Went to touch fitness in maya and that sucked, its the closest to me so i figured why not. Got the day free though ..

i'm a bodybuilder, so i need the essentials, squat rack/various barbells/smith machine/etc, a good amount of free weights, machines. preferably two calf machines, because WE fitness in bkk sucked for that

Anyways i have my eyes on Harris Fitness(the second closest gym to me) /

GO gym Chiang Mai! (don't like the idea its not air-conditioned) i sweat like a pig with or without my long sleeve shirt. /

Fitness Thailand OR hillside 4 fitness

Don't want to go to powerhouse, didn't like what i saw, and far too small.

Any recommendations are greatly appreciated!

Thank you everyone =)

I don't like big sweaty guys hogging the machines so I'm not gonna tell you where.

Bad news. When California Wow! closed I visited several fitness places. Then I ordered a cross cable machine from Seara in BKK. $4,000 dollars (cursing the cost). I bought weight benches, mats, weights, medicine balls, and a roll of stretchy rubber, a treadmill and vibration plate. Then I hired Kru Ta, my trainer, a second generation muay thai fighter and black belt in Taekwondo. After California Wow! nothing came close to what I wanted. So now I've got a DIY gym in my house and my own trainer. Of course you don't have to spend that much. You can get used equipment and mats. You can make slosh pipes with 4" PVC and stagger down the road at dawn. I did not go to the 700 year gov fitness center. Maybe there you can find something more serious than a slosh pipe. I'm a 72-year old swimmer trying to stay strong enough to swim 5 K. What I've got works for me.

"Could someone recommend a good gym"

Short answer, no.

Long answers--check out http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/66816-best-gym-in-chiang-mai/?hl=%2Bgym. The last update is about nine months old, but, with the exception of the place at Maya, I don't think the situation has changed much.

Fitness Thailand still lets expensive equipment sit unusable for months for lack of simple repairs, still has more weight plates and dumbbells scattered around on the floor than on the weight racks, and still has people who spend much more time playing with their phones than exercising while they're 'using' equipment. Sadly, it is still the best option in Chiang Mai that I know of.

The gyms in Chiang Mai are nothing to write home about, except for the upscale Shangri-La Hotel gym. Broken, antiquated or limited range of equipment, too crowded, loud music, lack of gym etiquette, inadequate or non-existent showers, no a/c, boutique pricing, etc. I have visited them all and have not been impressed by any of them, at best they're just "ok.".Hopefully one will come along with a real wow factor.

I like the Fitness Center on the 4th. floor of the Centara (aka Duangtawan) Hotel in the Night Bazaar. Last time I looked 12k baht per year.

Whether its range of equipment would match your spec qua "body-building," I'm not sure, because I am at the stage where I am no longer building the meat-package, but just trying to maintain the currently falling-apart pile of flesh and bones in usable condition.

However, I do observe some serious muscularity-addict types practicing hypertrophy there.

I'm usually there at hours when there are fewer people, enjoy the lack of crowd.. Good sauna. Nice pool, though it's an awkward shape (L-shape) for swimming laps. Equipment maintained better than the other clubs I've used here.

~o:37;

Interesting. Thank you for all the replies everyone =)

So i spoke to a thai girl who frequents the gyms here and she told me hillside doesn't have the equipment for a bodybuilder compared to Go GYM (off super highway) BUT Go Gym has no air conditioning. Don't want to have a heat stroke

So will check out Harris tomorrow then if thats no good Fitness Thailand / City gym

Anymore recommendations are welcome!

Interesting. Thank you for all the replies everyone =)

So i spoke to a thai girl who frequents the gyms here and she told me hillside doesn't have the equipment for a bodybuilder compared to Go GYM (off super highway) BUT Go Gym has no air conditioning. Don't want to have a heat stroke

So will check out Harris tomorrow then if thats no good Fitness Thailand / City gym

Anymore recommendations are welcome!

First time I was here I trained at the gym at the old 700 centre here in town, where the 400m running track is. Talk about old gym ... No aircon there either, but in truth, one does get used to it.

Walking around the Maya gym once at night while waiting for the cinema to start, it's easy to see why that gym would suck. Even the upper-class babes I guess train there is not enough of a positive to compensate for the lack of a squat rack. But then, is anything?

I have not been to GO gym, but of the others you mentioned, I'd choose FT. Probably it is also the cheapest. Old equipment that is neither of all that good quality, nor all that fast on getting repaired when it breakes, but it is big and has a decent range of stuff. Difficult to forgive that whatever dofus purchased the barbells, purchased some low quality 15kg junk, but still, ok, kind of. Perhaps the fact that a gym with low quality 15kg barbells is considered "ok", and even is the preferred gym by some, is quite telling of the situation here.

City gym is the best gym I've seen here, but small, out in nowhere land, and I got tired of being surrounded by 99.999% dudes, half of them training in their boxers only.

Perhaps you'd fit right in, with your shirt off? People were friendly though, the gym was unusually well maintained and clean I thought on virtually every visit, and the price good. For half-serious bodybuilders, I'd guess it might be one of the best here, though 4-5 years since I was there last. Was a nice place to train at I thought.

Another gym that opened a year or two ago, but which I have not seen mentioned much here, is "extreme fitness", or something like that. I think I may remember the name wrong, since I cannot google it, but location is approximately this:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/%E0%B8%96%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%99+%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%95%E0%B8%99%E0%B9%82%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%97%E0%B8%A3%E0%B9%8C+Tambon+Chang+Moi,+Amphoe+Mueang+Chiang+Mai,+Chang+Wat+Chiang+Mai+50300,+Thailand/@18.8003763,98.996954,17z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x30da3ab93187e503:0x56499bc17ba4e2c3

Not sure why that link comes out a little wrong. It's about 300m west of what the link shows.

Looks like some sort of gay massage with all the posters on the outside I thought, but who knows.

Have you tried GYMKHANA?

Nice meals there too. (Sorry, late at night and I just couldn't resist.)

exclusive has air con, i cant remember what equipment they had exactly but they do have a power rack and a smith machine, i train at go gym in the morning when they open at 8am and the heat isnt a big deal

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Exclusive-Fitness-Training/193921287421134

@awk - you are a wealth of information. Thanks. To be honest, i don't care if the equipment is old or whatever, as long as i can get a 1hr 1/2 workout in and not be walking around the whole time looking for missing weights. Today i'll go to try Harris , then tomorrow a different place, possibly Fitness Thailand like you mention.

@willfreeman - yeah my normal gyms times are 8-12 . So their are no fans at all in Go Gym? I would probably pass a stroke their, don't have a doubt. Imagine in a place with full air con, i'm drenched in about 2 liters of sweat easily.

choices...

they have fans at go gym and you will acclimatize to the heat, 60 baht per visit or 3500 baht for six months, i only train in the morning and its not to busy but i believe it is packed in the evening

city gym is ok, but they have shitty barbells that wont take more than 100kg before they bend, neighbors have complained about noise from deadlifting and some of the equipment like the leg press needs an overhaul - new rollers/runners etc. they other thing about city gym is its in a housing estate so be prepared to be chased by dogs while riding your bike

exclusive would fit they bill for you i think buts its a bit more expensive

unfortunately none of the gyms here are perfect, go gym has squat racks on a soft floor octagonal plates which are a pain for deadlifting, other gyms have shitty barbells, some gyms dont maintain their equipment

depending on where you live you might like tm muscle gym, ive never trained there but it looks good, apparently some of the local bodybuilders train there some pretty big guys, its out by the railway station

https://www.facebook.com/TM.Muscle?fref=ts

@will freeman - Thank you sir! Honestly i think I'm going to have to suck it up and go to Go Gym!

I went to Harris Fitness today and its not equipped well enough for an amateur bodybuilder. So don't go their if your serious about lifting. Will try Go Gym tomorrow and hope i don't pass out ha

The gym in Duwangtuwan is OK.

There is an "openair/ undercover" gym in here...

https://www.google.com/maps/@18.811189,98.980611,3a,75y,177.96h,75.07t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sZh6TWr6gFpaYJas5aeEGOw!2e0

in Chiang Puak area. It's at the right hand end of the covered area you can see.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/%E0%B8%96%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%99+%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%95%E0%B8%99%E0%B9%82%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%97%E0%B8%A3%E0%B9%8C+Tambon+Chang+Moi,+Amphoe+Mueang+Chiang+Mai,+Chang+Wat+Chiang+Mai+50300,+Thailand/@18.8106569,98.9804587,211m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x30da3ab7abf0e3fd:0x1dde2e034747cc9b

"Power House" is great. Nimmanh. Rd. Soi 6.

Nice staff. Wide space. HD equipment. Clean. Car / motorcycle park.