The Varsity Gym

I joined Varsity about a year ago, after seeing my not so healthy brother inspired to workout and eat clean. After finding out his secret was joining Varsity, I instantly had to find out more. I
I popped in and spoke to Andy, who booked me in for an assessment. I think he could tell I was way out my comfort zone! Me and a warehouse gym and not two things that I ever thought would go together. However both Andy and Chris are extremely qualified and experienced coaches.
The free assessment session was extremely informative and I quickly realised that these guys weren’t just your average gym guys, they know their stuff. I got advice on everything from posture to diet. I was shown how to use a foam roller to ease my aches n pains from playing roller derby.
I was hooked! I signed up on the spot and haven’t looked back since!
All programmes are personalised to your own goals and target, with lots of advice on how to align nutrition with your workouts.
The «Warrior» conditioning classes are on 3 times a week and have boosted my fitness beyond my expectations :)
I will never step foot in an average gym, If I cant smash, flip or drag things Im not interested :)

Second review of a gym in a week? Who am I?! Well, I’ve been trying to find something extra to add to my exercise régime meaning I’ve tried out a couple of different classes recently, hoping to find the one that really suits me.
Well, I think I’ve found it, at Varsity Gym in the East End. I was put off even trying this class because I don’t stay in the East End but I found I can get here from my house in 20 minutes so I’m happy with that. I also have a theory I can get anywhere in Glasgow in 20 minutes which makes me love Glasgow even more (nice one, M8).
It’s easy to find, just along from Tennent’s on Duke Street, and right next to Papa Johns in case you need a post-​workout pizza. (Kidding, I only eat pakora after exercising). The gym space is pretty big and you’ll be greeted warmly when you arrive. I first went along on Friday — they put on a special Warrior class for my roller derby team focussed on team bonding which was awesome. I went back on Monday to try out their Warrior class (mind you, I could barely walk between Friday and Monday but at least it was a good workout).
There’s changing rooms, a warm up area, a place to leave your bag, water & towel as well as a really big gym space with weights as well as a free space area for the classes. They could easily fit in 20 people for Warrior without it feeling crowded, and the atmosphere is one of being friendly & encouraging rather than hostile & shouty. Everyone in the class was nice as well, introducing themselves and really being supportive when we were doing a sprint team challenge.
What kind of exercise does it include? Well, honestly, it’s a bit of a killer. There’s around a 15 minute warm up (which is a challenge in itself) and then you might do a mix of tabata body weight exercises as well as kettlebells. There is also a sledgehammer and massive tyres but I haven’t gotten to play with those yet. The exercise includes squats, planks, lunges, press ups, star jumps, sprints, bear crawls, crunches, burpees … most exercises you can imagine and lots of pain. I was literally dripping with sweat doing the class and really appreciated the water breaks!
The instructors are friendly guys who won’t yell at you during the class. If you need help or guidance they’re right there, and they’ll correct your form but you won’t hear «Briony, what the bloody hell are you doing lying there on the floor?!» or anything demeaning like that. They really know their stuff and the classes are planned in a way to really push you to keep going.
The Warrior classes are on a pay as you go set up, meaning you just pay £5 a session rather than monthly fees. This suits me perfectly as I often have other commitments during the week (like throwing awesome Unilocal events!) so it’s nice to be able to just pay for the sessions I can go to rather than seeing that direct debit drip out of my account every month and descending into a shame spiral of guilt.