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Thread: gym recommendation question - Cincinnati

  1. #1
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    Default gym recommendation question - Cincinnati

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    Hey all,

    This seemed like the most appropriate place to post based on past similar threads. Posting part for recommendations and part to let Cincinnati residents know a gym to avoid.

    For residents of the area, I was essentially kicked out of Dixie Fitness Club in Highland Heights, KY (Northern Kentucky, by NKU) for not doing slow-eccentric deadlifts - my eccentric is apparently "dropping weights" to them. The gym had previously been extremely old school - chalk allowed, heavy deadlifts would go down a lot, local rock station on the radio, yelling, etc. A trainer is really trying to take the place a Planet Fitness direction and is driving out the core membership. I say all this to let Cincinnati residents who want to do barbell training know to avoid Dixie - it's not what it used to be. Sad - I made a lot of great friends there and will miss it.

    With that said, are there any residents on here who do SS who have a good gym to recommend for the barbell lifts, preferably within 15 minutes or so of Northern Kentucky? For now, I suspect I'll end up at Average Joe's Gym in the Mt. Washington area. It's identical inside to my previous gym - used to be part of the same chain. Same exact equipment, just better maintained and clean. Chalk isn't allowed, but any substitutes that don't leave residue are, so I'll deal. Trained there yesterday without issue and after confirming with ownership that deadlifts are fine unless you're just being reckless and letting go of a rep.

    There are no "official" SS gyms in the area, by the way.

    Thanks,
    Scott

  2. #2
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    I think there used to be one downtown with a bunch of platforms, 24-hour access, etc. I can't find it now.

    Everything else is CrossFit and/or Conjugate from what I can tell. RTS Barbell looks new, but it's pretty small. Don't know much about it.

    This is why I have a garage gym.

  3. #3
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    Can't edit, so...

    River City Barbell hosts meets. Usually RPS meets. You could check there.

  4. #4
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    Hey thanks manveer. I'll look for the downtown one - so far I've not been able to find much in the city, so wondering if what you describe got closed. All I really know of is that CF gym on 7th. And yeah, a number of conjugate training centers like Sweatt Shop - but most not just open for self-guided lifting.

    Yeah, RTS is tiny - going to visit it Friday - the owner seems like a very cool guy. I hope it makes it given how great the equipment is, but it's very new, and the guy has to have dumped upwards of $10-20k into it up front - going to make getting out of the red hard. Looks great, but not sure I can hack the drive there or the price. According to the owner, it's still manageable crowd-wise, but again, this makes me question its long term viability unfortunately.

    Yeah, I know about RiverCity. I'm not (currently) a competitive powerlifter, though, and the idea of a non-24 place with a schedule to train on as a team isn't me at the moment. yeah they do hold RPS meets quite a bit.

    If I didn't live in a condo situation where garage usage is regulated, I'd be 100% on the garage/basement gym track.

    Thanks for the suggestions (and any future ones). I think I've about found all the candidate gyms there are, but making sure I didn't miss any before I sign on anywhere.

  5. #5
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    RTS must be new, never heard of it.

    What part of town are you in? I lifted at a CRC for a while that was super cheap ($10 a month), never very crowded, and had 2 decent York barbells. Hours were not ideal though and they would not have enough plates if you are lifting over 500.

    Manveer's garage is the best equipped powerlifting gym in the city. But, I have calibrated plates...

  6. #6
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    Yeah @Dave_M, RTS is brand new - open for 2 months, actually. We lifted there Friday to try it. Some cool perks - only place I've ever seen with Power Bars, Olympic bars, a Duffalo Bar, a Shoulderok, and a ton of Rogue equipment in one spot. With that said, I didn't love the bench set up, and he currently is missing 2.5 plates - I suspect it's just an oversight that will be corrected soon.

    I'm still a bit away from 500 - I'm hoping to hit 405 on pulls for reps in the next 6 months or so, so I suspect that CRC you refer to would work. I'm near NKU in Northern Kentucky - where is the place you are referring to? I do like 24/7, so I doubt I'd be interested anyway, but that's some kind of price.

    Unfortunately, I doubt Manveer would appreciate us showing up at his garage...ha.

    At this point, it's looking like we will be signing up for Average Joe's in Mt. Washington, unless we find a better spot. $40 signing fee with $20/mo after that, with no contract. It's not perfect (chalk substitutes only), but they have an abundance of old-school 45s, and they seem to leave you alone as long as you're not tearing their gym up.

  7. #7
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    Evanston CRC. It's a one rack set-up and more of a fitness room than a gym. Very few people are ever in there so it worked great for a while and the price was right. Not worth your drive from near NKU though.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dave_M View Post
    Manveer's garage is the best equipped powerlifting gym in the city. But, I have calibrated plates...
    Give me some time...

    Quote Originally Posted by nkupianist View Post
    Unfortunately, I doubt Manveer would appreciate us showing up at his garage...ha
    Ha. Not regularly.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dave_M View Post
    Evanston CRC. It's a one rack set-up and more of a fitness room than a gym. Very few people are ever in there so it worked great for a while and the price was right. Not worth your drive from near NKU though.
    You know, that's actually not much different from the drive I'm about to be doing - the Highland Heights area is surprisingly convenient to about anywhere because we have all the major highways 10 minutes away or less. If my new spot doesn't work out, I might legit keep it mind, assuming they don't consider normal deadlifts to constitute "dropping weights". As long as the other members prefer the machines, one rack is fine, ha.

    Thanks!

  10. #10
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    starting strength coach development program
    For anyone reading this in the area looking for a SS-friendly gym, so far, our first workout, which included heavy deadlifts, was great. Having to use non-loose chalk, is a bit of an adjustment, but we'll adapt - other than drying my hands out, the substitute did its job. Had a talk with the owner after our workout to make sure we're welcome. He said the noise is a bit loud but recognized that that's the fault of the current one-layer rubber mat flooring and not us. He's actually considering adding a platform and asked me to forward him some DIY guides on it. Nice guy who so far is doing his best to make the place inclusive for everyone rather than the Planet Fitness movement that makes the gym exclusive to anyone trying to have a productive workout. I'm optimistic.

    To anyone interested in Cincinnati, the gym is Average Joe's Gym in Mt. Washington, on Beechmont Avenue.

    Thanks for everyone's help.
    Scott

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