Little Italy is a vibrant neighbourhood that caters to an active lifestyle. With its network of side-street bike lanes, plus the green spaces and running paths of the Fred Hamilton Playground, it's an ideal setting for fitness enthusiasts. To help you make the most of the neighbourhood's wellness offerings, we've rounded up the top gyms, yoga studios, and fitness classes that Little Italy has to offer.
For the yogis
Yoga studios are not difficult to find around the west end. Yogaspace first opened its doors to Toronto over 28 years ago. The studio on College and Montrose is the third. For yogis of every level, Yogaspace offers classes, workshops and even training for yoga instructors.
The studio features classes including Vinyasa, which is also referred to as “flow” yoga, since practitioners transition between poses smoothly. Some classes are taught by recent graduates of the studio’s 200-hour yoga teacher training program, which has taught and trained many of Canada’s most talented yoga teachers for twenty five years, according to Yogaspace.
The studio holds monthly workshops like Prenatal Yoga on Thursdays between 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., and Restorative Yoga and Meditation which takes places on Mondays between 7:30 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. Both run for four weeks.
Another great choice to hit your asanas at is Lotus Yoga. The studio specializes in Kundalini Yoga, which combines movement with breathing exercises, chanting, meditation and relaxation. The studio holds in-person and online classes, and has regular events, including Friday night gong sessions, which give practitioners a rejuvenating sound bath, and regular events like an autumnal equinox event, and a winter solstice celebration.
Pilates
For a heart-pumping sweat session, Reformer Pilates delivers. Assembly Movement in Little Italy first opened its doors to the public in March 2023. Owner Clio Templeton first discovered pilates while living in Melbourne, Australia in 2011, later deciding to open her own studio in Toronto.
Focused on movement that is align with the spine, pilates gives its users many functional benefits, like strengthening the core, which can help keep the spine aligned. Set in a beautiful studio on College St., Assembly Movement uses Reformer machines to deliver a low-impact cardio and strength session.
Classes at the location include Reformer Foundations, an introductory class that encourages people to find their mind-body connection. The Reformer Body class offers a full-body strength and tone, that energizes the body using lengthening and strengthening movements. A build-up on the movements learned in the first two classes, Reformer Power delivers a high intensity, low impact workout that aims to increase heart rate and challenge your strength. Some of the studio’s classes are even suitable for pregnancy.
STRONG Canada’s Little Italy location is its flagship. A modern setting with brick and exposed-beams, the studio has 20 former beds and offers 45-minute classes. The classes incorporate pilates-resistance training, rowing or cycling. The studio even has its own exclusively licensed Rowformer rowing machine, or BIKE cycling machine.
The studio was founded in 2019 by Michael Ramsey and Mark Armstrong, who designed it with aesthetic and experience in mind. The classes are soundtracked by live DJs, lights are coordinated to the classes and effort, and the studio has its own perfumologists. The studio offers 45-minute classes almost hourly between 6 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. between Monday to Thursday, with a condensed schedule on Fridays and weekends.
Weight lifting
Building on the theme of the 45-minute class, F45 Training’s Ossington location delivers a full-body workout in 45 minutes. Started in Australia, the workout system was designed to hit the muscles in every major muscle group of your body – from chest to biceps to glutes — the workouts combine high-intensity interval training, circuit training and functional training.
With classes from 6 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on weekdays, F45 offers cardio, resistance, recovery and hybrid classes. It also offers the “F45 Challenge”, a holistic training and lifestyle program that gives members access to performance and nutrition education, tools and guidance.
To break a sweat while tossing weights straight above your head, hit up a cross-training class at Academy of Lions. The program is a functional strength and conditioning program that gives you a full-body workout. Set in a traditional, large open-gymnasium-style studio, the classes include “Way of the Barbell”, with the studio’s coach Justin, a National Level Olympic Weightlifter, which runs on Monday, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
The gym also has classes like “Powerlifting”, which focuses on the three primary lifts known as the squat, bench press and deadlift, gymnastics and track and field classes, and a weight-lifting class for cis women, trans women and non-bonary people cleverly called “Barbelles”. Also checkout their “Masters” program for weightlifters and athletes over 50.
Not sure whether you want to lift weights, cycle or box? Try out Flyt Club. The studio has multiple classes, including strength training classes, spin classes, and boxing classes. A unique class they offer is called “Animal Flow”, a 60-minute bodyweight workout that takes place on the ground and is designed to challenge the mind and body to move effectively. The class improves strength, power, flexibility and mobility.
The studio also has a bootcamp class. It mixes strength, cardio and core training to make the heart race. Workouts take place on rowing machines, ski ergs, assault bikes and treadmills and transition to slam balls, kettlebells, battle ropes and more for a 60-minute bootcamp session.
Prefer to train with boxing coaches? Hitters Fight Club on Dundas has boxing, Muay Thai, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and private training programs for aspiring boxers. With one-hour sessions, the classes are designed to produce sweat and teach techniques exclusive to boxing, Muay Thai and MMA. The studio’s coaches include competitive athletes and boxers like Jimmy Musgrave, and the studio even has its own workout gear and merchandise.
For an outdoor workout or body positive sweat
Prefer an outdoor sweat? Join Daniela from DanielaFitPlus for an outdoor morning workout called “The Breakfast Club”. Offered at 7:30 a.m. in the Fred Hamilton Park, the outdoor class focuses on interval training to get a full body-movement workout in, using the chairs and benches in the park along with resistance bands.
Daniela also offers personal training, and is a body neutral advocate, has a personal anti-diet philosophy and is a fitness coach that uses the Healthy at Every Size (HAES) framework, which prioritizes listening to your body, eating what feels right and physical movement over traditional approaches that focus on weight.
Daniela offers personal training, studio classes and a 21-day “Anti” challenge built to help heal the relationship with fitness, increase confidence and build sustainable habits not focused on weight.
Whether you choose a fun outdoor class, or a 45-minute blast in a studio with its own exclusively licensed machines, these classes will help you break a sweat around Toronto’s Little Italy.
