Gym Review: St Paul's in PortsmouthReview by Chris 'Goof' HanlonGym Name: St Paul's Free weights: 4 CV: 5 Resistance Machines: 4 Extras: 4 Atmosphere: 2 Price: 4 Overall: 23 Description: The first thing to note is that this is primarily a student gym; members of the public can pay to also use it, although it is unreasonably expensive for a non student. Due to the set up of the place it is not uncommon to come in and find an extremely hot girl behind the counter, these receptionists are also very friendly which can give you a pre work out lift. Remember though that despite the illusion that they might like you; they don't care about you. The gym has 4 floors, after doing some excersizes on the legs, these stairs can be tricky to negotiate. I will start with floor one.
Floor one is the most populated area to work out in. This area offers a bit of something for everyone, although with its freshly painted walls and nice carpet it doesn't have the rugged feel of a traditional gym. It can make you feel too homely and creates a relaxed atmosphere, so often people will be sat around not working like they should be. One half is all CV, usually occupied by either sporty looking girls keeping in shape, or larger girls trying to improve their shape. The occasional male will be warming up or cooling down. There is no mirror, so you cannot watch yourself as we all secretly like to do. All the CV machines face towards a window that has a sports hall the other side. While you are running people in the sportshall can be used for entertainment. The other half is mainly populated by males, ranging in physiques. In this area is many machines for all the major arm muscles, back, and chest. Most people are silent and there is a definate lack of gym cameraderie on offer. Although if you don't like people interupting your session by talking to you it is perfect and there are no lingerers. People seems to work in tandem swapping between the machines silently but effectively. There are various machines targeting all the leg muscles, the girls tend to stray into this are to tone up their legs. Alot of the machines face each other at close range, but it is not awkward and everyone keeps to their task. Note that if when you are on a tough weight you are a moaner or a face puller this could cause embarrassment. I have this problem and make a conscious effort to keep it to a minimum. In the corner are mats for sit ups also split equally between men and women. This room alone forms the basis for most peoples work outs. It is also the room that people have their inductions, this can be annoying. Alot of people come to uni and think that this is part of their new lifestyle, meaning they have never been to a gym before, so on their induction turn into starers. They are more interested in eyeballing you at work than observing the instructer, which is off putting. When the talk is over they are allowed to roam, they are clueless about what to do, take up all the equipment and do one set of a random weight before swapping around machines, then they linger before eventually leaving. Many rarely return and it has been a waste of money. My housemate paid £125 for the year and went 3 times.
The first floor is the main area so needed most detail. The second floor has a room purely devoted to CV and sit up mats. This tends to be populated by girls who want to tone up. People who do weights do not come here as it makes more sense to do the CV in the room with the weights in it. People in this room tend to spend their whole session in here and the famous wall that is a mirror is in place. Women are definitely in charge of this room. Floor three is mainly male dominated. It is purely weights but they are more old school. The men in here are not huge but tend to be better built than the ones on floor one. This room has no comforts and whereas the machines on floor one are fairly modern and nice, these are basic and clearly a few years old. They arguably do a far better job however and a classic gym feel is generated. The mood on this floor has teh most serious mood of all the floors. It is fairly quiet, although mutual respect is evident. The occasional nod, comment or joke is welcomed, however anything more than a sentence and you risk being classed a lingerer and hinder the workout, so be careful. The final flight of stairs takes you to the fourth floor. This is the free weights area, also with bench presses and a sqat area. Once again tends to be all males. When you enter you are confronted by some extremely well built characters, who appear to be serious bodybuilders. Each one will glance at you on enrty, this can be intimdating. This is missplaced however as it is the area of the gym where cameradorie is most rife. There is alot of hard work going on but also alot of talking, and jokes. They are all also very helpful and considerate. It is like everyone gels, and each man knows that is common goal is shared throughout, and regardless of your size you cant help but feel part of the team. The mwall long mirror is alos evident in this room, the bigger guys do not bully the smaller ones off of the machines and a good sense of community is felt. All in all, this gym offers a good selection of environments and can be used to suit all purposes. It also has a good selection of extras on offer including free squash and badminton and other classes such as yoga and boxercise. If you are not a student it is fair to say you can get a better quality of gym for a cheaper price, but if you are it is ideal. An improvemnt would be to increase the floor one gym in size as it is the most popular. A final word on gym buddies. As you are away at uni you no longer have your gym buddy from home. It may be better to go alone. As you no doubt have high standards and expect hard work, a new gym buddy less eductated in the way of the gym than you can drag your performance down. They may be inexperienced and give up too easily, even when you offer them encouragement they can just give up anyway. When you are struggling they may not be enthusiastic enough to get you to power through (when struglling on legs, my one said to me 'dont worry you dont have to do it if you dont want to'). This as you will appreciate was not an option, you have to both battle the machine and him as he is reinforcing what your body wants to do-give up (Not up to the Gold standard set by the Adman! - Ad). At least alone you will not have these negative thoughts. If you find a suitable buddy then great, but bide your time and make sure he is up to scratch. About the author: Christopher 'Goof' Hanlon has been Adam's loyal gym buddy for over four years. A keen gym goer himself he also has experience boxing and is currently completing a degree in Psychology at Portsmouth University. |
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