CrossFitters Guide to State College: Gyms

OK, so, for now, State College does not have a CrossFit box. So if you're visiting the area or you're transfering to Penn State next semester or you're New Year's resolution is to focus a bit more on your general physical conditioning, then you have three choices: 1) work out outside (for me, winter temps in the 20's and 30's are just too damn cold to consistently do hard metcons outside (it just gives me bronchitis) but there are alot of nice parks and public mountain lands to enjoy if you're just passing through), 2) build your own garage gym (long a staple of CrossFitters. My garage works fine... although I do miss the competitive cameraderie of other CrossFitters), or 3) go to a commercial gym. If you're headed to a commercial gym, let this be your guide.

A few comments before the rankings and comments: First, I visited these gyms, talked to the front desk, took a tour, but I haven't actually done a wod in all of them. Some are more likely than others to frown hard or throw you out for whipping out a few handstand pushups against the mirrors or skinning the cat on their squat racks, but let's face it; disapproving looks, shaking heads and disbelieving trainers can be motivating. I know, I did it for three years at L.A. Fitness. Second, I checked these out in the fall of 2010, but gyms change, move, and update equipment, etc. so you might find conditions better or worse than I suggest.

Ranked from most- to least-CrossFit friendly:

#1) VICTORY TOTAL PERFORMANCE, 178 Rolling Ridge Drive (in the Hills Plaza by the Weis): FOUR of FIVE STARS. This is a great place, another CFer turned me on to it as soon as I moved up here. It's almost CF ready and it has alot of toys and even some open space. It also has TWO Olympic platforms with bumper plates and a management and staff that seems performance-oriented (all I got for rocking the cable crossover HARD during some bar muscle-ups was a chuckle and a smile and a 'that's interesting' from Tim the manager). It's not perfect. For instance, the best pull-up bar is on the cable crossover machine so it's prone to being stolen for some front double bicep curls while you're off on the rower and I'm not sure that dozens of drops from overhead on the Oly platforms (like during, say, Grace's 30 clean and jerks) would go over very well, but this is an easy place to get in a great workout. The stats: 1 rower, plenty of k-bells, 2 oly stations, some open space, pull-ups on a cable crossover, plenty of plyo boxes, lots of other toys (weighted vests, chains, vertical leap 'gauge', big timer clock, ghd, no rings though... too bad), not much nearby but there's a liquor store in the adjacent plaza, that's a another plus. $40/month or $10 drop-in fee.

#2) DOWNTOWN ATHLETIC CLUB I (formerly LIONHEART FITNESS AND TANNING), 127 Sowers Street (the east end of downtown, between College and Beaver): THREE of FIVE STARS. This is one of three local gyms owned by the same person/people/company and has undergone changes in the last year. Of the three, this is where they train MMA. That is both it's advantage and disadvantage. The MMA guys have fun equipment and open space, and I was told that if there is not an MMA class going on you can work out in the MMA room and use their toys (excluding the octagon and boxing ring). However, most evenings they have classes scheduled in there. Keep that in mind when you look at the toys below, most of that stuff is in the MMA area and is off limits when there is a class. If you can work around the MMA schedule this place could work out for you for a day or two, but it has one giant glaring flaw: there is not a single freakin' place to do a good kipping pull-up in the whole damn place. Not one. You're in even worse shape if you wanted to do a butterfly kip or, a bar muscle-up. They have a few cable crossover machines with pull-up bars on them but they all have hammer grip extensions in the middle, or worse, these giant, crazy, angled grip things that are guaranteed to bash you in the throat or face as you go for the last few reps. So this is your standard equipment-packed globogym (with tanning salon... YIKES! That's never a good sign!) with two exceptions: 1) It does have an Oly station with bumper plates, and 2) the MMA room has open space, mats on the floor, plyo boxes, rings from the ceiling, a tire for flipping, a rope for climbing, etc. The stats: 1 rower, no kettlebells, 1 Oly station, no free space unless the MMA room is open, no decent place for pullups, 1 or 2 plyo boxes, some other toys (a climbing rope, rings, tire), regular downtown college-town stuff nearby. $19/month. $12 drop-in.

#3) STATE COLLEGE AREA YMCA, 677 W. Whitehall Rd. (let's call it the Southwestern Suburbs, if there is such a thing). THREE STARS of FIVE. This is what you'd expect from a YMCA gym. It's a basic but workable collection of cardio machines, weight machines, and free weights. I work out here occasionally since it is also has the only place that even approximates a rock-climbing gym in the county. The equipment is in good shape and there is a little free space if you insist on it. There's only about 4 feet of wall space that is suitable for handstand pushups, but I use that spot frequently. Also, the best pull-up bars (and some metal rings!) are OUTSIDE past the parking lot by a corner intersection with a red-light. If you are a workout exhibitionist and like drivers-by to shake their heads (out-of-shape middle-aged guys), scoff (male high school athletes), yell obscenities (college age males), or completely ignore you (everyone else, including any reasonably attractive and slightly younger person of the opposite sex), then this might be the corner for you. I know this, because I've twice picked my 4yo daughter up from swim lessons and let her "workout" with me by sprinting back and forth between the pull-up bars on the corner and the rings/pistols station down by the entrance. It's pretty fun and and a good wod if you're in the area. Even a 4yo thinks it's fun! The thin, slick metal rings are hell for muscle-ups but fine for dips. I doubt you'd have to pay to use this stuff, since it's outside by the street and I'm the only one I've ever seen within 30 feet of it. The stats: 2 rowers, plenty of k-bells (they just added a bunch in the last few months, along with a strap-and-handle approximation of a ring hanging from the ceiling), no oly station or bumper plates, just a little free space, pullups on two cable crossovers (or outside, which isn't convenient if you also have to lift anything inside), 2-3 plyo boxes, no other toys, next door there is a playground, a grassy field and you could run on an adjacent bike path to downtown, and there's a pool and basketball courts at the Y itself. $37/month. No drop-in provision, but if you've never been there before you're entitled to a free one-day pass.

#4) EAST COAST HEALTH AND FITNESS, 250 West Hamilton Avenue (just off Fraser, about 8 blocks south of downtown). TWO STARS of FIVE. From here on down it's all globogym nonsense. This place is typical: pretty crowded with machines and equipment, pull-ups on cable crossovers, little -- if any -- toys, typical trainers. The stats: one rower (and apparently, it's usually available!), no kettle-bells, they actually did have two (and only two!) 45-lb bumper plates sitting forlornly in the far corner which (along with the proximity to beer and liquor) gives this place the edge over the rest of the also-rans, a tiny bit of free space, pulll-ups on cable crossovers, no other toys (no plyo boxes, rings, etc.), a liquor store and beer distributor in the same plaza. $35/month, $8 drop-in.

#5) NORTH CLUB (1510 Martin Street, across the street and down a bit from the bowling alley a block or so off of N. Atherton). TWO STARS of FIVE. This is the second of three local gyms with the same owners. I think they think this is their "premier" location. It's a regular globogym. One that is packed (PACKED!) with equipment and broken up into several rooms with relatively low ceilings. The trainer stuck at the front desk the day I was there was friendly, though, and seemed knowledgeable. Apparently, there are at least two CrossFitters who work out regularly there. They were getting certed at the box I used to go to the weekend that I visisted North Club so I didn't get to meet them. Too bad. They must be dedicated, because there is very, very little moving room and the only rack that seemed like a reasonable place to clean or deadlift is back in one corner of the free weight room which is down a hall and around three corners from a room STUFFED with treadmills and ellipticals where I assume they would be sprinting which is, if I remember correctly, up a short flight of stairs from the cable crossovers for pull-ups. I'm glad to hear somebody is pushing hard at that place, though, and making it work. They're the only reason this place isn't just a single star. The stats: one rower, a few kettlebells, no oly equipment, no space, pullups on cable crossovers, no plyo boxes, no toys, Tudek Memorial Park is a few hundred yards back the road (that's probably too far to be much use for metcons with a sprint component but at least there's open space there). $30/month, $12 drop-in.

#6) DOWNTOWN ATHLETIC CLUB II (formerly TITAN FITNESS, 412 W. College Avenue, in the basement/back of a restaurant, the one with the big white pillars out front... go in on the side nearest Atherton) ONE STAR of FIVE. This is the third of the three local gyms with the same owners. For years (apparently), this was the boxing/MMA place, but all that stuff is down at Club I so now II's the aerobic class place. I think. Who cares. There's plenty of open space because it's mainly for aerobic kickboxing classes and such now. Don't plan on parking anywhere but on the street. All the parking that you think would be for the gym is for the restaurant or the insurance agency or the spots are rented out to PSU employees and cars get towed. The cranky old woman (actually a pretty nice old woman, after you talk to her for a few minutes) was yelling at me and freaking out when I apparently parked the Sportster in a rented space on a sunny sunday afternoon. It didn't matter anyway, the gym was closed. Admittedly, I only looked through the windows but I wasn't impresssed. The stats: might have been a rower lurking in a corner but I doubt it, might have been a kettlebell in a corner but I doubt it, no oly equipment, maybe pull-ups off the rafters on one side, no useful toys that I could see. Whatever they're charging, if you want to CrossFit, this isn't the place. $19/month. $12 drop-in.

#7) SPRING FITNESS (outside Bellefonte, along Benner Pike on the left on the hill coming out of town toward State College) ONE STAR of FIVE. A pretty small, regular globogym. The day I was there I walked around the entire interior (which is at the end of a weird village-like mall with faux-town storefronts... odd.) and finally had to speak up and ask if any of the two or three people that I could see actually worked there. Some guy came out from the back and then walked behind the front desk. He didn't know shit, but gave me a flyer. The stats: no rowers, plenty of kettlebells, no oly equipment, no space, pullups on cable crossovers, no plyo boxes, no other toys, nothing nearby. $50/month.

unranked. THE FITNESS CIRCUIT (2301 Commercial Blvd., up on the hill behind College Gardens if you're headed out of town toward the mall) UNRANKED. I'm leaving this one unranked because it's a gym for bootcamp style workouts and although I've never been inside because of my own funky hours, I really like what I see when I look inside. You can't just go in and do a wod whenever you wanted anyway, so what's the point of ranking it. You show up and do their group workout and the utility isn't in the facilities they provide but in the expertise of the trainers. In that way it's similar to the way most CF boxes are run. Even more, it LOOKS like a CrossFit box through the window. There's no cardio equipment or weight machines (that right there would probably give it at least THREE STARS of FIVE) just a long row of actual honest-to-goodness pull-up bars (NOT cable crossovers) with rings (actual RINGS!) hanging off of them on the far side of big, square open space. I haven't had a chance to go there and workout, but I know one lady who does and they have helped her lose 20-30 lbs over the last year or so. She says the workouts are hard, they are never the same, and the trainers push the clients to keep increasing the weights they use for common movements. Plus they have her doing burpees and wall-balls. All that is positive in my book, so if you're into this sort of thing, this might be a good place to check out. I don't think they do olympic lifts or heavy, low rep max efforts. Right next door and across the street is Nature's Pantry health-food store and Nittany Gymnastics... so it's in a good neighborhood, too! Approximately $132/month (3-month unlimited membership). $20 drop-in.