Where's the BEST Gym In Toronto ?

Hey all:

I live in Toronto and am looking for a real gym… before I get flamed and roasted for asking, I’m just looking for some basics that I haven’t found in the gyms in Scarborough or downtown…

If anyone knows of a gym that has some or all of the following in the GTA area please PM me; I’ll work out the membership costs from there :slight_smile:

Dumbbells over 120 lbs
Reverse hyper
real official weight and length Olympic bars
weight releasers
standing hamstring curl machine
Trap bars, hex squat bars, etc.

I just had to vent after seeing Christian Thibodeau’s pix of his gym :frowning:

The closet I’ve found meeting my wants is Fitness365 (the old Monster gym) but it’s like 40+ kms from my house.

Can anyone help me out ? Thanks in advance. JAY

120lb dumbells?

This is Toronto, not an athletic city like Vancouver.

The best place I’ve found is Bloor and Bathurst – its ghetto but it has everything you need including some stuck up Canadian women.

I second that. That place is ghetto, but well stocked. I’ve never worked out there, but walking past it’s nice to see the spinning bikes look unused - let’s hope the oly bars are adequately worn in to make up for it.

I just use the equally ghetto U of T gym at Hart House. No fancy bars or reverse hypers (sadly), but good, hard, well-used weights and bars. Though the squat rack always feels like it’s about to collapse (now I wonder why I even go there anymore, the element of danger I guess). The Athletic Centre at U of T is also very good, with bumper plates and platforms for olympic lifts and more variety of equipment than most places in the city.

There’s also the gym that Gary Roberts operates. Forget what it’s called but it’s near Union Station, and it’s pretty well-equipped from what I’ve heard.

How is Vancouver more athletic? Because they rollerblade more? Please. Anyways, there is a real iron pit on the danforth with some cheap fees. I can’t remember the name but hopefully someone will chime in with it. There is also Gary Roberts gym but I think the fees are super expensive. But it has everything.

[quote]tater wrote:

There’s also the gym that Gary Roberts operates. Forget what it’s called but it’s near Union Station, and it’s pretty well-equipped from what I’ve heard.[/quote]

Yeah I remember reading about that in the paper a few months back. The membership fee was pretty steep IIRC.

the one at bloor and bathurst, is that Trainer’s Fitness? thats where my gf works out, she says it’s pretty good, not a lot of people usually.

Gary Robert’s gym is Station Seven.
www.stationseven.ca it’s in the skywalk concourse. looks like a sweet gym, but i imagine a lot of $$ to join.

I’m fairly new to TO so this thread will help me out too.

later

[quote]jaybvee wrote:
Hey all:

I live in Toronto and am looking for a real gym… before I get flamed and roasted for asking, I’m just looking for some basics that I haven’t found in the gyms in Scarborough or downtown…

If anyone knows of a gym that has some or all of the following in the GTA area please PM me; I’ll work out the membership costs from there :slight_smile:

Dumbbells over 120 lbs
Reverse hyper
real official weight and length Olympic bars
weight releasers
standing hamstring curl machine
Trap bars, hex squat bars, etc.

I just had to vent after seeing Christian Thibaudeau’s pix of his gym :frowning:

The closet I’ve found meeting my wants is Fitness365 (the old Monster gym) but it’s like 40+ kms from my house.

Can anyone help me out ? Thanks in advance. JAY[/quote]

I used to workout at UTM (U of T at Mississauga) 3 years ago. It is a great little gym. They host Olympic lifting competitions from now and then since they have a room reserved especially for olympic lifts. Only gym that I know of equipped with an olympic lifting room.

Well the Goodlife at Kennedy and Ellesmere has great bars (Ivanko OBX20s and honest-to-god texas power bars)and more than one squat rack if nothing else. It’s worth a look.

They are still a commercial gym however, and it didn’t really have an atmosphere coducive to powerlifters.

Burned into my brain is a bench workout where they played an entire Celine Dion CD. <shiver!>

That was why we built our own gym: The Anvil

We currently have:
Sumo-Base Power Rack
Bands,
Chains,
Boards,
Ivanko OBX-20+Competition Collars
PPP IPF-BB
Plate-loaded dumbells
50kg PLates
Good Music played at the appropriate volume
All the chalk you could ever want or need.
More on the way all the time…

I can’t believe I survived as long as I did trying to powerlift in commercial gyms. Shoot me a PM if you want to talk further.

Drive to Buffalo and go see Paul Childress.

Although I’m out in London, England now I have always trained at a gym at the 401 and Kipling (Etobicoke) called Fitness 365. It used to be a really hardcore gym called Monster Gym and it has gradually steered away from that image but it’s big, has loads of equipment, and is relatively cheap ($44 per month last I checked). Dumbbell’s go up to 200 lbs., two power racks, two free standing squat racks, tons of benches, and is one huge warehouse. I don’t think they have a reverse hyper but the gym is quite good. The only other gym I would recommend is Gold’s Gym in Mississauga.

Good luck mate and maybe I’ll see you there when I visit in June.

Sasha

I work at a Goodlife in the Eaton Center on Queen Street

It has a reverse plate loaded hyper

2 atlantis power cages with thick bar pull up handles, holders for bands

And 2 other squatting cages

We have DB’s upto 100, but we have two olympic DB bars that are self loaded. So they can go upto about 165 comfortably each.

We have a Glute Ham Raise Machine as well.

It’s not a bad set up. It’s no hardcore hardcore gym, but we aren’t the common commercial gym. We’re far more serious over here.

Bang Fitness @ Queen & Bathurst.

Take a look at the testimonials from Alwyn Cosgrove and Dr John Berardi: About | Bang Fitness Queen Street West

Nuff said!

There is only one! FORTIS FITNESS - it’s relatively new and has your list of stuff required including a Westside deluxe supreme reverse hyper, chains, full set of elite bands, 6 racks (8 feet high), platforms, chalk, dumbbells to 160 lbs., unilateral leg press, Ivanko competition bars, prowler and sled (plus indoor hall to use them) safety squat bar, football bar, Zercher harness, push up harness (never seen this thing anywhere else, it hangs from a chain in the rack - allows you to stack 45 lb plates on your back and do push ups in a rack safely), more plates than any other gym in the city, etc.

All this plus some of the best athletic trainers in the city and staff that are knowledgeable on, and actually visit gyms like DeFranco’s and Lou Simmons Westside. Some members actually compete in Power and Olympic lifting but there is zero attitude. Just good people wanting you to improve. It’s about bloody time. Toronto needed a place like that.

This place is located just east of downtown at 276 Carlaw and has 24/7 access.

I sometimes travel to To and I would like to get in a training session with some lifters.
If you lift, then I will come out and tell you where to go for the proper training. Toronto has some great lifters and if you are serious they will take you on. They are all great people. I would only recommend the ones that qre serious. I know that sounds elitist, but they are friends of mine and I would be responsible.

BB