Millennium UN Plaza Hotel, Mid-Town New York

Submitted By: Methuselah
Location: 405 E 42nd St, New York, NY 10017, United States (map)
Website: http://www.millenniumhotels.com/millenniumunplazanewyork
Workouts: from workout diary


The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice that this is the same photo as I posted for the Roosevelt hotel gym. In fact this IS a photo of the Roosevelt hotel gym. But I am now so sick of staying in New York hotels and finding these cloned, semi-adequate, broom-cupboard afterthoughts that in protest I have posted the same photo again. Plus I couldn't find a photo on their website. I don't blame them - not even photographic trickery could make that gym seem anything other than cramped.

To summarise, they of course have a couple of rows of cardio machines. They have a set of dumbbells that go up to 50lbs, a selection of machines that allow you to hit most body parts, and just enough square footage to allow someone to do press ups. But if someone else fancies burpees, you'd better agree with that other person to cycle your sets.

One thing in thing in it's favour - being located on the 27th floor on the North-Eastern corner of the building, it does afford fantastic views of Roosevelt island to the cardio-heads. ... Read more

The Roosevelt Hotel, 45th and Madison, New York

Submitted By: Methuselah
Location: 45 East 45th Street @ Corner of Madison Avenue / New York, NY 10017 (map)
Website: http://www.theroosevelthotel.com
Workouts: from workout diary


This gym has a set of cardio machines, seen here in the picture. The set of dumbbells, also pictured, go up to 50lbs. Out of shot, on the right, there are a couple of benches, a pull-down machine and a cables machine that also has some high handles for doing pull ups. These handles are a little annoying because they are angled in such a way that neither chins, nor pull ups can be executed in the way most people would expect.

Yet in a way the awkward handles should be a welcome change - if we want to mix up our training and emulate the activities our ancestors would have engaged in, then the more variation the better. The trees they climbed did not have branches at the same angle.

There are towels, fruit and water in the room.

Also of note - this hotel has a set of back stairs that are accessible - and many, many floors. Perfect for stair jumps, provided you work out early enough to avoid pedestrians.

Update: 4th April 2009 - if you are in any way serious about training, don't expect to be able to use this gym properly. The roof is not high enough for someone 5'10" or taller to press the dumbbells above their head. In my training session today a dumbbell punched a hole in the roof!
... Read more

Woodcock Sports Centre, Aston University, Birmingham, UK

Submitted By: Methuselah
Location: Aston University, Birmingham, UK (map)
Website: http://www1.aston.ac.uk/prospective-students/sport/gym/
Workouts: from workout diary

Gym and Studio

At the time of writing, we have been a member of this gym for a few weeks. Having just moved from a gym where there is an emphasis on cardio, comfort and studio classes, this is a refreshing change.

The main benefit is that the annual subscription is half what it was at the previous gym, because we are paying for just the things we use - weights and machines. To swim, you pay extra. You bring your own towel. There are not hordes of 'assistants' touting for personal trainer business. The studios are not perennially occupied by leotard-clad pilates devotees. No offence.

And best of all, it is quiet at 7am when we arrive because, as we all know, students do not get up until lunchtime.

Equipment-wise, it has pretty much everything - Olympic free weights with no shortage of benches, bars and plates. And not the crappy, plastic bars we had at the old place. The bars weight 20kg, as they should. A set of fixed dumbbells up to 50kg, an EZ bar, and a cable machine. Plenty of bars for hanging, and a novel assisted pull up machine that allows your feet to go through a more natural range of motion. The usually-empty studio at the back is good for sprints (it's about 18 metres long) and a bigger hall behind has some seating that's great for jumping. Lots of cardio machines, of course.

The studio - good for sprints and rarely used in the morning

My only criticism? No set of fixed-weight short barbells, which are very useful for circuits. But we can use dumbbells easily enough. Oh - and you can't take cold showers. Otherwise, we like it.

Swimming Pool

The swimming pool is in the same building as the gym but appears to have been constructed 100 years previously. The row of alcoves on the upper right of the picture are actually the changing facilities. These small, brick-walled cubicles line the full length of the pool on both sides and are equipped with a single wooden bench and door big enough only to conceal ones most private areas. The unisex showers are a single, small, alcove at the end where I took the photo.

Aside from the Victorian feel and spartan changing facilities, the pool is fine and at about 30 metres long, just about the right size for sprint and underwater lengths. At our previous gym it was more like 25 metres which is a little small.

So far, my experience has been that at 7am it is possible to get enough space to swim fast lengths. ... Read more

YMCA Gym, London, UK

Submitted By: Methuselah
Location: 112 Great Russell Street London, UK WC1B 3NQ (map)
Website: http://www.ymcaclub.co.uk/index.html
Workouts: from workout diary

This gym is associated with the St Giles Hotel in Central London, which is where I was staying when I used it. As a hotel guest, it cost me £4 to use it, but the normal daily rate is £15. It is also a private members gym.

This was honestly the best gym I have ever trained in. It was huge - a James Bond villain-esque underground set up, located on 3 floors (-1, -2 and -3 in the lift!) A huge central atrium with balconies housing various machines, stretching mats, Swiss balls, weights room, studios and more. Using the full height of the atrium, a climbing wall with ropes and badminton and basketball courts. Off to one side, a pool. Of no interest to me, but nevertheless impressive - row after row of just about every cardio machine you can imagine. Okay, I might use the rower or runner for tabatas.

Needless to say, there was a wide selection of fixed weight dumbbells and barbells, although I do not recall seeing a full set of barbell plates and Olympic bars. ... Read more

The Clent Hills, Worcestershire, UK

Submitted By: Methuselah
Location: Worcestershire, UK (map)
Website: Wikipedia entry
Workouts: from workout diary


I am going to keep this brief, because my experience of the Clent Hills is limited to a single outing, following a single route which I suspect to be the route taken by the hordes. I have no doubt there are walks of great beauty and relative isolation to be had on the slopes of the Clent Hills. However, if you plan to park at the Fountain pub and follow the popular trail that leads to the café and car park, might I suggest you make plans to have your shoes disinfected when you return and don't take along anyone who is nervous of dogs.

That said, provided you have no qualms about dog faeces, the standard trail makes for good running. I hope to explore and report back on other routes in due course.

For those based in the Birmingham in the UK, this represents a closer option for hill running than The Wrekin or Malvern Hills, albeit with less challenging terrain. ... Read more

Val d'Azun, The Pyrenees, France

Submitted By: Methuselah
Location: Val d'Azun, The Pyrenées, France (map)
Workouts: from workout diary



As I write in 2009, we have just returned from our first visit to the Pyrenées, where we stayed in this valley. I am not going to try to tell you everything there is to know about it. Instead, I will just briefly outline why it's a good workout location, based on my own experience.

There are lots of mountains ranging from small to huge - so hiking, running and climbing are all on the menu.

In winter there is snow, so all the associated activities are possible.

In fact, there is a great summary of all the things you can do in the valley on the website of the place where we stayed. Once you get to the site, click on the Activities link.

One of these activities we did take part in was the adventure park. It sounds twee, but believe me, the hard bits were truly hard.

There are also lakes you can swim in - a personal favourite of mine. They are stone cold, of course, since they are fed most of the year by snow melting from the mountains - but of course this makes it all the more invigorating, not to mention the physiological benefits.

Look in the workout posts (link above) for more detail about my workouts there and some photos. ... Read more

The Gym Tiburon, Tiburon, San Francisco Bay, California

Submitted By: Methuselah
Location: 1751 Tiburon Blvd., Belvedere, CA, 94920 (map)
Website: http://www.thegymtiburon.com

I used this gym because you get a free pass for it when staying at The Lodge in Tiburon, San Francisco Bay. Mrs M and I were staying there when on our Great Cake Porn Tour last year.

This is not a large gym, but the range of equipment was good. They have a smith machine, a facility for dips and pull ups, a small but complete set of cardio machines, dumbbells and free weights. They also have some good quality toilets and changing facilities.

For a small gym they also have an unexpected selection of more specialist training equipment, including resistance bands and a 'power plate', which I will do a post about at some point. They also have a stretching 'cage', which proved useful. ... Read more

My (Ex) Apartment, Birmingham, UK

Submitted By: Methuselah
Location: Birmingham, UK (map)
Workouts: from workout diary


[Update: 12/12/2010 we moved to our new house.]

I have a small area into which you will see I store a lot of equipment for use on the occasions when I cannot make it to the gym or I fancy a workout I can only do at home - such as climbing the stairs with dumbbells. I use the limited floor space for various exercises, but do have to restrict myself to exercises and weights where I remain firmly in control, since the wooden floor would not tolerate any significant shock.

I also use our sturdy dining table for inverted rows and inverted pull ups.

The best thing about my apartment is the 3 flights of stairs leading up to it, which I often use for dumbbell stair climbs.

... Read more

The Malvern Hills, Worcestershire, UK

Submitted By: Methuselah
Location: The Malvern Hills, Worcestershire, UK (map)
Website: Wikipedia entry
Workouts: from workout diary


The Malvern hills is a spine of hills varying in height up to about 400m, which is reached by it's highest peak, the Worcestershire Beacon. The land around is almost entirely flat, so the range is particularly distinct when seen from afar.

It's a great location for hiking or fell running if you live in the Midlands in the UK and don't have time to travel to more mountainous regions. It's less than one hour to drive there from our base in Birmingham, so perfect for a Sunday morning outing.

From a fitness training perspective, it's an ideal playground - I like to start at one end of the spine and work my way along, which entails a variety of gradients, hill sizes and under-foot terrain. There are even some steps at the northern end, which can be ascended quickly if a sprint effect is what you are looking for.

Here is a photo taken by Lightning from the air, showing the full 'chain' of hills, which makes for a great 'out and back' run of about 3 hours.

... Read more

My Dad's Garage, Cheshire, UK

Submitted By: Methuselah
Location: Cheshire, UK (map)
Workouts: from workout diary



My Dad's gym has probably the lowest ratio of venue to equipment quality ever seen. His single garage houses gardening tools, a table tennis table, a lawnmower and various household items like a fridge and vegetable storage rack. Somehow he has shoe-horned into the remaining space a top quality power rack and top quality pull down machine. Accompanying this are several Olympic bars, a pair of adjustable dumbbells, a good range of plates and two weights benches.

He deserves an award for ingenious use of garage space alone, but more to his credit is that with this this equipment he continues with exercise routines that would tax most people half his age.

No prizes for guessing the source of my own fixation in this area.

... Read more

Buttermere Valley, The Lake District, UK

Submitted By: Methuselah
Location: The Lake District, UK (map)
Workouts: from workout diary

This a fantastic place for a truly primal/paleo workout. Mountains, trees, a lake, rocks, logs - what more could you possibly need?

The Lake District is one of the most beautiful places in the UK and Buttermere is considered one of the most beautiful places in the Lake District. We try to visit at least once a year, and almost always stay at the Fish Hotel.

I highly recommend this place to anyone who wants to truly get away. There is no mobile phone signal and no TV. Truly a joy.
... Read more

The Wrekin, Telford, UK

Submitted By: Methuselah
Location: The Wrekin, Telford, UK (map)
Website: Wikipedia entry
Workouts: from workout diary

Photo taken from our plane when we flew to the Ben Nevis race.

The Wrekin runs South West to North East like the spine of a vast, slumbering beast. It's a great location for hill training and other workouts. It's only 400m high, but there are many routes up, around and over it, making for as great a variety of inclines and challenges you could wish for.

A view from the top, past the trig point

There is also an abundance of trees, logs, rocks and other props that can be used to mix up your workout into a more circuit-based affair if, like me, you prefer to avoid the uniformity of run-only workouts.

Here are the two routes we most commonly use.

,

The Light Side
The spinal ascent from the North East is the easier one, followed by most people out for a walk. There is less tree cover, wider paths and more views on the ascent. We call this the 'Light Side'. There is still a nice variety of gradients and one or two off-road short cuts via which it is possible to punish ones legs to a greater or lesser extent.

Wide, open path, towards the top of the Light Side ascent

The Dark Side
The South Eastern end of the spine is less easy to find. Narrow roads approach the forested area where it starts, and parking is limited. Farm dogs and cats spring suddenly into the road so it's best to drive slowly. A 5-10 minute gentle incline takes you to the base of Little Hill, The Wrekin's tailbone. It has a brief, but savagely steep ascent, after which there is a gentler, steady drop on the other side, which we use for sprint training.

Little Hill's savage ascent...


...and looking back after the savage ascent


The gentler drop on the other side of
Little Hill, ideal for sprint training

Then the Dark Side proper begins, with a long, steep, forested section that punishes anyone determined to run rather than walk. After this you finally break out into the light, but there continues to be tough terrain, if at least punctuated by brief, flatter stretches. Finally, a hundred metres of flat takes you to the trig point.

Recovering at the trig point from a Dark Side ascent, with the final
flat section visible in the background

The Ercall

Across the road and to the North East of the Wrekin is The Ercall, another, lesser hill of 265 metres, but one well served by undulating, wooded trails and an area which can add some variety to a run in the area.

... Read more

Stagger Lee's

I have a fully stocked homegym in Belgium, with tons of plates, barbells, dumbbells, a squat rack, tractor tires, farmer's walk handles, gymnastic rings, med ball, boxes, rubber bands and a sled, the whole shebang.

It's a disclosed location that's only open for those who know it and train seriously(and have my approval), but almost anyone is welcome. ... Read more

My House, Birgmingham, UK

Submitted By: Methuselah
Location: Birmingham, UK (map)
Workouts: from workout diary

We have a room in the house dedicated to Mrs M's music playing (guitar, violin) and my weight training. It may seem like an unlikely mix, but let me assure you, these activities never take place simultaneously. I do my workouts at the crack of dawn, when Mrs M would make most coma victims appear positively lively.

In contrast to our old apartment, the floor in this room is concrete. I also purchase this rubber mat for a mere £20 ($30) which protects the carpets from the weights. Thus, I can be a little rougher when using the weights. The roof is high enough for overhead press and snatch, provided I do not do them near the glass light fittings.

Outside, for at least the next 12 months, workmen have scaffolding erected. Perfect for chins, and I have been seen nipping out to do a set on a couple of occasions.

The cross-trainer will soon be used by Mrs M, I am told, but for the moment it is largely decorative, somehow validating the role of the room as a gym rather than just a storage space for a few sets of dumbbells. ... Read more

Lake Vyrnwy, Wales, UK

Submitted By: Methuselah
Location:Powys , Wales, UK (map)
Website: Wikipedia entry
Workouts: from workout diary

Lake Vyrnwy is a beautiful location for running, swimming, walking and no doubt cycling too.

The lake is surrounded by low level mountains (up to 500m), partly shrouded in forests. On the south side there are plenty of roads and paths, presumably created for logging, but perfect for mountain biking and trail running. The rest of the hills are not especially well covered with paths, and I came a cropper assuming that I would be able to just run in places where there were none.

A road runs around the whole lake, measuring roughly a half marathon. Obviously it's entirely flat. In fact they run a half marathon there once a year.

This is Wales, and it's the UK, so obviously the water will be cold at the best of times... but if you like that sort of thing, it's great. One cautionary note on the swimming - for some reason there are a lot of signs saying 'no swimming'. If, like me, you are a 6am swimmer, then there's no one around to stop you. I am not sure why swimming is not allowed in so many spots, but there is no mention of danger.

... Read more

Esporta, Wimbledon, London

Submitted By: Methuselah
Location: 21 - 33 Worple Road, Wimbledon, London, SW19 4JS (map)
Website: http://www.esporta.com/wimbledon/facilities.asp
Workouts: from workout diary

I didn't get a chance to take a photos, or do a full tour - but I'll tell you what I know.

The weights room is well equipped:

Two Olympic bars, one on a squat rack, another on a normal bench. A decent set of discs ranging up to 20kg accompany these. There is a large rack of dumbbells, which go heavier than most of us will ever need to go. There is also a heavy-duty smith machine. They describe this as 'The biggest free weights area in Wimbledon!' on the website - and I can believe it. You won't be blown away - it's not in the same league as a Gold's gym - but for a multi-purpose leisure facility like this, it's pretty good.

There is also a selection of weights machines, including three - yes, three - different types of pulling machines, each of which have a different type of handles above, for doing pull ups. Maddeningly, there was still nowhere to do normal chins. I realised afterwards I could have used the smith machine by putting the bar at the top setting.

Unfortunately, like the Roosevelt Hotel gym in New York, Esporta Wimbledon failed the dumbbell snatch test. When I did these, the dumbbell bumped into the polystyrene roof tiles. I still did them, and no doubt the supervisors later puzzled over the dust and other material that had collected where I had stood.

There is the usual variety of cardio machines, including a set of decent rowing machines.

Elsewhere, there was a studio for circuits, a room full of static bikes and a pool.

No idea what the membership fee is, but they charged me £10 (about $15) for a day pass. Being in London I expect it's not cheap - I would guess in the region of £70 ($100 ish) per month.

Overall, a high quality place and not too busy between 6 and 7, which would be perfect for me if I lived nearby. ... Read more

Skiddaw, The Lake District, UK

Submitted By: Methuselah
Location: The Lake District, UK (map)
Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skiddaw
Workouts: from workout diarySkiddaw is located two valleys away from Buttermere, where Mrs M and I regularly go on holiday and which is a veritable activity centre for caveman workouts.

Skiddaw is an interesting hike or run because there is quite a variety of incline and terrain. It's also not for the faint hearted, with over 800m of ascent if you start at the nearest town, Keswick, which nestles between the the mountain beast and the nearby Lake, Derwent water. There is an alternative ascent from 300m thanks to a car park at that altitude. No doubt there are other ascents, but these are the only ones I am familiar with.

The Race

There is an annual fell race which starts at Fitz park in Keswick. Runners ascend the mountain and then come back the way they came. This is Skiddaw the hard way.

Here is a photo of the upper section of the route taken from the air when we flew to the Ben Nevis race:

...and here is the same photo with the route overlaid:

If you are inclined towards mountain running, it's a great challenge because it's possible to run the whole way. However, in doing so you find yourself at the very cusp of counter-productiveness. I have run the whole thing myself and yet achieved worse times than when I power-walked some steeper sections in previous years; but I was more satisfied!

Otherwise, I suggest just hiking it. Spectacular views. Look in the workout posts for some photos. ... Read more

Snowdonia, Wales, UK

Submitted By: Methuselah
Location: Snowdonia, Wales, UK (map)
On the Web: Wikipedia Entry
Workouts: from workout diary

Situated in North Wales, Snowdonia national park is over 800 square miles in size and a superb location for hiking and mountain running. At the time of writing I have not explored it as much as the Lake District, so my review will be brief.

It's not the easiest place to reach, since unlike the Lakes District it is not served only by a motorway - but this is part of its charm.

I went on a three-day hiking trip there with my brother last winter and there were plenty of challenging routes to be found.

The mountains range in size up to 1085 metres, which is the height of Snowdon, Wales' well-known highest peak. There is an annual fell ace up Snowdon which my running partner often takes part in.

There are many fell races in this area, including the Peris horseshoe, said to be one of the toughest around. I have taken part in the half horseshoe (just the first half) and by extrapolation can confirm its toughness.

... Read more

Shuttlinsloe, Wildboarclough, Cheshire, UK

Submitted By: Methuselah
Location: Wildboarclough, Cheshire, UK (map)
Workouts: from workout diary

Shuttlinsloe is known as the 'Matterhorn of Cheshire', a somewhat grandiose term that reflects the flatness of the county rather than any qualities of the mountain. At a mere 506 metres above sea level it is a relative baby, especially as the ascent routes start from pretty high up already.

There are two routes to the top - one, from Macclesfield Forest, to the West and another from Wildboarclough, to the East. The latter is the starting point for the annual race. Both have varied terrain, and can make for a short, but tough mountain run, perhaps more so in the latter case. ... Read more