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.

Allow myself to introduce myself.

I would like to start of by saying that I am a novice power lifter at best, and would actually just consider myself a hobbyist in the sport of powerlifting.  My best lifts have been a 230 bench, 345 deadlift, 245 Squat, like I said, hobbyist.  With that said, when it comes finding resources pertaining to "powerlifting in Korea" there is not much for foreigner living in Korea.

Powerlifting in Korea is pretty much non existent.  However, there are a few guys in Suwon who partake in the activity, and often post videos of their squats and stuff, you can check them out here.

https://www.youtube.com/user/tanglangjia

I have never contacted them nor do I plan on it for the time being, they are much stronger than me.

there is also this website I found about bodybuilding in Korea, their main office is located in Gangnam, I went there once trying to find a coach, but they wanted to charge me $600 that I don't have, and I would have to have traveled almost 1 1/2 hours to get to the facility.

I have been living in Korea for about 5 years now, and have been to many, many gyms all around Seoul, Jinju city in Gyeongsamnam-do and Dongducheon in Gyunggi-do


anyways, let me get down to the point.  This blog is going to try to help fill the void of information about powerlifting in Korea.  I will start off slow with gym reviews, seeing wether or not one can train like a powerlifter, who knows where it will go from there.

I will try to update the blog weekly, I am currently living in DongduCheon, but on the weekends I do go to seoul to lift and hang out with friends and family and eat.  So thats it for now.

Ill try to have an update later this week.
Thanks, and Peace out.
-Jamie