Extreme Fitness in Toronto

I have been (on and off) a member of Extreme Fitness here in Toronto for the past 2 and a half years roughly.

Initially they gave me one month free.

And then in 2009 they gave me three months free, but I had to sign up for a whole year on a contract. (They lost 1 star right there.)

Plus there was the price. About $60 per month, pricey when you consider some other gyms in Toronto only charge $40 and don't hassle you with a contract or fees. (They lost another star because of the price.)

Seriously, for that price I could have been buying $60 worth of gym and exercise equipment every month and be able to work out in the comfort of my own home.

I might have been willing to forgive them the price, except for the lousy service. The one time I lost my water bottle, asked about the Lost & Found and discovered they didn't even have one. Apparently they just throw things out. That was not the only issue with poor service either.

They kept moving the gym equipment around every 3-4 months. You'd come to the gym some days and you couldn't find the piece of equipment you were looking for. ie. Today I went there and they had moved the punching bag and apparently put it in storage, thus totally negating me bringing my boxing gloves with me today. (This was the straw that broke the camel's back.)

I am utterly appalled by the low quality of their yoga studio and their instructors. Perhaps that is because I've gone to traditional yoga studios like Buddha Body Yoga (four stars) on Church Street or Urban Edge Yoga near Bloor and Spadina (five stars + vegan food).

Oh and one time I went there to discuss getting a personal trainer so I work on my boxing and learned that personal trainers cost about $75 per hour. Holy ****! What a fundamental waste of money. (Apparently $75/hour is pretty normal for personal trainers, but wow... I am in the wrong business!)

Oh oh oh!

And when I decided to cancel my membership I tried to talk someone in sales. Apparently they aren't allowed to cancel memberships, only the manager can do that. And the manager (Sam) is normally only there between 9 AM and 5 PM. Otherwise you have to make an appointment.

Well today Sam was in and I managed to catch him in his office, but there was a lineup of people. One of the staff asked what I was waiting for and I said I wanted to cancel my membership. So she gave me his card and told me to do it via email. Seriously. Canceling it via email. So I did so.

And to top this all off the Toronto Star recently ran a series of articles about Toronto gyms and how they are ripping people off and treating them like ****. Basically everyone is getting ripped off with fees, even if they cancel their gym membership and the gym conveniently "forgets" and keeps charging their credit card anyway. Or worse, charges cancellation fees on top of that.

So what are we down to...?

ONE STAR OUT OF FIVE.

And what did Extreme Fitness actually do to earn that one star? Well they have weightlifting equipment, a fair amount of it. Just like every other gym in Toronto. They also have the TVs on the treadmills, computers in the lobby/waiting area and saunas (which I never bothered to use). Just like every other hum drum gym.

Extreme Fitness also tries really hard to sell you "sex" although they don't actually come out and say it. They try really hard to be sexy, playing dance music (all the freaking time its the same songs by Katy Perry and Lady Gaga!) and they even have singles events (which I thought "Wow, what kind of loser goes to those?")

Thus Extreme Fitness is nothing special. Same crappy service, same equipment, and so forth.