Last weekend I went and trained in a commercial gym for the first time in…. a long time. I won’t say it’s name but it was one of those cheap ones that is open 24 hours a day. It had loads of machines, a reasonable amount of free weights, one lifting platform with rubbish barbells and what they call a ‘functional rig’ in the middle. I got a decent session done but really did not enjoy it!

As soon as I walked in my enthusiasm and intentions of smashing out a big training session just fizzled away. Sounds a bit dramatic I know but it felt like I’d entered a factory, that I was an animal entering a battery barn to be bulked up ready to be sent to the slaughterhouse.

The lighting was dim with only one window letting in a small amount of natural light into the corner…