Where Do You Live and How are the Gyms?

Simple enough looking for people to post up their metro and how the gyms are. State at least if you know of any Powerlifting, Bodybuilding, Strongman, and Olympic in your area

I might be relocating for work and could ask about just that city but think this would be a better resource for us.

Orlando: Powerlifting, Bodybuilding, Olympic, Limited Strongman at the Powerlifting Gym (2 tires and prowlers)

Charlottesville Virginia, where the University of Virginia is located. There is a gold gym, ACAC (gym/sports area), a 24 hour gym, and a top notch athletic training facility (chalk, dont care about noise, 2-3 oly platforms same amount of cages) and several campus gyms. I don’t think there is a dedicated powerlifting/strongman type gym.

Porto, Portugal. Terrible terrible terrible gyms. Well, they have very good installations…but you cant find a single p.cage. Basically its all soccer mom gyms, or “fitness” centers.

Live in a small shit town way up north in Norway, and all we have here are a couple of gyms in the same league as Planet Fitness. Not even allowed to DL.

I hate it and I’m in the process of starting a new small gym with just the basics.

If this thread gets enough I’ll edit the original post to contain a list by country and city/region

Petersbur, VA. There is an American Family Fitness nearby (they’re based out of Richmond I think). Typical big chain 24hr gym. But I use a YMCA. I have never been there and had more than 3 other people in the weight room. The squat rack basically had cobwebs in it till I got there. Simple and cheap, I love it.

East London, england. My gym is good, has all the mums from the local school upstairs in the main cardio area, 2 studio’s and alot of classes going on,even the good ones like spinning and circuit (not all women orientated) and downstairs a good (but small) free weight area where i spend most of my time.

Loads of gyms in london of all types so i cant complain

Ewing/Trenton NJ. Champion’s Fitness is the best I’ve found. Not very strong/smart people go there but decent equipment for powerlifting (racks, benches, chains, a small variety of bars, etc) and some strongman stones?? Theres also a powerlifting gym listed on powerliftingwatch.com that is in trenton. haven’t checked it out yet though.

I used to be in Orlando. I feel like PLing gyms have gotten scarcer since I left. I heard Steel mill closed, and the one on 436 and curry ford (i think) shut down before i left.

I stopped by one in Longwood to pick up some peptopro around xmas which was kind of this awesome warehouse of somewhat randomly strewn weights and machines.

Anyways, in Miami now and its mostly chain gyms and I use the UM gym mostly since im a grad student and LA Fitness on occasion, both are somewhat lacking but sufficient if theyre not crowded. Neither likes it when I deadlift barefoot. I heard there is a place Idolmaker Physique and Performance out in Kendall that I would like to try since its allegedly PL/BB, but its on the opposite end of civilization from me.

I lift at a gym in NW Houston. 2 racks, 1 cage, 2 smith machines, DB’s up to 120 (I beleive… I’m a Barbell kinda guy myself) and about 12 assorted incline/decline/regular bench stations. Exotic equipment (kettlebells’, clubbells, sleds, tires, magic jumping beans) pretty much nonexistent. Which is fine by me.

There’s a PL crew that comes in two or three times a week. Big dudes. Benching up to 8 plates a side. None under 250. Never seen any of them squat more than 2 plates. Still big dudes.

Most dudes in the gym are not built. If you want the BB atmosphere, you can find it in the city. Same thing goes for serious PL gyms (Matt’s always up for fresh mea… training partners, or so I hear, in a gym out 59). At mine, there’s the usual crowd of bro-tards and skinny functional kids, some yuppies come in at lunch time, but for an added bonus, half the conversations taken 'tween sets are in spanish (well… mexican, really, but whatever) which I think is kind of neat.

All in all, worth my monthly fee. Now if only they’d replace the poptastic music with something I could SFW to…

http://thewarehousegym.net/

This is about 6 miles from my house in South Houston. However I have everything in my garage. Rack, bands, bench, etc. Still building it slowly. Once I get my numbers respectable would like to visit this gym once a week. To lift with guys I respect.

Pittsburgh, PA - Celli’s Fitness in Lawrenceville. The strongest guys in the city lift there. Great atmosphere, great equipment, strongest 198 lifter (single ply and raw) in the US owns the place. Tons of experienced people to help you if you want to learn.

Honorable mention to Platinum Fitness in Greentree. Can use chalk with no problem, good Hammer Strength selection, awesome hours (5am-10pm M-F, 7am-6/4pm Sat/Sun).

hmm thinking of starting to compile the replies and make a master list, when you all are mentioning 24/hr and chain gyms are they good enough for bodybuilding, bench presses, leg presses, squat racks, and such or are you talking about really limited freeweights. Not sure if I should list some of the ones mentioned as BB or maybe add another category for generic gyms.

[quote]milktruck wrote:
I used to be in Orlando. I feel like PLing gyms have gotten scarcer since I left. I heard Steel mill closed, and the one on 436 and curry ford (i think) shut down before i left.

I stopped by one in Longwood to pick up some peptopro around xmas which was kind of this awesome warehouse of somewhat randomly strewn weights and machines.

Anyways, in Miami now and its mostly chain gyms and I use the UM gym mostly since im a grad student and LA Fitness on occasion, both are somewhat lacking but sufficient if theyre not crowded. Neither likes it when I deadlift barefoot. I heard there is a place Idolmaker Physique and Performance out in Kendall that I would like to try since its allegedly PL/BB, but its on the opposite end of civilization from me.
[/quote]

Don’t know I didn’t really lift in Miami and when I did it was at FIU rec center. In Orlando for Powerlifting there is http://orlandobarbell.com/ in Oviedo which is also where I know they have 2 tires I think it was 300 lb and 500 lb and then they have a single homemade prowler (or maybe it was sled… whichever is the one you pull)

[quote]Enders Drift wrote:
hmm thinking of starting to compile the replies and make a master list, when you all are mentioning 24/hr and chain gyms are they good enough for bodybuilding, bench presses, leg presses, squat racks, and such or are you talking about really limited freeweights. Not sure if I should list some of the ones mentioned as BB or maybe add another category for generic gyms.[/quote]

I’m in Vancouver, BC and there are gyms galore… chain locations, as well as independant gyms. The chain location gyms have a combination of long hours (5/5:30am - 11, midnight -/24 hour locations). The one I train at top notch, it’s one of the biggest gyms downtown Vancouver and even at peak times it’s never too uncomfortably busy. A lot of bodybuilders and figure athletes train out of there (they usually sponser and promote the provincial bodybuilding/figure/fitness show annually). Lots of equipment and I appreciate the in between weights they have… for example 27.5lb dumbells, instead of just 25 and 30lbs. Pantheon… http://pacgym.com

Northern Marin County, California.

Smaller commercial gyms possess sufficient weights with at least one power rack and one squat rack.

Plenty of barbells and plate weights, dumbbells only go up to 100, but they don’t mind customization with duct tape.

Passaic County, NJ. 10 miles across the river from Manhattan. Plenty of great gyms in NJ. There’s a thread about it in the BB forum.

SE London UK, West Wickham MyTime gym (local chain)

the only commercial gym i could find with an actual weight room:
squat rack, BBs, DBs up to 50kg, some bumper plates (good for deads, no room for O lifts) etc.
During peak times, it is really full, and full of dickwads (as i experienced today), at other times, esp late at night, its almost empty. a few serious guys, mainly recreational/bench and curl lifters.
most trainers/staff are cool (went to school with the main guy).

I live in DC and the best gyms (that I know of) are all in VA (ten or twenty minutes away) the Fitness First in Seven Corners has an Oly platform with bumper plates and a HUGE truck tire in the back; the Fitness First in Tyson’s Corner has a glute ham raise, thick bars, land mine and other shit like that; The Gold’s in Balston is very well equipped and has four squat racks and plenty of dumbbells (up to 150 I THINK) along with lots of benches, Hammer Strength machines and cable setups. None of those gyms complain about chalk as long as you don’t leave a mess.

Louie Simmons will be hosting a seminar at IDOLMAKER GYM in Miami, Florida. For those of you who are interested the fee is $100 per person and it will be a ONE DAY seminar. The Seminar will take place on June 26. I will keep all those interested on the exact time it will be held. Fees will be collected until the end of May!

You can e-mail the owner of the gym at rae6489@aol.com or call him @ 305-401-6926. Louie has never been to Miami so it’s a monumental opportunity for everyone who resides in South Florida to come and see a living legend speak and be coached on the finer points of power/strength and conditioning.

When/If you e-mail or call the owner make sure to mention my name (Joey) to show that I’m doing my part as an IdolMaker sponsored athlete. It would greatly be appreciated!

IdolMaker Physique & Performance
13275 SW 136 St. Suite 14
Miami, Fl 33186
305-401-6926
rae6489@aol.com