So I have been going to this gym now for around 4 years, in which time
some changes have happened that I do not like, and some changes
haven't happened that I would like. The upshot is that I have changed
to a new gym as of 3 hours ago, and I'll get to that in a minute.
Firstly, some background. This gym is where all the hairy meatheads
used to train, and is owned by a man with a reputation in NZ
bodybuilding. It had a reputation for steroids, and churned out some
good quality bodybuilders and power lifters. It has no aerobics area,
and when I joined only a couple of rickety old stationary bicycles
that were never used. It had a posing room with decent lights, and a
Russian masseuse who would deconstruct you on the table and put you
back together gain in a manner you would not think humanly possible.
There were pictures and trophies all around the wall of past
competitors, it was the cheapest ‘commmercial' gym in the city that I
was aware of, and was a nice 30 minute walk from home.
So what has changed? What is it about my old gym that I do not like?
All the pictures have gone, and in their place are giant banners of
the owner wearing leather posing trunks and leaning up against a
motorbike. These banners look like a gay-pride advertisement from
1972. The music is either to the son's taste Polynesian try-hard
hip-hoppers pretending to be black Americans and failing miserbaly, -
or Elvis/Enya/CelineDion/Cleatence Clearwater Revival to the owners
taste: nothing with beat, rhythm, or life. A few years ago a whole
swag of ‘hydro-cycle-foo-foo' [censored] turned up, at multi-thousands a
pop. The staff were criticised for being too friendly with the users,
and would turn over every few months, and the masseuse has left. The
urinal stinks, as it was never installed properly and its hard to not
dribble on the floor. There has been no capital expenditure on any of
the weights or machines in these four years, and they were old and
battered when I joined: there is a mish-mash of plates, not all 20kgs
weigh 20kgs or even are of the same diameter so you spend half your
workout trying to find two similar plates so the bar is symmetrical,
cables are sloppy and slack, pins are missing, the bars bent, and the
supplements are way to expensive. The client database is still on
cards and file. Rather than install decent ventilation in this old
factory, the owners simply stick a plethora of fans up that either
counter each other and do nothing unless you are right in front of
them, or blast you with air if you are. All the big guys have moved
on, and the last competitor I saw looked like a skinned rat and would
have been 55kg dripping wet: 56kg if you counted his piercings.
Topping it off, there are only two good looking women in this gym: one
has just gotten engaged to her long-time partner, and the other is my
ex.
So after 6 months of [censored] to my training partner, I have decided
to join the gym at one of universities I teach at. What a shock. All
the plates are Ivanko rubber plates of legal dimensions; they supply
chalk, and have a ‘bay' for heavy compound lifting. The dumb-bells
are of a likeness, and the machines are ‘tight' and well maintained.
The ventilation works in a subterranean gym by turning over the air
rather than shifting it around, and the music is OK. It is also half
the price of the other place I have just left, and the supplements
cheaper: in one case by a dollar a bar! It is clean, efficient, and
well stocked with gear. Sure there is the obligatory "don't squat
below parallel or you'll damage your knees" posters, and it is a bit
full, but that will empty out once we are more than a month into
lectures and the reality of exams sinks in.
--
Adam PR Taylor
http://www.nelliedog.co.nz