Fourteen platforms. No mirrors.
Barbell gym in Lawrenceville. Calibrated plates, six competition bars, two monolifts. Ninety-five dollars, no contract, open around the clock.
Counted, not described.
6,200 square feet on Fifth. Every number below is what is actually on the floor right now, not what is on order.
- No mirrors. Film yourself; the phone tells the truth
- Chalk is fine. Actual chalk, in a bucket
- You can drop it. That is what the platforms are for
- Bring your own music or use the room's, which is loud
- No personal training sold here. Coaching is included or it is nothing
Ninety-five dollars, and that is the entire price list.
Month to month. Cancel from your phone in about ten seconds and rejoin whenever, at the same rate. There is no joining fee, no annual fee, no fob deposit, and nobody will call you about a personal training package.
After onboarding. The room is busiest 5–8pm and effectively empty before 7am.
Tuesday and Thursday at 6, Saturday at 10, at no extra cost and with nothing to book.
Once a month, any day. They sign a waiver at the desk and that is the whole process.
We pay your entry for the two meets we host if you have been a member six months.
Students and anyone with a Pittsburgh EMS, fire or police ID: $75. Couples on one payment: $170. If you are travelling through and want a day, it is $15 and you can pay at the desk. We would rather that than have you buy a month.
The board.
House records, updated the day they happen. Every one of these was lifted on the equipment above, by someone who pays the same ninety-five dollars you would.
Men
Women
Personal bests this month
- Nia Osei · deadlift 315
- Peter Vaszquez · squat 455
- Hana Lindqvist · bench 145
- Ray Buckman · squat 525
- Tomás Reyes · first bodyweight bench
- Angie Doyle · deadlift 275
- Wes Amankwah · total 1,205
- Iris Petrakis · first strict pull-up
Nineteen members competed in a sanctioned meet last year. Forty-one have never competed and never intend to, which is also completely fine.
Your first session has a coach in it, whether you want one or not.
Every new member does one 90-minute session with a coach before they get a fob. It is free, it is required, and it is the reason this room is not intimidating.
Book the session
Pick a slot. Wear whatever you own. If you have never touched a barbell say so on the form and we will pair you with Angie, who teaches most of the people in that position.
Squat, bench, deadlift, with an empty bar
Forty minutes on the three lifts with a 20kg bar and nothing on it. Then we load what you can actually handle today, which for most people is less than they expected and heavier than they have been lifting.
Racks, monolifts, and where things go
How the monolift works, which bar to take for what, how to set safeties at the right height, and the two rules of the room: strip your bar, and re-rack by weight.
A program on paper before you leave
Three days a week, with numbers, based on what you did in the session. It is a printed sheet rather than an app, because the sheet still works when your phone is across the room. Come to a coached session any week and we will adjust it.
Then the fob
Works at every hour. If you would rather only train when a coach is here, that is Tuesday and Thursday at 6 and Saturday at 10, and plenty of members never come at any other time.
If you finish the session and decide this is not the room for you, you have paid nothing and we will tell you which gym in Pittsburgh is a better fit. There are three good ones and we know exactly who they suit.
When coaches are on the floor.
Included in the ninety-five dollars. Turn up or do not; nobody takes attendance.
- Tuesday 6:00 pm
- Squat and pullAngie Doyle. Usually 12–18 people. The busiest session of the week and the best one to start on.
- Thursday 6:00 pm
- Bench and pressWes Amankwah. Smaller. Heavy on technique, and where most of the bench records got built.
- Saturday 10:00 am
- Open, all three liftsWhoever is coaching. Runs two hours, and people stay afterwards, which is how this became a gym rather than a room.
Book the free session. Decide after.
No card, no commitment, no sales conversation. Ninety minutes with a coach and then you tell us yes or no.
(412) 555-0164 · hello@fifthstreetbarbell.example
Staffed Mon–Fri 10–8, Sat 9–2 · Fob access 24/7
Street parking on Fifth after 6, lot on Home St always