Store-Front Workouts Come to Toronto

Between working, sleeping and getting the dishes done, hitting the gym is the last thing on my mind. I realize that spending a couple of sweaty hours, three times a week is the healthy thing to do, but the idea of eating in bed and watching Lost tends to win out in the end.

Then I came across the news that H.I.T Fitness Inc., a Toronto-based company, thinks it has found a solution to this problem with the first of many store-front gyms that promise the benefit of a 90-minute workout in as little as four minutes. The gym mainly consists of High Intensity Training machines (it's like a weird looking elliptical trainer that claims to eventually burn 500 calories after a four-minute session).

A beneficial four-minute workout you can do in your work clothes sound too good to be true? Surprisingly, exercise fitness experts don't think it's possible - a real workout still involves a lot of old-fashion stretching, sweating and strength-training for a good couple of hours.

Whether you believe their claims or not, H.I.T. has opened a location under the Royal Trust Tower in the financial district and plans to open hundreds more across Canada over the next few years. Watch out for out-of-breath bank execs in the P.A.T.H.
(photo: Image by 6oh's photos from the blogTO flickr pool)