At this downtown gym, flexibility matters most
Keep Cool members allowed to show up without pre-booking Log into your Netflix account on machine screens to watch the shows you want.
Fitness-loving Torontonians expect the latest workout concept to migrate from the hip side streets of New York or the sunny beaches of Los Angeles.
But now we have an outpost of Keep Cool, a gym concept hailing from France that blends technology and flexibility in a welcoming environment that’s not too posh. “It’s a new approach to fitness,” says Tanguy Saillant, 35, who owns the master franchise for Keep Cool Canada. “You don’t have to be on time.”
Indeed, to fit in a workout at this 6,500 square foot space on Yonge St. near Wellesley Ave., you just show up. Nothing to pre-book — now that’s a nice change from having to sign up for your favourite Saturday class a week in advance.
The main workout room, loaded with bikes, ellipticals and treadmills, is signup free. Take a machine and have at it. Most of the machines are equipped with their own screens, and you can watch YouTube or log into your Netflix ac- count and catch up on your binge watching while you sweat.
The show-up-whenever approach also applies to the Hey Girl nook, which is for women only, the high-intensity interval training (HIIT) area (it’s kitted with CrossFit-style gizmos), a row of rowing machines and the six small rooms that feature various equipment and screens.
In these rooms, you can order up a video workout via a touchscreen. The gym offers 150 different classes that range from 12 to 20 minutes in length. You don’t need to book these rooms, just grab one — alone or with a pal or two — scroll to find an aerobics, strength, cycling, treadmill or elliptical workout that suits your mood, and do it. When you’re done, leave, and the next person can stroll in. “You can come and go whenever you like,” Saillant says.
The unisex change rooms have a similar no-fuss approach. The toilets, showers and changing nooks are all individual.
There are shared sinks and the entire vibe is clean, fresh and functional.
Indeed, this is meant to be an accessible place you can weave into your daily routine. Come and go from the gym like you do your local coffee shop without having to commit to a rigid schedule, Saillant says.
The first Keep Cool opened in Avignon in 2002. It soon expanded, and when Saillant joined the company in 2008, there were 26 locations, all in France. He managed a few gyms and then became franchise manager and helped open 155 gyms over an eight-year period. (The brand does a mix of corporate locations and franchises. Franchises make up 60 per cent of the locations — which will number about 215 by the end of the year.)
One day, a businessman from Quebec who loved the concept suggested the company try Keep Cool in Canada. The brand had never exported before. Saillant visited Montreal in early 2016 — and did a side trip to Toronto while he was at it.
The deal with the Montrealer didn’t work out, but the idea of Canada as a market stuck with Saillant. His market research told him there were plenty of high-end boutique gyms and some discount offerings, but only the likes of GoodLife Fitness serving the mid-price range. “There was no real competition in the middle.”
Meanwhile, he discovered that 20 per cent of Canadians have had a past gym membership, in stark contrast to just 8 per cent of people in France.
Saillant got his family on board, signed on for the master franchise for Canada and moved to Toronto in the fall of 2016. The gym opened March 1 in a heritage building close to where people both live and work. Saillant’s been getting a good turnout of locals interested in the concept, lured by the fun tech and the simple membership plan that charges just $50 a month without a contract.
He’s already plotting a second location. It’s early days, but this easy-to-use French import might just fit in English Canada.