Gym Articles

Slaughterhouse Gym

Remember that time you were training in the winter, and the gym was pretty chilly? You whined and moaned, and finally went to the front desk to scream at 'Rod" until he turned the heat up - so you could warm up and work-out without injuring yourself. What did they take you for, a polar bear?

It is to laugh!

Flash forward to a snowy 10 acre farm near Louisville, Ohio. Sitting in the snow is an uninsulated cinder block building designed to house pigs. Until 1990, it had pigs in it - and they were cold in the winter. With very few modifications, this building now holds much fiercer animals. Powerlifters.

This is Slaughterhouse Gym! The motto of the gym is "Be Intense, or Be Somewhere Else."

The Slaughterhouse Gym was formed in 1990 by the late Dennis Dougherty on his mother's farm. The gym is 24 ft long X 15 ft wide, for a total area of 360 square feet! (Compare this area to your gym, and decide if you have any wasted space before you suggest an expansion.) Nick "Merci" Mercerelli reports that it is a bit crowded with all of their mission essential equipment - but it is still the perfect gym!

The focal point of the gym is the power rack immediately in front of the double doors. Slaughterhouse Gym is also stocked with a lat pulldown, hyper-extension, and plenty of free weights - including the well-worn set of dumbbells shown in the photo. The walls have a few mirrors, several motivational/babe posters, and not much else.

There is just not enough room for 'fluff', although Nick reports several unknown species of spiders and wasps in the summer. (Reminds me of the painful duty I had at a gym I used to work at when I had to knock a 2'diameter hornet nest down (while wearing shorts and a tank top) so we could spray and kill all the hornets. The guy who was "helping" me from a safe distance still laughs about it - but it wasn't too funny to me! (Hi Dave!) Whoops, all this caffeine makes me ramble. Back to Slaughterhouse.

Although the gym does have electricity, (so they have music!), it has no indoor restroom, and the only heat comes from a four-foot pot-bellied stove. But just plain old cold weather doesn't make a gym hard-core. Lifters are the heart and soul of any hard-core gym. What about the lifters?

There are five regular members of the Slaughterhouse Gym that are driven in their quest for strength. Two 2000 WNPF national champs: 165# Nick Merceerelli and 242# Rob Burress ( left to right in front row of photo). Dave Coleman @ 275#, SHW Dave Bosler, and 275# Rob Rastetter round the team. All compete with normal powerlifting supportive gear except for Rob Rostetter, who competes raw. All 5 men train with the Westside Barbell method, and all 5 have appeared in PLUSA'S Top 100. Cool.

How convenient is your gym? All 5 members drive 25 minutes to the frozen countryside for this gym. Bob Youngs of Westside Barbell has even made the drive to Slaughterhouse Gym, Maybe someday I can visit?

Hell freezes at Slaughterhouse Gym, and it happens in a very small space! Where do you train? Write and tell us about it. Next month, we'll move across country to get back to some warmer weather. A lot warmer?

Rick@houseofpainironwear.com

HOUSE OF PAIN
PO BOX 333
FATE, TX 75132