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.
Discussion
22 Comments
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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.
Their biggest drawback is the lack of VAGINA. King West = Foreskin Party.
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.
I joined this hole in 2007 with my friend. I cancelled and have only recently realized they have still been billing me. I was so upset that I hadnt noticed sooner but they hide behind a number not there advertised name. Spoke to the manager Kevin, who kept hanging up on me and said that I didn't leave a void check. I came in with a cop and low and behold he cancelled my "non existence check" Now I have to go to small claims court. My friend cancelled and had no problems. Kevin is a complete ass!!!
Meant to reply to a comment made by big ripp off.
I go here with a trainer - it is so dirty that when you do a pushup, there are handprints on the floor in the dust. There is mold everywhere and it smells bad. The dirtiest gym I've ever been to.
Go to Kingwestfitness instead in Liberty Village. 171 East Liberty Street.
The locker rooms are gross. The showers are slimy and clog regularly. The equipment is never maintained and there is a lack of machines in general. The staff is even more useless then their crappy towels AND they will overcharge you any chance they get.
Avoid this place like the plague!
Please do not sign up for this gym. The Personal Trainers think the own this place. The treat other member like crap. They think the whole weight room or machines belongs to them.
I was a member back in 08 and I thought the place went to hell so I quit. I have recently signed up again and I must say the club has done a complete 180. There are new owners and they treat everyone well and the facilities are cleaner. Way cheaper now too.
I just got a sales call from them. Someone named Chris Martin or something like that, called me. When I said I had been called multiple times he proceed to call me liar... and got verbally aggressive with me.
I was really nice about asking that they delete my information and not call me again. I'm a former employee back when the place first opened and won't be signing up.
The guy was an complete ass. If that's their idea of a customer service call... I'd strongly recommend people don't join until the service improves. What if I wanted to cancel? Or had an actual issue? Would they have cussed me out then?
I was really nice and got treated really poorly.
That same thing happened to my friend. They flat out refuse to admit that they had been billing her despite the fact that she had cancelled months before... they hung up on her and refused to give her back any money.
Even the owner treated her like crap.
All these reviews are from when it was under differentanagment than today. This a great club. Clean, good equipment, and really friendly trainers an staff. Plus it's the best deal downtown. It was bought by the guy who owns a few other smaller gyms under the Cardi-Go name in the city and he's really turned this plac around.
I used to be a personal trainer at this gym and there trainer today dont treat members at the gym very nicely. One of my former clients still attends this gym and a trainer was very rude and told him off.. He was so embrassed.
Shame on you THE KING WEST CLUB - Incident on Dec 18th - One of your free-lance trainers.