The layout of your gym will play a big part in how it feels to train there. As a strength coach in a new facility I’m always looking at how to optimise the work space in our gym and make the most of our budget to improve it.
1. Good quality power racks, bars and plates – there is nothing worse than a gym with nowhere to squat! Being able to move the safety bars in and out of the rack easily means that they will actually get used adding “dead-start” variations to the list of possibilities. The quality plates and bars give you a feel about the gym. You either want everything to be rusty and shitty like a prison gym or an outdoor gym with weights made from cement OR you want stuff that inspires you to deserve to work with it. Getting rogue and Eleiko bars with lots of Pendlay bumpers has added that feeling of quality to the roosters gym.
Pendlay Plates – MUSCLEDRIVER Australia
2. Space to move – athletic gyms are all about heavy lifting but having some space for strongman training, sprinting and throwing medicine balls is also key. Having some space in the gym also makes it feel much bigger. Crossfit gyms are leading the way with a minimalist approach to equipment to maximise handstand walk space.
Gym space is valuable
3. Accommodating resistance – being able to use bands and chains in your gym adds hundreds of varieties to what you can do in the gym. Bench press, squats and deaadlifts are no longer just limited to putting more weight on the bar. That is still the ultimate goal but the success of the Westside method has demonstrated there is more than 1 way to skin a cat.
4. Posterior chain machines – I’m not a big fan of machines in the gym, in fact I’ve had almost all of them removed so that we could have “space to move.,” the machines that I have added are the GHG raise machine which is also great for lumbar work and abdominal training and the reverse hyperextension. When I go into a gym that has both of these you know it’s a place where people train hard. Steve Walsh the strength and conditioning coach at Toulon has 4 of each of them that stack nicely together!
GHG – Rogue
ROGUE – Reverse Hyper
5. An atmosphere for excellence – this is the part that can’t be bought but must be present to make the hairs stand on the back of your neck when you go into a weight training facility. Signs that its there could the the volume of plates in the room, the records on the board or simply seeing a session take place and knowing that this is a sacred time and place for those lifting there.
IronEdge Equipment
I’m looking forwards to big things in the Roosters gym this year. In a strength, power sport like rugby league this will surely make an impact for on-field capacities.
What are the most important things to you in a gym?
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