Peter Chen (Google User)
5 months ago
I was just staying in Salt Lake City for a few days, and I got some day passes to work out here. I’m a bit out of place since I’m not a bodybuilder, but whatever, I have good calves and proper squat technique so I’m usually accepted even though I’m not super cut or big. Their day pass process was also really easy. You just go on their website, buy a pass, and get a code to type in at the door.
This place is a clean gym with a wide selection of machines, especially ones that aren’t found at most gym. Their pendulum squat in particular is amazing, and don’t be surprised if you’re a lot weaker than you expect on it (My high-bar squat max is 355 lb for 1 rep, and I only put 45 lbs on the machine, although it was for 10 reps). I also thought it was really cool that they had an assisted nordic curl machine, which I’ve only ever seen on the internet. There are also some glute machines that I’ve never seen before like standing hip thrusts, and a standing lunge machine which I’ve also never seen before. I went to a really big bodybuilding gym in San Diego that was probably 3 times as big as this place, and I still didn’t see these machines until I came here (the San Diego gym did have a pendulum squat, but I liked the one here more). There’s also a lot of old school machines that probably aren’t of interest to most people, but I got really into gym equipment during Covid lockdown so I thought they were cool to see, even though I didn’t use them. It’s kinda interesting to see how machines have changed over the years, and I’m sure they’re still effective. They have tons of attachments for cable machines like the Back Widow and a lot of different bar types in varying grip thickness. I loved how their chest press machines had knurled handles, and there were also some lat pulldown machines with twisting handles to help with getting the extra range of motion. They had dumbbells up to 180, maybe 200 lbs, which was a first in my personal experience. There are also of course all the standard machines that are found at commercial gyms along with some cardio machines. I would love to see some Prime Fitness machines, but I know how expensive they are along with their long wait time.
My only complaints about this place as a non-bodybuilder gym goer is that they don’t have a locker room (just 4 or 5 bathrooms, and some have showers in them), and there’s not an area to stretch and do mobility work. I made due since I either went at night or early morning so the gym was quiet, but I’m not sure what I’d have done if it was crowded besides get in other people’s way. If you’re a powerlifter or Olympic weightlifter, you’ll probably want to look elsewhere. There’s only 1 deadlift platform, 2 squat rack, and 1 flat bench. Most of their weights are just old school iron plates, which can be a bit miscalibrated (some of my barbell squats felt unbalanced). The half-rack was decent, but the full-rack could be upgraded. The flat bench was also just okay, although the incline bench was nice, which makes sense given this gym’s focus on bodybuilding. Their barbells were pretty basic, but on par with a lot of commercial gyms. These are all things that I think bodybuilders would care less about though, and this is a bodybuilding gym so just take that into consideration.