All posts tagged: gyms

Doctors Want More Women Lifting Weights. Experts Say Welcoming Gyms and Education Would Help

Doctors Want More Women Lifting Weights. Experts Say Welcoming Gyms and Education Would Help

Published by Sam Flores

During her first year of college, Elisabeth Bradley was inspired to try weightlifting after she followed a woman tracking her fitness transformation on social media, one barbell at a time. Then, Bradley found herself to be the only woman in the weight room at San Diego State University. “I felt like I stuck out a lot, and I just thought, ‘OK, I’m gonna look dumb,’” she says. Intimidated by a room full of grunting, muscular men, she moved over to the cardio area, mirroring countless women who, for various reasons, avoid the free weights and machines. But with research mounting on the benefits of resistance training, experts say a few things need to change at the gym to make it more enticing to women. Michelle Segar, a behavioral scientist at the University of Michigan who studies exercise habits, said that making the environment more palatable and familiarizing women better with weights will lead more to use them. More representation will in turn get more women to continue. Why women should lift weights Resistance training has …

Best Smart Home Gyms for 2026

Best Smart Home Gyms for 2026

Published by skeptic

What we like about it: The Tempo Studio is a smart home gym that resembles an armoire, meant to blend in with your home. It’s an ideal smart home gym to own, whether you’re new or experienced with strength training. The Tempo Studio’s basic package comes well-equipped with two dumbbell bars, weight collars and five sets of weight plates from 1.25 to 25 pounds. The Tempo Studio is designed to hold all of its equipment neatly, so you won’t need to worry about it being spread across your living room floor. The top part of the studio consists of the touchscreen, while the bottom part has a cabinet that stows the weight plates out of sight. The back of the Tempo Studio has slot-like compartments that hold the barbell and dumbbell bars securely and safely in place. I recommend making sure you have room for the Tempo Studio before purchasing because the stand itself is large, and you also need an additional 6 feet of space in front of the screen so your body can …

Best strength training, weight lifting gyms in Los Angeles

Best strength training, weight lifting gyms in Los Angeles

Published by Sam Flores

Seasoned fitness coaches Mary Pelino and Lizzy Picardi met at their local powerlifting gym, where they instantly became friends in meet-cute fashion. The hours they spent together sparked the beginning of an idea: to open an inclusive, women-owned gym. After finding a space, Pelino and Picardi officially launched the small-but-mighty Rose City Barbell in the summer of 2022. “Our mission from the beginning,” Pelino told me, “has been to make humans stronger. That includes everyone — women, men, any gender, from beginners to advanced lifters.” This is why Pelino designs the Monday through Friday barbell programming with modifications in mind: so that everyone can perform the same lifts, no matter their skill level. I am self-conscious about my piddly strength, but when I walked into Rose City’s brick-lined main room, where there were daisies painted on the lilac-colored deadlift platforms, my lizard brain felt at ease. The gym was also stocked with a variety of inclusive, high-quality equipment, such as 15 to 55 pound specialty barbells, belts of all sizes, 10-pound bumper plates and fractional …

7 great indoor rock climbing gyms in L.A. and Orange County

7 great indoor rock climbing gyms in L.A. and Orange County

Published by Sam Flores

Attached to a rope 50 feet in the air, you hook your heel onto a tiny ledge above your waist and leverage your body up, your arm muscles quaking as you reach for the ultimate hold. “One more push, and I’ll finish this,” you tell yourself. As you stretch your body and finally reach the top, you exhale, reveling in a moment of sweet success before gliding down to the floor to do it all over again. In rock climbing, you perform feats you never thought you could, and the fun and feeling of achievement can be addictive. If you’re an old-school L.A. climber, you may remember a time when the city had no indoor climbing gyms. Luckily, that’s changed — climbing has grown steadily over the last five years at a rate of 4% per year, and there are now at least 486 climbing gyms in the U.S. Training indoors can help prepare you for the mighty challenge of climbing outdoors by strengthening the muscles you’ll need and honing your technique. But indoor climbing …