Inside Sweat and Tonic, a new boutique fitness club with a cocktail lounge and a meditation pod
David Ingram, CEO of financial services company Goeasy, is a fitness zealot. His ideal workout is a combination of high intensity interval training (HIIT), spin and yoga, which meant he often found himself jumping around town between his favourite workouts. So he decided to bring all his favourite studios and trainers together. His new studio, Sweat and Tonic, is a millennial twist on the old-fashioned racquet club, with several boutique fitness trends—hot yoga, HIIT workouts, box fit and spinning—under the same roof, as well as super-food café, a meditation pod, cocktail lounge and co-working spaces. Here’s a peek inside.
By the Numbers
Square footage: 16,800
Temperature of the hot yoga classes: 98 degrees Fahrenheit
Technogym bikes: 55
Instructors: 32
Cost: $30 a credit
Classes: 27
Cost of a Sweat and Tonic protein powder smoothie: $14
Here’s the entrance, where you can check in and grab a pre-workout smoothie. The three-studio gym occupies a heritage building with a storied history—it housed Toronto’s first licensed bar, The Silver Rail, for 50 years. The Vancouver-based design firm Cutler was inspired by the building’s heyday and wanted to restore some of the glamour, so they went art deco with their design:
Nut Bar, a super foods–focused café, with sister locations in Summerhill and Leslieville, offers all sorts of esoteric, healthful additives—like cordyceps, a mushroom, and schisandra, a type of berry—that promise strong bodies, clear minds and better workouts:
There’s an emphasis on Canadian brands, from the sports bras (Lululemon) right down to the shampoo (Consonant Skincare):
Because the there are multiple independent operators under the Sweat and Tonic banner—Chi Junky runs all the yoga programming, while George Chaker is the HIIT captain—they’ve decided to forgo traditional gym memberships. Instead of a flat fee, members pay for credits that are used to book classes. Those who opt for the monthly memberships, which autoloads a certain amount of credits every month, get the cheapest rates as well as access to the members-only Tonic Lounge, which doubles as a bar:
The spa offers services like registered massage therapy or facials. Aestheticians from Consonant Skincare perform three types of 30-minute express facials, including one that involves cupping to sculpt and detox your face:
Credits can also be used to book the Somadome, a high-tech meditation pod. Relaxation seekers simply put on the headset, which plays a guided meditation track, and kick back in the pod for 20-minutes of light therapy–enhanced Zen:
Here’s the infrared yoga studio. The studio offers 14 yoga classes ranging from low intensity (the Zen Vibes Only class ends with an essential oil massages) to high (the Inferno Pilates class promises to make your core burn from the heat and the V-sits):
This is the HIIT studio. High-intensity interval training classes can include elements of boxing, resistance training and and user-powered treadmills.
Those with Tour de France aspirations are likely to make great use of the Ride Studio:
Some of the lockers have USB ports in them so you can keep your phone charged during yoga:
The change rooms come equipped with Dyson blow dryers and Consonant Skincare toiletries:
Here’s one of the two infrared saunas:
, spin and yoga, which meant he often found himself jumping around town between his favourite workouts. So he decided to bring all his favourite studios and trainers together. His new studio, Sweat and Tonic, is a millennial twist on the old-fashioned racquet club, with several boutique fitness trends—hot yoga, HIIT workouts, box fit and spinning—under the same roof, as well as super-food café, a meditation pod, cocktail lounge and co-working spaces. Here’s a peek inside.
By the Numbers
Square footage: 16,800
Temperature of the hot yoga classes: 98 degrees Fahrenheit
Technogym bikes: 55
Instructors: 32
Cost: $30 a credit
Classes: 27
Cost of a Sweat and Tonic protein powder smoothie: $14
Here’s the entrance, where you can check in and grab a pre-workout smoothie. The three-studio gym occupies a heritage building with a storied history—it housed Toronto’s first licensed bar, The Silver Rail, for 50 years. The Vancouver-based design firm Cutler was inspired by the building’s heyday and wanted to restore some of the glamour, so they went art deco with their design:
Nut Bar, a super foods–focused café, with sister locations in Summerhill and Leslieville, offers all sorts of esoteric, healthful additives—like cordyceps, a mushroom, and schisandra, a type of berry—that promise strong bodies, clear minds and better workouts:
There’s an emphasis on Canadian brands, from the sports bras (Lululemon) right down to the shampoo (Consonant Skincare):
Because the there are multiple independent operators under the Sweat and Tonic banner—Chi Junky runs all the yoga programming, while George Chaker is the HIIT captain—they’ve decided to forgo traditional gym memberships. Instead of a flat fee, members pay for credits that are used to book classes. Those who opt for the monthly memberships, which autoloads a certain amount of credits every month, get the cheapest rates as well as access to the members-only Tonic Lounge, which doubles as a bar:
The spa offers services like registered massage therapy or facials. Aestheticians from Consonant Skincare perform three types of 30-minute express facials, including one that involves cupping to sculpt and detox your face:
Credits can also be used to book the Somadome, a high-tech meditation pod. Relaxation seekers simply put on the headset, which plays a guided meditation track, and kick back in the pod for 20-minutes of light therapy–enhanced Zen:
Here’s the infrared yoga studio. The studio offers 14 yoga classes ranging from low intensity (the Zen Vibes Only class ends with an essential oil massages) to high (the Inferno Pilates class promises to make your core burn from the heat and the V-sits):
This is the HIIT studio. High-intensity interval training classes can include elements of boxing, resistance training and and user-powered treadmills.
Those with Tour de France aspirations are likely to make great use of the Ride Studio:
Some of the lockers have USB ports in them so you can keep your phone charged during yoga:
The change rooms come equipped with Dyson blow dryers and Consonant Skincare toiletries:
Here’s one of the two infrared saunas:
){kind=link}