Chiseled Life Gym — Attraction in Columbia

I really want to give this gym five stars. I really do. The vast majority of the time, it is great. The machines are very nice and generally well maintained, repairs happen quickly, the staff is overall fairly nice based off the handful of interactions I’ve had with them. That being said, the clientele of this gym is horrendous, and the gym staff rarely enforce the gym policies. Tripods everywhere, people posing in the middle of the gym floor, weights not being sorted or put back entirely, and machines are rarely ever wiped off after use. When machines do go down, it’s generally due to misuse by gym members, and people disregard all signs regarding proper use of equipment. This is also the first gym I’ve ever been to where the smell of BO is so bad that it disrupts my workout. I know that sounds ridiculous, but show up any weekday from 5-7pm and you’ll see what I mean.

I go at various times of the day, and I’ve noticed that starting around 9PM, all rules go out the window. Almost every day that I’ve come around that time, there’s routinely someone in the studio working out without a shirt on, with a tripod and camera set up at the other end of the studio, meaning anyone who wants to use the studio is relegated to half of the room unless you want to be in his shot. There are signs everywhere saying shirts are required specifically in the studio, there are cameras everywhere, yet I see the same guy every day disregarding this rule and not being held accountable.

Additionally around this time, there’s another person who comes with a giant duffle bag full of dirty towels that he then will use to block off anywhere from 5 to 8 pieces of equipment for the entire duration of his workout, which is usually around 2 hours. For instance, today he blocked off the leg press, two squat racks, a flat bench, the seated calf raise, a row machine, a set of cables, preacher curl, and numerous free weights. I’ve gotten into prior altercations with this man before as he tried to kick me off the leg press while I was using it a few months back, and have mentioned his behavior to gym staff numerous times. I was told tonight that there is nothing that they can do as he isn’t actively disrupting anybody. Frankly, I’d argue the fact that I’ve complained multiple times and am now writing this review is proof enough that he’s disrupting at least one person, and from what it sounded like, this man has caused issues with other members in the past as well. I no longer use any of the machines he regularly uses in my workouts because I don’t want to get into another altercation with him, and often have to modify my workouts to avoid him because he routinely smells bad.

Overall this is a five star gym if you’re willing to go between the hours of 3AM to 10AM due to the great selection of equipment, but outside of that time frame, between the poor etiquette of the majority of the members, how crowded it gets, and the lack of policy enforcement by the gym staff, I’d have a hard time...

This review is for Coach Rocky Conejos.

For context, I have been working on strength conditioning for the last 10 years. 7 out of those 10 years have been spent in strength and endurance training - OCR and CrossFit.

When I first started working with Rocky, I had two goals - get better at Olympic Lifting and try my best to stay injury free. I knew, for me, I would need to work with someone who would be patient with me as I tend to be injury prone. As Rocky and I continued to work together, my goals shifted from Olympic Lifting to Powerlifting and I asked for some help to get ready for an upcoming CrossFit competition in the middle of my Powerlifting training.

Rocky has met and exceeded my expectations in so many ways. First, he is highly intelligent and has kept me free from injury with his science-backed strategies. This man is a miracle worker! I appreciate how he is able to identify my issues and strengthen those areas to keep me going. Second, he is able to pivot to whatever my new goal is or whatever life situation I am in. He is an amazing leader who can deal with change very well without any frustration. Third, he is incredibly humble, understanding, genuine, patient, and feels such joy when he sees his clients succeed. This is a man who genuinely cares about his clients. I am so grateful for his attention to detail, ability to pivot, intelligence, and care. His coaching/leadership style has made me accomplish goals I never thought I would ever accomplish. Not to mention, he keeps me laughing and feeling happy during our sessions.

I am 41 years old, and I hit a plateau with all of my lifts. I was very sad. I thought my strength journey was over due to my age and multiple injuries. Rocky showed me that this wasn't the end for me. Because of him, all of my lifts have improved. My deadlift has increased by 40lbs! He also helped me gain the confidence to compete in Powerlifting meets which has resulted in multiple state records and number 3 worldwide for my age division.

It has been an absolute joy working with Rocky over the last two years and I look forward to our...

If this gym was a sandwich, it would be a turkey sandwich. But! It would be a very nice turkey sandwich made of the best ingredients from the farmer’s market. Two basic ingredients for a good gym are equipment and a healthy/positive environment. This gym of course has both of those things but it’s just better.

There’s equipment here that’s difficult to find in most commercial gyms like a belt squat and the rogue reverse hyper rh-2. For equipment you can commonly find in commercial gyms, chiseled’s gym equipment is simply better since they have arsenal equipment.

I’ve been a member for almost 2 years now and found practically everyone to be friendly here. The management team and staff have been great too. I appreciate that they are constantly improving the gym. Anything from rearranging the layout of equipment to major projects like updating the floors and lights. Also I had a billing issue where I was at fault since my credit card expired and I failed to update my info. I was willing to eat the auto penalty fee, but I was refunded the amount after updating my info with the help of the staff who kindly notified the owner.

Just like a turkey sandwich, a gym can be just as basic; four walls, roof, barbells, weights, and people. This gym might be made of the same ingredients as others, but it’s not of the same quality....