Gym Please?

joc_06

I'm thinking of moving into city centre ranelagh rathmines area but im being held back cas i still have 6 weeks membership to my present excellent gym left.

So can any1 recommend me a gym in D2, D6 area's as above that is good relatively cheap and has long opening hours?

By good i mean has dumbells upto 50kg or at least >30kg, a power rack and a good cv room for plyometrics.

I saw the reviews above but i dont really know the area's or names. I know there's one on camden st but it seeems cramped and doesnt have a power rack. I dont know why- its just about the best exercise tool there is

monkeyman

I'm in LA Fitness between Ranelagh and rathmines. They have a website.

Think they have 30kg dumbells, but also the blank ones you can put your own weight on. Has a power rack, and plenty of machines. Gets busy bwtween 6 & 8. I'm there at 4.30 so its empty then.

Bout 60/month or 45 if there are 2 or ye, but deals all the time

joc_06

I presume thats in dartry?
I just looked at the website and i might call out there. Is it a long walk from Harcourt st or grosvenor park rathmines?

Are you sure they have configurable dumbells? I've never seen them in any gym for insurance purposes im sure. Is it one of those curling bars?

Will 60 a month get you access all areas all times? Can they do body fat tests with calipers?

monkeyman

Thats the one. No one seems to know Dartry so I said Rathmines. Would be about 15 - 20 min walk to Grosvener park.

Yep they have the configurable dumbells (not an EZ BAR). Never seen anyone using them. What size are you to want more than 30kg in a dumbell? I'll check this evening whats the heaviest weight on static dumbells. PM me tomorrow if I don't post back here. Might forget.

Not sure about the fat test. Think it was the calipers they did on me, but its 2 years ago. Give them a ring.

€60 is anytime of the day. Tell them you heard of a deal where its €55. Coz I hear all sorts of different prices quoted to people.

joc_06

Thanks very much - you've been a great help. Might see you there sometime...

I dont really know what size i am but i curl 30kg, shoulder press 40 kg and flat bench 50kg dumbells.
50kg dumbells are rare enough so im sorted if the ones are configurable...

logic1

joc_06 wrote:

Thanks very much - you've been a great help. Might see you there sometime...

I dont really know what size i am but i curl 30kg, shoulder press 40 kg and flat bench 50kg dumbells.
50kg dumbells are rare enough so im sorted if the ones are configurable...

What gym do you currently train in? Any gym with pro welded db sets up to 50kg should also have olympic db handles. Not sure what insurance reasons would be involved?

Some nice db lifts there we should get a boards training session together some weekend.

.logic.

joc_06

the gym im in at the mo only goes to 30kg but a lot of weekends i use the arena in UL. 60kg DB's there. I remember about a year ago i couldnt even roll them along the ground and now they're almost in my sights.
Back then i did like 2 exercises - half squat with high weight and olympic press. What a dumbass!!
olympic press isnt even a great exercise and a full deep squat with half the weight is 100x better than half squat. I spose i just thought there was something great about having 200kg on a bar!!
But the best exercise imo is the powerclean. Even though my technique isnt the best yet im upto 80kg now and i must say not only has it improved my leg strength but my traps and neck (17.5") are huge now compared to only a month ago. Thats why i need a power rack in my new place.

Also i presume you've seen this one logic but i found www.exrx.net What a website. Every muscle group listed and every exercise for them. Loads on nutrition and powerlifting and plyometrics and moving gif's to show you how to do each one. Great site and an eyeopener and inspiration to me.

monkeyman

joc_06 wrote:

Thanks very much - you've been a great help. Might see you there sometime...

I dont really know what size i am but i curl 30kg, shoulder press 40 kg and flat bench 50kg dumbells.
50kg dumbells are rare enough so im sorted if the ones are configurable...

40kg in a dumbell shoulder press
Jaysus, I nearly passed out last night shoulder pressing 8 x 16kg. Well I am under 10 stone.

logic1

joc_06 wrote:

the gym im in at the mo only goes to 30kg but a lot of weekends i use the arena in UL. 60kg DB's there. I remember about a year ago i couldnt even roll them along the ground and now they're almost in my sights.

Know a few lads train in there that compete in the shows. Limericks got a really good atmosphere for weight training or so I'm told.

Back then i did like 2 exercises - half squat with high weight and olympic press. What a dumbass!!
olympic press isnt even a great exercise and a full deep squat with half the weight is 100x better than half squat. I spose i just thought there was something great about having 200kg on a bar!!

lol yeah the good old 4 inch squat. I've seen it more this January than ever before. New years resolution people can't seem to leave their ego at the door.

But the best exercise imo is the powerclean. Even though my technique isnt the best yet im upto 80kg now and i must say not only has it improved my leg strength but my traps and neck (17.5") are huge now compared to only a month ago. Thats why i need a power rack in my new place.

Tbh I've never actually power cleaned. Have always meant to give it a shot. Might look into it over the next few weeks. Most of the good gyms in town will have power racks, Westwood has a cage and a rack. Probably a bit far out of town for you though.

Also i presume you've seen this one logic but i found www.exrx.net What a website. Every muscle group listed and every exercise for them. Loads on nutrition and powerlifting and plyometrics and moving gif's to show you how to do each one. Great site and an eyeopener and inspiration to me.

Yeah the guy in those gifs has terrible form on alot of exercises though. OFDM has a better site with some girly man that has pretty good form.

.logic.

joc_06

As a matter of interest and i know its none of my business but ive been reading this fitness board for a long time and you seem to know your stuff logic. What are your stats? What do you or dont you lift?
Dont reply if you dont want to but id like to know if im doing ok or not by your standards!

Ps if tomoro goes well in the hse hunting then i'll be joining that gym in dartry in mid february.
Thanks again!!

logic1

joc_06 wrote:

As a matter of interest and i know its none of my business but ive been reading this fitness board for a long time and you seem to know your stuff logic. What are your stats? What do you or dont you lift?
Dont reply if you dont want to but id like to know if im doing ok or not by your standards!

Haha well to be totally honest I'm kind of a convert. I used to be severly obese. At one stage I weighed in excess of 22stone (over 300lbs) at 6'1" probably around 33% bodyfat.

That was 2 or so years ago, I was always messing around with weight training but never got serious until I realised how significantly fat and unhealthy I actually was.

I then started out with poor diet and ethods and started to read as much as I could and learn as much as possible. Weight started slowly dripping off until I got a bit more intense, ended up training twice daily 7 days a week for a significant amount of time. It was starting to chew up my life really. Then ended a 7 year relationship, trained more, prepared my meals nightly for the next day, logged everything turned a little "American Psycho" about it all.

Good thing was it helped me drop to just over 16stone which I'm maintaining now.

As far as lifts go I've never really gone all that heavy due to constant diet.

Military press would be circa 100kg
BP 1rm 140kg
Incline 130kg
Deadlift 1rm 240kg
Squat 1rm 220kg

My backs always been my strongest bodypart.

For anyone that's interested in what fat loss can be achieved in a relatively short time period here's an excruciatingly embarrasing progress pic that was taken just before xmas:

http://www.logic1.org/images/progress/comparison-back.jpg

I still have some weight to lose to get really lean but I'm not too pushed about that for the moment.

.logic.

x.x.x

jesus - thats very very impressive logic, you should be incredibly proud of yourself

kazzer

logic, the progress you made over that year was awesome. Dont mean to sound weird or anything but do you have any more progress pics? Its great to see what can be achieved, and they can be very inspirational to the boards.ie->fitness members.

OFDM

logic1 wrote:

Yeah the guy in those gifs has terrible form on alot of exercises though. OFDM has a better site with some girly man that has pretty good form.

Heheh. The girly-man website is here...

logic1

kazzer wrote:

logic, the progress you made over that year was awesome. Dont mean to sound weird or anything but do you have any more progress pics? Its great to see what can be achieved, and they can be very inspirational to the boards.ie->fitness members.

Thanks for the comments I do have more pics but I'm actually holding off on posting them for a while. Currently working on a site which tracks my progress over the last 18 months and should continue until may this year showing things like diet, training, rest, supplementation with a full set of pictures front and back taken each month.

I'll post it here when it's done.

.logic.

Musashi

What size are you to want more than 30kg in a dumbell?

I've seen Logic one arm rowing with 60kg dumbells,only cause we couldn't fit any more plates on the DB handles

Very funny to see him banging out reps,then some guy follows him and nearly dislocates a shoulder when he trys to do the same

Seen him repping out bent over rows with all the weights on the Olympic Set in my local gym as well! Scary grunting from a cloud of chalk :eek:

joc_06

Fair play Logic. Some transformation i must say. Keep up the good work. Whats your gym btw? 60kg dumbells there eh? Sounds good.
Some big lifts there too. Im only 83kg 5"10 so i cant get to those real big weights yet but im getting there. I need to keep my weight down under 14st to stay light on my feet for running and agility. Id love to forget about that stuff and go for bulk. I know if i went for it i could get to 16 or 17st in a year or more. Christ id love that. Maybe in a few yrs time when my legs start to go and i cant keep up in my sport i'll try to get as big as i can but for now its all about power and speed in the tackle

But thats not what this thread is about. Its about a good gym in the city centre.
I called to that La Fitness Monkeyman in dartry and it must be a different one to what you're thinking because it was crap tbh.
32kg dumbells, no configurable dumbell bars apart from the the longish double handed ones. No power rack either only a crappy smith machine.
I'd wouldnt recommend this gym to a serious trainer but its ok for a light workout id say.

Thats not what i need though. I want big dumbells, power rack, chin up bars, benches, room to do plyometrics and snatches and loads of other powerlifts. I dont want a general purpose gym with dumbelina's all over the place. Any help please?

im almost sorted with a house in ranelagh so anywhere around there or Harcourt st?
I looked into the one on camden st but i didnt see a power cage. Only looked for a minute tho so maybe there was one. i'll look again after.
Cmon lads recommendations please?

Jak

Well if you are looking for serious gyms you might try maybe Hercs (near Kevin St.) or Powerhouse (Dominic St.). You will find quite a few serious trainers there, and more than enough kit and weight to keep someone of 14st fully occupied. Wide open space might be an issue, but city gyms generally won't have that.

If you are in Ranelagh, then UCD gym is not that far away, it has some flaws but again there is plenty of weight and kit to train well. Dumbbells currently only go to 90lbs, though higher weight has been petitioned, and the arrival of a Decline bench is hopefully pending. A powercage would be nice, but having a training partner tends to circumvent the need for this. I wouldn't obsess about it.

Additionally, I'd say that perhaps you could be more adaptive with your training, 60kg dumbbells and powercages are not the end of the world in terms of training and progression. There are plenty of ways to adapt what is available to you and still develop a lot of power/strength. While I would like some more things in my gym, In 10 years I have never felt I was being held back by lack of options, just forced to work around them.

monkeyman

joc_06 wrote:

Thanks very much - you've been a great help. Might see you there sometime...

I dont really know what size i am but i curl 30kg, shoulder press 40 kg and flat bench 50kg dumbells.
50kg dumbells are rare enough so im sorted if the ones are configurable...

They actually have 32 kg dumbells and the adjustable ones. Sorry bout the power rack. Thought the smith machine was what you were looking for.

joc_06

Ya i totally agree jak. I would always try to find a work around but powerlifting is powerlifting and there is no other way to do it without an olympic bar and either a lot of space or a powercage

I actually have to be able to do these lifts. They are the single greatest exercise you can do and i will argue that point with anyone. In fact if i was putting together my own gym all id have is a treadmill, adj bench and a powerrack with loads of weights + db's obviously. I think you can exercise just about every muscle group using those 3.

Thats all i use in my present gym all the time.
that website exrx.net shows you how to exercise every muscle group in your body using loads of different equipment.
Anyway lads. thanks a lot. Im gonna visit as many gyms as i can as soon as i get setup in ranelagh so keep em coming. Prices would be nice too...

Jak

Powerlifting is powerlifting indeed.

But a powercage is not a prerequisite.

I have access to Flat and Incline OBP racks (Decline is what I miss). A decent Squat rack for regular or front load squats. A mat and area where you can do snatches, C&J's, Deadlifts. People will keep their distance if you are working with a heavy weight. And there's a smith which lends itself well to some work. The gym also has plenty of chin and dip bars, various size balls and spaces for plyo work.

Aside from heavier dumbbells for isolation work and the convenience of a powercage (I agree they are great) I see little that I miss here. However, I'm not making a sales pitch here, just trying to reinforce that if you can't find exactly the spec you set out, then I wouldn't really worry about it.

JAK