HARDCORE GYM #101

 

October 2010 - Vol. 33 No. 12

MUSCLEHEADS GYM

by Rick Brewer | rick[at]houseofpain.com

www.houseofpain.com

 

Last month we went to OC Strength in Southern California, and we saw that everyone in CA looks like a movie star. In fact, when we’re in CA, we even look better. Granted, we still don’t look like movie stars, but better than normal. Like one of the idiots from the trailer park that they always interview after a tornado—fuzzy slippers on a grown man in the middle of the afternoon, but still proud to be on TV—that’s us.

I told you that the name of this month’s gym was hidden in last month’s article, and it was. Except I spelled it with a ‘z’ to throw you off. Hah! Anyway, I talked to Mike Wolfe about a new gym several times, and got an earful at the 2010 Arnold Classic. It turns out that he and Kyle Gray have been busy. We all need to go to Muscleheads Gym in Ohio to see what Kyle and Wolfy have built! I’ll let Wolfy fill you in:

In November of 2008, Kyle Gray approached me at a local recreational center where we were both training. At first, I assumed he wanted grooming tips for Wolf-like facial hair. (Okay, okay, maybe I slipped that line in. RB) I had never really talked to Kyle before, but through my lifting he knew who I was. He told me that he would love to get a gym started that had a more hardcore atmosphere. I said ‘yeah, that would be nice,’ and kind of let it go at that.

He approached me again a few days later, and said he was pretty serious about opening this place. Kyle asked if I was interested in helping out. I again said ‘sure, if you’re willing to open a place like that, I’d back it a 110%.’ Then he told me he had been buying up used gym equipment, from all the local gyms that had shut down in the last few years. He laid out a list of all the stuff he already had, and it took me totally by surprise. (Everyone has an idea. I love to see someone back up their talk with money—Kyle was not just talk. RB) He had a good chunk of what we already needed sitting in storage!

We made a list of other stuff that we needed, and then hit the Internet in search of it. Some of the stuff we bought was used, and some is new. Kyle made a couple weekend trips with me to Westside, and we confirmed that we really wanted to go with a hardcore atmosphere. There are plenty of trendy fitness-type clubs in the area, but no place for the more serious lifters to train. We had a vision of what we wanted, and we brought that vision to life. In May of 2009, we opened Muscleheads Gym. Kyle Gray is the owner, and I am the gym manager/coach.

We cater to powerlifters, bodybuilders, and weightlifters. We do offer cardio equipment, which we bought brand new, but it is limited to only three pieces—a bike, a treadmill and a stair hiker. We have a state of the art cardio theater system...well, if you call the 13-inch TV on top of the fridge state of the art...ha-ha-ha. We have everything a lifter would need, whether it is to get a bigger number in the three lifts, get massive for the bodybuilding stage, or to just stay in great shape.

We have a Forza bench, deadlift platform, and a power rack, plus chains, bands, and boards to suit the powerlifters. For the bodybuilders and weightlifters we have all types of benches (and mirrors? RB), smith machine, pec deck/rear delt machine, lat pull down and low row tower, cable crossovers, t-bar row, Nebula leg press and hack squat, Hammer Strength Leg Extension and a leg curl machine, old school calve machine, preacher curl, pre-loaded barbells, plus tons and tons of plates and dumbbells. You get the picture. We have just about everything any serious lifter would need to get the job done—whether it be for power, looks, or just self gratitude.

We started Muscleheads Gym with one thing in mind, to give lifters a place to call their own. A place where you can blare your favorite uncensored music, scream, yell, grunt, groan, cuss like a sailor, and use the shit outta chalk, and have fun doing it. We got tired of having to worry about offending other members by going heavy and letting out a war cry before you attempt it or offending someone by getting in the zone, and accidently blurting out some swear words.

We needed a place to call our own and Muscleheads Gym became the place. The week before we opened, I was on a leg extension machine at another local facility and got caught between two elderly women on either side of me. They were discussing their bowel movements. I got up, walked over to Kyle, and told him that when we open this place, we will not have any elderly women in there talking about their damn bowel movements.

All the local facilities in our area that had any kind of decent weight rooms either closed down or downsized, making it difficult for the hardcore lifters to get in a good workout locally. So we seized the opportunity, and opened Muscleheads in perfect timing with the closing of the last local place that allowed chalk. (Perfect! RB) We are a 24-hour key club that is about 60 members strong. We are about 50/50 on powerlifters versus weightlifters/bodybuilders.

I offer coaching on Sunday mornings and Wednesday afternoons for the bench press. On Sundays, we average about 20 lifters. I tell everyone ‘we’re having church and they can hear me preach my message from the handoff platform on the Forza bench every Sunday at 9 AM.’ I also enjoy having folks from out of town come in for private training sessions. So anyone interested in coming in for a weekend and checking the place out, can contact me at bigbadwolfe900@yahoo.com.

Muscleheads gym is built on the motto “built by lifters for lifters.” We are a tight-knit group, almost like family. (Except without all of the hugs and kisses? RB) We train hard and have a good time in a good place. We have a few members who have taken up powerlifting in a pretty serious way! If they stick with it, they will definitely be making a name for themselves! Keep watching Muscleheads Gym!

 

All of the above info comes from Wolfy—thanks bro! If you want to visit, here is their address:

Muscleheads Gym
564 Touvelle St.
Celina, OH 45822

Congrats to Muscleheads Gym. Sounds like a good new gym to try out! Next time you go to Ohio for the Arnold Classic, all of you need to go see Wolfy and Kyle. This month, talk less and do something different in training. Work a body part that you haven’t trained in a while—maybe abs or calves—just to remind yourself that you are not invincible. Then we’ll try a different state next month. No hints on this rainy night!

By the way, let me know what the lifters in your area are doing! There is all kinds of cool news from the gym world that readers want to know about. Have you heard Jamie Harris talk about his comeback plans elsewhere in PL USA? How many of you know that Steve Goggins is training for the IPF Masters Nationals next year? Did you know that big Mike Miller is planning another run on strength, with a 600 raw (and 700 shirted) BP this year? Did you know that HOUSE OF PAIN sponsors more strength-related contests than any other company in the world? What are lifters doing in your gym?

*photographs courtesy of Muscleheads Gym

 

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