The Iron Asylum Gym - Kempsville — Local services in Virginia Beach

Instead of 1star I gave 2 because the owner is a really great guy and cares about his facilities, their conditions and members. Aside from that I did not have a great experience in the 6 months I was there.

TL; DR: Why operate a 24 hour gym and have members sign a waiver if they cannot be treated like adults? Seemingly lack of experience in conflict management led management to get offended when I sought clarification on their verbal polices after 5 months of working out! Good owner/facility, poor management

Pros: well equipped facility, 24 hr access

Cons: facility cleanliness, staff turnover(with policy changes each new manager). I never went in the evenings so I could imagine it may get crowded in the peak hours Worked out in the AM and while they had a janitor/cleaning lady there at 5am (she may be staff but their emails and website say staffed from 8am on so I assume she is just there to clean?) it was always very dusty and dirty. Now the benches dumbells, cardio...things the members clean after they use were typically clean but bathrooms, shower areas (not vented) and floors were usually very dirty. There would be water/sweat marks on the floor for days and the walls had scuff marks and racks holding med and wall balls were falling apart Relating to the staff comment I joined August 2019 with about 6 others when our gym closed down. The manager was great about welcoming us and understanding that we typically work out as a group but respect the atmosphere and try to stay out of others ways. In early 2020 the prior manager Laura left for bigger and better things and Trey Swindler took over (I'm not making fun/jokes that is his name) and Kacey Livingston was promoted to asst manager and the environment started to change. The group I work out with was told not to put our bags against the wall where we were trying to stay out of the way. Since the waiver IA makes you sign specifically waives any liability to lost, stolen or damaged items I questioned what prompted this policy change directed at us. We finally settled on two options suitable for us, put our groups bag by the trashcans in the corner out of the way or we were welcome to do what ALOT of other members were doing and keep bags on the workout floor near our working area. (this is their verbal unofficial policy and it really seemed counter intuitive to me to have 6-8 bags from our workout crew scattered on the floor so I wanted to follow their policy and chose that option). Next instance comes when I was asked to use clips on barbells. I understand clips when working out but warming up squats, bench etc or various programs I follow where the sub maximal weight is changed different % each rep minute by minute seemed like a tedious step to just throw a clip on for 3 squats at 64% of a max! When asked to clip my bar I put clips on the ends, very childish and a nice way to thumb-my-nose at authority by doing what they request but in the most literal sense of the instruction (foreshadowing they did not like that). The following day I was contacted by the Asst manager calling my cell at work reminding me to clips the bar and complain again about the gym bags, I just took from that conversation that I would follow their permission given to everyone else and keep my bag by my person and place of workout on the floor! The following day I made sure to use 2 clips on each end of my bar for extra safety, if one is safe 2 is safer! Instead of being adults or coming to talk to me they sighted this reason (clips) to cancel my membership. Very odd and kind of immature instead of dealing with someone they just nix their contract. I have provided the email exchanges below as they also sighted this as sarcastic email responses that are unnecessary for them to deal with? Seems like ego or lack of experience combined with a sudden position of authority may play a part in this decision but I think eventually the staff will turnover or learn how to deal with people and resolve an issue instead of just flexing (pun intended) and cancelling...

Okay honest review here. Not a bad gym, but if Saul Goodman was a member at this gym you guys wouldve been in trouble. Staff is great. Gym enviroment and type of equipment variety* is great. The members are solid. Theres a good culture here about not acting like a douch in the gym and i admire that greatly. This is a small gym, but it doesnt seem like ive ever experienced it be "over filled" but it gets packed easily... Sometimes, You dont know where to stand inbetween your sets by how close different equipment are.

People are writing reviews here about how the equipment is amazing and the best thing since sliced bread and couldnt be better - maybe that was true some time ago but several equipment are complete HAZARDS. if you come to this gym, be careful of the equipment im listing here in this review:

Speed bag -EXTREME CARE when handling this, its about +50 lbs and its ALMOST CRASHED ON MY HEAD while in use... the bolts cannot tighten on one side so use at your own risk [which i still do anyways, but VERY carefully]

Hip Thrust Machine Belt tore off IN USE as a member was using this... belt is extremely worn out and will shift around during use, so be prepared for bruising of your illiac crest next day... the belt buckle WILL OPEN if your moving the weight too fast... new nautilus belt will cost $400 and it will likely be the only time it needs to be replaced...

Pec deck / rear fly machine the seat does not lock like normal, likely because it was once repaired by a wrong sized bolt, so the seat is not stable... the seat crashed down as i was using it because i thought it was locked [even pressed the seat with my weight on top with my hand to check it was stable]. Once i started using it, the seat crashes down. Good luck to your Lumbar discs if you werent bracing yourself. Staff member was very good about addressing this. I think the seat has been fixed, but the seat is still unstable / shakes around...

Preacher Curl kind of oddly placed in the gym imo, and sort of makes you feel like your in the way of the db racks and benches. Again, the seat does lock, but is very unstable and shakes around.

Leg press machine it was broken the other day/"do not use" sign, but seeing the other Hazards here, thats one im not taking the risk for.

These equipment are a safety issue... Its a risk to the user and the business owner.

Some general critiques

Minimal types of equipment Your not just paying for one location which is great, but at this gym theres 4 treadmills [3 if one of them stops working, which does happen).. theres a room with two platforms, and no one uses them (no one wants to deadlift/clean & press in a empty room with no mirrors). I think this space could be used better for cardio equipment/leg focused machines. The members here are not snobby, theyre all pleasant people and will work in with you if you ask. I like the members, mostly. But get used go asking if someone will be done / if you can switch in between - not an issue at all with me. Everyone has been very respectful towards me.

Really if it weren't for the hazardous equipment, this gym is great. Parking kind of sucks, but its a good gym *if you live in the Chesapeake area. The Norfolk IA is amazing and huge. I like the specialty equipment, they're just very limited in the gym (e.g. one preacher curl; 3 total incline benches for DB's; 3-4 treadmills) but they have a crossfit racks for whatever, 4-6 DL platforms, 4 - 5 squat racks, plenty of barbell bench press with good safety pins.

If you have concerns about the gym... they take it seriously. I never been in a gym until now where the owner / staff actually repaired their...

Iron Asylum at Kempsville Location: A Haven for Fitness Enthusiasts!

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