Our Gyms

[EnglishBeef]

Since we are all here for the same thing, we love our obsession, and we love to talk about it.

I'm wondering, especially you Yanks, what your Gyms are like (I have this mental picture of an American Gym. Gold's in the 80's that won't budge from my mind.)

I train at the gym at our local college. There are probably 3 other hard core bodybuilders we time are sessions so that there are atleast two of us in at the same time to help spot etc.

There are loads of machines I avoid, but the free weights section is excellent.

It doesn't get that busy, And the little college boys that come in never take up the heavy weights, they are always avalible, as is the squat rack, funny that.

College girls come in all the time to use the treadmill for 5 mintues then they stand around talking to each other giggling and pulling their thongs from up there bums.

I've tried to have the college turn the piped local radio station music off, in favour of a hi-fi i even told them that i'd supply the cd's...purely selfish.

The water fountain usually gathers a crowd of wanna be bodybuilders in the evenings, that train there biceps for 3 hours and then walk to the fountain with their (minimal) lats spread out.

nice gym good atmosphere, need music.

 

[cheesecake]

I'm wondering, especially you Yanks, what your Gyms are like (I have this mental picture of an American Gym. Gold's in the 80's that won't budge from my mind.)

I always get a kick when people across the pond refer to us as Yanks, especially considering that I live in the heart of the South.

My gym is nothing at all like any Gold's gym, regardless of the decade. Very small. Free weights and power rack on the left side as you walk in. Machines (that I never use) on the right side. Cardio equipment immediately to your right as you walk in the door. Aerobics room, locker rooms, tanning beds, and steam rooms in the back.

My wife and I are the only people in the gym that train as powerlifters. Everyone else is too busy doing curls and bench. The owner of the gym is pretty cool. He's real interested in what we are doing.

We get a lot of strange looks from doing the West Side exercises. My wife is the only woman I have ever seen in there doing anything other than cardio or tanning.
...chad...

 

[jerkbox]

i go to a yuppie gym....

it's pretty huge...

i'd say 50 or so pieces of cardio equip

lots of machines

full line of hammer strength stuff

decent sized free weights area

one power rack, one squat rack...

huge cardio area downstairs w/ heavy bags and other boxing stuff.

lot's of mirrors...everything is white

bunch of TVs by the cardio stuff....

 

[MsBeverlyHills]

when I was in London- Itrained at LA fitness (near Piccadilly) & that gym was so funny-- like barely any weight equipment (of course I was the ONLY girl in the 10x10 weight room) & the olympic bar sat on the floor cause they didint have a rack.. LOL!!

it was mostly a "fitness" gym-- with a pool/ bikes/ treadmill....Golds Venice (where I train at home) is a big on free weights & state-of-the-art machines...thats the biggest difference w/your gyms.

but it was def challenging-- esp w/all your dbs being in kilos!!! hahha

 

[jerkbox]

hehe...yeah when I was in England for a semester in college, the gym at the school was so small....

one bar, one bench, no dumbells....some cardio, and a like 10 in one machine station....


all crammed into a little space....good thing not too many people ever used it

 

[gettinlarger]

Yuppie gym for me, but with good free weight section.

Walk in, on your left and right are raises levels full of treadmills, ellipticals, etc.

A sea of machines awaits your arrival as you walk forward.

Finally, towards the back, are the free weights. Dumbbells up to 125s. 3 flat benches, 1 incline, 1 decline. 3 squat racks. Military press station. There's even an area for deads!!

 

[needsleep]

I'm a member of Fitness First in the UK, most of the space is taken up by cardio machines, secondly by machines and finally by free weights. I am pretty certain that the small area of free weights puts a lot of people off using them as they are monopolised by "big mean guys" who look as though they hang around in one big crowd. The reality being that the space is so small anything over 10 people in the area make it look like one big crowd.

There's a single squat rack which if you go early evening you wont get a chance to use (hence why I train usually at 8:30pm) and 3 adjustable flat + incline benches for use with dumbbells. A single smith machine (standing calf raises =p) and a flat bench for barbell benching. Also a decline bench.

For deadlifts I have to do them in the last 15 minutes before closing when there's only 2-5 people left in the gym, I have to take either the bar from the squat rack or the flat bench and take up the space in the middle of the free weights area.

The staff are nice and it was a trainer there who helped me with my deadlift when i started it.

There's a steam room and sauna i think also.

 

[tuc biscuit]

I train at a David Lloyd gym, which for all It's bad points has a very large (bigger than a tennis court) and well equiped free weights area. Also the sweetest reception girls I have ever seen! They make me have unnatural thoughts.

 

[witkowsd]

I train at Parisi's in Fair Lawn - arobics gym mostly, my girlfriend and I are the only heavy lifting girls but the guys lift heavy. Only 5 minutes from my house and everyone is friendly.

 

[Mike_Rojas]

I work out at home now, but when I went to a gym:

The guys worked on bench and machine preacher curls. Some did cardio and crunches.

The girls worked on cardio machines... they also did lots of leg curls. That's nice to watch.

 

[slinky]

I train at a 24 Hour Fitness, which is one step up from a Ballys.

Ours use to be a Golds. And it contains a platform with bumpers and four squat racks. Plus, they allow chalk and soon we'll be bringin' in chains and a box (for box squats). We're pretty much left alone, the trainers (who are actually all skinny fat looking), don't bother us at all. They wouldn't DARE.

 

[Typhoid]

In South Central TX, they have Raquetball and Fitness clubs. The one I go to basically usurped 3 spaces in a mini-mall area. The main building downstairs has a free weights, hammer strength area, 3 raquetball courts, mid-sized cardio area, a stretch area, 3 lane pool, sauna, steam room and a closed up little weights room for women only. Upstairs is a running track, a small treadmill room, daycare and locker rooms. Bldg 2 has weight machines, treadmills, and elip machines down stairs and a spinning room, heavy/speed bag room and "ab" room upstairs. Bldg 3 is more free weights, racks and hammer strength. It is REALLY nice to have that many weights available. But the whole place is still clad in that funky off white/green scheme from when it was a mini mall... sorta creepy.

 

[Becoming]

English- it actually sounds like the people at your gym are a lot like the people at most of the gyms here, standing around, not doing legs, giggley girls, etc...

I actually go to a pretty cool place, it is small (if 20 people are there you can't get jack done), but has almost all freeweights (a couple benches, a couple racks, lots of db's, etc) and most everything you need, there is a seperate room/bldg with cardio stuff, etc, and another seperate one with aerobics, etc. the best part is they only charge $1.50 each time you go, no memberships or nothing, and people stay out of your way and mind their own business...

but for the record, slinky's gym sounds awesome, I got to find one like that!

 

[Tagio]

At home in Binghamton NY I go to a local place called American Family Fitness. They have a huge amount of cardio stuff/machines in the 'VIP room(s),' but the area for mere mortals is pretty nice. the left side has cardio equipment as you enter, then a bunch of cable machines, then benches (lots of flat, a couple of incline and one decline, then against the back wall on the left there are 2 squat racks and 2 power racks. against the left wall are dbs. the entire right side of that room is more machines which are pink, teal and purple.

they have a no chalk rule, and a sign that says No Deadlifts without bumpers (At least they have bumpers).

you can basically do whatever you want there, no one bothers you. there are a whole lot of bicep/bench people, and a whole lot of chubby guys with big arms and shoulders and no strength anywhere else. but everyone is friendly so who cares.

at school (Tufts university) we have a 2-room gym. one half is like a typical commercial gym (dumbbells, machines, cardio, only 1 squat rack) and the other room is for sports training. The sports room is great. it has 3 squat racks, like 8 power racks set up for benching (but they can be used for oly lifts, squats or deads if needed) cable machines for pulldowns and such. a million different bars and plenty of weight. also 2 oly lifting platforms. The only downside is that the sports teams can bump you out of there if they are scheduled to use the equipment. but they're always there around 4-6 in the evening so you can avoid them.

 

[psychedout]

English you gym sounds exactly like the one at my college. However, I don't train there during the summer. The gym I train at during the summer is a very basic gym. 75% freeweights. ~~ Thanks god...there are also lots of big guys there ~~ coincidence?? I think not.

 

[benchmonster]

My gym is called the Real Gym in Tulsa OK.

We have a whole section of the gym just for us maniacs. We have 2 monolifts, a deadlift platform, a power rack, 2 flat benches, an incline bench, a decline bench, dumbells up to 150's, Kettlebells, chains, bands, boxes, stones, big tires, a Conan's wheel, duck walk implements, a reverse hyper, a yoke, and ton's of other strongman type stuff.

I hear that there are cardio stuff and machines on the other half of the floor, but I would not know this from personal experience.

We are very lucky to have so many serious trainers and such good access to equipment where I train.

B.

 

[Thaibox]

I converted a large barn into the following:

Upon entering....There is a full size ring on the opposite side of the barn, against the right side. Against the far left side is a muay thai bag, an 80# canvas bag, a 40 lb bag, and a double end bag. There are two makiwara boards, and a Wing Chun Dummy in front of the ring.

On the immediate left are 2 cages with chalk, sweat stains, blood stains, and a standard and a 2" thick BB on the floor under them. The 3 plate racks carry 4 100#, 20 45#, 10 35#, 6 25#, 6 10#, 4 5#, 4 2.5# York plates. There is a bar rack on the wall that holds two olympic standard bars, a 2", 2.5", 3" , and 2 cambered bars.

Next to them is my matted gripping area with 25#, 35#, 50# blobs, levering tools, 12 grippers, a griponator, thick DBs ranging from 3" to 4.5", bent pieces of steel, nails, spikes, bags of steel shot, 2 buckets of sand, an anvil, sledges, and a few misc toys.

To the right is an adjustable bench, a rev hyper bench, dip bars, chin bars, and a dumbbell rack with York DB's ranging from 15# to 200#. Between the DB rack and the ring is a small cable machine with a tricep rope, pulldown bar, and other misc crap.

In each corner is a massive BOSE speaker connected to a Sony system that is constantly blasting hard core metal. There are 2 non-directional 18" subwoofers mounted under the ring that can shake the whole barn.

Outside the barn is a farmers carry and 2 sleds I keep next to my Ducati and my Fatboy. A 100 meter marked lane begins next to the barn. At the end of the lane is a firing range. I have a lot of land.


....hey we can all dream right?

 

[cheesecake]

....hey we can all dream right?

Until I read that, I was going to ask if I could come train with you.

Except in my dream it would be a custom chopper instead of a Fatboy.
...chad...

 

[Thaibox]

Except in my dream it would be a custom chopper instead of a Fatboy.

My chopped Panhead is sitting in the garage waiting for the tank to be airbrushed

 

[Lumberg]

My work gym is in a very skinny place.

Walk and and see soem mirrors with those bars in fron tof them like ballet studios. then turn right and to your right are 5 lifecycles. to your left is the free weight area. A smith machine, DBs up to 60#, a bench with built in rack for bench press, a portable flat bench, and a portable inclinable bench. There are 6 45s, 6 35s, about 8 25s, and plenty of 10s, 5, and 2.5s.

Keep going and on your right are a leg curl mach, a leg ext. mach, and a seated shoulder press mach. There's also a light dip thing that is usually shoved against a wall and a thick ass pull up bar. On your left are 3 elliptical machines and like 4 stairmasters. Keep going and on the right are 2 seated rowing machines and two treadmills. On the left are a lat pulldown, tricep, bicep, ab, and back extransion machine and a water fountain. THen some lockers and the aerobics room. I keep wrist straps and a pair of adjustable Olympic DB handles in my locker.

THen there is anothe gym in this building.

walk in and see s seated shoulder press machine in front of you. Behind that is the elliptical machine. Behind the ellip. are bicep and tricep machines as well as some delapidated stairmasters and lifecycles.

OF your left there is a pec dec. Kind of in fron tof the pec dec is a lat pull down machine. there's a dip station with pad for doing leg raises, a scale, and a military press machine. THen one of those weird rehab machines where you can stand and swing your leg. after that there's a leg press that only goes up to 405#, the kind where the seat moves bach when you push. In front of that are 2 treadmills. next to that is a leg extension and next to that is a leg curl. then along the mirror with the stretching bar a DB rack with DBs up to 70 lbs, a flat bench, and an inclinable bench. A TV, two fans, and a bunch of blue foam mats for stretching or whatever.

All free.

Than at home I have a Schwinn power rack with a York 1500# bar, 8 45s, 2 35s, 3 25s, 2 10s, 4 5s, and 2 2.5s and collars. A bench with foot holders that you can use as an ab board, a DC tree with 10s, 25s, one 40, 50s, 60s, and 70s, some Adjustable 1" DBs that can go up to 40# that are my roommates and some assorted odds and ends.

 

[trailseeker]

Hey, I got a set of dumbbells and hundreds of miles of steep trails within 5-30 minutes of my house. That's all the gym I need.

 

[EnglishBeef]

Thanks for all of your posts enjoyed reading those.

So my vision of an all American Gym is shattered.

 

[Lumberg]

Just wanted to clarify that the first gym I described is in a bulding 6 blocks away from where I work (the main building) and it is biggerand the second one is in my building (annex) and is smaller and note no BBs.

 

[EnglishBeef]

No bodybuilders in your gym!!??!!??

 

[FatRat]

Mate, I think gyms in the midlands and further north are quite decent compared to down here in the south...

 

[EnglishBeef]

I'd agree with that, there are decent gyms all over and about here.

Don't know what it is about the South you'd think they would be far more advanced.