The gym is quiet. A handful of members are warming up in that monk-like way of serious competitors (one I speak to is a high-level competitive powerlifter). Music is bumping at very modest volume; most gymgoers have Airpods in, anyway. Pictures, mostly black-and-white, line the walls. Some commemorate members’ accomplishments, like Bernie Delaney’s 262.5 kg bench at the World Powerlifting Championship, Las Vegas 2009. He claimed his fourth world championship that year. I spot a couple of competitive bodybuilding photos as well—spray-tanned and striated bodies who trained here on their way to a pro card.
Many of the photos are group shots of the club’s General Meetings of yesteryear. Since the founding and to this day, each gym member has voting rights and anyone can enter the running to join the committee, which plans events and decides how to spend the gym’s money. Every euro of dues paid goes back into the gym: buying and maintaining equipment, upkeep of the building, covering members’ travel to events. And all the day-to-day work keeping the gym running contributed by volunteers from among the membership.
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