Wednesday, June 11, 2014

CrossFit Leviathan

CrossFit Leviathan

While in Toronto for wedding weekend, a workout was definitely in order to burn off some of the food we ate.  This time we stayed near the center of Toronto in Yorkville.  Since we had to stay near the hotel, we dropped in to the closest CrossFit gym we can find: CrossFit Leviathan.  We were so happy they had a Sunday class as most CF gyms do not! 

We got to sneak in a workout before the wedding ceremony at 11am on Sunday.  Below is what the owner, Julian came up with on the spot for the class.  I did something slightly different though.
  • Warm Up: on your own
  • 25 min of Strength/Skill work of your choice
  • 12min AMRAP: 
    • 30 SDHP 45#/33#
    • 20 Overhead Walking Lunges 45#/25#
    • 10 T2B
  • Cash Out: 30 Power Cleans 135#/95# for time
 
Some things I really liked here:
  • Convenient location in Toronto.  Whether you're driving or taking public transportation, there's parking, the Dupont metro stop, and a bus stop within a block from the gym.   
  • Great community.  The class reminded me of a large group of friends gathered together to workout.  A lot of the members hang out together outside of the gym.  People also come in early and stay after class.  They're also not super cliquey.  I meet everyone in the class and a couple folks even asked to get brunch afterwards.  Definitely felt very welcomed.
  • Tons of classes and open daily!  Pretty impressive especially for a small gym.  Check out their schedule.
  • Open gym Monday - Friday for 3 hours.
  • Cozy atmosphere.  It's the smallest box I've ever been to and it doesn't have garage doors or 30' ceilings, but it kind of has that old-school CF vibe.  Just a group of people who like to workout and workout with each other.
  • Class structure: warm up (on your own?), strength/skill work, workout, rest, then a "cash out", which is really just another workout.
  • $20 drop in fee, or make a friend.

Some things that could use improvement:
  • Some sort of structured programming?  The workout is usually made up on the spot.  Also, keeping a blog of previous/current/next day workouts would be great.

Some pictures:
2. inside


3. platform flooring


4. side


5. pull up bars in the middle


6. pull up bars and weights in the middle


7. back view


8. Canadian chalk buckets

9. back


10. pull up structure and rings

11. view of the front from back


13. cool shoe storage and chalkboard

Overall, cool gym and even cooler group of people.  Great location and super convenient.  Consider checking out CrossFit Leviathan when you're in Toronto!

Nearby Gyms: Academy of Lions | CrossFit Metric