2007/10/12

Klang Valley Streets: Good as gold
By : Karina Foo

POWER ON: Weight machines at the gym.

Gold’s Gym Kuala Lumpur is a no-frills, no-nonsense kind of gym, offering the usual fitness programmes with regular monitoring from instructors. But it also advocates the use of non-weight equipment and therein lies its edge. KARINA FOO drops by.

EMANATING from a quiet corner of Plaza Ampang shopping centre is an energetic vibrance.

It’s the sound of music pulsating from the entrance of Gold’s Gym Kuala Lumpur (GGKL).

Even from the main road, you’ll see a giant signboard of the gym looming over the peeled and sun-damaged paint of the shopping centre.

If it’s not the sleepy hollow outlets visitors are going for, it’s probably the GGKL for some serious workout sessions.

Incidentally, the reception isn’t lined with posters of air-brushed model endorsements. Nor are there stupendous ornaments or banners advertising some club “offers”.

Instead, what the gym has is a semi-circle table, a few couches, three workout studios, two weight rooms, a very spacious second level dedicated to cardio on machines and two indoor rock climbing walls. It’s obviously a no-frills, no nonsense kind of gym.

How about that for an unpretentious health centre?

The music played is a mix of modern top 70s and R&B with beats that make you want to sweat. Thankfully, there’s no awful falsetto techno vocals!

GGKL boasts 1,160 square metres of facilities. The main exercise studio is for group exercise classes (including freestyle) and those under the Les Mills programme (including the popular Body Combat, Body Pump and Body Jam).

There’s also a Switching circuit and a martial arts studio (with various types of punching bags).

Even on a weekday afternoon during Ramadan, the weight training floor was a hive of activity.

Comprising mainly men who were pumping iron, one could feel the saturation of testosterone in the air.

“Actually, the mornings and evenings are filled with a fair share of both sexes,” explains GGKL CEO Tom Curtis.

The gym is part of Gold’s Gym back in 1965 which was originally Muscle Beach in Venice Beach, California.

When it was moved indoors, it was named Gold’s Gym and aptly known as “The Gym of the Stars”, training sportsmen and celebrities such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lou Ferrigno, Kobe Bryant, The Rock, Thomas “The Hit Man” Hearns, Michael Jordan, Jean Claude Van Damme, Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster.

It has become the world’s largest co-ed fitness company with over 3,000,000 members worldwide.

Even with one Gold’s Gym outlet in Malaysia, it is continuing the legacy.

As Tom explains: “We ensure that members get good and reliable monitoring in terms of safety and education. They are evaluated and then assisted in a specific programme with constant guidance from our fitness instructors.

“There are a few personal training options, either with an instructor certified from the American Council on Exercise and National Academy of Sports Medicine or with trained local instructors,” he said.

Yes, but several gyms already do that so what’s new?

The answer comes in the form of a really tall athletic guy who walks into the room and introduces himself as Brett Crosby from Washington D.C., United States.

A certified amateur boxing champion, he is now the gym’s senior fitness consultant. He resembles martial arts champion and Taebo founder Billy Blanks.

“I’m here to show Malaysians how simple fitness really is with functional training,” he said, whipping out some tools that look like something children play with in elementary school.

“This equipment is part of our functional training system. They include speed ladders, bands, fitness ball, TRX (suspension training straps) and half fitness ball. Basically, these are all you need.”

Crosby starts to do lateral runs over the grids of a four-metre-long speed ladder that is laid across the floor. He then proceeded to elevated push-ups with the band which is attached to the multi-purpose pull-up machine.

“I’m trying to show that you don’t have to spend all your weight-training time with weights. You can use these to condition your muscles in ways you never even thought of,” he said.

Yes, one can do so many things with the ladder — train one’s coordination, speed and stamina by running in different directions, skipping and jumping.

One’s reflexes will also improve with these exercises.

“These tools are lightweight and foldable so you can carry them in your gym bag,” he added.

Apparently, this training method is used by American Navy Seals and in hard-core sports like American football.

“Hopefully, people will realise that there are other options to getting fit,” he added.

How does GGKL cope with the immense competition?

Curtis believes that as long as the gym stays true to its mission statement, it will survive.

“New gyms are becoming like 24-hour kiosks and are taking the opportunity to open up in the most convenient and accessible places.

“But we’ve been here even before all that started. We retain members and don’t believe in a high turnover. I believe that’s what keeps us going.”