What would it be? I?ve been thinking about this concept since 2000 and haven?t really moved on it yet. I?ve seen gym after gym just DIE, flat on their face, and I don?t want to be one of them.
My dream is to build a facility that caters to the T-type, so lets have it?
What would a T-Gym be? Or, what would you want your T-Gym to be?
I tell ya, with all of the religious and political crazies on this forum, it’s hard to keep a good health related post alive.
Come on folks, we’ve been bitchin about our gyms for years. I want to know what you want, so fess up. I cannot build it if you do not tell me what you want.
I will have ONE aerobic class that is a prerequisite for all T-Vixen. Carmen Electra’s Aerobic Striptease.
Sound like a start?
If I were to open a gym it would be 70% commercial and 30% T-Gym. The soccer moms, cardio bunnies, and people that sign up for a year but only come for a month would ensure that the real gym stays open. The hardcore people wouldn’t piss the soccer moms off when they drop the weights, put chains on the barbell, or make loud noise when they’re trying to get those last few reps in. The T-Gym would have almost all free weights, loud aggressive music blaring all day and night. The striptease class is a good idea. But have the Carmen Electra like instructor do a real strip show in the powerrack every couple of hours throughout the evening.
Ross
where do u sign up…Im in
If I had to design a gym, the weights would be split into two rooms, one for free weights and racks and the other room for duplicates of the hammer strength type machines. The free weight are would be set up with racks and cages like this place:
http://www.stchristophers.com/gallery/23.html
http://www.stchristophers.com/gallery/24.html
…as well as the usual DBs, benches, and GHR machines.
The rest I would have to think about…
wow. that place is a prep school for boys!. I thought it was some college. The rock climbing wall looks cool going up the whole building.
at my school’s, Lehigh University, PA the varsity house has those platforms and we have mirrors. we have about 8 of them 4 across back to back.
its a good idea, but its a business world and you need to make money to stay alive. there are tons of businesses where a good group of people like a certain thing, but if it doesnt appeal to the mass of people, unless you have some real loyal customers… without the money coming in, its not going to last long.
im sure more research in the whole scheme of things may come up with a good idea… I actually want to open a business after i graduate. Maybe we could work something out…
Now this is the stuff…
Just a few things - Need kick ass speakers, a good number of high quality power racks and benches, a special power lifting area, and some flex/strive/hammer stuff.
Avoid all chrome too. Right?
find a powerlifitng gym and take some notes from that. a good powerlifting gym will have everything that one of us needs. the only thing i would add to it is some cardio equipment, for us gay bodybuilders. as well as make it accesible to 18-21 year old females. (hot ones only)
damn P-Dog you have raised your age requirments! 
The key to a good gym is to have plenty of space for your clients to move about and not feel crowded…that was a point in one of my gym’s that everyone seemed to like!
St. Chris has really spent some bucks. That’s an awesome weight room. I can just picture all those spoiled little mama’s boys doing curls in all those racks!
Sorry, Woodberry guy and just had to get a St. Chris dig in, even after over 20 years.
Gotta have a few heavy bags, real leather ones. I’m planning on opening a PL/fight gym in Knoxville. It will probably take me a year or two. Maybe we could compare notes.
One thing I had thought of is letting traveling T-people use the gym for a day or two (free) if they stopped in Knoxville (and PM me first)
-Solid power racks
-Solid Platforms
-All the plates the same diameter
-A room with a padded floor so all of the pugelists and wrestlers can train in their discipline.
-A hardwood section maybe 50m x 25m so the speed guys can do drills and the WSM guys can practice the Farmers walk and tire flip.
-Drinking fountains, gotta have those
-Training tables so guys and girls can get taped up or stretched out.
-Big ass gigantic lockers, we gotta get big lockers.
-The walls should all be black as well as the machines, racks, barbells, dumbbells, cardio machines and floors.
-The only other color in the gym would be red, and thats for the cushions on all the benches and the towels.
-No neon lighted signs or overhead lighting. The joint will be dungeon like ande lit up with one recessed bulb over each of the apparatus and in front of the DB’s, that way you’ll feel like you’re Matt Modine in “Vision Quest” every time you squat, DL, bench or whatever. PB’s will go through the roof, I guarantee.
-The check in desk/concession stand will have gallons of H2O, Power Drive, Surge, and Grow for sale along with choice beef, chicken, and fish…
-The foyer will be of black linoleum with the red t-nation “T” and a sign hanging from a black gallows that says, “DO NOT ENTER UNLESS YOU KNOW WHY YOU’RE HERE”
-Into music will be available when you sign up, any song you like, and when you punch in your own personalized doorcode to enter the facility, the song will be piped through the sound system for 30 seconds. That way, you can have a killer track in your dome for your workout and when “Oops I Did it Again” comes out of the speakers everyone will know that P-dog just walked through the door.
-The only poster in the place will be a lifesize rendition of the T-nations “freak of the week” voted on by the members.
ahhh yes, that would be one helluva gym.
B.
Ok, I’m going to BradTGIF’s gym.
I want lots of squat racks. lots of power racks, some reverse hypers, a GHR bench or two, bands and chains, bunch of lifting platforms and bumper plates, plenty of chalk, an adjustable cable machine that uses heavy duty weights, a sled, a rope pull station… And lifting music, i dont like working out to britney spears
Leave it to somone in Cali to come up with some innovation!
Good stuff…
The foyer will be of black linoleum with the red t-nation “T” and a sign hanging from a black gallows that says, “DO NOT ENTER UNLESS YOU KNOW WHY YOU’RE HERE”
Brad, that is a beautiful thing.
-bw
The T-Gym
Hidden in a deep dark part of city, near the strip clubs and biker bars lies an aparently abndoned building. Soccer moms drive by and believe it to be abandoned. Men have only heard rumors about it, like some sort of underground fight club that everyone questions exists at all. But the members of T-Nation know what really goes on.
Membership is by invite only. Nobody has ever come in asking for more information. They have never built the courage to actually open the painted over front door. Receving an invite is a compliment in an of itself. It is a sign that someone sees something in you that is a cut above the rest. You have potential. You are not made from the same mold. They only take the best and an invitation has neve been denied.
The members come from every walk of life. While the rumors say that it is the hangout for the Hell’s Angels or members of the underworld, the truth is that most of the members are professionals and have college degrees. Each departs their job to return to this cave of a building to live a life that would make everyone in their office sweat blood. It is a life of pain, sweat, and work. It is there that they refine themselves into those men for whom everyone holds that combination of fear and admiration; they are the modern day superheroes.
Those who build enough courage to enter the front door will find a gym like no other. There is no front desk, nobody has ever attempted to enter these sacred walls without the proper invite. The only thing greeting the members is the sound of heavy metal, weights crashing, and a large black and red T-like symbol. It is the symbol they all follow like some sort of religion. It’s meaning is simple - Testosterone.
Going further inside, one will see a gym that calls back to the days of Pumping Iron. There are few machines tucked in the corner, mostly for leg extensions and cable work. Weights are stacked everywhere so there is never difficulty finding what you want. Nobody cares about how much you actually lift. The only thing that matters is how much more you could do than yesterday. Men once unable to deadlift their own body weight have stood toe to toe with some of the largest monsters to walk the face of the earth, each holding mutual respect each other. Character is judged by desire, effort and improvement, not by numbers.
The walls are covered with mirors, inspirational quotes, various pictures of women in bikinis (if anything at all), and pictures of their members and other great bodybuilders. It is an interior deigners nighmare - the lifters made it that way for a reason. You are not here to be comfortable. You are here to work.
For all of its intimidating qualities, those who lift there are like some sort of family. While they may all take shots at one another, every single one of them would be there for the other in a heartbeat. Not a discouraging word is ever heard…that is unless someone hasn’t been putting in full effort. Anything less that 100% is liable to draw the ire of all of those who use the strength of the collective to better thenselves. The few women who do enter these walls, the Vixens as they are called, are protected like they were the sisters of each one of the men. No man dares hurt, physically or emotionally, a Vixen for fear of what the T-Nation would do to him. One quote on the wall sums up the relationship between each of the men. It simply reads, “The strenghth of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.”
For those of you who think you can handle it, don’t bother asking. If you’re meant to be there, you already know where it lies. All you can do is learn as much as you can, give 100% in everything you do, and make yourself the best you can be. The T-Nation is watching. They will call your name when it is time.
I think Brad and Cory are right on target. When the hell are you guys gonna build it?
Beautiful Cory. It almost brings a tear … no, wait, that’s adrenaline surging.
I don’t care what it has as long as it has heavy metal, a reverse hyper and a good GHR.
And the gallows. I like the gallows.
no cardio machines, but a short track for sprinting