I hate to sound melodramatic or spoiled, but I am quite surprised to find that the gyms in the WPB area are, at best, weak. I am being kind.
Now, I am not saying that I am too good to train in some gyms. I can train anywhere if I am forced. It's just that I've been fortunate to have had access to some really badass gyms over the years and also in FTL and Miami. It's almost like culture shock to have to train at a gym that isn't what I'm used to.
I am admittedly very particular. Ideally, I want a broad selection of equipment with an old-school atmosphere. You would think this wouldn't be too hard to find and it hasn't been, down here in south Florida before moving north to WPB.
I do not care for the ultra-swank facilities that have machines the size of a small bedroom, that have 14 different angles that you can load plates. Some people may like that; I find it to be overcomplicating something that should remain relatively simple. I am not all of a sudden going to get huge because of a machine that costs $10k. I prefer to think that effort trumps fancy equipment.
I also don't like gyms that look like clubs, even if they ARE well-equipped. There is a big one in Boca that I may be forced to use because I will always choose equipment over atmosphere. I have trained long enough to know that I can train my ass of in the middle of a classroom full of napping kindergarteners, if I have to. Though I prefer an insane atmosphere, I don't necessarily "need" it; I just want it.
I do need specific pieces of equipment, though. I need leg variations that allow me to bomb legs without having to put my lower back at risk. I need a pendulum squat, I need a belt squat, I need a solid smith machine, etc. I need a leg extension that doesn't have a crooked lever-arm (or a lying leg curl, for that matter). I need a solid sissy squat machine. I need good back equipment that allows me to hit my back from different angles without having to only do barbell rows and chins (though both of those are a part of my protocol). I want a solid pullover machine.
More importantly, though, and this is the bigger problem up here in WPB: I need a gym that is open until at least 10pm and preferably 11pm during the week. What is this shit where a gym closes at 9pm on a weeknight? WTF? I LOVED a new place that my friend turned me on to. It was extraordinarily well-equipped for what I needed. It wasn't too "clean" and it wasn't too pretty. However, they close at 9pm during the week. That just is not doable for my schedule due to training clients one-on-one until about 7pm and then having to commute another hour back home.
You might be thinking, "just train at Titan Gym after you train your clients." I already do that and I could happily continue to do that BUT... Mrs. Skip is finally going to start training again, and she will not train if she can't train with me. Well, she says she can but it would likely involve 15 minutes in the gym and an hour next door at the bar. So, I am trying to accommodate training with her, and it just isn't working very well.
It is likely that I will need to suck it up and train at the "club" gym that is quite well-equipped. I won't say the name because I wouldn't want them to be pissed for talking down about their gym. I am going to check it out either Thursday or Saturday, because it is possible that I am wrong and the gym is actually better than the pictures. If it is, I stand corrected. If it is what I think it is, I will love the equipment and hate the atmosphere.
Why can't all gyms just be hardcore, grimy, rusty weighted havens with loud music and everyone yelling?? Is it too much to ask? I would open a gym like that if there was actually any money in it. But then I wouldn't have anything to bitch about because if I did, it would be my own fault.
Get ready for another shutdown and save 20% on resistance bands:
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