I just moved to Northern Virgina/DC for work. Do any of you know of a good PL or OL gym in the area? I came from a commercial gym (Fitness 19) that just happened to let me do what I want, more or less. Ideally I’d want something close to the Metro, cheap, and let’s me squat and deadlift. Of course, I’m not likely to get everything I want.
And before someone says it, yes, I did search the site before posting a new topic. Any other inquiries into decent PL or OL gyms in the area are a few years old. Given the high turnover rate, it’s worth asking again.
Where exactly in NOVA are you located? If you are looking to train for PL we have a good thing going out at the Virginia chapter of the Metal Militia in Winchester, VA. Probably 1:15-1:30 West of you depending where in NOVA.
Fitness First in Tyson’s Corner is very PL friendly. Bands, chains, sleds, Reverse Hyper, Forza Bench, chalk is fine. It’s a paltry 20 bucks a month to boot.
[quote]Ebolarama wrote:
Fitness First in Tyson’s Corner is very PL friendly. Bands, chains, sleds, Reverse Hyper, Forza Bench, chalk is fine. It’s a paltry 20 bucks a month to boot.[/quote]
I second this–it is a very good gym. Tim Henriques who writes for this site also runs a Powerlifting Team out of there and the guys there are all real friendly.
Also you could hit up MarauderMeat who a few weeks ago was looking for a few new guys to join him at his gym in Chantilly. YOu will get strong as hell.
It really does depend where in NOVA you live though–if you are inside the beltway, forget about going west until later in the day because rush hour is a bitch. LOL @ winchester only being 1 hour from NOVA–maybe Manasass without any traffic, but if you’re in REAL NOVA, and aren’t travelling there at midnight, you will be doing well to get out to Winchester in an hour.
But the truth of the matter is that the douchebags and yuppies in this area just don’t make being strong much of a priority in their life. Plenty of happy hours though. Pack your brown flip flops.
Alright, I literally just rolled into town today. Sorry for the delayed response. I’m in Falls Church and work at the Courthouse station, so very much beltway. There are some awesome hills for sprints, but that’s about it. I could very easily get to the FF in Tysons.
Winchester and Manassas are probably too far away in traffic. I could go on the weekends, but that would be about it.
Ecupirate, where is your gym in Chantilly? Any idea if I could make it after or before work with rush hour? Unfortunately, my job is 8:00 to 6:00, so I get all the awesomeness of rush hour. I’m totally willing to go at 4 in the morning or 8 at night, if they are open.
[quote]tmartinez wrote:
Alright, I literally just rolled into town today. Sorry for the delayed response. I’m in Falls Church and work at the Courthouse station, so very much beltway. There are some awesome hills for sprints, but that’s about it. I could very easily get to the FF in Tysons.
Winchester and Manassas are probably too far away in traffic. I could go on the weekends, but that would be about it.
Ecupirate, where is your gym in Chantilly? Any idea if I could make it after or before work with rush hour? Unfortunately, my job is 8:00 to 6:00, so I get all the awesomeness of rush hour. I’m totally willing to go at 4 in the morning or 8 at night, if they are open.[/quote]
send me a PM and i’ll get you my number and we can talk about it.
Depends how serious of a PL/OL gym you are looking for. You said “ideally a place you can squat and deadlift”. I have no problems squatting or DLing at any of the golds gyms in the area. I most frequently go to the Capitol Hill and Van Ness golds, and they have never given me shit for crashing the weights during DLs or lifting in my socks.
However, none of the ones I’ve been to (about 5 of them) have had OL platforms. All have had at least 2 squat racks. There are Gold’s all over here, so you get convenience at the cost of less PL/OL equipment.
Wait Fitness First is only $20? They better hurry up with that silver line metro… would love to train there. Keep in mind if you are driving there from Arlington, I-66 is carpool only during rush hour (I think 4:00-6:30, someone else back me up on the times)