Sunday, October 9, 2016

Indonesia - Boss Gym, Semarang, Java


Location: Boss Gym, Bongsari, West Semerang, Semarang City, Central Java, Indonesia 
Google maps: Click here
Tel: 024-70164226
Price: 6000 rps (approx £0.60)

Review: I think that Boss Gym may have been one of the strangest places that I have been able to train on this trip. And one of the cheapest. 

Boss Gym appears to be set up on the ground floor of the owners house. There is no reception as such and as a result, I ended up wandering into the downstair part of the home to find someone to ask if I could train there. I think that the owner must build gym machines, as the ground floor was full of parts, which looked like they were ready to ship out.

I did manage to find the owner, Mr Agus Suramto. Agus was a lovely and friendly guy, in great shape for his age. I always trust a gym where the owner is huge. He showed me the honesty box by the door, which was 6000 rps for a day pass. Just let me put that in context, that is about 0.40 pence. Agus also introduced me to his son, who helped translate for us and some of his regulars who were training at the time. I have to say that all of these guys were in great shape and were making the most out of the equipment available. 

The gym itself on the smaller side, with no air conditioning or fans. The equipment looks to be the same as that made by Agus downstairs. It is basic, and there is only a cross trainer as cardio equipment here, but it has everything you need to get in a workout as long as you can be a little creative. I decided to do some bodyweight arms exercises, backed into drop sets. I started with slow deceleration negative pull ups into hammer curls and slow deceleration negative dips into kickbacks. You get the idea. 

Equipment wise, this gym has:
  •  Dumbbells to approx 20kg 
  •  Easy bars 
  •  Hammer curl bar 
  •  Three smith machines 
  •  Lat pull down 
  •  Seated low row
  •  Cables 
  •  Chest press machine 
  •  Adjustable benches 
  •  Pec Dec
  •  Plenty of plates of all sizes.
  •  Leg extension 
  •  Leg curls 
  •  Preacher curl bench 

Who is this gym for? Although it was clear from the reception that I got that they do not get many tourists here, I was made to feel very welcome here. I would have no worried about training in Boss Gym again, rather I would seek this place out of I ever go back to Semarang. If you are looking for a health club, or state of the art equipment then this will not be for you, but then again I doubt you will find that at all in a place like this. I liked Agus and his family and it would be great to send a few more of you to check this place out. 

There is no water, protein or sweat towels available here, so make sure that you bring in everything you need. There are plenty of little shops in the area around there to buy water or redbull.


Tips: The place can be a little hard to find as it just looks like a house, so I have included some photos of the outside. It is where Google maps says it is, and there is sometimes a restaurant set up in the road next door. 

If you do go, tell him Tariq sent you. I know it would mean a lot to him. We are Facebook friends now and he leaves me comments in Indonesian, Help him and his family and go to the gym! Money goes in the honesty box which is to the right hand side of the door when you walk into the gym. 

Photos:


















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