Describe your dream gym

I've been thinking a lot lately about what sort of setup I'd like to have for my own gym. I don't plan on opening a school or anything, but I will probably take on some students, and I'd like to be able to teach them right. So, my plan is to slowly gather equipment and have a gym set-up at home for teaching.

So, here's the stuff on my list, in no particular order:

Heavy bag
Speed bag
Target pads
Heavy pads
Face cages/full contact sparring gear
Throwing mat
Weighted sticks(sticks with weights hanging from ropes, traditional thing)
Sandbag
First Aid kit

I'm forgetting some stuff, but there's what I remember.

What do you picture in your dream gym?

I have a gym at my house. We call it 'the dojo.'

I dont have any weighted sticks but I have 2 weight sets and a bench.

I have some medicine balls and jump ropes too. Also a Broom.

In my dream gym, I improve in skill and health without effort or time expended.

Hey, a guy can dream, right?

I forgot the medicine balls.

I have a weight set, but students will have to use their own. I don't have time to help students keep up on a weightlifting regimen. It would take from the time to teach fighting. That's not good. Plus, the weight set would take up too much room, it stays in the house.

It's got: -

Lots of space
Training partners on-call 24/7
Fall mats over one area
No roof
Plenty of plum-blossom poles in the ground
Wall bags
Herbal medicines on tap
A tree with tweeting birds and apples (why waste a tree)
A mirrored wall & a curtain to cover it
A weapons rack system like they had in the Matrix
A chill area with seats, a table, tv & vcr

I would want to be alone, most importantly.

Heavy Bags galore… I mean like 150 - 200lbs bags… and cute massage thearapists in white shear silk ropes:D...

I guess I dream fairly small compared to most in this area.

I forgot a camera to play back sparring so people can see their habits.

After a recent breakup I was able to convert my old livingroom into a gym where friends come over to play.

It's pretty basic. Six cinderblocks and 3 planks of wood make up 3 small bench areas. I tilted an old bookshelf over to house my trophies and now each friend has a cubbyhole for gloves and head gear. I was also able to unburden my father's garage and took my old karate weapons and stuff and now they hang on the walls. A heavy bag would be great, but my landlord is upstairs. I just take a small bag up to the park with me when I shoot hoops and when it gets dark and everyone goes home I hang it from the monkey bars.

We're all having fun with the space though. Rain or shine, its a reason to get together.

Someday if and when I'm ready to teach I would like to have a mix of traditional and hardcore: cement floors with brick walls and boxing gloves hanging from them. A large mirror and a weapons rack of poles and swords. I would also like to have a shrine with a large painted portrait of my master. But before any of that I still have to learn a lot, become a disciple and learn weapons. :)

It would be nice though.

Yeah, I forgot the video cameras and inspirational photographs of masters past.

1. Ferns
2. Juice bar
3. Mirror (exept in the loo)
4. Machines
5. Plastic weights
6. Anyone with BO

I just need Pammy Anderson to hold a pair of focus mits for me and kind of jiggle up and down while im resting.

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Originally posted by guohuen
3. Mirror (exept in the loo)

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Actually, I find having a mirror in the gym to be pretty helpful for working on technique. You can't always tell when you're doing something incorrectly, and being able to see yourself from another angle can point out flaws in your game.

hmm
i would have to say a hyperbolic time chamber - 6 hours in there equals only one minute in the "real" world, and of course there would be an adjustable gravity machine in there as well - yea i watch too much DBZ, so what? :D

but since that will never happen, my dream gym contains
-lots of room
-high ceilings(for practice of long weapons)
-real nice quite secluded out door area as well
-weapons - all sorts
-my sifu
-hardcore training partners(luckily many of my kung fu bros are pretty hard)
-real nice shrines w/ incense always burning(nothing like training with the smell of incense burning - at least the incense my sifu uses not the cheap stuff)
-heavy bags galore
-huge vats of dit da jow
-people always their so you can train when you feel like it
-full contact gear
-straching machines/gear, maybe one of those pully things bruce lee use to use - those look good.
-lions for lion dance
-real nice chinese drum
-weights
-shower
-some sort of iron skill training equipment(i dunno i dont know any iron skills or what you need to train them)

and of course hot women that are impressed with your kung fu :)

um im sure ill think of other things along the way

btw on mirrors, they have good and bad points i think. true many people get to see what they look like while doing a technique or stance, but they are also very distracting and i think give you the tendency to look at them instead of where you should be looking(in forms for example). so i think i'd omit them or have some way to cover them when i dont want them

train hard

Sung Hi Lee.

A mirror is good to check the ming-men, to make sure the back is straight in relation to the pushing angle.

Also a plus, to always have someone who is just a little better then you to play with, someone who you can beat in Chi Sau 1 out of 7 tries.

Then a sparring partner you are a little better then, someone who catches you 1 in 10.

I set up my kung fu business as my "dream gym".

We're in a well lit parking lot on two major cross streets (Dobson and Warner) in the same complex as our town's "Justice Court" and the C-Fu Gourmet Restaurant (biggest Chinese restaurant in the East Valley).

I prefer cool colors, so the color scheme is blue and grey. We have a bright big lit up sign saying "Huang's Kung Fu Academy".

I have 2000 square feet, enough to have a reception area and 4 small rooms. Two are dressing rooms, two are offices. Our bathroom is in the back and kept very sparse.

We have no mats nor mirrors, as in real life there are no mats and mirrors when one is attacked. But we do have a mobile mirror and gymnastic mats that we use when practicing. Our floor is carpet - newly done.

The training space itself is spacious, a nearly square rectangle. There's enough room to walk the circle or do line drills. Observers can sit in a small alcove to watch the action.

I have a heavy emphasis on teaching women's self defense, as they're the ones who REALLY need to know how to defend themselves.

i would have two separate areas, one would be for modern training and one for traditional. in the modern, i'd have power racks, reverse-hyper and glute ham machines, bumper plates, med balls, lifting platforms, dipping and chinning stations, dumbells, bench, thick bars, and whatever else i want but i'm forgetting.
then i'd have the traditional area, with the weapons rack, mats, an area for meditation, a library, an herbal section, and my sifu's picture.
i'd have mirrors all over the place too. it would be so sweet to actually have a gym like this. oh yeah, i'd also make sure the place is feng shui'd out.

Dance floor
A mat for acrobacia
Section of teflon-coated floor like an ice rink
Chairs
A bag of some sort
Mirrors
Instrument rack (full)
Soundproofed walls and good acoustics
Instrument-making tools
Full spectrum lighting and windows
Hand targets, kicking shields
Video camera, VCR, and large screen monitor for playback
Some sort of contraption to practice sweeps on
Stereo system
Padded pole for drills
Comprehensive Portuguese dictionary
Box full of sticks and straight razors of various sorts
Good ventilation and AC
Showers
Anatomy reference text
Songbook with accompanying recordings
Cots
Hidy places

Any big empty room with a high ceiling which I can practice in any time I want (i.e. as opposed to spending an hour every day driving to the studio and back; that makes MA training strictly a once-a-day thing). Also a water bag, a floor-to-ceiling mirror and floor mats would be a big plus, and when matter replicators come out I can add my own GM Pan Qing Fu clone to help me with my break-falls.

-enough space to accomodate 15 people very comfortably

-high ceiling

-comfy poly-blend uniforms

-a full weapons rack

-easy to clean tile floor

-a couple fold-up judo mats

-thai pads and focus mits

-iron rings

-ten hard working people

I like the cute massage therapists in sheer robes.

People that fight.

Great workouts that energise.


Clear structured system.

Not getting hindered by instructors lack of techniques. "True knowlege is in the depth of the twist punch, so do it for 6 years and I'll teach you something I saw in a book"

Bags...a BOB.

Feng Shui'd school

Lots of hot chicks. Lots of them, sweating and sweet. In conjunction with this a soundproof changing room that locks and a break in between classes.

a school as a community.



Hot tea for winter tai chi days.

Stereo.

Courtyard

Hot chicks.

Mountain location, semi temple set up for people who want to chill, clean, train and figure out what to do with their lives.

Hot chicks at the temple uninhibited by religous guilt. A taoist temple...with taoist practices....hmmmmm...Taoist.

54X 72 feet

80, 100, 180, 350, &600 pound heavy bags

Hard wood floors, or concrete


All the training stuff I already have, only with room to use it.

A pile of land scaping rocks. You can get really creative and come up with lots of cool traditional looking exercises if you have a pile of assorted rocks.:cool:

This is simple.

Lots of space and enough students to cover rent and utilities. The rest is gravy.

Quote:

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Originally posted by HuangKaiVun
We have no mats nor mirrors, as in real life there are no mats and mirrors when one is attacked. But we do have a mobile mirror and gymnastic mats that we use when practicing. Our floor is carpet - newly done.

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Yeah, right. Because in real life there are no mats and mirrors, but everywhere is freshly carpeted.

:rolleyes:

A cute girl helping me train

sung hi lee??wow man not a bad choice after all...but i prefer her in bed :D with Kobe Tai

anyways in my dream Gym i want Chen Xiaowang, Ma Shanxu teaching me...who cares about stuff when those 2 guys r there teaching me...
-TkdWarrior-

Hm, I suposed i'd like to have people to work my Tai Tzu out in my club too, aside from the space and equiptment.

I think though, I'd equip it with a Wai Lun Choi first. If you have one of those, you really don't need much else.

I was being facetious. Mirrors are helpfull. When I wrote that, I was remembering walking down main st. a few months ago and looking in the window of a local tai chi school and seeing the school owner practicing form in the mirror with his class behind him. His form was so terrible and he was watching himself so intently that I had to move on because I was laughing so hard I almost hurled.

Here is what have envisioned over the past few years(this WILLbe a reality one day for me).

A place set up in the mountains either in New mexico or Canada. It would be like a center or a temple but not of any particular religious significance. All would be welcome there.

This would be a place where traditional and nontraditional martial artists could come and train by themselves or with others in positive exchanges of ideas tactics and philosophy.

there would be a Facilitator(me) who would guide the goings on at the center,,teach what i know and learn from others who are willing to share.

a hall type training area similar to that of a temple..NO MIRRORS. first aid courses and cpr as well as TCM and western principles would be present there.

sparring and fighting would be closely moderated but nothing would be withheld as i would want this to be a SERIOUS training hall. Not many would be able to come here for the soul reason that this WOULD be a serious training hall and that hurt and pain would be present here as well,,but the ability to heal and stop pain would also be a strong presence at the center i envision.

to elaborate the only rule about fighting and sparring would be this: spar with the notion that you are sparring a brother, a kindred spirit with whom,,just as you,,wishes to learn and test themselves,,,you do not spar an enemy, so you DO NOT treat your opponent as such.

finally,,,,,My center would charge nothing and ask only for what is required,,,be it blood, sweat tears,,and donation.

there is alot more that i could say but i wont. there are obvious realities that would be present at a place of this nature and i would trust that common sense would dictate what i will not drone on about in this post.

i hope everyones dream gym becomes a reality for them in some way or another.
Many respects,,The Willow Sword

Well, you must live differently Serpent.

In your world, there are mirrors and mats everywhere one steps.

I live in reality, and there are quite a few places with carpet.

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Originally posted by HuangKaiVun
Well, you must live differently Serpent.

In your world, there are mirrors and mats everywhere one steps.

I live in reality, and there are quite a few places with carpet.

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Yeah. I've often heard that one of the most common injuries in streetfighting are those darned carpet burns.

:rolleyes:

Dream Gym: For realism, all sparring is done in pools of stale beer and vomit.

"Required donations"? LOL, you must have torn a page out of the Shaolin business plan. ;)

i apologize,,my sentence usage sucks,,let me rephrase "

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finally,,,,,My center would charge nothing and ask only for what is required,,,be it blood, sweat tears,,and donation

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rephrased" finally my center would charge nothing and ask only for what is required,,,be it blood, sweat ,tears. Donations would be greatly appreciated to help keep the center going".

hope that is better and less "shaolin business plan" like. ;)

MRTWS

There are two gyms in my town, one of which I attend. But that gym doesn't have a look I'd like to see. First of all, there's not a lot of equipment or facilities to work out in. So you can't actually do all the exercises you want to do. Secondly, it's freezing, even during the workout, when it should be warm. I suggested the administrator use a column radiator to fit the style and solve this problem.

KC Elbows,

It is good to have dream sometimes even it cannot be realized. The dream can makes us feel good, help us to move forward in a positive direction.

My dream gym is not big, and it does not have every gym and MA equipment ever been invented. But it will help me train well. That is sufficient.




Regards,

KC
Hong Kong

There are two gyms in my town, one of which I attend. But that gym doesn't have a look I'd like to see.