I will start off by giving the reader a simple synopsis. This is the worst gym I have ever been too. This gym ruined my life and you shouldn't trust the trainers here or the owner. It's also over priced and you'll run into people with bad attitudes and exhibit cult like behavior towards the owner. Do NOT do starting strength or any other kind of training here. Worse case scenario you'll become seriously injured and potentially disabled (like me). Think I'm joking? Read on.
I'll start from the beginning. I had no previous work out experience outside of P90X so I came to this gym to do a program called Starting Strength. I figured this was the right gym to come to since the owner, Michael Street, has worked with Mark Rippetoe and was mentioned in his book "Starting Strength". This gym seemed to have exactly what I wanted so naturally I signed up for their Starting Strength program. Instead of working with Michael directly, or even partially, I was given a 23 year old trainer straight out of college named Emily Stanford. My first red flag. I probably shouldn't have accepted someone so inexperienced, but I figured she would be under Michael's guidance. Besides, Starting Strength isn't a complex workout regiment.
From the get go I felt out of place. People here seem nice but they really have this kinda "gym bro" attitude and a cult of Michael (the owner). Anything he says goes. Any opinion or thought he has is the thought to have. Another red flag but I ignored it because I really did want to get into better shape and everyone on the internet says this is the program to start with. So I started with this program.
I started my weight really light and it was relatively easy for the first 2 months. I had no interaction with Michael which I thought was kinda unfair considering how much I was paying. Another red flag that I ignored. Eventually the gym was moved to another location which was really shitty compared to where we were. It was smaller with less racks, crowded and overall dirty compared to the original gym.
At this point there was an intern guy there and he was assigned to me. I don't know why I accepted this as I'm getting an even less experienced person. I also hit a limit on my back squat so I switched to a front squat. I talked to Michael about it and he said "ok".
Anyway, I was with the intern (which really is the intern of the intern) and one day I must have had bad form (which was not corrected) with the front squat and after two sets I stopped and went home because my back was hurting really badly (and would continue to hurt for the next 2 days). Little did I know I seriously injured myself. I mentioned it but no one seemed to care. To be perfectly clear, my back has never hurt or ached in my entire life. Not once. This was the first time.
After that every time I did a squat my low back would feel funny, not painful, just funny for the rest of the day. It felt normal for days I didn't work out. I told them but no one seemed to care. Eventually one day Emily was incredibly rude to me when I showed up for my scheduled time to do SS. I was fucking tired of her bullshit so I grabbed my notebook and left and I never returned.
Although I wasn't symptomatic, I learned I had a herniated disc at L5-S1 and a smaller herniation at L4-L5. My left ankle reflex was also missing. My doctor didn't seemed concerned so I didn't think much of it. No one has ever educated me on injuries in my life so I was stupid enough to trust my doctor and chiropractor who also didn't seem concerned. Little did I know this gym gave me a life altering injury.
Eventually one day (a few months later) my back just started to hurt after bending over.....this is the day MY LIFE CHANGED. I've been in pain ever since. This was two years ago. Whenever I would stand or sit my low back would hurt. A lot. To the point I was laying down all the time. I went to see a physical therapist but they just made me worse. They gave me an extension based exercise and now I have partial weakness in my left calf. I should have never been given that exercise.
For the next 2 years I went through major depression, suicidal thoughts and disability from work for 4 months. To be clear, I've never been depressed or suicidal in my entire life. This was the first time this has ever happened to me things were so bad. I joined the ranks of chronic pain patients. I read tons of books on back pain and learned a lot. I eventually had a surgery at L5-S1 called a microdiscectomy but it didn't help. I even flew to Canada to see a low back specialist named Stuart McGill but so far his protocol doesn't seem to be helping. I could go into the various details of everything but that would take forever.
To sum everything up, this gym and its trainers ruined my life. I've had other chiropractors tell me that they've gotten patients because of all the damage this gym has done. This place is the worst. read more