To any T-men in England, I’m a US college student studying at Cambridge University this spring. I play football in college here, and since I’m a junior, this is my last offseason to get ready. Do any of you know what the options for commercial gyms or school weightrooms in Cambridge are, and what most gyms in the UK charge? I’m not looking for anything fancy, just a place with the basics: free weights, benches, a squat rack, pullup bar, lifting platform. I can figure some of this out when I get there obviously, but I just want to get a head start on planning my training. Thanks for any help.
Stay away from the commercial gyms in England,places like Fitness First,LA Fitness and Living Well are the most popular and will charge you about ?45 per month.
But these gyms are targeted at spandex boy so you tend to get one bench,no squat rack and certainly no lifting platform.
But not to worry the University prides itself on its sport as well as education,so am sure that facilities you require will be provided.
Hey
I remember playing you Cambridge guys a few yrs back. Glad to see you have a team again.
Unfortunately, the presence of a good weight lifting facility is the one sore point in an otherwise fine University. If you are on the rugby team (or know someone who is) then they have a good set up there at the rugby club. Otherwise, the “centralised” sports centre (next to the cricket ground) sucks. It’s the downside of having a college based system- every college looks after itself, and not the whole university unit. You may be lucky enough to be in a college with good facilities of its own. IF not then the 2 best options I can recommend are 1) Kelsey Kerridge Sports centre- excellent equipment, and some real musclehedz train there. 2) the YMCA. Cheaper, not quite so well equipped, but good enough. Right next door to Kelsey. Good luck.
I’d second Kelsey Kerridge; they’ve updated it in the last few years. Since it is public, there are more louts than toffs so should be better for serious lifters. Modest entry fee. Handy too for Arjuna’s health food shop around the corner.
Yo. I spent a semester studying at Cambridge when I was in college too; it was Spring '99. I used Kelsey Kerridge, and though not great by any means, it got the job done. As other posters have said, the University actually doesn’t have dick in terms of weightlifting facilities.
I studied in Cambridge two summers ago as well. What program are you going with?
I used Kellsy Kerrige (spelling??). It cost me a few pounds a day, and I went twice a week (I did a lot of bodyweight exercises in my room). They have all you need: cables, benches, dbs, etc. If you're staying at Gonville/Caius, you may see a groundskeeper there who is a BIG dude. I ran into him several times in the gym.
My other recommendation is learn how to convert KGs to LBs quickly and accurately. I can't tell you many times I almost killed myself because I made some poor calculations ;)
Yeah, the kg. to lb. thing is true, I was in Germany for a month this summer and had to learn to figure that stuff out. Might buy a small calculator or something. I’m studying at Pembroke College.