YMCA Saskatoon Gym
25 22 St E, Saskatoon, SK S7K 0C7 22 St E, Saskatoon
Opening Times: Mon – Fri: 530 – 2200, Sat and Sun: 700 – 1900
Cost: Under 27 years old: $9 for a day, $13.85 bi-weekly
27+ : $15 per day, $22.62 bi-weekly.
Note, you don’t need a contract to get these prices.
For further pricing details including family memberships, click here.
Note that the costs relate to the whole club, not just the gym – they don’t offer a “gym only” fee. The club also offers a good range of classes (see schedule above) in a large studio, along with squash and racquetball courts and an inviting 25m pool.
Facilities
For me, my first gym visit in Canada! And the hospitality was amazing – I don’t think I’ve ever been made to feel so welcome in a gym! I arrived and the friendly staff promptly showed me around the club and its extensive facilities.
The gym itself is split over two floors. The ground floor contains all the cardio equipment, including treadmills, various bikes, crosstrainers, ellipticals and rowing machines.
Functional Training
The YMCA Saskatoon gym has a spacious synergy area and a large dedicated area for floor work and functional training. Gym toys include a range of medicine balls, Swiss balls, BOSUs, kettlebells, TRX’s, good quality mats, plyo boxes of various sizes, foam rollers, ropes and even a couple of stepboards.
Weights
Downstairs hosts the weights room, which is physically split into free weights and resistance equipment areas. When I attended early afternoon, I saw between 3 and 10 other people training during the course of my workout, meaning plenty of opportunity for me to get on the equipment I wanted, whilst still having a good workout atmosphere. The sizeable weights room is likely able to comfortably accommodate the gym’s busy periods.
You’ll find a Smith machine, squat rack and several adjustable barbells and both inclined and flat benches, in addition to the fixed weight barbells, which ranged from 30lbs to 110lbs. I also noticed a good range of kettlebells from 15 – 45lbs each and numerous discs up to 45lbs.
TRX Training – A Superb All-Round Body Workout!
New Floating Fitness Mats!
The staff enthusiastically introduced me to their new floating fitness mats, to be used in the pool for the new upcoming Aqua Board Fitness. These inflatable mats will be used for fitness classes in the pool, and YMCA Saskatoon seemed delighted to be the first club in Saskatoon to be using them. I’d only been in the club a couple of minutes and I witnessed someone doing burpees on these – yes, in the pool!
Summary of YMCA Saskatoon Gym
The gym at YMCA Saskatoon is in excellent condition and clean, the only disconcerting thing for me personally being the angle of mirrors (I know I’m being picky now). They are slightly tilted forwards so you can see your whole body length and therefore check your posture (not pose!) while training, and whilst there is obvious merit to this, I personally find it disorienting! But ultimately I struggle to find much fault with this gym’s facilities.
As for the cost, it may be a little pricy for anyone over 27 on a budget wanting to make a casual visit (yes, some of us come to backpacking over the age of 30!). So I’d have liked to see the under 27 rate being offered to backpackers as well. Other than that, everything was excellent and I’d happily return here for future workouts.
Take photo ID and a towel and if you want to use a locker, bring a padlock.
Enjoyed this?
Check out my Five Top Tips For Keeping Fit Around the World and
How to Look Ripped on Your Travel Adventure – For Free!
Need Travel Insurance?
Check out my feature on Travel Insurance for Adventurers!