Strength gym · Mill District
Twelve people on the floor. One coach who knows every one of their names, every one of their numbers, and exactly what they are lifting on Thursday.
12 on the floor 75 min sessions No contracts
Big-box floors are built around throughput. Four hundred members, ninety machines, a bank of televisions, and a front desk whose actual job is renewals. Nobody there is responsible for whether you get stronger. That isn't cynicism — it's just the business model, and it works fine for the people selling it.
We built the opposite on purpose. One room, eight platforms, a rack of oak-handled bells and enough plates for everyone in it. No mirror wall, no screens, no sales floor. If you walk in and nobody says your name in the first ten seconds, something has gone wrong.
What that buys you is boring and it is the whole point: someone is watching your third rep and adjusting your fourth. Someone remembers what your back did in February. Progress stops being a thing you hope for and starts being a thing that is written down.
No phases named after seasons, no app that guesses. Three stages, run in order, for as long as each one takes you.
Your first month is spent finding out what your hips, shoulders and ankles will actually let you do — under an empty bar, then a light one. We film the squat, the hinge, the press and the carry, and we keep the footage so that in October you can see what April looked like. Most people arrive expecting a test. It's closer to an intake.
4 sessions/wk max1:6 coach ratio0 percent 1RM
Squat, deadlift, press, row, chin. Written in four-week waves, each one ending lighter than it started so you finish able to train again on Monday. Loads are set from the previous week's logbook, not from a percentage of a max you hit once when you were fresh and lying to yourself. Accessory work exists to keep the five lifts moving — it isn't a category of its own.
5 core lifts4 week waves75 min sessions
The interesting part of strength isn't reaching a number. It's still owning that number at fifty-five, with the same shoulders. Long-term members drop to two hard sessions a week plus one loose one, cycle intensity around whatever life is doing, and get re-assessed every quarter. This is the stage most of the room is in.
2–3 sessions/wk90 day re-assess1 logbook, kept
The coaching model
Every session on this floor is written the night before by the person who runs it. Nothing here is generated, and nothing is reused because it worked for somebody else.
— How we work, posted on the wall by the chalk bowl
Twelve spots per block. Booking opens seven days out; walk-ins get the bar if the room isn't full.
| Day | Time | Block | Cap | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 06:00 · 12:00 · 18:00 | Squat & press | 12 | Heaviest day of the wave |
| Tuesday | 06:30 · 17:30 | Pull & carry | 12 | Deadlift variants |
| Wednesday | 06:00 · 12:00 · 18:00 | Squat & press | 12 | Lighter, technique focus |
| Thursday | 06:30 · 17:30 | Intake & assessment | 6 | First-month members only |
| Friday | 06:00 · 12:00 · 17:00 | Full lift | 12 | Wave test week only |
| Saturday | 08:00 · 10:00 | Open platform | 10 | Coached, self-paced |
| Sunday | — | Closed | — | Floor is refinished monthly |
Times are local. Holiday weeks run a single 09:00 block — posted on the door and emailed the Friday before.
One session, coached start to finish, no card and no tour. If it isn't your room, you'll know inside an hour — and we'd rather you found out for free.
Book a first sessionReply usually lands the same day. Sessions start at 06:00.