Well maintained bars at Evo Strength and Fitness (Saigon)

One of my pet peeves for gyms involves whether the bars are properly maintained or not. Sadly, with the huge popularity of CrossFit gyms around the world, most of the bars of the gyms I visited are not maintained. A well maintained bar show that the gym owners actually care for their equipment which, in turn, shows they care for their members. When performing cleans and snatches, the plates need to spin or you could possibly get injured. Many new to weightlifting do not realize this so the bars tend to get very rusty just after a couple months.

My CrossFit gym in Shanghai, CrossFit Bellwether, had a former national weightlifting team member running the gym. This meant the bars were always maintained and oiled. Something important in a high humidity area such as Shanghai.

Evo Strength and Fitness Gym, at LuxCity in District 7, is the second gym I ever visited that properly maintained their bars. In fact I think the owner, Powerlifter Daniel Frazier, cleans his bars every night. Every time I show up to Evo in the morning, the bars are amazingly clean. In fact, you will notice all Evo’s equipment in very good condition. Makes for a good workout environment.

There are other gyms in Saigon that maintain their bars as well. I spoke with the Old School Gym owner a year ago. He mentioned that they will clean their barbells weekly. Hence his Old School’s equipment are always in good condition as well. With the proliferation of new Powerlifting gyms across Vietnam, you will probably see more and more gyms starting to maintain their bars. That is a very good sign of a well run gym now.