Grand Trunk Fitness and Leisure Centre — Attraction in Edmonton

EDIT: They have an Olympic lifting platform now. Wow. I am shook. If it is available for use, it makes Grand Trunk one of the best value gyms by far because it is a Value gym, not a Benefit Plus. THEY LISTENED TO ME!!!! (Probably because I used to be a regular there, but that’s what I want to believe lol.)

After trying the medium and large recreation centres, this is NOT as bad as you think. It honestly has everything a beginner to an intermediate lifter needs before they move on to a GoodLife or Evolve.

It only has one major deficiency: The squat racks are not meant for deadlifting. (Further, FORGET POWERLIFTING. I mean, it only has one regular barbell bench, if you can believe it.) If you can do a minimum 135 pound deadlift (one 45 plate on either side of a 45lb bar), you can get to the official Olympic standard you're familiar with that gets you to the proper deadlift position. But the squat cages don't fully go down to the floor, so putting the plates on the bar for deadlifting is... not ideal.

Other deficiencies: Only two pullup bars (that I like; the ones on the squat cages are too uncomfortable for my liking). And if someone is using the cable pulleys, you can't even use one or both pullup bars. That also extends to dip bars: there exists only two.

There also doesn't exist multiples of equipment, which includes dumbbells. So yes: If someone is using the ONLY bench for bench press, you're gonna have to wait.

And yes, it is full of amateurs and people who try to lift more than they should. The chronic disease of "NO ONE organizes and puts back plates correctly" is true and ever present.

So the verdict? If it is NOT busy, it is absolutely phenomenal. I mean, you get the whole gym to yourself, and if you know what you're doing, you can get a REALLY GOOD workout. Seriously. (Especially for back day! It's SO GOOD for back day, except the subpar deadlifting experience.) It is a big hidden gem in the community. But when it does get busy, it is borderline unusable. Especially when it crowds with high school kids and people who clearly don't know what...

If the membership cost is the same, I would personally choose a more modern and thoughtfully designed alternative.

I visited this facility today and was honestly a bit surprised by how dated and cramped it felt. The layout was confusing, with weightlifting equipment scattered throughout the hallways and strength training areas divided into three separate rooms. It made the space feel disjointed and not very user-friendly.

The overall hallways were clean and spacious… however, the change rooms were also underwhelming. There were very limited spots to dry your hair or get ready comfortably after using the pool, which is something I usually expect from a full-service recreation centre.

I was particularly disappointed with the design of the pool, steam room, and hot tub area. The configuration didn’t make the best use of space—it felt like a lot of square footage was wasted, and the flow between these amenities wasn’t intuitive.

Overall, compared to other recreation centres in the city—especially the more recently renovated ones—this facility...

I learned how to swim here when I was 5 years old and would swin here all my youth years every Saturday and sometimes friday for almost 20years my brothers and i would never get tired of the same routine ever well not till after the swimming time was over just making it home to eat a fresh maid meal from or mom. It gave mom a bunch of time to I hope put here feet up and rest but a hard working mom's way of running a home is the best hands down but also contributing to moms thunder are places like grand trunk fitness center. Played some hockey there also Tennis soccer and baseball too. I should have stuck with baseball I could throw 89kmh fast ball at 15yrs old lol. Now a days I utilize the long bike trails everytime I go to momma house for supper and to visit my big and little brothers . The training facility has grown over the years also and is now impressively popular now then back in the day I am thinking about using this area of the fitness center in the near future. I'll let you know more as I...