Fitness Centers Suck, Finding a Gym

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
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Folks, I’ve had it with it with my fitness center. I created a checklist of things to look for as I explore the gyms in the area.

Does it have a glute ham raise?
Does it have a reverse hyper machine?
Does it allow chalk?
How many power cages does it have? Squat racks?
Does it have an olympic lifting platform? Bumper plates?
Are the regular plates and dumbells naked iron (good) or rubber coated (bad!)? What’s the brand?
Are there bands and chains?
Climbing rope? Gymnastic rings?
Boxes for box squatting?
Are there any trap bars?

Obviously, it would be hard to find a gym with all of these things. But this covers the basics. Anything else? Big things? What are the things you look for when checking out a gym?

Also, If you were to narrow this down to a few basic things feasible for a conversation on the phone to determine if the gym is worth checking out, what would you ask?

Finally, any other advice you can give me (or stories) on choosing a gym and what to watch out for would be greatly appreciated.

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  1. If you see anyone deadlifting or doing oly lifts, it’s probably a good gym.

-Sab

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[quote]Gael wrote:

Are the regular plates and dumbells naked iron (good) or rubber coated (bad!)? What’s the brand?[/quote]

If this is truly a large concern for you, is the gym really the one with the problem?

I agree that many fitness centers are beginning to almost scare me with the ferocity at which they try to get rid of people who actually have muscle on them. However, [quote]

Climbing rope? Gymnastic rings?[/quote]

Are you looking for a gym or the Olympics?

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[quote]Professor X wrote:
Gael wrote:

Are the regular plates and dumbells naked iron (good) or rubber coated (bad!)? What’s the brand?

If this is truly a large concern for you, is the gym really the one with the problem?[/quote]

Have you ever used shitty equipment? Cheaply constructed wobbly bars with poor knurling? Some stuff is just crap.

As far as naked vs rubber, it’s not a “large concern” but it is a preference. Rubber is a useless waste of space on plates. On dumbbells it’s even worse. You don’t go to the gym to pump rubber.

[quote]I agree that many fitness centers are beginning to almost scare me with the ferocity at which they try to get rid of people who actually have muscle on them. However,

Climbing rope? Gymnastic rings?

Are you looking for a gym or the Olympics?[/quote]

A gym that allows me flexibility in training options. You don’t have to be a powerlifter to benefit from barbells, and you don’t have to be a olympic gymnast to benefit from rings.

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I’d hardly say some of the things you’ve listed are REQUIRED or the “basics.” If you can find a gym with them all more power to you. However, I’ve found that for the most part gyms are all the same.

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[quote]Gael wrote:

As far as naked vs rubber, it’s not a “large concern” but it is a preference. Rubber is a useless waste of space on plates. On dumbbells it’s even worse. You don’t go to the gym to pump rubber.
[/quote]

Do you think plates covered in rubber weigh differently than plates without it?

My gym has had those rubber plates since the late 90’s. It hasn’t hindered my progress at all. Do you think they do hinder progress?

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I don’t think they “weigh differently” whatever that means.

Do you think that NSync music can hinder progress? No, but you’re entitled to preference, no?

What’s the point of quibbling over such things? If I don’t like rubber, I don’t like rubber. If you like rubber, great. Have fun with your rubbery workouts. :slight_smile:

Thank you for responding, but I was more interested in hearing about gym selection and less interested in starting an argument over whether my concerns are legitimate. Thanks anyway.

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[quote]Gael wrote:
I don’t think they “weigh differently” whatever that means.

Do you think that NSync music can hinder progress? No, but you’re entitled to preference, no?

[/quote]

If my gym plays NSync, I pull out my head phones and iPod shuffle and keep training. The point being made is that you shouldn’t even expect a gym to cater to your wide range of Olympic trial equipment. Sometimes, it is up to you to make the best of where you are at.

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What part of the country (or world) do you live in?

There are lots of such gyms around, but most are not advertised. Most are word of mouth and do not allow just anyone to train at them.

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I would ask if they have bumper plates. If they know what you are talking about, even if they do not have them, I would view as positive.

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No commercial gym is going to accomodate your desires 100% or ever 75%. They need members that pay and don’t show up. Those people like to see pretty things and hear crappy music. So long as where you lift has what you need, just deal. If not you may find some privately owned unfranchised gyms that have what you are looking for. Or you could hunt down a local power-lifters club of BB club that may have more info on places your are looking for. OR you can by a rack a do it at home, that’s the best option…my gym is open 24/7 and I can work out in my underwear if I want. I can yell, fart, play what ever music I like, etc. It’s heaven.

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As far as I’m concerned, people put WAY TOO MUCH importance on the equipment at a gym. Guys like ARNOLD and SERGIO and LOU didn’t need much more than a bench, squat rack, some weights and perhaps a few d-bol to build some serious slabs of muscle.

I think machines are overrated and the reason why you hardly ever see anyone with any thickness. There’s no substitute for deadlifts, squats, chins, barbell rows, curls, and heavy presses.

For many of us, our fastest and best gains came in the first year of training using nothing but a few dumbbells and a bench in our basement.

I say let’s think about getting back to basics and not worry so much about the lower-lat upper-glute machine that’s missing.

My two cents.

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Sorry, but your list is almost silly. I doubt you will find a gym with all those things anywhere. I haven’t seen a climbing rope in a gym since middle school.

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[quote]malonetd wrote:
Sorry, but your list is almost silly. I doubt you will find a gym with all those things anywhere. I haven’t seen a climbing rope in a gym since middle school.[/quote]

Exactly.

You’ll spend more time looking for one, than being in one.

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All I wanted was a gym with a power rack/cage. I couldn’t believe how hard it was to find one. I even went to a “hardcore” gym. They used to have one but they got rid of it in the 90’s.

Luckily my little neighborhood place has one, but I have never seen anyone using it. So far no one has said anything to me, so I just keep doing my thing. Most people hang out on the cardio machines.

Once I get stronger, will I not need the safety of a cage anymore? I just feel like I can push harder knowing I can only screw up so much.

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I actually go to anytime fitness. It has a power cage and enough dumbbells and stuff for everything I need. And surprisingly the personal trainer they have there came up to me and said “Deadlift day today?” And I said yeah and he said “Excellent.” Surprising that a personal trainer at a place like that would advocate deadlifting.

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I said it in the initial post, but I’ll repeat, for Professor_X, pat36, malonetd, and rsg: I do not expect to find a gym with all of these things. I was more or less trying to consolidate a list of the things to keep in mind while I look into gyms in the area. These are things I would want to find out, but not necessarily use as exclusion criteria.

Thank you for the input, rsg, but this isn’t true. I have a training schedule I faithfully follow, and I wouldn’t sacrifice any training time for this.

And special ed:

Still, guys like Louise Simmons, and countless westside guys have produced amazing results with the basics and also the incorporation box squats, glute ham raises, reverse hypers, bands, chains, board presses, etc. And I hardly consider my post to represent an obsession with machines.

Agreed, with the exception of barbell rows.

Matt – Thank you for pointing that out. I live near Philadelphia. I will start asking around. Your post reminded me that powerliftingwatch.com has a list of “powerlifting gyms”. I checked one out today from that list.

It had dumbells up to 180 lbs, several power cages, a glute ham raise, 100 lbs plates, good rates, no binding contract, mostly york equipment with no rubber (heh), and a solid pullup bar. Very little bullshit in the place. Privately owned, too. The only downside is I didn’t see enough floorspace to safely do any olympic lifting. Unless I see something better, this place looks like a win.

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Rubber Dbs are better than raw…my gym has tri-bar dbs and their the shit. You’ve got some weird preferences.

I bet you don’t like those rubber coated becuase you can’t slam those plates so everyone knows how much you’re lifting.

That rubber shits for pussys

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If I were looking for a commercial gym I’d go to a few a few times each and see who trains there.
That would tell me everything I need to know about how well I’d do there.

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I just found a gym that has everything mentioned plus kettle bells. I have to admit that before I found this gym I was a member of Bally Fitness and hated going to the gym but now I actually look forward to it.

Also, the people in the gym are actually there to workout instead of a bunch of fat women running on the treadmill for as long as they can stand.

FYI, it’s Rockville Fitness in Rockville, MD. I highly recommend it.