gyms with bad vibes

so im quite happy with the gym im at at the moment
i have access to a power rack, some logs, a trap bar and all the other basics.
there is another "proper" weight lifting gym close by that has some pretty stellar stuff but fuck the attitude of the place is like the gym in oz.
its got a viking press, 4 squat racks rather than 1, chains and tons of strongman equipment. however the place has the worst attitude ever, its full of wannabe gangsters and "cage fighters". i wore a gracie barra competition t shirt i had won to this place and i got asked about 5 times within an hour if "i thought i was tough" or if i wanted a fight.
the age difference between the two gyms is pretty obvious as well, the bad attitude gym is lots of young guys in there 20s driving around in sports cars whilst the gym where i train is lots of friendly blue collar guys.
ive encountered similar sorts of things with martial arts clubs, i travel with work so i sometimes try a local martial arts club. you walk in and you get welcomed straight away to a friendly atmosphere or your straight in as fodder and get the shit kicked out of you and used as training practice for some guy who is trying to go pro.
i know some of you will say shit like "man up" or whatever but have any of you encountered gyms with straight up bad atmospheres?

 

No. I've never in my life walked into a new gym and had multiple people ask me if "I thought I was tough" or if "I wanted to fight."

And sorry, but when people make this sort of thread, I automatically assume they're somehow contributing to the lukewarm reception they're receiving.

 

dude i keep myself to myself at all times in the gym. i normally have my ipod and just concentrate on my training. the gym i currently use has a really great friendly atmosphere whilst ive tried this other place a few times and each time its a shit vibe.

 

Every gym I've ever been to buys new vibrators each month and makes sure they are used with a condom as to...oh wait...

*slowly pulls out of the thread*

 

i prefer rampant rabbits and speculums

 

I mean, if the atmosphere is *that* bad and it's going to affect how you train, then I suppose it isn't worth it. I've been in gyms with bad atmospheres before, but for different reasons (in other words, fitness centers with bad music and no-chalk policies) and it's been worthwhile when I've had no other options and have been able to tune it out.

But if people are honestly asking if you want to fight on the first day, it's probably not the best--or even the safest--place for you.

 

I mean, I can tune a lot of shit out, but if someone's going to bludgeon me with an EZ curl bar while I'm attempting a max squat, it's probably not a good trade-off, no matter what the equipment situation is.

 

Thats what you get for squating in the curl rack

 

Keo, if I ever make it to Iowa to lift with you, I swear I will find an ez-curl bar and attempt to bludgeon you while you're squatting just so you can say it happened. Then, you can tell the gym idiot story about how you dropped a bar with 495+ on it on some idiot who was trying to bludgeon you with an ez-curl bar.

 

I lifted at a gym on the east coast (US) last year & forgot my head phones. As luck would have it, the guys either side of me in the gym had their headphones on & they were angrily rapping out loud while working out. Different songs of course, but it was like I was benching in the middle of a rap battle. That was a weird vibe.

 

This was the norm at my old gym. Awful.

 

hi i hope you dont mind me asking as your an amateur fighter
why do some martial arts gyms have such differing attitudes
some are very friendly whilst some want to beat the shit out of you the first night
a buddy of mine decided to do the whole "get fit" thing and went to a local kickboxing club
the head coach beat the shit out of him the first night and broke 3 of his ribs
do some gyms just use new people as training fodder for there established guys?
im amazed at how a business model like that can work

 

TS sounds like the problem here.

 

and why is that?

 

the gym I go to feels like a cattle car.Whenever I workout I keep to myself.Not that many machines,a couple racks of free weights,decent size cardio area.The only thing about my gym I didn't like is that it used to feel like a high school reunion.People who you were glad to NOT see for years work out there.Luckily now,thats not so much a problem.

 

Come at me, EZ-curl-bar-wielding bro.

 

Maybe your friend acted like a dick, so the coach wailed on him. Shit like that happens. But when it does it shows how unprofessional and undisciplined those coaches are.

 

Maybe it's a body language thing?

 

There's no way I'd be intimidated out of a really awesome gym by the existing clientele.

I can't even picture a public gym where multiple people would ask you if you thought you were tough or wanted to fight completely out of the blue, though.

 

I know, right?