Hercules Gym

NEW TOY: Atlantis Vertical Fly -Working out is therapy for people who don't want to talk about their feelings. A handful of times, I've felt a panic attack creeping in. Every time, I head to the gym and push myself to exhaustion. By the time I'm done, the storm has passed, and I can think clearly again. Life is stressful, and we all need ways to blow off steam. But not all stress relievers are created equal. Binge-watching Netflix, four(teen) beers, or anything that numbs us for a few hours can make us feel better in the moment. It helps us escape, but it doesn't move us forward. I enjoy mind-altering substances as much as the next guy (probably more), but there's a world of difference between something that helps us survive and something that helps us thrive. Escape almost always comes with a price, a hangover, that leaves us right where we started.
Working out is different. It doesn't numb the stress, it transforms it into confidence and momentum, the twin engines of thriving. Netflix and beer hit pause on life. For a little while, nothing matters. Then we wake up in the same rut with the exact same problems. Working out doesn't pause our lives. It builds us up, physically, mentally, and emotionally, so we're better equipped to succeed. Iron therapy isn't just stress relief. It's stress converted into positive action. It's the gold standard of stress relievers, and it's a lot cheaper than a therapist.

NEW TOY - Atlantis Precision Row - I have a confession to make. This machine has been sitting in storage, and I've been sneaking out to use it for a very long time. If I could only choose one back machine for the rest of my days, this would be it. I don't think anyone will ever love it as much as I do. People will say the weight stack is too light, or God forbid, they'll try loading it with gym pins and extra weight (I shudder at the thought). In short, you'll never appreciate and cherish it as much as I do. But because it's my duty to share my toys, the guilt has overcome me. I'm finally bringing her out for you all to meet. Please treat her well and say kind things about her, or she's going back to the storage room where she's safe...with me. My precious.

NEW TOY - Icarian Camber Curl - I fall in and out of love with biceps. During the times we're good, I'll work every curl machine in the building - all eight of them - and stop only when my elbows beg me, no more. Those are the good times. In our down days, nothing seems more boring and tedious than lifting my arm up and down, over and over again. In the dark times, I'd rather do forearms, for God's sake, because at least the burn makes me feel alive. We've been on the outs lately. A real rough patch. But I'm happy to announce that we're back, and better than ever - all thanks to the arrival of our new bundle of joy: the Icarian camber curl. It's reinvigorated my passion for training arms and shot straight to the top of my rankings of best bicep machine. That's the magic of fresh equipment. One new machine can awaken your passion for a movement - make you excited to train it, think about it, look forward to it. We're creatures of habit, us lifters, but we love a new toy as much as a five-year-old on Christmas morning. And when your goal is to keep lifting for a lifetime, that spark matters. You have to find ways to keep the embers of the romance burning. Because when the fire dies, so does your progress. Great gyms fan those flames. The rest smother them.

NEW TOY - Icarian Standing Calf - Do you wear pants to the gym in the summertime? Have you ever complained that calf size is all genetics? Or told yourself that if you were just a bit fatter, you too might have calves like upside-down bowling pins? If so, you may be suffering from a debilitating psychological condition called Small Calf Syndrome (SCS, for short). SCS sufferers often feel hopeless. Like they've been forced to carry this immense mental burden atop two toothpick-like legs that clearly were not designed to shoulder such a weighty load. Well, SCS friends, rejoice! There is finally hope: the Icarian Angled Calf. It's the most iconic calf machine in the long, storied history of gym equipment. It can whip the most stubborn and uncooperative lower legs into shape - genetics be damned! Perhaps this summer you'll finally experience the overwhelming joy of having golden sunlight radiating off your freshly bare legs. And as the warm breeze whooshes past your shapely calves, you'll look to the sky with a newfound contentment and feel lucky (perhaps for the first time) to be alive.

NEW TOY - Freemotion Chest - I probably shouldn't tell you this, but most gym owners are lazy people. There are definitely exceptions to the rule, I'm just not one of them. Throughout my life, I've been told some version of: "if you go any slower, you'll be going in reverse." How is it then, moving at the pace of a 100 year old Galápagos tortoise, with a staff numbered less than you can count on one hand, Hercules seems to be running circles around everyone else? Simple, the competition isn't just slow, they're comatose. Our one redeeming quality is that we're sort of obsessed with making the gym better and delighting our people. As Hercules makes money, we put large chunks of it back into the gym to buy the best equipment we can find. When we buy a machine the people love, it makes us happy. We're people pleasers, and I'm not too proud to say that we're more than willing to buy your love. They say in business, it's good to fish where no else is fishing. In our case, our pond is jammed packed with lots of other fishermen. The difference is, they're all fishing with crappy, old, broken poles and terrible, rusty lures. And even if by some miracle of nature, a fish actually bit, they may not even bother reeling it in. In short, they just don't care like we do.

NEW TOY - Prime Rear Delt/Pec Fly - Do you want 76 new gym members in 32 minutes? These are the outrageous proposals we receive daily. Even if these overblown claims were possible, the answer would still be a resounding, no. Why? Because we don't want just any old person. We want the people who need to workout as much as they need to breathe air. Saying we're motivated to workout is like saying a fat kid is motivayed to eat cake. It isn't really motivation, as much as an innate calling. When you fill a gym full of people all doing what they love, you get a driven atmosphere. The truth is, workout junkies are a small percentage of the population. That's why most gyms chase after the majority who don't really like working out but feel guilty about not going. Kind of like how I feel guilty about not going to the dentist in over 20 years (sorry, Mom). So they pay a guilt tax in the form of a cheap membership at a no-frills facility where they attend about once every lunar eclipse. If working out to you, feels like going to the dentist does to me, then we probably aren't a good match. Swipe left. We're the spot for the true believers that everyone else thinks is a bit extreme. If this applies to you, we understand you, and we're your sanctuary. So if you have a borderline, to full-blown exercise addiction, we're a match made in heaven. These are the members we want.