Ok… this is a big long shot since most of u guys are from the US.
Is anyone else from Sydney, Australia and know of a hardcore gym here, or know how to find one (preferably the inner west/ inner city area)? Or for that matter, how to maybe get into powerlifting in Sydney at all?
I’d like to tag on to this thread by asking the same question about fremantle in Western Australia. I’m keen to get stuck right into the olympic lifts but I’m holding back because I can’t find proper instruction.
i’m english, but visited austarallia in 2003, theres a gym in kings cross called the ‘city gym’ which is huge, yet hardcore. its got loads of good machines and loads of free weights, i went there a couple of times on day passes and thought it was a great gym, hope this helps!
Hi,
I live in Sydney and go to the UNSW gym (in Kensington). It?s not too bad ? mind you, it?s no Westside but it has got an Oly platform with bumper plates, a squat rack and a power rack. The power rack is pretty crude however with hole spacings every 3 inches or so. The DB?s go up to 50kg. There are a couple of guys who are pretty serious about lifting there but it is a university gym so us serious guys are vastly outnumbered by the legion of <60kg guys doing concentration curls and benching with bad form, but hey, you get that anywhere. It?s good entertainment if anything else. Plenty of cardio bunnies there too.
No glute-ham raise or reverse hyper however (as powerlifting ain?t that big here in Oz) but they do have several lat pulldown machines with long benches which you can rig up quite easily to do GHRs.
So yeah it?s not a bad place to train ? you should definitely check it out.
Hope that helps,
Dan
just while on the topic of australian powerlifting, im from melbourne sorry cant help out with any gyms. But would any of you guys know of a good supplier in australia of powerlifting/ strongman training equipment eg. GHM, reverse hypers, farmers walks, dragging sled.
I train at North Shore gym in Sydney 
pretty crappy, apart from the ok powerrack and platform+ bumpers
but the bars are horrible, cheap ass, bent barely spining things
We used to have 3 power racks, but since they moved buildings, it’s down to one…
I haven’t seen any other gym much better, especially with a platform and bumpers.
Yeah, look, I train at Arena gym in Sydney Uni - we do have 3 power platforms, oly plates, 3 cages (but with big gaps, too narrow, and bent pins), stepup boxes a good height for box squats, DBs up to 45key and even chalk, so I do get it pretty good by Australian standards. But I really wanna get more into the powerlifting, hopefully even compete sometime next year or the year after, and I’m not sure I can do it from there. I guess I’m just hoping for a miracle gym with the real good shit and stronger people. I mean, my bench sucks, but the only really strong people there are about 2 or 3 guys who I’m pretty sure are juicers, and they’re all upper body - I’m confident I could out squat any one of them, and i’ve only been training 4 years, including the year i did it for rowing training. There are the rugby players, but, I mean, I’ll be well and truly stronger than them within a year or so, I’d say. So where do I go from there?
BigJoey, can anyone use that gym? Or do you have to be a student?
[quote]CoolColJ wrote:
BigJoey, can anyone use that gym? Or do you have to be a student?[/quote]
No, I am not a student at USYD, I’m at UWS. It just costs more - I think it cost about 400 when I reniewed in May, but it’s been going up steadily since I first joined - it’ll still be cheaper than most commercial gyms.
(Shit, now I’m just getting more people at the gym I’m already at).
I’m not from Aust. but listen skip the gym memberships…get together (Sydney people) use one of your garages and buy the equipment. With all the money you’d spend on memberships you can have as good a garage gym as you want with upgrades every year. Build it up and hell who knows you’ve got the makings of the first hard core gym in Sydney!
LOL I hate “hardcore” gyms 
I just want a nice quiet gym with a good powerack, bumpers/platform/Elieko, GHR and Reverse Hyper.
No music, no talking, just effort and grunts
That’s all I ask for
No GHR or Reverse Hyper at my gym. I sometimes use the decline ab bench for push-up manual ghrs, but this exercise leaves a lot to be desired.
[quote]bull wrote:
just while on the topic of australian powerlifting, im from melbourne sorry cant help out with any gyms. But would any of you guys know of a good supplier in australia of powerlifting/ strongman training equipment eg. GHM, reverse hypers, farmers walks, dragging sled. [/quote]
I’d also LOVE to hear where I can get this stuff in Sydney/Australia - particularly a power rack with band attachments.
If anyone knows a good supplier, or somebody who can customize, please let me know.
Cheers.
Wow finally some powerlifters in sydney. Ok in surry hills theres a gym call Hiscoes, ask for Jim he’s the sydney representative for IFP powerlifting Australia. They have a GHR!. CoolColJ keep dreaming mate and gym with good powerack, bumpers/platform/Elieko, GHR and Reverse Hyper not going to happen. Reason people open health clubs these days not gyms. They cater for people who want to do group classes, curl in the squat racks, and do 12 exercises for their chest. Garage gym is the best option or get a group together at your gym. I tried getting a group in my gym but failed.
[quote]kmo wrote:
I’d like to tag on to this thread by asking the same question about fremantle in Western Australia. I’m keen to get stuck right into the olympic lifts but I’m holding back because I can’t find proper instruction.[/quote]
http://www.wwa.org.au/clubs2.htm
Happy to help.
Hi, my name is Markos, I’m from Melbourne. I have a garage gym thats quite popular lol.
I hold 5 lift comps and Strongman comps 3 times a year. I get lifters from EVERY state in Australia. The next comp is Bash at the Beach 3 (Frankston is a seaside suburb). It is a 5 Lift comp…squat-bench-clean-overhead-deadlift. I have around 100 lifters using the facility currently. Every month I have lifter from somewhere flying in on $10 flights just to train.
I have a friend in Sydney who competes in powerlifting in Sydney, Ray (shorty), he flys down for every PTC comp. He competed in the Nationals last year and is competing again shortly.
I’m pretty sure he lifts at a Fitness First, pretty gay.
Anyway, no better place than a Garage to lift at, I have boxes, bands, chains, Stones, KB’s, Kegs, Olympic bars, bumper plates, hot chicks, but unfortunately I have no bikes, steppers, treadmills, rowers or fitness balls.
If you go to my website you will see plenty of training pics, competition pics and results, newsletters etc.
I dont allow any equipment at comps, not even a belt, 100% raw.
A powerlifter who goes to fitness first…wow. PTC Frankston your gym sounds kick ass. more power to you!
[quote]PTC Frankston wrote:
Hi, my name is Markos, I’m from Melbourne. I have a garage gym thats quite popular lol.
I hold 5 lift comps and Strongman comps 3 times a year. I get lifters from EVERY state in Australia. The next comp is Bash at the Beach 3 (Frankston is a seaside suburb). It is a 5 Lift comp…squat-bench-clean-overhead-deadlift. I have around 100 lifters using the facility currently. Every month I have lifter from somewhere flying in on $10 flights just to train.
I have a friend in Sydney who competes in powerlifting in Sydney, Ray (shorty), he flys down for every PTC comp. He competed in the Nationals last year and is competing again shortly.
I’m pretty sure he lifts at a Fitness First, pretty gay.
Anyway, no better place than a Garage to lift at, I have boxes, bands, chains, Stones, KB’s, Kegs, Olympic bars, bumper plates, hot chicks, but unfortunately I have no bikes, steppers, treadmills, rowers or fitness balls.
If you go to my website you will see plenty of training pics, competition pics and results, newsletters etc.
I dont allow any equipment at comps, not even a belt, 100% raw.
[/quote]
no way i cant believe theres a kickass hardcore gym just up the road from me!! i live like 2 minutes up the road from you in Langwarrin
i mite have come and have a look, i would all ready make your 200kg DL club lol
actually i recognize some of the people in your gallery pics who goto fenix gym in karingal.
You are the 3rd guy off this forum to contact me, yes, I have taken quite a few clients from Phoenix.
Email me, details on my website
For anybody looking at getting into powerlifting in australia, i say go for it: Powerlifters are a welcoming bunch and people of all levels can compete at the local comps. You make progress much faster when you have a goal, so I wouldn’t hold off competing until you’re ‘ready’ because you could be robbing yourself of experience on the platform and maybe even faster gains which you would get from preparing from a comp you have decided to enter.
If you’re interested in contacting some powerlifters in australia (all local) I really recommend checking out this website:
www.powerlifters.com.au
There are a bunch of lifters from around Australia, mostly from Powerlifting Australia (IPF). You could ask on there where all the powerlifting clubs are etc, or go straight to the powerlifting australia website.
for buying gear, a few good places i could find were gymandfitness, gymdirect, and samsfitness or something. Which one’s cheaper will depend on where you live, the prices are pretty similar but shipping may be the difference. I got my stuff from gymandfitness, i thought they were pretty good.