A peek inside Vancouver’s most whispered-about gym
Originally published Feb 24 2009 on clickbylavalife.com, following a post about a stay at the St. Regis Hotel
One of the benefits of staying at the St. Regis Hotel, newly renovated with the traveling business person in mind, is a day pass for the Steve Nash Sports Club*.
Talked of in hushed terms by the city’s fitness junkies since rumours of its opening over two years ago, it’s a state-of-the-art, nearly 40,000-sq. ft. facility that’s located downtown, just around the corner from the hotel, on Granville Street. And so, following my complimentary continental breakfast in the hotel’s downstairs dining lounge, I decided to check out the gym said to “mirror the fitness philosophy” of its namesake, a Canadian basketball player.
Cardio machines, matchmaking, and gym-floor flirting
I was met at reception sales person Cheryl MacDougall. Our tour took us to the first floor, which has a juice bar franchise, rows of cardio machines and an air-conditioned spinning room “unique to Vancouver” for its projector screen (usually showing bike tours) with Surround Sound, and the locker rooms, which have amenities like towels, shampoos and “body wash” (whatever happened to soap?). When we got to the second floor, where all the weights and weight machines are, it was time to break out the 60 Minutes questions.
SC: What about hook-ups?
CM: I’m very good at hooking people up, actually. I’ve hooked up a couple in the gym, who are engaged. In fact I think they got married this weekend.
SC: How did you do that?
CM: I tend to talk to everyone and anyone…
SC: Are they still coming to the gym, or have they stopped now that they’re hitched?
CM: Oh God no. She’s one of the fittest people in this gym. And so is he.
SC: ‘Cos some people just let themselves go.
CM: A lot of people say gyms are meat markets, but I don’t see it…
Pilates, pec-hunters, and bamboo-floor dreams
Cheryl continued the tour, showing me the “espresso bikes,” which have screens that simulate riding through the alps or the desert; the reformer pilates stations; and a personal training area. There are 19 personal trainers on staff.
SC: Are the personal trainers instructed not to date their clients?
CM: No, there’s no rule.
SC: How are they recruited? Are there pec-hunters?
CM: Like corporate headhunters? No, they just apply.
On the third floor, we came to a third studio, this one for yoga and pilates. “We’re trying to be a green club,” Cheryl said. The studios all have bamboo floors, the carpet is recycled, the light fixtures use less energy, and it doesn’t print a lot of paper; all the classes are online.
Compared to my gym, which is a dungeon with a men’s locker room the size of a broom closet (but far worse smelling), it’s a practically fortress-like space. The only sour note was the security precautions – I wasn’t allowed to take pictures, and had to get permission to record my conversation with Cheryl. And she wasn’t allowed to give me the rates.
“We like to have people come in and see the facility first,” she said. “Hopefully they’ll come into the gym whether they hear about it through word-of-mouth or a friend brings them in, or they hear how great Cheryl is at the gym.”
*Don’t look for it, it’s not there anymore.