In December of 2017, I wrote a blog post about a new gym that had recently opened in Dickinson, North Dakota, called The Pit Gym. When I looked in the window of The Pit Gym, I saw two heavy-duty squat racks, two heavy-duty bench press benches, and a long rack of complete dumbbell pairs going up to 100 lbs or more.
I was very happy and surprised to see this, because this was a weight room gym, and not a fitness center. I had not seen a weight room like this, since I worked out in the Gainesville Gym, the Daytona Gym, and the Powerhouse Gym in Florida with power lifting and body building competitors.
Starting about twenty years ago, most gyms in the United States adopted a Fitness Center model, in order to appeal to a broader range of men and women. In doing so, these gyms became more feminized, or emasculated, into Fitness Centers where achieving maximum size and strength was no longer the goal, but some vision of “general health and wellness”.
The West River Community Center in Dickinson, is one of the nicest fitness centers in the United States, and probably even the World. It has an indoor Olympic lap pool, an indoor amusement park pool, an outdoor pool, hot tub, two indoor tennis courts, four indoor racketball courts, four indoor basketball courts, one indoor volleyball court, upper level 1/5 mile jogging track, outdoor skateboard park, indoor rock climbing wall, floor exercise area, aerobics rooms and classes, thirty pieces of cardiovascular equipment, bench press benches, squat racks, dead lift platforms, dumbbells, and cable machines.
The West River Community Center also has very large men’s and women’s locker rooms with many lockers, toilets, and showers. There is also a children’s day care facility. The cost of a membership is only about $30 per month. Like I said, the West River Community Center is one of the nicest fitness centers in the United States.
However, one thing that the West River Community Center, and the Anytime Fitness in Dickinson do not have, is a heavy weight lifting area with the absence of women and children.
It does not matter that the West River Community Center has three heavy-duty squat racks and two dead lift platforms, when these squat racks and dead lift platforms are usually occupied by women or children who are only lifting just the 45 lb bar, without any weights, and doing many sets of exercises.
I think that women’s fitness magazines must have shown so many articles where a professional trainer is doing squats with just a bar inside of a squat rack, or lunges with just the bar on a dead lift platform, that this is what women think these things are for.
Squat racks, which are a heavy steel framework consisting of four vertical corner posts and overhead horizontal cross bracing, were invented about fifty years ago, to allow power lifters doing heavy squat exercises, to train without a spotter, and to help prevent a catastrophic injury or accident. A squat exercise, is where you rest the bar on your upper back, and perform a knee bend and back bend, to where your upper legs become horizontal or parallel to the floor.
High School football linemen can typically squat about 350 lbs. College football linemen can typically squat about 400 lbs. Very good competitive power lifters can squat more than 700 lbs. It is common when performing heavy squat exercises, for lifters of any age, to experience a problem. The most common problems are a sudden knee weakness, loss of balance, or loss of footing.
If a power lifter is performing heavy squat exercises inside of a squat rack, there are horizontal safety bars that are set to stop the fall of the bar and the weights if there is a problem. The horizontal safety bars inside of the squat rack, can prevent the complete and catasrophic failure of a knee or vertebrae, paralysis, death, and tremendous property damage. Without the squat rack safety bars, 400 lb to 800 lb landing on your neck or head if you slip, can be fatal.
When the women and children at the West River Community Center are taking up the squat racks using only the 45 lb bar for multiple sets of exercises, usually they don’t even have the horizontal safety bars set to help them in a fall. They don’t even really need the squat rack at all, and they are just tying up a strategic piece of training equipment and preventing others who really need it, from using it.
Most people do not know how much planning goes into even minimally competitive power lifting. Most all power lifters keep a journal/log book of completed training and planned training. They are on a very complex schedule of lift rotations, and weight levels. Whether it is squat, dead lift, or bench press, there are weeks of training with increasing weight, leading up to one specific day, and one specific time of that day, that they have set to attempt a maximum squat, dead lift, or bench press.
Adult men who are involved in power lifting, will think all week about a lift, their maximum weight attempt scheduled for a Friday at 5:00 p.m. when they get off of work. They will visualize a squat lift all week, and know all week that they plan on attempting 495 lb, 505 lb, the amount that they think they can achieve in a maximum effort for one repetition. This lift will be the culmination of weeks and weeks of training. But when they get to the West River Community Center at 5:00 p.m. on Friday to use the squat rack, there is some young lady doing squats with just the 45 lb bar, tying up the squat rack, and she doesn’t even need the squat rack.
In order to do something about this problem, Dave Clem a power lifting competitor in Dickinson, opened The Pit Gym in the Fall of 2017. Now I already wrote two paragraphs describing everything that the West River Community Center has, from the pools, basketball courts, cardio equipment, weight training equipment, men’s and women’s locker rooms. The only thing that the West River Community Center did not have, was a heavy weight lifting area for adult men, with no women and children around to get on dead lift platforms and squat racks that they did not need in the first place.
On this Saturday, 5/26/18, I was at The Pit Gym when two young men had brought their two young girlfriends with them. At first, I just tried to not pay attention to these two young women, but they were talking a lot, as this appeared to be a social outing for them, like a barbeque or going to the beach. One of the young women got on one of the bench press benches and was using just the bar with no weight. And the other young woman was all over the place, not even lifting weight most of the time, just being a distraction.
I was very angry about this, and I felt like saying to the two young men, “Are you trying to fuck this up just like the West River Community Center? The whole reason why this gym exists, is because women and children would go to the West River Community Center and get on the bench press benches, the squat racks, and the dead lift platforms, and use just the bar with no weight, fool around, and prevent other people from using the heavy weight equipment.”
I couldn’t fucking believe this. The Pit Gym is small, about 35’x 50′, it doesn’t even have locker rooms or a shower. All The Pit Gym has to offer, that is different than the West River Community Center and Anytime Fitness, are the two heavy-duty weight benches, the two heavy-duty squat racks, the dead lift platform, and the dumbbells pairs going up to 100 lbs, combined with the absence of women and children getting in the way.
If you introduce women and children into The Pit Gym, it has absolutely nothing to offer, and no reason to go there whatsoever, if all of the equipment is going to be taken up by women and children. If the squat racks, benches, and dumbbell area are going to be occupied by women, you might as well just go to the West River Community Center as it is cheaper, has more equipment, and more amenities.
I was angry and distracted by the two young women in The Pit Gym on Saturday. I left the gym without completing even half of my planned exercises, partly because I lost my focus, and partly because I did not want to do my exercises around these two young women because I thought that they might get hurt, or cause me to get hurt.
The behind the head curls that I was doing laying on my back on the weight bench, I thought that the one young girl using the adjacent weight bench was going to get hit with the bar because she did not know the range of motion that I was going to do. And I could see the same thing happening with the other young woman when I tried to do dumbbell flies.
Like I said, these two young women were treating this as a social outing, and I don’t think that they were paying enough attention or had been around weight rooms enough to know what I was going to do. Them walking into to me, the bar, or the dumbbells while I was in motion would not only have gotten them hurt, it might have gotten me hurt too.
I just left, and I was angry and disgusted. I went home and I updated the first blog post that I wrote about The Pit Gym back in December of 2017. I began thinking that maybe this is what Dave Clem and his wife Wendy want, to get as many people to join The Pit Gym as possible, even if this results in the exact same problems as what happened at the West River Community Center and Anytime Fitness in Dickinson.
I am going to finish this blog post by giving some complaints written by other people about gyms and fitness centers:
From Men’s Health, Lou Schuler 9/22/15
- The gym noob who sets her water bottle and clipboard on a bench isn’t trying to piss you off. She just doesn’t know better.
- A bit less forgivable are the five teens using a single leg press machine, but forming a cordon that blocks off three other stations.
- Or the young woman who sits on a machine for five minutes between sets because she’s returning texts.
- Don’t tie up equipment that you don’t need for the exercise that you are doing. The people who tie up squat racks when they aren’t even lifting. I’ve seen it used for stretches, or to hold onto while doing single-leg calf raises with their own body weight.
From Return of Kings, Kenzie Atkins 2/28/16
- I find nothing more frustrating than walking into the gym and finding it full of women and estrogen.
- Working out with other men increases your competitiveness and forces you to push yourself and improve your personal best.
- Let me set the scene—you have gone into the gym with the intention of working your legs, you have a set routine, and it’s coming up to the squat part of your workout. You go to the squat rack to find that it is being used by a woman who has a bar weighing 50 lbs. (She is using just the bar, with no weight.)
- We are all men, and let’s be honest we are often checking out women. There are some alright women in the gym and this can be a distraction during a time when we should be concentrating on our workout and improving ourselves.
- Mixed gyms discourage this kind of fellowship by changing the dynamic. Instead of the positive competitiveness of sport, there is a tendency to compete for the “cute” girl.
- Men only gyms would encourage the positive traits of brotherhood and support, while giving us a distraction free environment to improve ourselves.
I don’t know what is going to happen. Why can’t the women just stay over at the West River Community Center with the swimming pools, hot tub, tennis, racketball, basketball, volleyball, jogging track, exercise floor, aerobics rooms, yoga, cardio equipment, weight area, childcare, women’s locker room, women’s showers, and women’s toilets. They have way more equipment and amenities over there. Why the fuck can’t they stay the fuck over there?
This video shows a woman powerlifter who is serious.
This video shows a woman powerlifter who is not serious enough.
This video shows a woman getting hit with weights in the gym.
This video shows a woman taking up equipment and not using it for what it is for.
This video shows women being a distraction in the gym.
Dickinson58601 
I am very disappointed in your blog and your response to women working out. It is very sexist and discriminating against women. Dave and I try to run a fair business. If you were having problems with something you could have came to us and said something. You just go and slandered the Gym as well as our personal names. We want to run a fair business but without feed back it is impossible. As for it being a men’s only gym, we never tried to sell it that way. In fact it is illegal to have a single sex gym.
Did you even ask to work in or ask them to move. Probably not, so how would someone know that you are a sexist. When you joined the gym i think you were enrolled by a woman. All i’m saying is if you have a problem with something you should speak up. Give a business a chance on fixing the problem.
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Wendy,
It is not illegal to have a single sex gym, “Curves” is a women only gym franchise, “Cuts Fitness for Men” and “Blitz” are two men only gym franchises.
I didn’t think that it was necessary for your gym to have any specific policy toward men and women, I thought that it was evident, apparent, and self-explanatory that this gym did not have anything that women would want, no women’s bathroom, no showers, no elliptical machine, no stair step machine, only one tread mill, and no TVs playing Rachael Maddow, Dr. Phil, or the Lifetime Channel.
I thought that it was evident, apparent, self-explanatory, and understood, especially by people who have already experienced this time after time, women and kids taking up equipment that they aren’t even using, that members of this gym did not want this to happen at this gym.
I was wrong and mistaken in two ways. The first, that men would bring their girlfriends to this gym, thinking that this was a good idea. Right away, this resulted in the girlfriends thinking that this was social outing, talking, being funny, being entertaining, talking on the phone, dabbling on equipment, using equipment as places to sit or place their belongings, and doing exercise with no weights, just the bar.
The second way that I was wrong and mistaken, was thinking that you wanted your gym to be free from the three biggest problems at the West River Community Center and Anytime Fitness, the distraction of women and children, women and children getting in the way, and women and children getting on equipment that they aren’t even using. Instead, I think that you want to have higher enrollment in your gym, which means trying to get women to join, and the end result is going to be that this gym is going to have the exact same problems as the West River Community Center and Anytime Fitness, only much more detrimental because your gym is much smaller and has much less equipment than the West River Community Center.
The Biggest problem at your gym Wendy, is you, because you don’t even know or understand. It is like you have blinders on, you can’t see the truth, or you refuse to see the truth. Sometimes, men don’t want to be around women and children. When men are doing something that they need to pay attention to or is dangerous, they do not want women and children around. When men are working on something that they need to pay complete attention to, they don’t want women or children around. When men are doing something that is dangerous, they don’t want women and children around.
I don’t think that anyone has ever told you, let you know, or tried to make you understand, that they needed to go off and do something, and they didn’t want you around because they couldn’t talk or couldn’t be distracted, I think that they just went off and did it.
You just do not understand, or refuse to understand, that men do not want to be distracted some times, they want to focus on what they are doing.
You also do not understand, can not understand, or can not see that when women are talking, trying to be sociable, trying to socialize, wearing sports bras, that this is a distraction, and at times an unwanted distraction.
Also, you do not see that women get in the way. You do not see and you do not know, that when men are doing heavy dumbbell flys, heavy dumbbell presses, military presses, anything with a lot of weight and a full range of motion, that they sometimes have to stop in the middle of the movement, to make sure that they do not injure a woman that has gotten too close, and does not even understand or know that she is in danger of getting hurt.
This time right now, is about the only time in history where people are so stupid, that they will not acknowledge what is right there in front of their faces, that women are a distraction for men, sometimes when men are doing something that they need to pay complete attention to or is dangerous, they don’t want to be distracted. Men do not want to hurt women, so when they are lifting something very heavy that could hurt a woman when she gets too close, they stop what they are doing.
You just will not acknowledge the truth.
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This gym is not a good fit for you. We are not about the #’s. We are about building strength of body and minds. Your statements are untrue.
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Wendy,
No, your gym is not a good fit for me. I wanted to try to improve my flat bench press, incline bench press, overhead press, dumbbell press, dumbbell flys, bicep curls, tricep curls, and lat pull downs. The only way for me to make progress, was to be able to pay complete attention to what I was doing, to get to the very last repetition, and the most amount of weight that I could possibly do.
If the equipment that I want to use is going to be taken up by women who aren’t using it, women are going to be standing around talking, and I am going to have to stop what I am doing in order to not bump a woman standing next to me, there is no point in me going to your gym.
You just wait and see, your other gym members will come to the same conclusion as me. It gets old having to wait until late at night to be able to use the gym without any distractions or people getting in the way.
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You come off as very sexist, you are a very unpleasant/miserable person in my opinion. Women have the same rights as you. Maybe you need to build and run your own gym and leave others to run theirs.
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Cheryl,
I am getting ready to write a blog post about women being allowed in men’s prisons. Women are allowed in every branch of the military now, women are allowed in all male military academies now, it is isn’t right that they are not allowed in men’s prisons. Men’s prisons my have different gangs, holding cells, dining hall, and showers, so women should be allowed in men’s prisons too.
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I think that the PIT is a great establishment for people who are serious about muscle and strength development. I am a mother of two and I thoroughly enjoy working out at the PIT, and feel welcomed by the owners and the other members of the gym. It’s refreshing to go to a gym that isn’t overpriced, over crowded, and obnoxious. If you hate the idea of it having women there, maybe you should start a gym of your own, in your basement or garage if you can’t stand being around us.
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Katie,
I see from your name “Katie”, that you are a woman. Did you know, that the West River Community Center in Dickinson is less money per month than The Pit Gym? The West River Community Center has an outdoor pool, two indoor pools, indoor tennis, racketball, basketball, and volleyball courts. Large women’s locker rooms, child daycare, hot tub, rock climbing wall, aerobics classes, yoga classes, and upper level indoor 1/5 mile track where you can walk and jog. More than thirty pieces of caridiovascular equipment. Full weight room with bench press benches, squat racks, dumbbells. Thirty times the square footage of the Pit Gym, for less money.
The one thing that The Pit Gym had, was the absence of women and children, so that men could lift weight without distraction, and without having to worry about women or children getting in the way.
Katie, I am going to ask you to think really hard now, have you ever heard of the women only gym franchise called “Curves”? Most men don’t want to go to curves, because they understand that this gym is oriented to women, it has women’s programs, and it is a place for women to not be distracted or interfered with by men.
Can you imagine, that sometimes men don’t want to be around women? Can you look around yourself in The Pit Gym, and understand that this is oriented to men?
All this doesn’t matter now, Wendy wants the Pit Gym to be for everyone. I lose.
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Its takes and strong man not to get distracted by my awesomeness. So I get it.
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Yeah you definitely lose😂😂 now you and your cargo shorts get out of here(Who even lifts in those)
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Gracin,
They are cut off sweat pants. By the way, since your gym is so great, I shouldn’t expect to see you, your mom, or your dad, at the West River Community Center, should I?
The reason why I will see each of you at the West River Community Center is because the whole reason why you made your own gym with your power lifting equipment, is because you could not get to this equipment at the WRCC because of the women and kids. You continue to refuse to admit the whole reason why you made your own gym, was because of women and kids taking up the equipment. Now, in order to make enough money at your gym, you want to enroll everyone, and you don’t care that the same thing and worse is going to happen at your gym now, because your gym is so much smaller.
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I’m one of the co owners of The Pit. The Pit will never be what you want it to be. We started the gym to include everyone that wanted to get strong. Not to exclude anyone. We don’t have the time to waste with your ignorance and hate towards women and children. We have set numerous national records and multiple world records training out of that gym with women and children around. Those girls you were complaining about are well on their way to being elite powerlifters. I would be more worried that you would be in their way. Please keep your 1950s attitude and ignorance to yourself. I believe Wendy refunded your whole months dues even though the month is almost over. You are not welcome in our business again.
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Jacob,
I read your comment. I don’t envy you. You are going to have an uphill battle recruiting and maintaining gym members, once it becomes a common experience for men who work all day, planning and visualizing their bench or squat at 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on a week night, only to find the two squat racks and the two benches already in use when they arrive at your gym. Do you think these men are going to say, “I admire the diversity and inclusiveness of this gym.”
Please, please do build an extension onto The Pit Gym leased building. I dare you to do it, come on now, you have got a winning team, and a winning philosophy, how could you possibly lose in building a gym expansion, you would have the most elite gym in Dickinson. It would be much, much better than the West River Community Center, who needs three swimming pools, an indoor track, basketball courts, tennis courts, racketball courts, volley ball court, your gym would be way better.
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Little do you know the female that was benching “the bar” started to put on weight after you and your cargo shorts left. So before you start saying that she was only doing the bar know the reason why she was only lifting the bar(I’ll fill you with some knowledge because obviously you fucking lack it) the reason that female was only doing the bar was because she was warming up just like all powerlifters do before they start to add weight on. So before you start slandering a business and a person know your stuff.
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Gracin,
I see from your name, Gracin Clem, that your parents are Dave and Wendy, so it isn’t much of a surprise that you are defending them. This is going to be a good life lesson for you, in what works, and what does not work. Time will tell whether this works or not, having a power lifting gym, where you recruit people who are going to dabble, wander, and fool around. Just wait and see.
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Charles,
No one likes a sexist. Just an FYI for the future and you’re right I’m going to defend my parents due to you slandering them. Just grow up alittle if you can.
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Gracin,
You are not living with reality. Reality is not what you think it should be, or what you want it to be, it is what actually exists. You are living in one of the few times in history, where people deny the plain truth, during a time when there is an attempt to change society though social engineering. I am attaching a link to a video from Fox News, where a female Naval Officer who has been through Marine training, explains that women are not men, women are different than men, and women are weaker than men. Maybe you will not be able to understand the difference between men and women until you get older. https://youtu.be/FjwtdhpcUzw
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I’m not sure how you even thought the pit wouldn’t have women and children. Obviously one of the co owners is a woman. A right minded person would assume that she probably works out there. As do the other owners significant other and more than likely their friends and family. The only reason you are in a tizzy is because of your Masochistic views. You obviously hate women, you’ve made that clean in many of your posts. If it were men that were using the equipment you wanted there would be no issue here. I Absolutly commend the owners on banning you from their gym. Lord knows you don’t deserve to be around any of the women who could probably outlift you any day.
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Ali,
You are correct, I did not think this through. To be honest, I was surprised to see a woman working at this gym, I didn’t really like this, but since she was a power lifter too, I thought that she knew that men don’t like it when women and children sit on weight benches and put their stuff on weight benches that they aren’t even using, that men don’t like it when women get on the squat racks and dead lift platforms, when they don’t need them, that men don’t like it when women and kids get on equipment and watch TV and talk on the phone and text, and not even use the equipment. I thought that Wendy knew this, but I was wrong.
You are also correct, I should have known that Wendy would have her friends and family work out there. You are correct, if men were using the equipment “…using…”, I would have no problem waiting for a man to get off of the equipment.
Wendy called me on the telephone about two hours ago, and told me that she had two women down there right now who could kick my ass in the gym. I said I would be right there. When I got there fifteen minutes later, Wendy met me outside the gym, and didn’t want me to come in. I asked about these two women, and Wendy introduced me to very large young lady, who was a little taller than me, and maybe even heavier than me. This young lady just got done squatting 400 lbs, according to her. I said, O.K. you beat me there, lets go use the 100 lb dumbbells, and she looked surprised, she wouldn’t do it and she boasted that she benched pressed 240 lb last week, and that she had the power lifting records in Montana.
She would not bench press the two 100 lbs dumbbells, because she knows that she can not do it, not even once. I can easily do five reps with two 100 lb dumbbells, and I am out of shape. I benched pressed 270 lb last week by myself, and I admit that I am out of shape. I incline bench pressed 240 lb last week, and I am out of shape. I am 49 years old and out of shape, and this young lady who is bigger and taller than me, who trains religiously, and is the Montana power lifting record holder, did not want to lift against me after all, and Wendy and Dave told me to leave and not come back.
Ali, women are right even when they are wrong, they are stronger even when they are not, they know more even when they don’t.
When their car breaks down or they need money, they call their dad. When they need to move, they call their brother or their male friends. When their house is on fire and they call the fire department, the envision big men firefighters arriving. When they are in trouble and call the police, they hope some big ex-marine male shows up.
I don’t know how much longer this will go on, where women can do everything a man can do, until they need help, and call a man.
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So you’re telling me because I am a woman that I cant lift heavy weights like a man? Not only do I lift heavy weights on a daily basis, but I can also carry a baby for 9 months. What else can you do besides be a sexist pig? Yes the rec is cheaper, but training is not. Yes they have all those other things you have mentioned but we also just started up give us time. Also if you look at the rec theres more females and kids who lift as well dumbass. Its men like you that make us woman feel like were nothing because we “are not allowed” to do things you men do. I’ll tell you this. I love being considered muscular. I love lifting and I will not allow a “man” such as yourself Make me feel less than a woman because I lift more than my body weight. And. I’m the daughter of the owners and I will continue to support my parents, especially my mom because she is a badass woman that lifts and does many more things that you think are wrong for us woman to do. Have a great life Charles.
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Brooke,
So far, I have heard from your mom Wendy, your brother Gracin, you Wendy’s daughter, your mother’s friend Katie, the other gym owner partner Jacob, and Ali who never agrees with me.
I feel sorry for your father Dave, because I don’t think that he wanted any of this to happen, so I will leave him out of this.
If you would wait, and you ask some power lifters or heavy lifters who belong to your gym, in a non confrontational way, what they think, they would still know that you were fixing to jump on them, but if they truly told you what they wanted, they would tell you that they would prefer to not have women and children in the gym, they just want to get to the weight, and have people stay out of their way, the truth is, if there were not any women and children in the way at the West River Community Center, they would just rather go there, because it is bigger, there is more room, and there is more equipment.
You, your brother, your mom, the other gym partner, you are going to win this battle, but lose this war. You are going to be able to get more women to join your gym probably, but they may not like it for long because it does not have the amenities of the WRCC, and at the same time, you will have men who want to have ease of access to heavy weights go some place else.
At this point, I would say that most of all, above anything else, women are just absolutely loving this opportunity to fuck something up for men. Most of your group of commentors are accusing me of hating women. I have never hit a woman, abused a woman, tricked a woman, taken advantage of a women, or ever been accused of sexual harassment. However, I have learned more and more about women in my 49 years, and I can say for sure that there is no advantage for women going to your gym in comparison to the other gyms in Dickinson, there are many disadvantages, so most of all women just want to fuck something up for men.
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I am sure that the women of this gym are insanely happy that you will not be back. What a sad, sad little man you are. In my Strength gym, we all use the same restroom, drink out of the same water fountain and use the same equipment. We even manage to work in sets together. There are all sorts of people who use the facility with very different goals. Elite powerlifters (male and female), Strongmen (male and female) and those who just want to be strong and healthy. I am glad that the owners told you to take your hissy fit and toys home and not to come back. Who would want your attitude in their gym anyway. I would be blasting your name to every gym owner in the area so that the only place you can lift is your own garage.
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Stan,
This is very informative, that you like women and children sitting on your gym equipment, talking on the phone, texting, watching TV, socializing, using the equipment as shelves for their belongings, and taking up the benches and squat racks for non-weightlifting activities. I didn’t know that so many people wanted it to be this way.
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They don’t. There are more men that do that than the women, actually. They are politely asked to move along. All it takes is being a civil human.
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Stan,
When two people bring their young girlfriends to the gym, who want to talk, socialize, horse around, make jokes, go on and on talking about what they want to eat after this, and the gym is only about 35’x 50′, where are they going to go, or where am I going to go? I didn’t even try to go do my dumbbell flys because the one couple was parked in the the dumbbell area, which is not very big. I didn’t want to insert myself between them, asking them to move or not stand there, I just left.
The West River Community Center in Dickinson is probably more than 40,000 square feet, and it has everything that anyone could want. The problem is that women and children get on the equipment, and they aren’t really using the equipment for its purpose. I didn’t pitch a fit, I just didn’t go back to the WRCC.
The Pit Gym was going to be my chance to begin again lifting heavy weights, but what happened on Saturday showed me that this gym was going to become exactly like the WRCC. I didn’t pitch a fit, I just left.
I wrote this blog post, and updated my previous blog post about The Pit Gym to draw attention to this problem. I can kind of see that first of all, that this problem is not even going to be acknowledged, there is just denial that this problem exists.
There have been 200 views of this blog post so far today, and outside of the Clem family, you and Ali are the only readers who disagree with me so much that they left a comment. I wonder, but I kind of know why the other 190 readers didn’t leave a comment, they don’t disagree with me, or maybe agree with me, but they don’t want to get on the bad side of Wendy and Dave.
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You’re Absolutly right I don’t ever agree with you. Because of your outdated, racist, homophobic, masochistic views on everything. You say men hate this and that. It’s you that hates those things not all men. I highly doubt Dave and Jacob hate having women and children at the pit. I’ve been personally invited there more than once. They both have children who lift. You think they will send them to the WRCC? Nope. You think women should be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen tending to your every whim. That’s not realistic. If I need money I pick up a shift. If my car breaks down I take it to the dealership and pay for it myself or have someone show me how to fix it. My house is on fire, you’re damn right I will call the fire department. And if you didn’t know they have women firefighters right here in good old Dickinson. I take my kids to the community center often to swim and play basketball or volley ball and I can say the only bad thing about you getting kicked out of the pit is that I might have to run into you while with my kids. And as for never being accused of sexual harassment, you’re lucky. You have gone out of your way to harass and sexualize lots of women in your posts and in public.
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Ali,
Do you think that telling me that Dave and Jacob don’t mind having women and children in the gym, and that they have invited you there several times, is convincing me that I am wrong about women, children, and women who don’t have an interest in lifting heavy weights, being in the gym? This is making my point for me. Yes, I believe you, I believe that Dave and Jacob don’t mind women, children, and people with no interest in lifting heavy weights being in the gym.
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I just wanted to let you know I train with female powerlifters who aren’t done warming up when they take your max effort lifts. I can tell just reading this drivel that you are weak minded as well as physically weak. You seem to be a perfect fit for a community center gym.
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Michael,
Wow, where can I look up these women’s statistics that aren’t even done warming up when they do the weight of my maximum lifts? The record holder young lady in The Pit Gym today told me that her maximum bench press is 240 lbs. Who are you talking about? Please point me to their published meet lifts.
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Sarah Lewis. She squats 540, benches 300, and deadlifts 560. Samantha Coleman. 650 squat, 400 bench, 600 deadlift. You’re a a Rows man benching less than 300 lbs, Id be more than happy to list a slew of women who have 300+ meet benches, many of them weighing less than 150 lbs.
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Michael,
O.K. thank you, I will go and look up these women that you work out with to see their power lifting meet records.
Female Pro Raw Modern Open 181 Sarah Lewis 171.8 424.39 236.99 451.94 1113.32
Do I need to explain this to you Michael? Sarah Lewis, who you claimed to me squats 545 lb and bench presses 300 lb, without the use of a bench press shirt, body suit, and knee wraps, her bench press is 237 lb, and her squat is 425 lbs. Didn’t you write in a previous comment to me, that she does more weight in her warm up, than I do in my max lift? Even though I am 49 years old and out of shape 270 lb bench is more than 237 lb bench, so how can this be that her warm up is more than my maximum lift?
Have you ever seen someone with a competition bench press shirt that was so tight, that they couldn’t even pull 315 lb down to touch their chest?
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http://Www.powerliftingwatch.com
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Stan,
I clicked on the link that you sent, and I didn’t see anything leap out at me, what did you want to point out?
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The website that Stan linked to is showing that Sarah Lewis had a 507 squat on Jan 14 of this year, a 286 bench on jan 13, and a 562 deadlift on Jan 13, all in the 181 weightclass. It also shows Samantha Coleman’s deadlift of 600 lbs on April 22 of 2017, and a 391 bench on July 8 2016. These were done raw so Michael was right in what he said. These are women he works out with so the numbers he said may not all have been done in a meet yet. Rest assured they will be done. Let me know what you need explained to you, as your ability to research seems questionable.
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Hugh,
The lifts that I found for Sarah Lewis giving her raw, no bench press shirt, no lifting suit, and no wraps, were much less than what Michael wrote in his comment. What would my bench press be wearing a bench press shirt that is so tight that you can’t even pull the bar down to touch your chest with 315 lb, with a bench press shirt like that, add 185 lb to that, that you have to move with your own arms, and your at 500 lb? So I didn’t like Michael’s comment.
I looked up Samantha Coleman, and saw some pictures of her. What does she weigh 300 lbs, 350 lbs? It is not difficult for someone to be able to bench 1.4 times their body weight, so 1.4 x 350 lb = 490 lb. If I got up to 350 lbs, which I could do, and benched 1.4 x my body weight = 490 lb. On top of that, add a bench press shirt that only has to give you another 110 lb, and you are at 600 lb.
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Also, I’m fairly certain Michaels squat is more than your total. Just a guess though. He seems like he knows some things.
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Hugh,
Without me even training, 270 lb + 350 lb + 350 lb = 970 lb. So you are saying that Michael, who I have never met, squats 970 lb? Congratulations on your 970 lb squat MIchael, that’s a lot.
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Where are you getting your results from? You have the link I used. I gave you month, day, and year. Also let you know all those numbers were raw so I don’t get why you keep talking about equipped lifting.
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Hugh,
I had to go to like page 22 on the linked website to find what you were talking about, I saw it.
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Ok man until I saw your comment claiming that all of the people that haven’t replied must support you or are scared of getting on someone’s bad side I felt compelled to reply.
First, all the problems you’re saying that are caused by women and children being in the gym are also perpetrated by men. Open your mouth and ask people to move (obviously in a tactful manner). I guarantee you will more often than not be met with the same attitude you put out there.
Secondly, your ability to not be able to concentrate, because women or children are around, is a reflection on you. It’s not your responsibility to watch out for everyone else.
To see the attitude that women are so inferior and aren’t allowed to be around elite lifters such as yourself, is sad to say the least. You are talking about numbers that the equipment was made for like it’s some accepted standard. The equipment is there for safety. If a person (notice I’m not saying woman/man/child) has 225 on the bar, it doesn’t negate their right to have it done in a safe manner. As for the numbers you’re talking about, 100lb dumbbells mean nothing, a 270 squat means nothing. I know elite powerlifters that are far more tolerant of people that they know couldn’t lift their warm up weight, than you are with people that could probably outlift you or at least come close. A little humility will go a long way bud.
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Correction 270 bench… still nothing to write home about.
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Hugh fake name,
Yes, I know, I am 49 years old and out of shape, 270 lb is the most I could bench last week, by myself in the gym. 240 lb incline press was the most I could do.
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I’m a reader who didn’t initially comment, but I’ll do so now to be perfectly clear — you have views that are incompatible with civilized society; I fully support this and any gym who refuses to have you as a member; I won’t read any response from you so don’t waste your time.
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Mark Ewing,
You are right, I am probably not compatible with civilized society. I have a degree in engineering, never been charged or accused of any crime, never been married or divorced, no kids, don’t owe child support, never been bankrupt, my home is paid for. I am probably nothing like you.
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Man, it’s actually comical to see someone this out of touch with their own failures.
I promise you, the reason you are weak is not because women or children are around you. It’s because you can’t put in the effort and work required to actually be successful in a power sport and instead need to misdirect your failures on the people around you. The second you stop being some beta cuck that needs to project onto others and actually pick up a barbell is the day you might actually open your eyes.
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Erick,
My failure was not finding a gym without any women and children. I am not weak, I am not in good condition because of not going to gyms in Dickinson because I didn’t want to drive to the gym, only to find the equipment taken up by women and children, I didn’t want to deal with them.
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I’m laughing pretty hard at all his comments about the women and the children taking up all the equipment! If I walk into my gym and some Dad has his kid pulling deads on the…oh wait, that already happened. They fabricated a mini log, yoke, and DL bar so the kids while rocking out to metal can lift with their parents at the Metroflex in Plano. I do t know if it was one of the parents, no one cares, it’s cool. You want a sanctuary, make one. Complaining about women and kids at the gym hogging the equipment just makes you look like the D-bag you probably are in real life. Maybe this will make see things differently, but I doubt it.
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Anthony,
Yes, I will have to find somewhere else. I never tried to get the women and the kids off of the equipment, I just quit going to the WRCC, and I looked for a gym where there weren’t any women and children. I have my own bench and squat rack at my home in Idaho, but I am working in North Dakota.
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It’s common for weak minded people to be intimidated by women trying to find strength. The same is true when lonely people find themselves judging others for trying to maintain a positive practice with in their families.
The pit is an open door establishment trying to empower the public with a sense of community in strength and conditioning.
It’s a better place without you in your current mindset. It’s also the type of community that would welcome you back when you find yourself in a better state.
I hope you realize that it is a cowardly thing to berate a buisness from the shade of your smart phone.
I bet those PRs are going to stay disappointing in your life. The best strength comes from uplifting your peers and leaning on them when you have goals you want to achieve.
But thank you for running your mouth about my dear friends buisness.
All press is good press.
Let’s keep the community talking about the pit. Wendy and Dave are going to continue to make an impact.
With or without your membership.
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Jessica,
Why can’t women find their strength over at the West River Community Center, where they have women’s only restrooms, locker rooms, showers, child day care, three swimming pools, one hot tub, rock climbing wall, indoor tennis courts, racketball courts, basketball courts, volley ball, yoga classes, aerobics classes, exercise floor, upper level 1/5 mile jogging track, cardio equipment, cable machines, dumbbells, benches, squat racks, dead lift platforms, for less money than The Pit Gym.
All I wanted Jessica, was just to be able to use one squat rack, one bench, and dumbbells, without the distraction of women and children, and women and children getting in the way. You understand the concept of the women only gym franchise Curves don’t you? You understand that women want to be away from men sometimes don’t you? Why can’t you understand that men don’t want to be around women sometimes?
So far, all of the men writing comments have been brainwashed and pussy whipped. I know, no matter what you women say, that you could not care less about this gym, you just want the satisfaction of fucking things up for men.
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Shaun Kopplin – Facebook
The_heartbreakkid – Instagram
I put my correct name cause I’m not a pussy that hides his identity to talk trash about someone. I say it so you know who I am and can come see me and what I do and who I am VIA my social media accounts. Now, so if you truly have balls to reply back to me on FB or in Open forum you can.
I have personally coached Crystal Tate (multiple world records. First woman’s to deadlift 600 raw and squat 700 raw) one of the strongest women in power lifting. I also coach Nicole Ordway who also has world record and a 550+ squat (480 in sleeves) both I’m betting would beat your coward ass.
So, not sure who you think you are, but having to hide your identity to slander someone proves you’re a coward ass pussy that can’t handle any type of real conflict. Talking shit about women and kids is probably the lowest thing a grown man (remains to be seen) can do. So now if that’s how you want to be know and how you should feel inside, then please continue with being a low life.
Anyway, if you had an issue and a set of stones, you should have confronted the owners personally about the gym instead of cry your pussy emotions on the internet like a child seeking attention. Since well, you went to their gym and there is a way to personally contact them.
Furthermore. Those gym in the town that you complain about (other than the Pit) you belong there. No where near a powerlifting gym. You’re mentally weak. Your physical strength means nothing at this point. Cause emotionally and meantlly, you’re handicapped. Seak a therapist, cause you have mommy issues.
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The woman that broke the record from Montana just broke the record this last month. You say that she wouldn’t lift 100 lbs dumbbells with you but you were the crowded that wouldn’t squat with her. She could not bench again today be cuz real power lifter know better then do a lift right after a heavy training (which she benched 240 lbs).
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Wendy,
An hour ago, I looked up the 2017 USPA records for the state of Montana, and in all of the weight classes, and in all of the age groups for women, the state record for Montana for women, was 315 lb squat, and 165 lb bench, so I don’t know why the female power lifter in your gym today said that she just got done squatting 400 lb, and 240 lb bench last week. I just read your comment about her breaking the squat record last month, so I will look to see what record gets published.
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Just to be short n sweet, if you got so angry that you needed to stop your workouts due to your surroundings. Your surroundings are the least of your problems.
Is it really that you don’t want women I. Their showing you up? Or seeing how weak you are?
You really need to strengthen your feeble mind more than your weak ass body.
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Mama T,
How I have made it 49 years without ever being charged or accused of a crime, is to just leave if something is making me very angry. There is no point in me getting into an argument or dispute when I am angry, and things escalating, so I just leave. After I left the gym, I realized that this was the beginning of the ruining of The Pit Gym.
There are times when men don’t want to be around women and children. I think that this is why many men go to bars after work, instead of going home, they don’t want to be around women and children. I am surprised that there hasn’t been a male commentor yet, saying hell yes men don’t want to be around women and children sometimes, that is why they go hunting, fishing, camping, play poker, join the Navy, the merchant marines, or like being in prison.
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Make no mistake, I didn’t comment earlier NOT because I agree with you, but because I had to wait for my husband to get home and show me how to use the type-y keypad on my selfie box. Luckily he’s home to help now!
1. A squat isn’t a back bend. I definitely don’t suggest you bend your back with a barbell on it. But you do you.
2. All your talking boils down to you’re intimidated by the idea of interacting with women and men younger than you. So you tantrum and go home instead of getting in your workout like anyone else.
3. Your arms are not 10 feet long. You can do your side raises without hitting a woman standing in your general vicinity.
4. Strength is for everyone. Even 50 year old men who act like children. You’re missing out on an entire community of support. THEY’RE not missing out based on this, however.
Ok, go ahead and repeat the same dead argument about “but the women!! On the equipment! Oh noes!”
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Bwahahahaha!!! This is the biggest piece of bullshit I’ve ever read. If you’re that distracted by someone else in the gym man, woman, child, or otherwise, it sounds like you need to remove yourself from the rest of humanity. Rogue Fitness makes excellent home racks that aren’t too expensive. Save up your gym membership money for a while and get yourself one. You can find plenty of weights and bars for cheap on Craigslist. I guarantee you that I can spend six months in Anytime Fitness or the Wellness center, train during their busiest times of day, and still make better gains than you could make in a years time at the Pit. If you’re that hard core, you should be able to retreat into your mind to find the slice and concentration you need. Your piece of shit attitude is the last thing that any gym owner needs. It’s not your gym. They have as much right to train their as you do since they paid their dues. So, either stop being such a whiny pussy and focus on what you actually go to the gym for, or move yourself on to some other activity that a whining pussy does like crocheting or quilting while watching reality TV shows, Sex and the City reruns, or getting off on Oprah and Ellen.
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Joshua,
I have several weight benches, and a squat rack at my home in Idaho, but I am working in North Dakota. Yes, I do have a problem getting distracted by women, and I do become irritated with women and children. This is why I quit going to the 40,000 square foot West River Community Center, and Anytime Fitness. I thought that The Pit Gym was so oriented to men, having one tread mill, no other cardio equipment, no amenities, no TV, and not even a women’s only bathroom, that women would not come to this gym. I was wrong, women came here and they are on their way to making it have the same problems as the WRCC and Anytime Fitness.
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What the fuck is with you and women’s only bathrooms?! Short of there only being a urinal in the bathroom, how does one make a bathroom women only?
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Hugh,
Women don’t like men using their bathroom. Women want their own bathroom, and I don’t blame them. However, now that I have written this, women will begin demanding to not have their own bathroom.
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Sorry they got girl germs on your equipment, you pathetic baby.
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Ianrennie,
I didn’t even think of mechanisms of disease transmission from women until you mentioned it just now. Mostly, I just didn’t like being distracted by women, women getting too close to where they could get hurt, women getting in the way, and women taking up equipment that they weren’t even using.
I am beginning to believe from the way the negative comments are written, that these are Democrats and liberals on the west coast and the east coast. I have never seen so many emasculated brain washed men, and women lacking any common sense.
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You probably really wouldn’t like me deadlifting near you…your working set is likely my warmup. Though you’ve failed to post your best lifts or even a Wilks, so we will never know. And I’m 60 years old, btw. (USAPL Master 3a 48/75/125kg)
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Kiki,
I just made a new blog post titled, “Ongoing Weight Lifting Numbers”, that shows my weight lifts currently. Please read this blog post before jumping to the list of numbers.
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I can totally understand and agree with the guy and his reasons for not wanting to lift with women and children around. In fact I agree with him. I personally did not like lifting around men. Men require more methodical planning and thought to lifting, they lift heavier weights, are more prone to distractions, get testy easily, and tend to be more protective of people around them.
I truly believe 99% of male heavy lifters and 99% of female heavy lifters prefer a place that caters to them specifically without ‘chatty Cathy” taking up space next to where they’re trying to do a heavy workout; male or female if you aren’t a serious lifter youDO NOT belong in a lifting gym UNLESS you are dead serious about lifting heavy weights. In that case get a mentor and go early.
this dude just isn’t expressing himself well. He is seriously disappointed about not having a serious lifting gym. They are few and far between AND – in his defense – I would have been disappointed also.
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You should check out the internet wrecking you and this ridiculous post https://twitter.com/jmashh_/status/1000880556429795329
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To “Mmm Hmmm”,
Thank you for the link, I clicked on it, and I read what the person had to say. The quotations that she copied, I clearly gave credit to the author and publication where I found these quotes, they are not mine, but I agree with these quotes. I saw from the poster’s picture, that she is a cute young lady, so I can understand that she is not used to the difference between a person’s own writing, and a person citing someone else’s writing by giving their name and the name of the source publication.
I can also see, that this young lady is too young to have the 30 years of experience being in gyms that I do, and that she herself does not lift heavy weights, so she is commenting about something that she knows very little about, like many of the commentors.
Please note, that I received one comment from a female power lifter, who wrote that she agrees with me. She wrote that 99% of power lifters, whether male or female, would prefer to not have women or children in a power lifting gym, if they were going to be fooling around and talking.
It is fine with me that this blog post gets shared as many times as possible. Many of the commentors have very little interest in lifting heavy weights, they want to make comments because that they feel that this is a women’s issue. The majority of people who are interested in lifting heavy weights, know exactly what I am talking about, such as being distracted by people who are fooling around near them in the gym, talking on the phone, putting their belongings on equipment that they are not using, taking up equipment that they are not using, and having to stop in the middle of a lift in order to avoid hitting a person that has gotten too close to them.
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Crazy my boy goes there, and he understands what gyms are meant for and has seen huge results. Sounds as if you are going through a mid life crisis and or just a cry baby not getting his way ? Funny is that both the said women you are referring to most likely would out lift you on any given day, we have past the cave man era you paid for a membership accept it, Wendy and Dave have given Dickinson a great place to not only improve ones self but to work around strong and healthy, and positive people. Just maybe you should get a home gym be happy with your own space, you seem like a spoiled single fella that’s always got his way, let them drop grow up and get over it.
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