Could Bill or anyone else give me a review of the Indianapolis gyms?

[jreimann]

Specifically what kind of focus each seemed to have when it comes to weight training. I'm looking to move from the downtown YMCA to someplace with that actually has power racks and large selection of free weights and looks favorable on chalk use. Also do you know of any places that have any olympic lifting platforms and bumper plates? Do you know of any places that have chains and bands as well? I'm trying to train along the powerlifter/strongman vein and the YCMA is ok and all but the people really aren't all that serious about weight training.

I would appreciated input about any Indianapolis gym that anyone here has worked out in. I singled Bill out since being a trainer in Indianapolis I would think that he hopefully would have been to a few different places and could point me in the right direction...

[Bill Hartman]

J,

I'm afraid you are living in a dreamworld regarding a gym as you describe. Now that doesn't mean there aren't any like that in the area. They're just gonna be hard to find.

If you are 100% serious, the best place I know of is in Kokomo. The Powerhouse Gym there is owned by Chad Coy (I know Chad from Purdue). If you don't know of Chad, he, Brian Schoonveld (American Strongman Champ and World's Strongest Man Finalist), and Brian Neese (American Strongman Champ 1999 and one gigantic MoFo) all train together up their at Chad's place.

Now Brian lives in Brownsburg so he may be the guy to contact about something hardcore here in town. I have it on the QT that he may be putting together something serious (not sure if it's a "gym" or "studio"). His company that makes strongman products (Stones, logs, etc.) was recently purchased by PowerLift but I think his website www.mastiffstrength.com is still up. You may also be able to get to him through www.samson-power.com. They seem to know everyone in the strength biz.

Most other places are chains...Gold's E. 82nd, World's in Carmel (not my favorite..old equipment), Lifetime (too commercial and clean), Advantage Fitness (Fishers...very muscle head oriented [bodybuilders]but still selling to the typical fitness buff)

Gotta grab a quick patient. More later.

Bill Hartman

P.S. J,what side of town are you on?

[Bill Hartman]

The only place I know of in town that had platforms and bumpers was owned by Grant "Rufus" Gardis (former Pro wrestler) but I have been unable to locate him. He may have moved. He is an olympic lifting coach with some great connections at USA Weightlifting.

If you're a southsider or a westsider, I'd check out Ardizzone & Nalleys (the only place I've seen that let you use chalk besides Gold's on E. 82nd). One is at Stop 11 and South Madison and the other at 10th and Girls School Rd. They are smaller, but more serious lifters tend to go there (they used to have a few 500 pound benchers). Dick Nalley is a friend of mine from way back. He was an alternate on the 1980 olympic bobsled team that got screwed in the boycott, and another strong MoFo. If you go there, tell him a guy that looks like Arnold told you to train there. He'll know who you mean.

Bally's - not serious

HealthPlex - Huge like Lifetime not serious

Excel Fitness - West 10th and 465 - Used to be a great gym when it was Zike's. Not sure now. Promoting Lifestyle enhancement so my guess is that it's not too serious.

Bill Pigg's Peak Performance - E 62nd - I used to go there when I lived in Broad Ripple - Great chicks, some serious lifters, but packed with mullets and too much equipment for the space.

Powerhouse Gym - W. 86th - never been there but I know some folks who train there. "It's nice but not very big"

Back to Gold's on E 82nd - new management recently - and we USED to use chalk there without anyone throwing a fit. May be a place to start if you carry your own chains and bands. They lost a lot of members when Lifetime opened. You could be a trend-setter.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you come across anything worth while.

Suppose I should get off my ass and open a new joint, huh? (note to self...call Dave Tate about equipment)

Bill Hartman, HARTMAN certified, trainer of champions since 1936

[jreimann]

Oh I know that all my wants in a gym are basically a pipedream when it comes to finding them here in town. I'm basically trying to find out if there are any places that have enough of what I want to make me switch from the YMCA. I actually live in Lebanon, IN(NW of Indy up I-65) but I work downtown which makes the downtown Y pretty convienent. To tell the truth I'm not really a hardcore lifter yet but I aspire to get into strongman/powerlifting in the future.

Yeah I know who Chad Coy is. I drove over to Columbus and to see a pro Strongman competition that he happened to be competing in a few months ago. I'm pretty sure it was Brain Neese who was the guy doing the commentary there for the contest.

I need to get over to Kokomo and try out his strongman stuff sometime but I've never taken the time. Shawn Smith, another pro strongman, has a gym up in Lafayette as well that I ought to check some weekend as well. Both are a little far to drive to unless its the weekend.

I'll see if I can find Neese's email to ask him about where he is training.

I think its kinda odd that in a town this size that finding anywhere close to what I'm looking for is so hard.

BTW do you know of any gym at all that does Olympic weightlifting here in town or any trainers that teach them? I'm really only doing Power Clean and Push Presses now that fall in the Olympic lifting vein but I would be interested in learning more about the olympic lifts.(EDIT I hadn't read your previous post yet when I posted this)

[jreimann]

Thanks Bill, I'll have to check Ardizzone & Nalleys out. It shouldn't be that hard to just shoot over on 10th street from downtown after work.

[jreimann]

Thanks again Bill. I checked out Ardizzone & Nalleys first and it seemed more like the enviroment I was looking for. They even have a small platform and some bumpers. The problem is that they are REALLY small(at least the 10th ST location). So I also went and checked out what was formally Powerhouse Gym on 86th and Georgetown. They are now just called Fitness Unlimited Gym. Now they basically have all what I was looking for execept for an Olympic platform. They have dumbells up to 150lbs [img]smile.gif[/img] They have lots of equipment and a decent amount of space and plenty of weightplates. They even have some chains in the corner. I saw a couple of big guys doing 225 + chains bench presses so there are some fairly serious lifters working out there. The music is on the heavier side which is nice(Easy Listening music while squatting at the YMCA about drove me nuts sometimes). So I'm switching over to Fitness Unlimited Gym this week. I also recently signed up to compete in an Amatuer
Strongman contest up in Monticello, IN in October in the Novice division. I'm actually going to be training for the events this weekend with the guy promoting the contest. That should be fun [img]smile.gif[/img]

[tootall_paul]

I would be interested in seeing some of the workouts you are doing to prepare for the strongman competition.

[Bill Hartman]

j,

Glad to hear you found a place. I'm shocked that there's a place in town with chains! Best of luck with the competition. Keep us posted. Did you get ahold of Brian or Chad? It may help with your implement training.

Bill Hartman, former gym visitor

[jreimann]

Training wise I'm going to be just doing your basic compound movements. Squats, Overhead Squats, Deadlifts, Cleans and Push Presses, Good Mornings, Dynamic Shrugs, Deadlift Holds for grip, Glute Ham Raise, Hanging Knee raises, Chinups, Lat Pulldowns, 1 arm DB rows, and maybe some bent over barbell rows or T-bar rows. Mondays is squat day, Wed is Pushpress and upper back day, Thurs is Overhead Squat day, The rest of the stuff I'm going to mix and match depending whats sore and how I feel. Saturday's I'm going to try to do event training with the actual strongman implements. I'm hooking up with Rob Rancine this weekend who is promoting the contest I'm entering and we are driving over to the guy's place who has all the contest equipment. I'm not sure how much driving this will entail yet so don't know whether I'd be able to train there every weekend or not. We'll see how this goes first and then see whether I'll need to find other implement training options(such as Coy's gym).