Inside Sweat and Tonic’s new location at the Well

When Sweat and Tonic opened at Yonge and Shuter in late 2019, it shook up the city’s fitness landscape. The gym’s high-octane HIIT and spin studios, channelling the energy of a Friday night on King West, filled wait lists and flooded Instagram feeds. Its yoga studio, meanwhile, became a zen den for Toronto’s yogis, who lined up to stretch and sweat it out in a candlelit, infrared-heated oasis.

The secret sauce? Maintaining the vibe of a high-end club and having top-tier amenities while still being accessible to all kinds of gym-goers. With both monthly memberships and a commitment-free drop-in option, it hooked hardcore gym rats and casual group-fitness enthusiasts alike. Sweat and Tonic has now clocked over 1.6 million visits since opening five years ago.

Late last year, the brand took its winning formula to new heights at a second location inside the Well, supersizing every studio with more stations, advanced tech (including giant immersive screens) and even more energy. The original Sweat and Tonic was all about the fitness, but this one is a wellness mecca, offering biohacking, injectables, massages, a three-lane saltwater lap pool and a co-working area with its own terrace. It’s not just a gym—it’s a 25,000-square-foot one-stop shop for fitness, wellness, beauty and socializing.

DesignAgency—the Toronto-based team behind Abrielle, Minami, Soho House, and the original Sweat and Tonic—created an entrance that’s all eye candy, with white oak, brass and glowing mid-century orb lights. The space is divided into three areas: a sleek check-in desk, a smoothie bar and a mini retail shop.

Beyond is a mirror-lined hallway that provides ample opportunities for a pre-sweat selfie session.

Past Tonic Spa and the upscale locker rooms—stocked with Dyson blow dryers and Canadian-made Consonant toiletries—are the fitness studios. The spin room has 78 Technogym Group Cycle Ride bikes, a 266-inch screen and the trappings of an EDM festival: custom-programmed party lights, trippy projections and a sound system that pumps out bone-rattling bass.

The HIIT studio features three workout stations: boxing, weight-and-resistance training and treadmills (also from Technogym). It hosts nine class types with names like Booty HIIT and Abs and Assets HIIT. To amp up the nightclub feel, there’s a smoke machine and a small stage for the instructor.

The yoga studio cranks up the heat with infrared tech, hitting a toasty 40 degrees for most classes (restorative sessions dial it back to a cozy 32 degrees). Offerings range from calming sound baths to sweat-dripping vinyasa flows and hot HIIT mat pilates. The 60-person studio has chromatic lighting and a 445-inch projection screen showing serene images like sunrises, cloudscapes and space nebulas. There’s no need to bring your own boxing gloves, spin shoes or yoga mats—they’re all provided.

In contrast to the bright hallways, Tonic Spa is dark and tranquil. “I drew inspiration from my travels in Asia, especially Tokyo,” says David Ingram, Sweat and Tonic’s founder and CEO. “I loved the aesthetic of dark, worn wood and grey stone.” The space is designed to feel like an escape, where people can transition from the high-energy fitness studios to restoration.

The 10,000-square-foot spa has six treatment rooms and a menu that goes beyond basic massage. It includes buccal lifts, electro acupuncture, fancy facials, IV therapy and Brazilian lymphatic drainage, plus chiropractic and naturopathic care. Add in five high-tech biohacking rooms (offering red-light therapy, lymphatic compression and a medical-grade body scanner), a saltwater lap pool and a private hydrotherapy suite, and guests have dozens of ways to unwind, reboot and walk out feeling like a whole new human.

Facials start at $130 for one hour, with options like Defense, Detox, Renew and Glow. But the star is the Hydrafacial, which uses patented suction technology to remove blackheads.

There’s an injectables and IV therapy room, where an in-house naturopathic doctor crafts IV tonics for detox, hydration and full-body rejuvenation. A nurse practitioner comes in twice a week to handle injectables, including Botox and Dysport.

The hot-cold suite was the last room at the new location to open. According to Ingram, it’s Toronto’s only private hydrotherapy suite, bookable by groups of up to four for an hour. Here, guests brave the bone-chilling cold plunge pool before sweating it out in a custom cedar sauna that combines infrared and electric heat. There are also pre-recorded Othership-guided circuits that guests can play on demand.

The original sauna didn’t pack enough heat, so Ingram swapped in a custom-made one that goes up to 90 degrees. The Redmond plunge pool circulates 25 gallons a minute, replenishing the tub three times an hour. “That keeps the temperature consistently cold and requires fewer chemicals, so guests don’t leave smelling like chlorine,” Ingram says.

Here’s the 15-meter saltwater lap pool. Two lanes are available by reservation, and the third is open to all. On the pool deck, there’s also an infinity-edge hot tub, a sauna and a sunbathing terrace.

The Theralight 360 Plus Red Light Bed cost a whopping $100,000, but a 25-minute session sets guests back just $32 (or one credit). According to Sweat and Tonic, the machine’s four wavelengths of red and near-infrared light tackle inflammation, boost collagen, speed recovery and recharge cells.

For those seeking a precise snapshot of their body composition, Tonic Spa offers a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scan. Described as the world’s safest and most accurate body composition technology, the high-tech scan measures everything from body fat percentage and lean muscle mass to bone density. While the scan itself takes just 10 minutes, results are delivered via an eight-page PDF that an on-site chiropractor reviews with guests in detail.

During the day, the co-working space is open only to folks with a membership to Sweat and Tonic at the Well. After 5 p.m., it transforms into a bar that’s open to the public.