Sorinex Showroom Facility

Hey guys,

I made a pilgrimage to the Sorinex showroom in Irmo, SC today. It's a beautiful three-hour drive from where I live, and I had the pleasure of talking with Richard Sorin for about an hour on his philosophy of strength (grip training!), conditioning, rehabilitation, and exercise equipment.

Richard Sorin is slightly taller than me and looks to be around 300 lbs. He's turning 60 soon, looks like he's 45, and can still squat and deadlift over 500 lbs.

Their facility is out of this world. They have a weight room stocked with their best designs, and I earnestly think that their equipment is the very best available. Every piece I saw was engineered intelligently and thoroughly and welded with tender loving care in the USA with sweet customer service to match. I can't recommend a weight lifting company more highly than Sorinex, so check it out next time you're looking for a new piece of gear.

I'll be receiving a big shipment of Sorinex gear for my home gym in about three weeks, and I'll post reviews for each piece I ordered.

store.sorinex.com

Hey, that's pretty cool - and a good recommendation for Sorinex as well!

I'll be looking forward to your reviews...

what did you order?

[img]http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQGhypwfzNKqW6zHwjCMBCQwIg2FKsUonJao_MDbedxUdbqlMm0cQ&t=1[/img]

[QUOTE=darkfact;675450651]what did you order?[/QUOTE]

The base camp scout rack, hurricane, signature ghd, and their calf/tibia machine. I'm also about to
order a power runner, which was an incredible piece to demo yesterday. It's similar to a pivot leg press with independent leg movement and more hamstring involvement.

For photos get on to their store site, but better yet search for Sorinex on Youtube. They have several dozen equipment demo videos most of which are in the showroom itself.

[url]http://www.youtube.com/user/sorinex[/url]

[QUOTE=RBLOCK;675594531]
For photos get on to their store site, but better yet search for Sorinex on Youtube. They have several dozen equipment demo videos most of which are in the showroom itself.

[url]http://www.youtube.com/user/sorinex[/url][/QUOTE]

Just busting on you. Everyone loves bb.com member photos of stuff. I'm not a big fan of commericial/advertisement equipment pics/vids. I'd rather have members on here take the pics/vids and give the reviews.

came in expecting pics...

instead....

[img]http://images.icanhascheezburger.com/completestore/2008/12/1/128726192484671110.jpg[/img]

Grats on the new stuff though, can't wait to see it all.

Awaiting reviews and pics of your equipment when it arrives. And, yes I was expecting pics of the showroom too. Sucks. Never heard of the power runner....sounds interesting.

23 years old and building what sounds like a killer home gym. Dude!

If you guys want pictures of the facility, I can provide some (and can get more very easily, as they are right at an hour from my house). Most of you know that I have been there several times and a friend of mines is a friend of Richard Sorin (sounds kind of mafioso, lol).

Anyways, if you watch the Sorinex youtube videos, you can see parts of the facility.

As mentioned, Richard and Bert (his son) are class acts who practice what they preach and make serious, high quality equipment. The times that I have emailed Bert with training or equipment questions, he remembered who I was and always invited me to return to play with more equipment whenever I wanted.

I mentioned this before....but you never know who you may find training there when you go. There were 2 NFL guys training there when I went.
Also, if anyone plans to visit there to test equipment for possible purchases, be sure to call or email and let them know ahead of time.

Anyways, I will subscribe to this thread and attempt to get some photos up soon.

[QUOTE=buffbrown21;677109481]If you guys want pictures of the facility, I can provide some (and can get more very easily, as they are right at an hour from my house). Most of you know that I have been there several times and a friend of mines is a friend of Richard Sorin (sounds kind of mafioso, lol).

Anyways, if you watch the Sorinex youtube videos, you can see parts of the facility.

As mentioned, Richard and Bert (his son) are class acts who practice what they preach and make serious, high quality equipment. The times that I have emailed Bert with training or equipment questions, he remembered who I was and always invited me to return to play with more equipment whenever I wanted.

I mentioned this before....but you never know who you may find training there when you go. There were 2 NFL guys training there when I went.
Also, if anyone plans to visit there to test equipment for possible purchases, be sure to call or email and let them know ahead of time.

Anyways, I will subscribe to this thread and attempt to get some photos up soon.[/QUOTE]

That would be awesome...I would've posted some but don't own a camera other than the crappy one on my phone. I visited when a lot of the base camp rack attachments were on the road with Jeff and Bert...their newest addition is a set of pivoting lever arms with 360 degrees of rotation. Hung from the top, it converts any base camp rack into a standing row/oblique twist/jammer. I ordered a set while I was there, sounds incredible but it's not on the website yet.

[QUOTE=buffbrown21;677109481]If you guys want pictures of the facility, I can provide some (and can get more very easily, as they are right at an hour from my house). Most of you know that I have been there several times and a friend of mines is a friend of Richard Sorin (sounds kind of mafioso, lol).

Anyways, if you watch the Sorinex youtube videos, you can see parts of the facility.

As mentioned, Richard and Bert (his son) are class acts who practice what they preach and make serious, high quality equipment. The times that I have emailed Bert with training or equipment questions, he remembered who I was and always invited me to return to play with more equipment whenever I wanted.

I mentioned this before....but you never know who you may find training there when you go. There were 2 NFL guys training there when I went.
Also, if anyone plans to visit there to test equipment for possible purchases, be sure to call or email and let them know ahead of time.

Anyways, I will subscribe to this thread and attempt to get some photos up soon.[/QUOTE]


I am planning on going down in June for their show. Are you planning on attending? Anyone else?

[QUOTE=ProudMarineDad;677265281]I am planning on going down in June for their show. Are you planning on attending? Anyone else?[/QUOTE]

I was planning to go (its called Sorinex Summer Strong and is partially a celebration for Richard's birthday). However, my birthday party (which is a annual basketball tournament) has been scheduled on the same day. :(

I may try to go by there soon and have some pics up within a week or two.

Here's a sweet slideshow of one of the newest facilities Sorinex has equipped:

[url]https://store.sorinex.com/Articles.asp?ID=379[/url]

[QUOTE=RBLOCK;677454691]Here's a sweet slideshow of one of the newest facilities Sorinex has equipped:

[url]https://store.sorinex.com/Articles.asp?ID=379[/url][/QUOTE]

Wow that is really nice. I am glad the SF guys get the best equipment.

[QUOTE=RBLOCK;677454691]Here's a sweet slideshow of one of the newest facilities Sorinex has equipped:

[url]https://store.sorinex.com/Articles.asp?ID=379[/url][/QUOTE]

That is super sweet. It sucks that such gyms only seem to exist in American high schools (I mean a high school, WTF!) and colleges. In Europe we're restricted to 1-2 squat/power racks per gym (if you're lucky), a lifting platform for one in every twenty gyms but a whole bunch of TechnoGym and Life Fitness machines. The strength and conditioning gym format is unfortunately virtually unheard of on this side of the Atlantic but I'm sure a lot of athletes and serious lifters would appreciate it. This gives me a business idea.....

Anyway, although those Sorinex racks are nice, one thing that I personally don't like about that type of rack is that the safety pins aren't quick attach ones i.e you have to drag them out of the holes in both the front and rear poles as opposed to lift up and out like on some other cages.

[QUOTE=matjusm;677880871]That is super sweet. It sucks that such gyms only seem to exist in American high schools (I mean a high school, WTF!) and colleges. In Europe we're restricted to 1-2 squat/power racks per gym (if you're lucky), a lifting platform for one in every twenty gyms but a whole bunch of TechnoGym and Life Fitness machines. The strength and conditioning gym format is unfortunately virtually unheard of on this side of the Atlantic but I'm sure a lot of athletes and serious lifters would appreciate it. This gives me a business idea.....

Anyway, although those Sorinex racks are nice, one thing that I personally don't like about that type of rack is that the safety pins aren't quick attach ones i.e you have to drag them out of the holes in both the front and rear poles as opposed to lift up and out like on some other cages.[/QUOTE]

Did you read the page? It says 1st Special Forces Group. That is a gym in a United States Army Special Forces compound. My college weight room was terrible. My high school weight room had old power racks that circled the room and a leg press machine.

[QUOTE=pearldrummer;677939801]Did you read the page? It says 1st Special Forces Group. That is a gym in a United States Army Special Forces compound. My college weight room was terrible. My high school weight room had old power racks that circled the room and a leg press machine.[/QUOTE]

My HS weight room had a Universal multi-station thing that was donated, but it was kept because it had a decent pull down on it. 2 flat benches, and one incline, a leg press sled, and a squat rack.

One pull up bar.

Oh, and the peg board thing like in the movie Vision Quest, except it was only 3 ft high.

We also had plyo jump boxes, and this was in the 80s.

[QUOTE=pearldrummer;677939801]Did you read the page? It says 1st Special Forces Group. That is a gym in a United States Army Special Forces compound. My college weight room was terrible. My high school weight room had old power racks that circled the room and a leg press machine.[/QUOTE]

Oh sorry, I went and looked at some of the other facility pics they had which included a ton of high schools.
Here are some pics of out of this world high school weight rooms (you may have to shift through the list to find the high school ones):
[url]https://store.sorinex.com/Articles.asp?ID=139[/url]

High school weight rooms from other firms:
[url]http://www.williamsstrength.com/customer-gallery/high-schools/[/url]
[url]http://www.magnumfitness.com/template.php?p=facilities[/url]
[url]http://www.legendfitness.com/clientele_showcase/procollegehigh_school.aspx[/url]
[url]http://www.power-lift.com/gallery_cust/gallery1.html[/url]

My high school gym was also pretty tiny and in fact most schools around here don't have a gym at all. We had a power rack (though nothing as fancy as in the pics above), flat bench press, a lat pulldown, a leg machine, an ab bench and some dumbbells.

[QUOTE=matjusm;677945431]Oh sorry, I went and looked at some of the other facility pics they had which included a ton of high schools.
Here are some pics of out of this world high school weight rooms (you may have to shift through the list to find the high school ones):
[url]https://store.sorinex.com/Articles.asp?ID=139[/url]

High school weight rooms from other firms:
[url]http://www.williamsstrength.com/customer-gallery/high-schools/[/url]
[url]http://www.magnumfitness.com/template.php?p=facilities[/url]
[url]http://www.legendfitness.com/clientele_showcase/procollegehigh_school.aspx[/url]
[url]http://www.power-lift.com/gallery_cust/gallery1.html[/url]

My high school gym was also pretty tiny and in fact most schools around here don't have a gym at all. We had a power rack (though nothing as fancy as in the pics above), flat bench press, a lat pulldown, a leg machine, an ab bench and some dumbbells.[/QUOTE]

Lol...I've had pretty disappointing gym access in the past. High school had a bent, rusting barbell and some rusting plates and an olympic bench that didn't look like it could be weight bearing. College was better...we had some racks and some dumbbells. I can't imagine how lame our facility was compared to the football team (which btw never won any games).