The general atmosphere at your gym matters

[inflated]

Some gyms resemble night clubs, others are hardcore dungeons or various levels in between. What type of gym you go to will greatly influence what type of results you will get. The comradery you find or don't find at the gym will also effect your results. My gym is a hardcore warehouse and everyone there is either a powerlifter or a bodybuilder in the offseason working for mass. The members collectively own the gym and donate time to fix up the facilities etc. Great comradery and motivation at the gym is the best thing. Finding a gym that suits your goals is not easy and in some locations may be impossible, but it is great when you do.

[WhoDunIt]

Very good point inflated!

[mewletter]

The gym I regularly go to reminds me of crowded train station... At least during peak hours. Other times it resembles a store selling gym equipment. The gym attracts a wide spectrum of people; a few hard-core bodybuilders, some middle-aged baby boomers who are quite reasonably fit for their age, skinny teenage boys, average joes and janes, expats etc.

I often able to find a spotter to help me with my workout, but the waiting time for using the equipment can be annoying during peak hours. The gym staff regularly maintain the equipment there, so no worries about faulty equipment. Can't say the gym's atmosphere is a motivation or a distraction for me though.

[IronTemplar]

Inflated, I completely agree. I used to go to a gym that was small but had a good number of big guys who competed. That was fine and inspirational, but sometimes it was slso too distracting. Some guys really got off on banging weights down and yelling out reps, even iPods didn't help.

Now, I go to a community college gym and it's new, so it's very nice and clean, but the quotient of inspirational guys has gone down. Also, spotters have fallen off but that's fine 'cuz I'm terminally shy and try to avoid asking for help.

[Bull]

So true. When I first got involved in the gym scene, it was still led by bodybuilders. They were the role models, even of the "average" people who trained. Bodybuilders were given free memberships, because they attracted the public.

Now they are pariahs, and it is increasingly difficult to find a gym with a "serious" atmosphere at all. It's all just about corporate profits. Even the small gym I work out at has more or less expelled the bodybuilders in favor of people who bring in more money.

I think this downward spiral began when gyms started allowing women members. I don't mean anything sexist by that. I am all for women training. But as soon as women entered the gyms, with their congential disparagement of bodybuilders and hatred of the kind of training that produces them, the atmosphere changed radically. That is why if I ever opened a gym, it would be for men only. Women have their own gyms; why shouldn't men?

Getting back to the main point, I find it very hard to train with the kind of focus and drive I used to in these lesser gyms. I need serious lifters around me, to inspire and reinforce my training.

[mewletter]

Or they could split a relatively large gym into 3 sections; One for men, one for women, and the third being 'Free-for-all'.

[inflated]

Originally Posted by mewletter

Or they could split a relatively large gym into 3 sections; One for men, one for women, and the third being 'Free-for-all'.

Actually two women work out at my gym they are both powerlifters and they train as hard as any of the guys. Our gym is a co-op owned by the members so everyone takes responsibility in its upkeep--new members have to put in so many hours of gym maintenance before they are full fledged members.

[wolfotehmoon]

Originally Posted by Bull

So true. When I first got involved in the gym scene, it was still led by bodybuilders. They were the role models, even of the "average" people who trained. Bodybuilders were given free memberships, because they attracted the public.

Now they are pariahs, and it is increasingly difficult to find a gym with a "serious" atmosphere at all. It's all just about corporate profits. Even the small gym I work out at has more or less expelled the bodybuilders in favor of people who bring in more money.

I think this downward spiral began when gyms started allowing women members. I don't mean anything sexist by that. I am all for women training. But as soon as women entered the gyms, with their congential disparagement of bodybuilders and hatred of the kind of training that produces them, the atmosphere changed radically. That is why if I ever opened a gym, it would be for men only. Women have their own gyms; why shouldn't men?

Getting back to the main point, I find it very hard to train with the kind of focus and drive I used to in these lesser gyms. I need serious lifters around me, to inspire and reinforce my training.

I can't say because I wasn't around for this shift in attitude, but I'd probably attribute it to an overall change in what was an ideal symbol of health than it was any one demographic entering the scene. There are tons of women who are into big, strong men; this idea that all women are into skinny prettyboys simply isn't true. However, one thing we DO see a lot is a tendency for people to be obsessed with extremes (huge bodybuilders) at the outset of something going mainstream (fitness and weightlifting), but then the ideals stabilizing at a somewhat less extreme level of interest, and the results of that interest (guys who eat moderately healthy, work out moderately hard, and end up lean and ripped, but by no means huge).

[TheMM]

My work out spot is 100% pure "fitness club," through and through.

So you are right in that regard dear Inflated, as to the atomosphere. I bet if there was some sort of hardcore gym, I'd probably be lots bigger than I am.

But I've made the best of my situation. Since it's a "fitness and tennis club," most of the actual gym equipment they have, along with most of the heavier plates (to which there aren't many of those anyways) are pretty much left alone by everyone except the trainers, myself, and a few others who actually go there to work out. So no real muscle heads like some of our members here, nor any real eye candy sans the trainers, but even then they're always wearing things like polos and not showing off their hard work.

The place has a lot of "old money" in it. The place isn't that expensive, but most of the wives of their rich husbands come here because pretty much every other "fitness" place is just tacked onto a golf course.

I'd say, in about half of my workouts, at least one of the male trainers will usually be working out/will work out with me, and we'll occasionally spot each other and such things.

I would love a hardcore gym, but for the pure and simple fact that where I live, a place like that would not stay in business...kinda prevents such a thing.

[TopHeavy]

I totally agree with you, Inflated. Virtually all of the gyms I've used over the years are like nightclubs, blasting hardcore dance music at stupid volumes, making concentration virtually impossible. It really annoys me. I didn't go there to dance! If people want music then they can bring an iPod. The best sounds to hear in a gym are clanking weights.

[mewletter]

The clanking and banging of weights are actually annoying as loud techno music. And it chips the plates and bars too. I had to stop my workout momentarily just because a guy was grunting and banging the barbell, doing deadlifts. Plain distraction.

Maybe I should get earplugs, but then it might cause potential danger to me... Btw, I don't think I see any pro. bodybuilders banging the weights when they use them. A good gym etiquette would be nice.

[wolfotehmoon]

Originally Posted by TopHeavy

I totally agree with you, Inflated. Virtually all of the gyms I've used over the years are like nightclubs, blasting hardcore dance music at stupid volumes, making concentration virtually impossible. It really annoys me. I didn't go there to dance! If people want music then they can bring an iPod. The best sounds to hear in a gym are clanking weights.

I WISH my gym played some dance music. We get top 10 BS. I'm so sick of Rascal Flats or whatever it is they've been playing...

[inflated]

Gyms with no music whatsoever is what I prefer--you can always bring an i-pod if you want to hear music. I prefer having people shout at me to work harder--thats what our gym is like. There used to be more hardcore gyms but now they are getting harder to find I am not sure how much the general public wants to work out at a hardcore gym.

[WhoDunIt]

I can usually block out the music if it sucks, but that's one advantage of spending years working retail I guess

Originally Posted by mewletter

Btw, I don't think I see any pro. bodybuilders banging the weights when they use them. A good gym etiquette would be nice.

There was a guy at the place I go to who kept doing that one night then got real pissy about being chastized by an employee. Kept saying how he was going to go to a different place and tell people not to go to this one because of this. Don't know if he ever did, but I kinda thought good riddence if that's how he's going to act as a grown man.....................

[nj.]

One section of my gym has two floors (one basement part and one elevated floor that's at about 1/3 of the hight of the rest of the gym), and the free weights are mostly on that top floor. Whenever somebody drops a weight up there, and you're doing, say, crunches downstairs, you get a minor heart attack.


There's no need to drop your weights. Better even, i's bad form 'cos you're supposed to control the damn thing throughout the whole motion. You're not extra cool, tough, mean, macho, etc.

[digger]

Really? No one here deadlifts? Because most guys bang that barbell down on every rep. Also, how you get rid of the weights when you are *done* with your set has nothing to do with your form during the set. Aside from those deadlifts, the dropping of weights that you're describing happens *after the set is done*. I have to confess I don't always feel like sitting back up with the weights after a set of heavy flat-bench DB presses: a balls-to-the-wall set with the 140s doesn't leave much energy for the kind of "controlled" exit you're writing about. That's like a sit-up with 280lbs pressing down on you AFTER an exhausting set. And frankly, in old school gyms no one gives a frak. We're not looking for a Planet Fitness-style, "lunk alarm" monitored health club.

[digger]

Now this is what I mean:

YouTube - Alex Webb Quest for the Emerald Cup (Part 1)

Nice old school gym, heavy sets, and non-gratuitous grunting. Oh, and the dude is hot, including his ink (had to get that in before someone says he "ruined" his body with ink).

[Lifter73]

Originally Posted by Bull

So true. When I first got involved in the gym scene, it was still led by bodybuilders. They were the role models, even of the "average" people who trained. Bodybuilders were given free memberships, because they attracted the public.

Now they are pariahs, and it is increasingly difficult to find a gym with a "serious" atmosphere at all. It's all just about corporate profits. Even the small gym I work out at has more or less expelled the bodybuilders in favor of people who bring in more money.

I think this downward spiral began when gyms started allowing women members. I don't mean anything sexist by that. I am all for women training. But as soon as women entered the gyms, with their congential disparagement of bodybuilders and hatred of the kind of training that produces them, the atmosphere changed radically. That is why if I ever opened a gym, it would be for men only. Women have their own gyms; why shouldn't men?

Getting back to the main point, I find it very hard to train with the kind of focus and drive I used to in these lesser gyms. I need serious lifters around me, to inspire and reinforce my training.

I couldn't agree more!

I also trained when there was a certain comeraderie among the serious lifters/bodybuilders. They knew how to put their weights away, were respectful to each other on the most part and were there to help give a spot or lend a hand.

It seems like now the whole atmosphere has changed. Kids wandering around a gym not knowing what they are doing, standing around equipment and cackling like they are in school and get offended when you aske them or TELL them to move so you can get to the machine they are NOT using. And I have actually stood at the front desk with the guy working there, and heard women come up to the desk with their manicured nails and FlashDance outfits talking about how one guy was "grunting" while he was lifting weights. I mean, what the HEL!?!?! Yes, there should be HardCore Bodybuilding Gyms for serious lifters, regular chain gyms for those that want to work those "Club Muscles" and gather, and there's already a women's gym called "Curves"!

I finally found one really hard core gym in my area and although there is the occasional lunkhead, it is a rarity and not like the major gym chains. It's refreshing to lift really heavy, hard, grunt, sweat and be among fellow lifters that also move some heavy iron and willing to work in with you and know their stuff. And yes, some GYM ETIQUETTE!

So yes, atmosphere makes a BIG difference!

D

[n4mscl]

Originally Posted by Lifter73

I finally found one really hard core gym in my area and although there is the occasional lunkhead, it is a rarity and not like the major gym chains. It's refreshing to lift really heavy, hard, grunt, sweat and be among fellow lifters that also move some heavy iron and willing to work in with you and know their stuff. And yes, some GYM ETIQUETTE!

So yes, atmosphere makes a BIG difference!

D

I regularly go to a couple of different locations for a big chain gym; they're far from each other, across the city. Each location has a somewhat different atmosphere. At one of them, a few members train (really) heavy and seriously. Although, they all have that overriding health-club atmosphere and mentality. . .

Still looking for that hard core gym around here.

Anyone know of one?

[inflated]

Originally Posted by n4mscl

Still looking for that hard core gym around here.

Anyone know of one?

What city are you in? Where is around here?

[n4mscl]

Originally Posted by inflated

What city are you in? Where is around here?

I'm in Toronto (Canada).

[inflated]

Originally Posted by n4mscl

I'm in Toronto (Canada).

I asked around from my friends who are serious lifters and we all agreed that the gym at The University of Toronto is probably one of the best bets for a hardcore gym, and passes are available for non-UT students--I am not sure of the cost.

[n4mscl]

Originally Posted by inflated

I asked around from my friends who are serious lifters and we all agreed that the gym at The University of Toronto is probably one of the best bets for a hardcore gym, and passes are available for non-UT students--I am not sure of the cost.

Hey inflated, many thanks for getting this info! I'm guessing they were referring to the gym at the U of T's Athletic Centre. I'll give that place a shot; it's not too far from where I work.

[digger]

Witnessed tonight at the gym: a bodybuilder acquaintance doing a kind of lunge with the Smith machine loaded with 4 plates on each side (45lb plates). Lunges. With about 375lbs. Same guy military pressed 365lbs yesterday. You don't see those kinds of inspiring displays at a health club "gym."

[redwolf64]

I couldn't agree more about the gym atmosphere.

I work at a university and when I got a job there, I got a gym membership at a facility nearby. What I didn't realize was that a lot of the faculty I worked with went there and used it for "networking".

I got tired of people wanting to "talk shop" and got a membership elsewhere.

[digger]

My training partner and I visited a truly old school gym this weekend. They're dying out. The only machines in this place are the ones the owner made himself. The benches can all take big powerlifting loads. There's a whole crew of powerlifters who train there--the walls are covered floor to ceiling with pictures of them at meets and other members on the stages of bodybuilding shows. All the weights are old school metal--no rubberized plates. The DBs go up to 178lbs.

I'm sure we'll try it now and then. It's $20 for a month, no join fees and no contract. Come in one month for $20, come back a few months later for $20, no chain gym hoops to jump through. But it might actually be too extreme--I don't want to give up my Gold's. It's a more old school Gold's and I really like the folks who train there.

[inflated]

Our gym will hopefully never go out of business because its a Co-op owned and operated by the members---its the best place I have ever found.

[Minotaur]

I love my gym and can't wait to get back there. It's in an old warehouse, with two levels, not fancy, owned by a big friendly, sexy and hot former competitive bodybuilder. Lots of free weights, machines, and cardio equipment for bodybuilding, powerlifting or general fitness. The atmosphere is friendly, basically do whatever workouts you want as long as you respect the equipment and other members. And everyone does show the respect. I think that's what a gym should be.

[inflated]

A good serious gym, lots of weights, no blaring music, other lifters with similar goals, and a supportive environment that is not about selling memberships is the best if you can find it.

[THE BODYBUILDING GIANT]

i love down in the dumps gyms i train at a gym called temple gym birmingham england its the gym dorian yates owns and it has the best atmosphere power and endurance and positive enviroment and i train and often see dorain and hes great to offer advice etc i personnally liek no music and sweat and tears to get my work out going

[mcg]

Love old school gyms like this, my high school weight room was like this, no frills just weights, benches and racks. No air conditioning either, I liked training in the summer with just those big fans blaring, no music. It was very peaceful.

[chitownbber]

for years i have been all over the united states lifting in every kind of gym imaginable and absolutely positively say the atmosphere matters 100%. for me personally ive been in a few absolutely perfect gyms and here is what they all had in common:

a kind of "raw" environment: concrete floors (with rubber floor mats/gym flooring), brick/concrete block unfinished walls, high ceilings with exposed steel work and HVAC systems, lots of muscle heads wearing revealing clothing (in some cases ive been in heaven where muscled guys lifted shirtless or took their shirts off to pose / check themselves out....ie Metroflex, Quads).......

and friendliness/ camaraderie as others mentioned......i was stunned at this aspect of golds gym venice - i expected to be intimidated but it was amazing

outdoor gyms in so cal (2 in san diego) are awesome - young shirtless muscle boys getting pumped up and tanning at the same time and taking lots of glances in the mirrors.....ahhh perfect

and of course to me there is nothing more motivating then the sound of great big old 45 pound plates banging and clanging together as some dude re-racks the bar after benching 315 or 405 or squatting 495 or doing shrugs with 5 plates on each side of the bar (ever see a guy do that? the bar actually starts to bend a bit......god i love seeing that)

[MarkusBrown]

chitownbber I agree with that the gym has to have the RAW feel in it. As I was cruising some gyms in my area, I notices a surge of adrenaline in those raw gym's, compared to fancy ones with weights that can barely be heard.

It is definitely an important thing for the psyche!

[Shadonyx]

I prefer a gym that oozes some level of serenity and work.

I'm a member of Workout World in New Jersey and I go to two locations: Red Bank and Ocean. I work in Red Bank so I usually hit that one up right after work. Never terribly crowded, the people in there are nice, and the overall atmosphere is can best be described as a dedicated quiet.

Not so with Ocean. "Confused" is about the nicest word I can think of to describe the atmosphere. It's here that I learned of several of gym archetypes:

The Vulture: S/he's the guy who bangs out a set, wanders off from the machine, walking slowly around the same relative area. Far enough away from the machine to make you second guess if s/he's using it, you move to use it and they swoop down upon you to inform you they aren't done.

The Sitters: Simply, the people who bang out a set and sit on a machine for 5 minutes or more in-between sets. Good luck asking to work in.

The Socializers: The people who haven't graduated from high school... in their minds. If they spent as much time LIFTING as they did TALKING, they wouldn't still have the garbage gut.

The Peacocks: Usually reserved for irritating high school and college-aged men. Kind of like the Socializer in that they usually group together and talk - usually about all the girls and sex that they're having. Of course, we know they're really not having any sex until they all go back to the dorm room and jerk one another off.

I'm the kind of guy that goes into a gym and means business. I'm not there to socialize, hang out; I'm there to lift and get out. It's why I hate seeing friends and associates at gyms I go to; it's nothing personal but I don't want to talk! I'm liftin' here!

[The Magus]

I've got a new one that I'd never seen before....

The Hoarder: You know the spray bottles that you use to wipe down machines? You know how some days you just can't find that bottle? It's because of this guy. Somehow, he got the idea that the spray bottle is just for him, so he takes it with him, from machine to machine, bench to bench until by the end of the hour it is on the other side of the gym from where it started. Does he eventually put it back where it belongs? Um......no.

[rupom]

I often able to find a spotter to help me with my workout, but the waiting time for using the equipment can be annoying during peak hours. The gym staff regularly maintain the equipment there, so no worries about faulty equipment. Can't say the gym's atmosphere is a motivation or a distraction for me though.