Resolution: Get fit in the neighbourhood

It's the new year and it's resolution time here in Queens Quay. A top item on many a list is to get fit and lose weight. A few options in our neighbourhood.

Booty Camp Fitness: Too late for this time, as they've sold out, but this group can be seen outside the Harbourfront Community Centre during the warmer climes. They've migrated to 77 Harbour Sq this winter. Women only and you'll have to register early as they sell out. (link)

Harbourfront Community Centre: The centre at Bathurst and Queens Quay has quite a few programs. It costs $200 for 6 months and $450 a year for a full year (plus 1 year acces to weight room). You can join classes, from Bollywood Lunch Fitness for $16 for 3 weeks or lunch boot camp for $48 for 9 weeks.  They also have yoga, pilates and dance classes as well as boxing and karate. Here's more info on their site.

Your condo's gym: Okay, most of us here live in condos and apartments that have a gym. And yes, most of our gyms are crowded and small, save for the impressive ground floor gym at the Rivera. If you have sa condo, you're working with treadmills, stationary bikes, stairmasters and weights. Here's a sample of a guide for those of you who want to know how to use them. (link)

A gym: There are quite a few boutique and designer gym studios throughout downtown but here are the big ones within walking distance. Premier Fitness at Roger Centre or the GoodLife at Union Station.

Yoga: We see lots of people walking with yoga bags/mats. Suspect they're doing it near work. Here's one place where you can search for Toronto studios

Walk, run, cycle: We often take a run on the waterfront. From Queens Quay, you can run/walk/cycle west to Bathurst then you can join the Martin Goodman Trail (in theory, Queens Quay is part of the trail, but you kinda lose it in the traffic). From Spadina, you can go about 3 kilometres to the Ontario place and pass the baseball diamonds, the waterfront trails. Here's a sample map of a route you can take from Spadina. If you're more into long distance running or want to do an hour long cycling ride, you can go all the way to Humber Bridge, a 16 kilometre round trip. And yes, they're plowing the route through the winter

Skating at Natrel Rink (prices and hours)

5 things to do on New Year's Day on Queens Quay

We've all seen how the Queens Quay area becomes a barren land during fall and winter holidays. So, here are a few things you can do on a holiday.

1. Skate: Go skating at the rink: The Natrel Rink is a nice little piece of the neighbourhood that's open late. Yes, it gets big crowds during the day but it's pretty quiet in the morning and it's absolutely beautiful to be in the hood when it's dark and the lights of the city skyline makes things nice.
Rink hours:

• Monday – Thursday | 10am – 10pm
• Friday – Sunday | 10am – 11pm

And it costs up to $7 to rent skates. You can take classes and also hit the pond, er, ice on DJ nights. See more at the Harbourfront centre page.

2. Eat: Queens Quay Terminal's open every day as a tourist destination. So, why not hit Pearl's Chinese restaurant for some above par dim sum at reasonable prices given the location, view and service. They open at 10:30 a.m. on weekends and 11 a.m. on weekdays. 207 Queens Quay (see website here)

3. Explore: Brew a thermos of coffee or hot chocolate and stroll through the neighbourhood. Experience the Music Garden in winter (worth seeing), the 'beach' and yellow umbrellas when no one else is around. The Martin Goodman trail is plowed through the winter, so you can venture past Bathurst to Ontario place but fair warning, it's pretty bitterly cold and hospitable to the winter runner and cyclists.

4. Go forage for breakfast, lunch, dinner: Shopper's Drug Mart near Spadina is open, and the reliably always-open Rabba are open. We'll leave it to a future post of what you can do with what you find at both stores, but Shopper's does sell books, magazines and DVDs.

5. Hibernate: Of course, it's the holidays and since it's New Year's, you probably were up late. So what you do is grab the DVDs the night before, stock up on food and drink and let the day go by by sleeping in, enjoying your lakefront view and watching lots of good (or bad) television.

Happy New Year.