The King West Club
266 King Street West 
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Phone: 416.260.9911
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I used to sweat at the King West Club when I worked in the Financial District. Located at the corner of King and Duncan, the gym finds its membership base among the nearby corporate types and the CBCers who toil away across the street. For a basement space, it's a surprisingly good place to work out. The setup is all brick and beam and it's filled with top of the line machines, weights and cardio equipment.
The King West Club is divided into three main rooms. The largest of the three houses treadmills, bikes, step and other cardio equipment. Each has good sight-lines on the cable TV's which tend to feature anything but the CBC - usually sports highlights or some trashy entertainment news program. A range of tightly packed weight machines rest nearby.
A second room is filled with a good range of free weights, some more weight machines and a bit of vacant floor space to get some stretching in. There's plenty of mirrors, exercise balls and a water fountain to compete for attention. It's also a good vantage point to check out the classes in the exercise studio next door.
Rates and Initiation Fee
The club offers two membership options - month to month ($75 a month) or an annual membership which costs $55 a month. Either way, there are no initiation fees and all classes offered are included in the price.
Towels, Lockers and Showers
Small, clean towels are available for a monthly fee or for a $1 payment per work out. Personally, for $55 to $75 I'd expect towel service to be included so I look at this as an additional base monthly fee which essentially pushes up their rates another $15 or so. The good news is that the showers here are some of the best I've seen in the city. There are more private showers than they need and all are modern and equipped with nice smelling liquid body wash. Lockers are new-ish but could be bigger. Day use is free but overnight lockers run $20 a month.
Personal Training, Yoga and Spin
Personal training is offered. There are a number of different packages to choose from at various price points. Spinning bikes are in the cardio area and can be used whenever or during one of the classes which take place Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Hatha Yoga is scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at 5:30pm.
Food and Juice
There's a fridge with some basic re-fueling options like water and Guru energy drinks. It would be nice to have some fresh juices and shakes but there's probably not enough space to set something like this up.
Worth Mentioning
For some reason there aren't any early morning classes. I guess CBCers don't get up that early. Other classes offered include Pilates, Ab Attack, Pump it Up, Flex it Up, Cardio Fusion, Boot Camp and Punch Boxing Conditioning. Both locker rooms also have a sauna and the women's locker room has an individual three piece private bathroom.
Days and Hours of Operation
At the time of this post the gym is open Monday to Friday, 6:00am - 9pm; Saturday and Sundays from 9am - 5pm. It's always best to check the web site for the most up to date info.
Comments (11)
Don't let the convenient location or exposed lofty brickwork appeal suck you in. They've cut back on cleaning services and general maintenance and the place is suffering as a result. Washrooms and showers are filthy and something as simple as refilling the paper towel dispenser is rarely taken care of. Spinning bikes take up much of the cardio space but classes are basically nonexistent - maybe twice or three times a week with 5 to 6 people per class. Jacobs Ladder; their new machine takes up the space of two treadmills and is rarely ever used and is proving to be a poor investment. Padding on the universals is cracking and regular motions sometimes stick or jerk. Free weights are bolt designed and are lose on a regular basis. And the list goes on……
I’ve been a member for almost three years but I will be leaving for a gym that’s properly maintained and managed. For 85 bucks a month (and without towel service!!) you can do much better. Shit, for an extra $10 you can get a membership at Adelaide Club...but only if you're willing to deal with the all the bay street douchbag clientele they tend to draw in.
The only thing going for this place is the group Kickboxing, which funny enough, is not run by the gym but from an outside instructor. Looks like they just use the space.
Don't let the convenient location or exposed lofty brickwork appeal suck you in. They've cut back on cleaning services and general maintenance and the place is suffering as a result. Washrooms and showers are filthy and something as simple as refilling the paper towel dispenser is rarely taken care of. Spinning bikes take up much of the cardio space but classes are basically nonexistent - maybe twice or three times a week with 5 to 6 people per class. Jacobs Ladder; their new machine takes up the space of two treadmills and is rarely ever used and is proving to be a poor investment. Padding on the universals is cracking and regular motions sometimes stick or jerk. Free weights are bolt designed and are lose on a regular basis. And the list goes on……
I’ve been a member for almost three years but I will be leaving for a gym that’s properly maintained and managed. For 85 bucks a month (and without towel service!!) you can do much better. Shit, for an extra $10 you can get a membership at Adelaide Club...but only if you're willing to deal with the all the bay street douchbag clientele they tend to draw in.
The only thing going for this place is the group Kickboxing, which funny enough, is not run by the gym but from an outside instructor. Looks like they just use the space.
The location is truly the only thing that's good about this place.
The comment above describes the equipment well.
Men's locker room has 8 showers, 4 of which have never worked since I joined 2 years ago. Of the 4 that work (and have doors), 1 of them gets flooded constantly.
As for the towels, unless you have a 26 inch waist, you won't be able to get them around you. They are also the kind that wipe water around instead of absorbing it. Towel service is also ridiculously priced at $20/month.
Good: friendly staff (unless you're inquiring about the increase in fees and decrease in maintenance). Location.
Bad: poorly maintained, costly fees, equipment.
I quit this place recently. The creepy manager was more interested in hitting on me than changing a light bulb in the women's changeroom that was out for 7 months. You can find better value for your money than this gym. There is an Extreme or Goodlife just minutes away. Do your DD before signing up here....
I'm new to the area and looking for a gym. Just stopped by king west to do a quick walkthrough. The valley girl wanna be at the front desk was a complete tard. I asked her a few questions about fees, classes, etc. and she just tilted her head to ths side like my dog when confused. First impressions go a long way. Too bad extreme fitness is even worse for this type of BS 'I think I'm a star' snobbery. You work front desk at a gym. This is the male equivalent to mixing concrete. Get busy folding towels and learn about the programs and fee structure of where you work.
i like the location. close to work so i can go during lunch. im not a gym rat but it does the job for me. monthly fee is a little high considering you don't get towels.
the owner of this club is more interested in being a landlord than a club manager. they have done nothing to improve the place since i have been a member, things only get worse (and oddly the fees keep going up) the place is a dive and they treat their members like garbage. the sooner this place goes out of business, the better.
Its not that bad. Good selection of equipment. A few good classes. No crowds and a very good location.
this place will be going out of business soon unless the owner actually starts to care. it is either completely empty, or too crowded to do anything, which isnt saying much, since due to a recent renovation to create more office space, it takes about 4 people in the room with the weights and benches, to make it to jammed to do anything.
the staff seem to care only about your monthy fees and not about maintaining a clean, safe, decent fitness club. there is no value added, and for the outrages monthy fees, there isn't even regular value for your money. there are plenty of better options nearby, which all ironically are much cheaper in price.
simply put, having a membership there is like having a prison sentence, you just count down the days until you are free to leave. (unfortnately I have many more months to go). screw you king west! you ripped me off for the last time!!!!
Agree with Jessica. The staff stare at you and hit on you every chance they get. I was disgusted. The regular upkeep of this place is lacking. THe location is the only positive thing they have to offer.
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