I’ve been to a few gyms over time, as I’m sure have you. Most of them are very reasonable, no dropping the weights means don’t drop them from chest height. I have been in a few gyms though did restrict other movements. A university gym I trained at didn’t allow cleans or snatches, at all. At the time I didn’t do them so it wasn’t a huge deal. I have been to a gym that didn’t allow deadlifting either. This was actually a space concern rather than a worry about dropping the weight. The free weight area was very small, so they didn’t allow people to unrack the bar and lay it out flat for any lift.
I figure, knowing there are these kinds of places out there it’s good to ask. Asking also lets you gauge the reaction of the trainer. If you tell the trainer you want to do deadlifts and he or she proceeds to tell you it’s bad for you back and to never do it, well, you know what kind of place you are in. It also serves to put notice out of what exactly you intend to be doing. This way the trainers get an early idea of who you are. They typically will not hassle you for joining the “body pump” class if they know you are the deadlift guy.
Last, and something I didn’t think of earlier. Chalk. Gold’s Gym, specifically, has a no chalk policy that is enforced some places and not others. It is a good idea to feel out this kind of policy too. You gotta remember, if you are going to a gym to lift heavy, get strong and do it right, you are in the minority.
The moral of the story. When you train at a commercial gym, you are training in someone else’s house. It’s a large, well equipped house with blondes in makeup on treadmills, but someone’s house none the less. So they pick the music, they make the rules and the can uninvite you from breaking rules you didn’t even know about. Of course most houses don’t stiff you for a hundred bucks when they ask you to leave.

As for missing the population crests, it is one of the main reasons I lift first thing in the morning. After work you just can not move, and since my gym only has one of a lot of things (such as a squat rack) then it can be tough to get a good workout in.

I have never had trouble with doing any kind of clean or dead lift. There are signs asking that you not drop the weights, but I always took that to mean from a distance and not just from clanking by placing something back on the floor each rep.

As part of this month’s series on workout locations, Blaine takes a look at some of the pros and cons of working out at a commercial gym. Now, I’m off to find a decent one around here…….