do not count against yearly guest passes.
- • On the first Friday of every month, members can bring one guest (Bring a Friend Day) which does not count against yearly guest passes and includes gear rental.
- • Members can reserve up to two guest spots per day in Intro to Rope Climbing classes for free; gear rental and facility use after the lesson are included for these guests. Member must be present for check-in.
- • Membership sign-up requires photo ID and a form of payment.
- • All account changes (e.g., freezing, cancelling, adding/removing members) must be submitted by the 25th of the month to be processed for the upcoming month’s billing.
What People Say
What's Great
- Safe environment for children (mentioned in 4 reviews)
- Fun and entertaining activities (mentioned in 2 reviews)
- Spacious play areas (mentioned in 4 reviews)
Recent Reviews
William Li
6 months agoHuge multi-level facility that includes bouldering, top rope, and even a small little fitness/gym area. For $40 you can have an entire day of climbing, leave to get some food and drinks, and then come back to continue climbing with their day pass and shoe rentals. Their staff was extremely nice and with the two floors of bouldering fun, I could easily stay there all day. Def recommend as I am pretty new to climbing and still felt very comfortable and welcomed!
Gary Weingarten
6 months agoI absolutely love this place. I was 192 pounds at 5’8 when I joined and I could barely to any of the climbing because my back biceps and forearms were just completely underdeveloped. With patience and consistency I started coming every other day and gradually the muscles started forming and while still very much a beginner I can now climb, pull, lift myself in ways I thought I’d never be able to do. And at 49 that feels really good. I use the yoga room after my climbing/bouldering and do my own yoga routines and stretching. I’m down to 162 pounds - the lightest I have been in decades. Sometimes I do my stretches on the roof deck which is this oasis of calm and quiet overlooking all of Gowanus. It’s serene. There are hammocks. It’s so calming up there. Best part is the change in my physical body. I’m getting cuts and definition that I’ve never had before. I’m completely hooked! Oh did I mention there is a gym in here also. Weights, machines. It’s your all around - work every body part you never knew you had - kind of place. One wish: power yoga classes.
Daniel Tran
7 months agoVisit: July 2024 The gym is huge with 3 levels. They have rope climbing at the top level and bouldering on the other 2 levels, with a gym on the second level. The change rooms have saunas and foot showers which is really nice The setting is interesting and there was a lot of fun problems. Some of the finishes though, seemed really difficult (or I'm just bad), but I prefer harder climbs over easier ones! Went on free climbing day, so it was extremely packed in the gym Highly recommend the gym!
Viktoriya Barova
5 months agoDecided to take my 6 year old here today to try something new. He had an awesome time! The girl at the main entrance desk was super professional and informative. She went through all of the safety protocols with us and pointed out what we needed to pay attention to. Overall we had a great experience and we’ll sign up the whole family for a membership.
James Kelly
3 months agolarge and impressive facility and cool atmosphere but not friendly to beginners. Only 2 people out of the 7 people that were at the front desk were nice and welcoming. The young guy who looked 16-18 that gave me and my girlfriend a safety briefing looked tired and like he didn’t wanna be there and was whispering as he explained the clip in harness system which made me and my girlfriend uneasy about doing the harness climbing, he didn’t even assist us in how to clip in as we were struggling to understand it. If he continues explaining safety like this someone is gonna get hurt badly I’d recommend this place to people who know how to boulder but if you’re a beginner try someplace else.