Multi Gym Fitness Korea Sincheon (멀티짐 휘트니스 코리아)

Hey Guys,

Whats up?

On Saturday, I am going to be trying out a new gym that looks extremely promising.  but in the mean time, I am going to give you guys a quick review of The Multi Gym Fitness, Korea.

Let me start this review by saying that I am going to be quitting my job soon, and hopefully will soon find a good gym that will cater to my needs to becoming a better person/powerlifter.  there are a few prospective gyms that I have stalked on the interwebs, and believe I have narrowed down the fields.

On to Multigym Korea.  The space is alright, they have 2 racks, one power rack and one squat rack.  Off the bat, I hated the bars.  They are not good, and some were bent.  I did a full body work out this day, to see if I could lift at this gym for the foreseeable future.  the answer is maybe?  but im not going too.

One positive thing about this gym was that they had chains.  This was the first time that I was able to see chains at a gym in Korea, and did some deadlifts with chians that was cool.

Theres a huge dog that walks around the gym, which is cool cause I like dogs, but not cool cause I dont want to kill dog.

To be honest this gym is actually an MMA gym that has weights in it.  The day pass was like 15 bucks, so its pretty expensive.  I wouldn't recommend this gym to any aspiring or hobbyist powerlifters.

The machines at this gym are also pretty shit.  the leg extension machine was like bent...anyways, this review is turning out to be a case of the drizzling shits, sorry.  I need to act like im working at work.

There is a chance that this blog will transform into a person record of my lifts and blog of my training.  I will still try to review gyms here and there, but it might change.. maybe.

Peace out.

Fitness M (휘트니스M 공덕점)

Hey guys, I dont update as often as I would like, but I'm back for another review.

Today is going to be Fitness M, located inside of the gongduk subway station!  Its located in the hallway right near exit 6.  I think the place used to be called B&W fitness or something, and then they did a overhaul and redid the whole place.  The place is nice and clean.

As for the equipment its 2/3rds good.  The bench is alright, and the bars are Ivanko stiff bars, and they are pretty stiff.  prob the stiffest I've ever used, and I have handled some stiff bars.  The are also decked out with Ivanco plates which are a good size.  they have a rubber matted section where you can dead lift loudly, but I've been dead lifting on the ground, which is annoying because the floor is not level.  the one thing about the gym that I hate, is their squat rack.  It is super high, and impossible to get to even parallel.  you need to walk out of the rack, which takes me almost seven or eight steps to clear the bars of the rack.  and while my squat is by no means strong, trying to walk out with more then 250 pounds on your back is not that fun and wastes a lot of energy that I could put towards actually squatting.

The trainers are all body builder type dudes who wrap their knees when they squat 135, which is fine I guess.  Better safe than sorry.  But I get the feeling that they are kind of elitists.  Body building in Korea is kinda of weird, I feel like in korea at this moment is much like Body building in the states many years back when power lifters and bodybuilders thought each others sport was dumb.  Too bad body building is just a glorified beauty contest.

To be honest, I would pass on this gym if you are a serious powerlifter.

Saemaul Fitness Gongduk Location

http://blog.naver.com/youni424/80207841202

Here is a blog with the pics.

Anyways, I've been going to this gym for a little while when my main gym is closed on Sundays.  The bench is good, and they have a power rack that is good for dead lifts and squats.  As I'm getting stronger, I am forced to make a bit of noise and rumble when I drop the weights for my dead lifts, and they haven't complained yet.  The space is big, but narrow, making dead lifting kind of hard.  I noticed when I have to pull, for some reason I pull a little crooked, maybe its cause the squat rack is crooked, and the mirror is confusing me.  I'm trying to not look at the mirror these days anyways.

The gym has two flat benches, and the bars are fine, the barbell that is in the squat rack doesn't have the best knurling, but it will do in a bind.  The staff is mostly friendly, but I noticed that cause I train blasting my music and looking kinda angry all the time, they kinda don't talk to me.

A great thing about this gym that I like alot is that they have like a thousand different kind of trigger point foam rollers, and balls to roll out on.  and its fucking awesome.

Thats about it for this gym.  Its pretty alright for what it is.  I just pay my 10 bucks and work out worry free when I come.  I guess thats the best you can do...

Cube Muliti Gym Gongduk Station (큐브멀티짐 공덕점)

Hello,

as per usual

http://map.naver.com/local/siteview.nhn?code=21047648

Today I went to the gym with Leo.  Leo is gonna start writing with me on this blog too.  Ill let him introduce himself when the time comes.

Anyways, when I got to the gym today, they told us that they were going to be filming, so the place might get busy with the crew.  Its not that the place got busy with the crew, its that the crew took over the whole gym, so me and Leo were forced to train in the boxing room, carrying the weights plate by plate into the boxing room to lift.  That was kind of annoying.

Back to reviewing this gym.
When I first joined this gym, I must say that I was impressed with the facility.  However, the fun started to leech out of the gym the longer I stayed there.  I was told several times to be quiet deadlifting, and always felt uncomfortable lifting there when specific trainers were there.

If you are going there to body build, I would recommend this gym, but if you are going for performance, strength or any other sport other than boxing, I would not recommend this gym to you.

for me personally, I do not think I will continue to workout at this gym from this point onward.

heres a video of one of my top sets i think its like 315lbsx1 it went super slow, but it is what it is.
always trying to do better.

PS.  Pretty soon we are going to devise a rating system, but for now just read and look at the pics and see if the gyms are for you or now.

thanks for stopping by,
Live long and prosper

Star Fitness (스타휘트니스 동두천)

To start here are pics of the place

http://m.blog.naver.com/toprising/220120414049

I just finished my workout at this gym tonight.  Today was Chest, but for some reason I ended up doing a few sets of squats and deadlifts, and overhead press... For the sake of this site, I had to do it.

Lets start with the good.  The space is new and clean and they have this huge rack thing that can support like 4 squat stations kind of like a huge Crossfit rack. they have one bench that is better than the one at Carpe Diem, because the pegs are higher, so its not as hard to unrack the weights.  They have dumbbells that range from 1kilo all the way to about 40kilos, and three different types of barbells.  Short barbells (maybe 4/5th the size of a normal barbell), a benching barbell, and the basic barbell that I find to be kind of thick compared to other I've used in Korea.
they have a few machines, including a leg press, back hyperextension machine and the standard machines you would find at any gym.

The bad.  To start the largest plates are way to small, they are about 3/4th the size of a standard plate which forces a deficit deadlift on you wether you like it or not.  also the floor is made of these hard rubber mats, which are good to drop weights on, but you can't really get a firm footing when squatting heavy.  The time that I went today got a little busy, and these two dudes got into a bitch fight over the bench cause the one dude was shoulder pressing on the one bench in the gym...

Ive worked out here a few times over the past few months and every time I go the owner has been very kind to me, noticing my training style, and always asking if I need a spot.  If I had to choose between this gym and carpe diem, I would say to train at Carpe Diem, cause you could always modify the squat rack into a bench, and they have a larger selection of weights machines and barbells to choose from.  However, the past few months I have been always benching at Star Fitness over Carpe Diem just because the bench is more convent for me.

Star fitness is not ideal for a deadlifting day, but you could always work on your deficit pulls there comfortably.

thats it for now, Stay tuned for the next review.
-Jamie

Dongducheon Carpe Diem (동두천 까르페디엠)

Hello Guys,

*****UPDATED 3/18/2015
This place finally complained about my dead lifting, and brought me foam yoga mats to rest the weights on.  To be honest, I knew it was coming.  I was repping 315 for 3 sets of 10, and i wasn't being as ginger as I should be.  While I wish they didn't complain, they did, and for that I might have to find a new gym or do something....

Im here to review my current gym that I've been training at for the past few months.  Its called Carpe Diem and is located out of Jiheng Station, you can just naver it and you should be able to find it.

Here is their Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/jihang2348

Anyways back to the gym itself.  When I first joined it was a pretty grimy gym, nothing too fancy, but it had a charm to it.  Just a gym plain and simple.  After about a month or so, they repainted the place, got a new peck deck, and added another smith/squat rack to the fold and reopened.

But who gives a shit about that.  When I first started lifting here, one of the dudes gave me shit for deadlifting, and told me to lift softer.  However, another dude praised me for my lifting on the same day.  kind of confusing.  However, that has only ever happened once.  I used to train bright and early in the morning, and at this time the gym is pretty much empty, only a few of the dedicated gym rats, or old dudes work out at this time, but recently because work has gotten a little bit tougher I decided to start training after work, after Ive had some meals put into my gut.

They don't have an incline bench, and I actually have problems with their flat bench.  For some reason the pegs are placed way too low, so when i have to unrack the weight, its like doing a floor press getting it up....  somewhat frustrating, but when you gotta bench you gotta bench, normally on bench days, Ill go to another gym thats around the corner called Star Fitness, while their bench is good, everything else kind of sucks, mainly the plates are so small that when you deadlift you will always be at a deficit, which isn't bad, but isn't good.  their 20 Kilo plates are about an inch to two inches smaller than standard plates.  having options is always the best.

The place after around 7PM gets bananas.  They offer spinning classes, and I guess ever girl in town and their mom just has to be there.

I can still manage to get all of my work in, as long as I run to 1 of the 2 squat rack areas early enough.  However, today I found myself killing some time waiting for the dude to finish up with his dead so I could Squat a little.

The selection of barbells are limited to one standard barbell per squat rack, and then smaller barbells for pussys.  the heaviest dumbbells go up to 36 kilos and are pretty much always available.

Considering that it is not seoul, and its like 150 bucks for three months, this place is not bad at all.  Just sometimes the crowds can be annoying, but sometimes it can be motivational having the gym watch you deadlift or bench big.  or not if you have anxiety about stuff like that.  also you can drown them out if you have a good pair of headphones, and you will need them, because they blast Kpop like there is no tomorrow.  but if you like it, more power to you.

Thats it for now, i don't think any one reads this, but its all good.
Ill try to be back tomorrow for a review of Worlds Gym in Gangnam.

peace out and be good
-Jamie

Gym Review # 1 Wave Fitness Gyodae Provista Hotel (프로비스타호텔 웨이브 휘트니스)

Hello there!

First off ill like a blog that has pictures of the facility here

http://m.blog.naver.com/jdj1129/90190203668

I lived about 5 mins walking distance from this gym, and was a member here for about a year.  It is located on B2 of the Provista hotel.  From what I remember the membership fee for three months was something like 150,000 Korean won, or around $140.  Im not sure if they do day passes or not.

I must say that when I first started working out at the gym, I would often get stares from the trainers, who at first I thought disliked my training method, only to find out that the owner of the gym had participated in many powerlifting meets, he even showed me a copy of his Mark Riptoe book on powerlifting.

The gym is fully equipped with 1 Power Rack, 1 squat rack, a space in the middle of the gym to deadlift, however, if the place is busy you might have to wait your turn to deadlift because it will be full of dudes curling or shoulder pressing 2 benches they lack an incline bench though.  they have pretty soft foam rollers, so if you need harder ones bring your own.  I believe the weights go as high as 80 pounds, but they jump from 60 to 80, and they didn't have any plans to buy 70s.

I never got a complaint about noise from deadlifting, but i never just "crossfitted" or dropped my weights to the ground.

all in all I must say that this gym is most likely in my top 3 favorite gyms in all of Korea, its not big, nor is the shower nice, but its a great place to get work done and the staff is helpful when called upon.  They have a pretty good selection of barbells, no trap bars or specialty squat bars, keep in mind this is Korea not like Texas or Iceland, be grateful for what you have.