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Originally Posted by sytennison
I got a 2 week pass to workout at the Houston Gym about a year ago when my own gym at the University of Houston was closed for the holidays. I found the Houston Gym to be exactly as described in the article. It's a nuts-and-bolts, old school gym with a casual, friendly atmosphere.
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It has been a while since I wrote the above review and Houston Gym has remained a pretty good gym. The staff showed special dedication by keeping the gym open even when there was no power after hurricane Ike. However, Houston Gym was always been a compromise for me since I'm mostly into barbell and Olympic lifting. They have no lifting platform, bumper plates, or chalk (although they were fine when I brought my own chalk). I didn't mind doing my deadlifts in an aisle between equipment, but I refrained from doing power cleans and clean & jerks to spare the equipment and the floor. I was OK with this compromise until it started getting hard to find a straight barbell in the gym. One by one, the bars were getting bent until there was only one straight bar in the whole gym. It's very disconcerting to lift a heavy bar and have it turn on the back or in the hands because it's bent. I mentioned this to the staff and one of the owners, but nothing changed. I'm now going to a different gym that better fits my needs with: straight Oly bars, bumper plates, lifting platform, and chalk. At my new gym, I can do any exercise I want with no compromises.
Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike Houston Gym. I think they're great and well worth checking out if you're considering a new gym in the central Houston area. They seriously beat the pants off the other gyms in the area. They just didn't fit my particular needs so I moved on and I wish them well.
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