Hi,
I’m moving to Canada in April for a year. I’ll be working downtown.
I want to find a real gym close by and a cool place to live that’s is near enough to the fun parts of the city (where ever that is!) and won’t break the bank.
I’m not sure if people can post links to commercial gyms but a PM would be great.
Thanks,
Peterus
check out extreme fitness via google or whatever. I train at one in Pickering (20-30 minutes from downtown toronto) and I think it’s great. It can be a tad expensive relative to other gyms but it’s very high quality. I imagine the one in Pickering is probably not as nice as any of the ones downtown and yet we still have multiple squat racks, power racks, tonnes of benches, dumbbells… pretty much everything. Also they dont seem to mind spending money to get new stuff when it’s necessary. Only downside is it is VERY much a commercial gym… so if what you want is a dungeon that plays death metal where every single guy is deadlifting 500+ lbs… this gym is not for you.
For sites, I’m sure there’s many here to see, but I think the best ones to check out are the CN Tower, Nathan Phillip Square and Niagara falls(obviously)…
Downtown T.O. is really great in terms of night life and women, so you’ll never have to worry about that.
As for gyms, it depends on what kind of gym you’re looking for. There’s probably a ton of gyms downtown or if you can find a spot to live, I’ll tell you where gyms are in that area, but there’s usually some GoodLife Fitness or Extreme Fitness everywhere.
If you want “better” gyms in terms of the atmosphere, I train at the Toronto Track and Field Centre. The gym itself has a full-sized olympic track outdoors and an indoor track. Two weight rooms; The first one has two platforms, 2 squat racks and 2 benches. The other one which I use has basically the same things PLUS dumbbells and machines.
There’s a few Extremes downtown, one being right on John & Richmond near the Scotiabank theater. There’s another gym, I think it’s a Goodlife (used to be a Bally’s) at Yonge and Bloor-ish area. It’s a nice one, I trained there once.
I also know there are a few more serious gyms downtown, so you can google that shit and check it out.
If you want a little gym, try http://bangfitness.com. Geoff, the owner is a great guy. Couple tires, sleds, one oly platform, squat racks, foam rollers, kettlebells, bands, MMA training, the list goes on. It’s an awesome place to train at, and they’ve got great coaches. If the above link doesn’t work, just google Bang Fitness. It’s a 15 minute walk from the Eaton Centre, downtown Toronto. Highly recommended.
I don’t know what the best gym to recommend is, but I have heard that the Extreme Fitness on Bloor St. in Yorkville gets bad reviews. People get screwed over when they try to end their contracts. It is also in the middle of all the high end fashion stores, so I don’t know if it would be the most hardcore gym you would find.
Extreme fitness is way over priced. You pay for all the gimmicks like tv’s on the bikes and crap like that. I like goodlife because you can use any one of them in Canada with your membership. They are nice, clean, and I’ve never been giving a hard time for doing things like deadlifts. Not a hardcore gym by any means, but they seem to respect good training and leave you alone to do it.
Check out Fitness 365. The website doesn’t do it justice, and its not very close to downtown. That being said, it is an awesome gym. Lots of weights, dumbbells up to 190s. Very hardcore clientele. Very respectful too. Everybody was big and jacked. The women, the old men, it was wild. I had such a great experience there. I think it’d be worth the ride down there.
Thanks for all the replies. Definitely sounds like I have some good choices.
jacheson - Extreme Fitness, Pickering, cool. I’m not a 500lb death-metal lifter!
B.L.U. Ninja - Hey, thanks for the positive words about nightlife, women and sights - I hope to have good times and adventures in Toronto. Toronto Track and Field Centre sounds amazing! Well done in the Olympics.
Chiron01 - End of contract gotchas, noted. I’m pretty clued in as there is a lot of bad practice here from commercial gyms - requiring 2 months notice etc. Though it is improving with a voluntary code of practice.
samdiesel - sounds unique!