Pumping Iron

Most days I workout at home.  I have a simple bench, a pair of adjustable dumbbells and a pull up bar.  Recently I visited Britain’s only American warehouse style gym, Monster Gym in Cheshunt, England.  It has a 20,000 sq ft floorspace with a huge variety of Hammer Strength and Cybex plate loading and selectorised machines as well as a variety of cable stations.  There are loads of freeweights, benches and racks.  It has dumbbells from 1kg all the way up to 150kg (yes kg!). Here’s a photo of my workout partner posing by the monster dumbbells.

There is a row each of treadmills, stepmills, eliptical machines, rowers and bikes.  There is also a hall just for martial arts and boxing training complete with a ring and different kinds of punch/kick bags.  The gym also houses a mini-restaurant where protein drinks and other famous brand supplements are served aside steak, chicken breats, pasta, tuna and fruit smoothies.  If you feel like relaxing after your workout there is a lounge of leather sofas where you can chill out while watching training DVDs on a widescreen TV.  As a non-member I paid £5 for a workout which is quite a reasonable price compared to other gyms.  Although this gym is a bodybuilder’s paradise, it was not dominated by bodybuilders.  There were people of all ages using the gym training for different goals.  It was a really nice experience topped off by friendly staff and a vibrant gym atmosphere.  I sincerely hope this type of gym catches on in the UK.