Equinox

I’ve been a member for a couple of years and I’ve observed a steady decline in cleanliness in the men’s change room since the sparkling early days, including mould in the showers (to be fair, they seem to be addressing this lately), and general untidiness in the men’s change room. I have a hard time reconciling the $ 190 /​month membership fee lately; toilet paper is the cheapest quality, urinals are terribly stinky, steam room is unclean and often out of commission. Reception staff is generally great, but training staff is pretty unfriendly (with a few exceptions), clientele is a mixed bag of type A Bay Street types and up-​and-​coming wannabes. Don’t believe the hype.

This place is rightly called the five star gym. The membership is expensive but the place is so comfortable and clean that you will feel like working out. The boxing gears, yoga sessions, spinning classes are very good. They have an iPhone App that you can use for booking spinning classes or for knowing the schedules. I love this feature. There are enough treadmills and they are cleaned and maintained properly. You will also get clean eucalyptus dipped wet towel after the work out that will make you feel refreshed. The showers are nice. The staff is friendly — there is coat check facility available. They have a store that sells some sporting wear — tees and yoga pants etc. The place also has some folks who prepare healthy juices and shakes for you. There is a nice lounge where you can relax and use the free WiFI. I am not a fitness junkie but the place inspires me to come there and spend at least a few minutes a day.

Have been a member for about 3 weeks. Was a bit leery given all I heard about the cost of membership and Bay Street crowd, but as I needed to quit my mid town private gym for commuting reasons, I wanted something quality. Wow, Equinox does not disappoint!
Sales process — NOT pressure-​filled whatsoever.
Equipment — Top notch and plenty of it
Classes — lots of variety — something for everyone. You won’t be bored! Classes geared to the serious member who wants to stay fit. Love the express conditioning classes…30 minutes you’re in and out!
Instructors — passionate about what they do, and it shows. They mix it up to stave off boredom. Also some of the instructors offer life lessons and tips (on workouts and diet, sleep, etc) during workouts — so I’ve often left the gym not just happily worked, but enlightened!
Bathrooms (women). WOW. Spacious lockers — love the built in locks — no lugging around a lock. Clean, clean, clean. Lots of high quality towels. Nice music playing to make a relaxing environment. Great products. Huge steam room. Sauna. The locker room is a relaxing environment to walk into after a harried walk from the office, and relaxing after a tough workout.
Space — HUGE, bright, airy, light filled during the day and clean, clean, clean.
Members — Def Bay Street crowd. Women’s washroom like a fashion runway. Not a cliquey or uppity crowd as some may expect. Everyone’s there to just get their workout on and get back to the office. Not a social club at all which is a nice change from what I left.
All in all, this is not an affordable gym for all, but GREAT value if you use it regularly. Equinox CLEARLY values its members and wants them to have a great experience.
And OMG those cold, wet eucalyptus towels — worth membership alone! Nice way to refresh if you’re too rushed for a shower.
Almost forgot! Very informative e-​newsletter. Awesome app that lets you pick your bike in spinning class and sign up for all classes. Calendar to track your workouts. Interested to see how much more they do with this app.

I was a member at Equinox for a while.
The good:
— The facility, equipment is amazing, space is amazing, classes are good quality, bathrooms are great and always so clean, café is delicious, trainers are all super professional and friendly. The view from the treadmill area is nice to have while working out. They have nice separate rooms (pilates studio/​yoga studio/​spinning studio/​boxing studio), all so comfortable.
The bad:
— The admin staff (in terms of their finances) are SO unprofessional. They messed up with me so many times e.g. I referred a few people and never got two of my $ 150 gift cards. They could barely keep track of anything.
— The contract there is the only way you can join if it’s your first time and it sucks. I wish they had month to month membership. Maybe they’ve added it over the past few months.
If I didn’t have such a bad experience with the admin part of Equinox, I’d give it 5 stars. Definitely worth the high membership costs.

Great club! The equipment is top of the line and plenty of it. It is spacious so you don’t feel like you spend your workout constantly trying to avoid people. They make it easy for the members. Towels all throughout the club, including the chilled eucyluptus! Classes are tough, even the yoga classes are a solid workout. It is clean, modern and worth every penny I pay to be a member. I have gone to pretty much every gym in Toronto over the years and nothing comes close to this one. It’s nice having windows and not being in a basement.. .

NY member (via Vancouver) transplant so my expectations are high. Gorgeous and clean facility.

In town visiting for the holidays… Melissa and the team at Equinox Bay St are fantastic. The classes are excellent, the café is super delicious/​healthy and the club overall is very clean, modern and spacious. Working out everyday here over the holidays really made my trip so much better.

I love this place. Always spotless, tons of staff, new machines, always well maintained. Probably is not a better run gym in the city. The changing rooms are awesome! Very much a bay street crowd.

Gym now open on Sundays!!!

Have been a member of Equinox the past few months… one huge tip, if you’re part of a larger company, definitely ask about the Corporate Plan. It’s a bit cheaper, but the huge benefit is that you pay month to month vs. committing for a full year. Amazing way to try it out… but also be able step away if you do a lot more outdoor activities in the summer or want more flexibility.
The GOODS!
— beautiful space, bright, impeccably clean
— amazing locker rooms (nicer shower than I have at home) plus a sauna, steam room, nice towels, and lockers where you set your code (vs. having to bring a lock)
— juice/​smoothie /​snack bar… all healthy of course!
— personal training options, had a few free sessions, the trainer was good but I wasn’t looking for someone to train with and was happy to see it pretty low pressure with no crazy stalker follow-​ups which is SO much better than other gyms
— staff and other members all very friendly — unlike some places you don’t need to be wearing full head to toe lululemon to fit in
— great spa — massage therapists are top-​notch
— has essentially a gym within a gym — upstairs is a bit smaller with a few machines, treadmills, bikes, stretching area — with a much bigger space below. I’ve been mornings and after works and its never too busy — always equipment and machines available.
— classes are great, pretty interesting and tough! favourite so far has been shockwave which is essentially circuit training with rowing in the middle, painful (in a good way!) classes are getting fuller recently, but not a problem so far!
— NOW open Sundays!
Negatives I can see so far…
— Spinning Class wasn’t great… that being said, I’ve been spinning the past few years at Quad, one the best places in the city, so its a bit hard to compare
— This is getting picky but would be awesome to have access to a local hotel pool, even if it cost a bit more
Overall its pricey, but if you take full advantage of everything the club has to offer its worth it!

This gym is pretty swanky, which is what i expected given the chain’s reputation and the number of celebrity attendees. It only opened at the end of April so everything is shiny and new. They have two levels with private, sound proofed rooms for yoga, Pilates, group classes and stretching. They also have two levels of cardio equipment and weight rooms plus a day spa (for massages etc), a café/​restaurant, steam rooms and dry saunas.
The gym is extremely clean. The girl who showed me around stressed that the maintenance team runs a tight ship and she wasn’t exaggerating. Whilst I was there I saw multiple people constantly cleaning the gym floor and the change rooms.
What sets this gym apart and makes it seem expensive (aside from the monochrome colour palette) are the swish, yet unnecessary, add ons. These include, but are not limited to, the following:
— showers that look like they belong in a Hawaiian resort (think wood with black stone features) complete with every shower product you could possibly think of using
— fridges full of eucalyptus soaked towels for those red, sweaty faces
— towels for every occasion: sweat towels, sauna towels, shower towels and face cloths
— a waiting room inside the change room (incase your friend is taking too long) with a flat screen tv, lounge chairs and magazines
— mouthwash and little cups at the change room sinks
— an assorted collection of q-​tips, hair gel, hairspray, deodorant, perfume, facial cleansers, hairdryers, curling irons, hair straighteners and moisturisers for use
— change room mirrors with lightbulbs ala celebrity dressing room
— lockers with a fancy way of setting a combination (just to be different)
— the ability to put your own USB into every machine (include the spin bikes) to record and upload all your workouts
— classes with unusual, nondescript names such as ‘Essentrics’
Another point to note is that the gym is quite hard to find. It is located in Commerce Court on the PATH near King Station. However you will only find it if you exit King Station at the correct end of the platform. If you do not see a sign saying Commerce Ct when you exit you have no chance of finding it, try walking to the other end or ask someone for directions.
My overall opinion of the gym is that it is extremely nice. It has all the equipment and classes you could possibly desire (although unfortunately not a pool) and is in a convenient, downtown location. It is very clean and light with a nice view of Bay St/​Younge St out of double storey glass windows. Given the target market you might suspect that the clientele would be snooty, well-​to-​do business people. I have to say that even though I spotted a few of those most people working out looked downright normal.
The only downside for regular folk is the price. If money is no object then this place is for you. It works out to be $ 165/​m or up to $ 180/​m if you wish to use multiple clubs. Whilst there is no other Equinox here at the moment The Yorkville Club has been bought by the company and soon changing over. The join up fee is $ 550 but they are not charging it at the moment because the place is newly opened. So if you are considering signing up now is the time… save yourself $ 550.
Even if the price is not for you go down and have a look around, ask if you can trial the gym. If nothing else it is very pretty and nice to look at. If a five star hotel was a gym this would be the place.

Much swankier than the yorkville club (i mention it because Equinox bought the yorkville club). The changing rooms are much more upscale. The machines newer since it’s a brand new location. Not much staff as the other one from what I saw, but not a bad thing. More organized.
Update: There are much more staff and members now. It’s a gym in full effect!

Toronto finally has a true high-​quality gym. I was previously a member of Equinox in New York and the Toronto location is as nice as any. Here’s hoping it does well…

I had previously been a member of Equinox in the States so I was excited when I learned they were coming to Toronto. The recently opened Bay Street location has not disappointed. Fantastic facility, friendly staff, state-​of-​the art equipment and top-​notch classes like Endurance Cycle with Jacabo. Well done, Equinox. Welcome to Toronto.