Paul K.
Yelp
Just a review of the weight machines, not of the complex / overall which I think is awesome
ok, I had to go to a few gyms to figure this out. At the Green Hills YMCA I am a superhero on the weight machines. At any other gym I am a superZero.
I noticed a few months ago and reported to the YMCA staff that the lat-press machine something was quite odd with it. When you put 100 pounds on a lateral press, it should respond back with 100 pounds of resistance. There're no complex computations that go into this 1 pound weight should = 1 pound upward force you have to counteract and I had 260 pounds of weight on the thing and was not lifting myself out of the chair even with no lap belt on. At 40 pounds over my body weight I should have required a seatbelt to use the machine. The attendant agreed and was going to check what was up.
The leg press weight machine I noticed I could press nearly twice my weight without much effort. Their leg press machine on the first floor I discovered I could easily do more than twice my weight. Suddenly my crime fighting career seemed like a plausible option, I would be Batman.
260 pounds on a super overhead - yes, crime would soon have its new enemy.
And then I went to the Concord Road YMCA for one reason or another, found similar, but different branded machines. I put the same weight on I normally would, and I failed hard. I chalked it up to not feeling too good that day, but was back there a week later and it was about 30-40% across the board that I had to drop the weights.
I thought for a brief moment that the gravity in Brentwood might be substantially higher, but I checked and their beer was normal gravity.
I at first chalked it up to perhaps the motions were slightly different, or perhaps I was having an off day, or ... whatever...
I went to the Harding Road / Metroplex YMCA, and although my results were noticeably better than the Brentwood Y, they were nowhere near the results and superpowers I attained at the Green Hills Y. I still had hope that something else was afoot as these machines were slightly different, even if I felt them hitting the same muscle groups I reasoned that maybe that one motion was just a wee bit off so perhaps...
But no, a trip to the YMCA downtown left me defeated, and no one wants to be defeated, I tried showing that place how funky fresh was my might, but it didn't matter I was too tired to fight, defeated (read that sentence to the tune of "Beat it," it will make more sense)
So yeah, the Green Hills Y's weight machines basically made me think I was capable of becoming Batman with a little more effort. Every other Y I've been to has made complete sure I will not be ordering that Dark Knight armor set any time soon.