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Bad gyms and bad gym experiences


vegan_rossco
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Ballys - had a share of bad experiences there when I used to train there for about 10 years during the 90s through the mid 2000s. Usually it was because some a-hole manager-of-the-month wanted to flaunt his power and show how well he could make everyone play by his rules. One time, the manager who couldn't stand me (and I could not stand him as well, so the feeling was mutual) shouted at me for bringing in a thick dumbbell handle that I'd load plates on for grip training. He inisited that it was "dangerous" and that I couldn't bring my stuff in, I told him that if he was serious about having a good gym for people who want to get strong, he'd get in better equipment or would let people bring their own when they needed and that if he actually were strong himself, he'd understand (I couldn't resist the dig at him for the way he came after me). He then yelled at me about using chalk, to which I replied that after tearing off multiple calluses over the years and leaving gaping bleeding holes in my hands, it kept my hands safe and free from ripping apart, and told him that it's better than me handing him a hospital bill if I ever tore my hand deeply enough to need stitches from a bad palm tear. After a minute of shouting at each other, I told him that I was over and done with training there, I put my stuff back in my gym bag and walked out, and didn't renew my membership for the next 2 years until he was long gone, fortunately he was fired for incompetence a few months after that fiasco and that was it.

 

Only other bad experience was at Anytime Fitness where I'd been training for 3 years after I finally dumped Ballys for good, new owners that took over the franchise where I trained said to me "We're making this into a great facility for people who love strength training, we'll be adding lost of free weight equipment, new machines, and getting heavier dumbbells", which I'd been aching to hear for a long time. Well, a few weeks later, I find that instead of doing what they said, they cut off about 30% of the free weight area, jammed all the machines into each other so there was almost zero room to walk between them, and added no new dumbbells or equipment. Instead, they decided to go the group fitness workout route and made a studio in the back where I was used to lifting, which sealed the deal for me to get out. Fortunately, that was right when my friend Kirk started talking about opening his own facility, so I partnered up with him and now we've got a place that I truly feel at home in. When I told the manager at Anytime why I was leaving for good due to doing the exact opposite of what they told me (that manager was the one who had given me the story about the new changes being ideal for me), she simply shrugged, didn't care one bit, and then said "Well, since you're two days after the start of your new month's renewal, we have to charge you for the full 30 days anyway". Needless to say, I was completely mad, but figured that taking $500 a year out of their pockets was justice enough and left before I blew up about it.

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