GoodLife Fitness, Victoria Bay Centre
1150 Douglas St, Victoria, BC V8W 3M9
Opening hours: Mon-Fri: 6:00-22:00, Sat and Sun: 8:00-18:00
Cost: 14 days for $14 (total price!) – one time offer, valid at one club. For details see here.
Otherwise $15 per day, casual use.
Location and Entry
GoodLife Fitness Victoria Bay Centre is located on the fourth floor of The Bay Centre shopping mall in downtown Victoria. And unless you fancy an extended warm-up, walking around the outside of the mall like I did, the simplest way in is through the entrance at Douglas Street. The gym is then at the back of the building on the left, and the simplest way to get up to it is via an elevator/lift at the back of the building on the right. When exiting, select floor two and head towards the front of the building for the exit. (I selected floor one and then had an interesting conversation with shop staff as to how to get out – “there was a door here when I arrived” – oops!)
Facilities
This is one of my favourite clubs in Canada. Beautifully laid out and easy to navigate, even for me. And it’s large enough, but not so big that you can’t find what you want. There are distinct sections for cardio, mat work, other floor work, resistance machines and free weights, making it ideal for new users to find things. Whilst most clubs broadly aim to structure gyms this way, many still seem to stick random pieces of equipment in funny places, making them tricky to find for people like me who use a new gym every couple of days. This place got it spot on though.
I attended at 8am on a Saturday morning and although several members were there, it was far from busy – an ideal time to work out and get on the equipment you want.
Cardio
The gym is fairly large with a number of bikes, treadmills, ellipticals and stairclimbers in the cardio sections, whilst rowing machines are nearby next to the Turf Zone.
Functional Training
I was informed that Turf Zone is a new addition to this gym, which as the name suggests consists of an area of attractive green turf. This slightly soft surface is ideal for knocking out those burpees or doing other floor work and they’ve allocated plenty for space for it! Next to this is the matted floor area, and around the two areas, you’ll find a whole host of functional training equipment, including Swiss balls, medicine balls, kettle bells, resistance bands, skipping ropes, battle ropes, a plyo box and foam rollers. It’s probably easier to tell you what isn’t there than what is there – the only thing missing was a TRX.
Weights
The two sets of barbells (straight and curled) go up to 110lbs as standard, whilst dumbbells go up to 100lbs. There’s an additional stack of lightweight dumbbells in addition to those on the main rack and you’ll find a Smith machines and several multi-functional stations for squats, pull ups etc. There are ample benches, both flat and inclined.
Classes
The studio offers a range of classes, totalling around twenty per week, most of which are Les Mills classes. The studio looked to be in excellent condition and well-equipped from outside; I witnessed the start of a well-attended Body Pump class.
Summary
GoodLife Fitness Victoria Bay Centre has excellent facilities and the 14 day for $14 offer is superb if you’re in one place for a while. Note, it is in theory only valid once throughout the country. If you’ve already used that elsewhere, treat yourself to a $15 workout here, or alternatively head out to Mount Douglas Park for a hike and view of Victoria – there are enough trails that you could either make this a short hike or a half-day. If you’re really keen, go to the gym and hike!
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