Clareview Community Recreation Centre — Local services in Edmonton

It’s a huge building that is one of the Edmonton buildings that goes for the industrialist aesthetic.

It is a really cool place to spend the whole day on. You have a huge field, playground, insane pool, decent gym, and even a library. For the children, there is a childminding service and an indoor jungle gym. For food, you have the Good Earth coffee, and you have way more options near the strip mall nearby plus the Walmart Supercenter.

There is convenient access to the bus station nearby.

There are two locker rooms for each gender, plus an inclusive one. The people not using the pool should use the ones that are on the other side of the facility once they reach the basement. And you better because it is vastly better than the ones connected to the pool. Quieter, better showers, more space. It is very far off though, so I don’t blame you if you didn’t find it the first time.

The gym is one single floor, separated into two areas that connect through a track. Which for some reason, a City of Edmonton board room thought was a really necessary idea for the large rec centres. Seriously, guys? It’s honestly underutilized. Due to this track design, there is a LOT of walking since all the equipment is spread out.

Legs: A. Tons of squat racks. There is a standing calf raise which I like. There is a hack squat and there is Hammer Strength’s version of a hack squat, or a hack press. Two leg presses, one on each side. The leg extension and seated leg curls are all here.

It would be nice to have the hip adductor and abductor machines but I wouldn’t know where to put it.

Back: B-. I am a pull-up person, but. There is only two pullup bars I like. The others are either for chin-ups (so a supinated grip), used up by a cable machine, or the one by the Synergy station that has an angled bar (more comfortable) completely made redundant by a… punching board? Weird.

I wish there was an Hammer Strength Iso-Lateral High Row. The LifeFitness plate-loaded machine is not my favourite, I wish it was the HS Iso-Lateral plate-loaded row instead. But the inclusion of an AMAZING HS Front Lat Pulldown machine is superb. The HS MTS Row feels redundant, and IMO if they replaced it with a HS MTS HIGH Row. Chef’s KISS. But it takes years to add anything so I’ll stop dreaming.

The cable row near the swimming pool window has the worst friction resistance curve. Do not use. Godawful.

Chest: A-. It is just missing a HS Iso-Lateral plate-loaded incline press machine. That is IT. The inclusion of a decline bench press machine is baffling. Otherwise, there are tons of benches, dumbbells, two chest fly machines, etc.

Arms: S. Kinda to be expected. I do like the triceps press machine, that is something that gyms obviously don’t need, but nice to have. I will say: MORE PREACHER CURL STATIONS.

Shoulders: A-. There’s an assortment of shoulder machines. Obviously a lot of barbell bars. Due to the lack of cables for the size of the facility, lateral raises may be an issue. There is a lateral raise machine which, like the triceps press, is a nice thing to have.

Stretching: F. The lack of a stretching area that “feels” like a stretching area is awful. There is one that is near the perimeter but it is TINY.

Cardio. You know the answer to this. That means it has enough. ENOUGH. Don’t add anymore.

Hot men: F. Zero. The only hot men is me. That also goes for hot women. The only hot women is me. But you know what is hot: people putting their plates back. Which A LOT of people DON’T do. Wilson, the poor man, DOES NOT NEED TO DO THIS. Please save him. Every other gym, people put their plates back. Maybe put signs up?

Atmosphere: Not great. You know, Terwillegar was big, had the teenagers, victim of the Leisure Access Program right? But I did feel a sense of a “serious” crowd there. You know, the powerlifters and the competitive bodybuilders. Even Grand Trunk had more serious people. Clareview, for a “large” gym, doesn’t push me to workout harder. Again, people don’t put back their weights. I guess the serious ones went to the nearby...

Was not happy with today as today I took in my cousin and aunt for the first time here and when we walked into the women’s change room near the gym this awful lady was saying how she felt uncomfortable with male CHILDREN. Two kids were 6 and one was 2 and that should NOT be an issue, saying that “they’re not inclusive” when they are KIDS and that she didn’t understand that we cannot leave the children when they need help and couldn’t care less about the women changing when there are stalls for a reason. If we are talking about rules, let’s bring the fact into play about how we cannot leave the kids unattended anywhere because they are young and need help with changing and it’s not like we were going to walk into the male restroom as being a grown women with male children, that doesn’t make sense as the kids should go with the adults not the adults go with the kids, it’s been that way and always will be. Grow up and mature to a point where people are allowed to have kids in the women’s change room no matter what gender the kid is and that being 0-7/8 should be mandatory to stay with their adults and what was worse was that security wasent even around for people like this and to handle situations. Additionally we were going to use the elevator to go downstairs as my aunt did have a issue in her leg bc she’s old and it’s difficult for her to take stairs but a security guard said “it didn’t work” when it clearly did, it’s not professional to be lying to customers and when all they wanna do is go downstairs with a elderly person. I went to the swimming pool later on and was told multiple times that I wasent allowed to take pictures when I was ONLY taking pictures of my brother with no one else in it and more that I couldn’t go anywhere with my cousins due to the fact it was only me and my aunt and that she was out of the water, I was stuck with one kid and couldn’t let my cousins go bc of needing a 15+ year old with them and mind this, this issue has never been here before until today. The change rooms are okay but then again they should be cleaned more often and that’s why we wanted to change in there other change room bc it’s way cleaner then the pool one. Please fix these rules and understand that we have rights to take pictures of only our kids and are allowed to take any gender CHILD into the change room with us as we cannot leave them unattended and that they are young, again I’m not saying 10+ I said 0-7/8. But I will say I was pleased with the front desk & most of the attendees...

I won't be going here again. This review is about the aquatic center. The price continues to go up and the services get worse. The life guards do not enforce generally hygienic rules such as no outdoor foot wear on pool deck. Families particularly women do not shower before entering the pool and wear full clothing . I under stand if you want to wear what you want but atleast shower before entering the pool. This is why there is more hair and lint and color dies in the steam room and hot tub more then I've ever seen at any other pool. People lack general swimming pool etiquette they will leave their belongings on the very limited seating which can be a health hazard if somone needs to sit down immediately after the steam room. They allow their children to go in and out of the steam room constantly. (No wonder the seal is ALWAYS broken) and a certain demographic of people think it's okay to wear lotions and creams in the steam room often causeing multiple people to complain, the steam room to be shut down and cleaned disturbing everyone's schedule. People will also pour water on their bodies in the steam room from water bottles that they are drinking out of pouring all kinds of germs in the steam room. Bring to bottles. Lifeguards don't put signs up regarding this but they will strictly enforce a no laying down in the steam room rule. It's turned into one of the dirtiest pools in the city and it's because families are not taking showers or reading rule boards before entering. Yet this is considered one of the premium locations in the city. Also 1 hour ques to enter which is understandable but why not take that time to go up to families and read some general rules or pass...