Thread: When looking for a new gym, whats the first thing you look at equipment wise?

Oh..last but certainly noticed first, the women. The women working out there and the women working there.

Then price.

But I really just wanted to know about equipment.

Power rack, lots of plates, heavy dumb bells and space for overhead pressing.

If they have a reverse hyper and/or a glute-ham raise bench, it's probably OK for what I want to do.

If not, I just look at the racks, DBs, and any platforms.

If i could have the perfect gym setup it would be a lifting platform, a power rack, bars, DB's, plates, a yoke walk, tire, and stones out back, and a massive bin of chalk.

I look for how well maintained the equipment is and how well cared for the equipment looks. Years ago I trained in an armpit looking gym but the equipment was always in tip-top condition.

Sadly too many gyms today spend more on their canned music than keeping things working.

And boy, do I sound like a grumpy old-timer when i read this to myself!

Personally I prefer to workout in my home gym. I've got everthing I need there. I went a time or two to a public gym and the place was crowded and fucking sweat was all over the benches. Not my ideal of a healthy enviroment.

Originally Posted by fufu

Power rack, lots of plates, heavy dumb bells and space for overhead pressing.

Forgot that, but most gyms now have high ceilings. HOME GYMS USUALLY DO NOT.

I also would look for kettlebells.

Originally Posted by AKIRA

Forgot that, but most gyms now have high ceilings. HOME GYMS USUALLY DO NOT.

I also would look for kettlebells.

I guess I should elaborate more on my home gym. I bought a house that had a 3 car shop out back. 10 ft ceilings. Lots of room for all my equipment. ;-)

Originally Posted by stoker

I look for how well maintained the equipment is and how well cared for the equipment looks. Years ago I trained in an armpit looking gym but the equipment was always in tip-top condition.

Sadly too many gyms today spend more on their canned music than keeping things working.

And boy, do I sound like a grumpy old-timer when i read this to myself!

Along those same lines, I look for how neat the place is. If all the plates are racked I know not just the ownership cares, but the members do too. That goes a long way toward getting my business. Early on in my lifting career I belonged to a little hole in the wall gym that looked exactly like you'd expect a hole in the wall gym to look. But they had every piece of equipment you could ask for and the place was always neat. If you ever forgot to rack your weights the other memebers would be on you in a heartbeat.

Originally Posted by Gazhole

If i could have the perfect gym setup it would be a lifting platform, a power rack, bars, DB's, plates, a yoke walk, tire, and stones out back, and a massive bin of chalk.

Forgot about chalk, that's a big one.

Originally Posted by Gazhole

If i could have the perfect gym setup it would be a lifting platform, a power rack, bars, DB's, plates, a yoke walk, tire, and stones out back, and a massive bin of chalk.

What he said

Lifting platform is number 1
Good Squat rack
Decent set of D-bells
Sturdy benches
Matching plates-I once trained in a gym with unmatched 45's. By unmatched i mean some were 45's some were 44's. Crazy.
Make sure everything is well maintained-tightened-up d-bells, good collars, ect.

most any gym with free weights will be fine for my needs. i look at the level of douche bags present at the times i want to be at the gym. if the DB's are present i want nothing to do with that gym.

guys who hog a bench for 30 minutes while doing 2 sets and staring at themselves in the mirror.
guys who want to sit there and talk instead of workout. fuck that.
guys who leave their shit lying around and don't clean up after themselves.
excessive grunting for the sole purpose of drawing attention to themselves.
guys who think its all about the supplements taken and has nothing to do with the hard work and time spent actually working out and eating right to get the desired results.

and because i work out at an MMA gym currently DB's are:

the guys who wear tons of Tap Out gear, do all of the above, but don't know shit about muay thai or BJJ. fucking posers. go to gold's to do that at the gym. i dont understand why they will pay so much more money for a fight gym, but not ever train to fight. like they are cool or something because their membership is an mma gym? I fucking hate DB's at the gym. hate it. don't fucking talk to me when im obviously listening to music and im in the middle of my work out. fuck.

lol, the most ridiculous behavior I see on a regular basis is guys who put their shit on benches.

I see this all the time, guys place their wallets, cell phones, keys and water bottles on the benches. I'm not talking about one of the above, I see people place all that shit on benches at the same time...and they never use the bench at all. This one really has me wondering inside.

I mean really, are they demented? What the fuck is up with that?

Squat rack w/ olympic bar and decent amount of plates. If I have that, I can do anything.

On a side interesting note, my girlfriend just joined this gym that has DBs up to 110 lbs, yet no squat rack. I find that strange, as usually if a gym has DBs higher than 50-75 lbs they're trying to cater to more than just the average person, and they'll have one or two squat racks. Anyone who uses 110 lbs DBs would definitely be in the market for squats, or something in a rack.