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HARDCORE GYM #98
July 2010 - Vol. 33 No. 9
EXTREME RIPPED FITNESS
by Rick Brewer | rick[at]houseofpain.com
www.houseofpain.com
Last month we talked about the W.A.R. House Gym. We saw Willie
Wessels, Andy Bible, and Rob Kolberer in action. We also played
a little “Where’s Waldo?” game to see if you could identify the
home state of that gym. Sadly, you bombed. It looks like the reference
to an Ohio powerlifting meet tricked everyone—no one guessed the
correct state. (You only get ONE guess per lifter, folks.) So
this month, we’ll go somewhere else—how about Utah?
Extreme Ripped Fitness (ERF) is one of the new class of serious
gyms that has a budding Facebook presence. ERF is in a suburb
of Salt Lake City, Utah and, well, I’ll let them tell you:
Rick, thanks for your interest in our gym—what a compliment. Your
articles on hardcore gyms are always very interesting, entertaining,
and inspiring. (Look at me blush; my head is bright red! RB)
My name is Jody Tripp and along with my husband, Brad, we set
out almost four years ago to fulfill our long time dream of building
a hardcore gym. Brad and I originally met in 1984 in Montana.
We both have always been involved in competitive sports, and
after we met we joined a small hardcore gym and started training
together. Once you train in a hardcore gym it is hard to train
anywhere else. As soon as Brad started training, he began
competing in powerlifting. It was about three kids later before
I began powerlifting. We love the fact that we can enjoy the
sport of powerlifting together. Our journey led us to Salt
Lake City, Utah, where we joined a fitness center that somewhat
met our needs. But soon after we joined, it was bought out
by a larger chain—and became what I refer to as a white carpet
gym. It was simply not comfortable, and I felt like a number—not
a name—so that is when we decided our dream was about to become
real. (No one ever asks me about my dream, but it involves
a unicorn, a bearded female dancer, and a singlet. RB)
We made our plans, and Brad set out to buy equipment from a larger
gym in California that went out of business. Brad took a couple
of friends and four semi trucks, and soon brought back enough
equipment to get us started!
We originally set up in Draper, UT, but later found a much better
location in Sandy, UT. We moved into a 10,000 sq.ft. building
that was originally a place to go paint-balling, so (needless
to say) we had our work cut out for us in the construction phase.
We did a lot of the demo and build-out ourselves.
We didn’t mind a little hard work because we knew the end result
would be worth it. We also added some of the best trainers we
knew.
There were no serious powerlifting gyms in the Salt Lake City
area, until we built ours. We wanted serious athletes to be able
to come train on the right equipment, so they could excel in their
iron sport. Other gyms (in the SLC area) try to discourage powerlifters
from using their facility, and you can forget about the use of
chalk.
We have chalk. We also have: competition benches, lots of bands
and chains, deadlift platform, monolift, power-racks, a full line
of hammer strength, 2 jungles complete with lions and tigers,
over 50,000 lb. of free weights, dumbbell sets that go up to 190,
sleds, tires, kettlebells, reverse hyper, glute-ham, grippers, rolling
thunder, forearm/grip machines, medicine balls, several SQ, BP & DL
bars (including cambered, safety squat and olympic bars), several
squat boxes, chalk boxes, and bumper plates. (Okay, okay—I might’ve
lied about the tigers. And maybe there aren’t very many lions.
RB)
COMPETING TO PROVE IT
In April of 2009, we sent 15 of our powerlifters to Idaho Falls,
ID, for Nationals; we all brought home first place. I was able
to bring home world records in the bench and deadlift. The amazing
support we get from our powerlifting family is what keeps us inspired
and always moving forward with PRs.
It was great to see the National results and pictures, which included
some of our team, in the July 2009 Powerlifting USA issue. Brad
competes in the bench only, where he has been in the high 600s.
I compete in the full meets (you go girl! RB), and sometimes push-pull
meets. My best lifts are right about: 300 squat, 200 bench, and
350 deadlift (all raw).
April 3, 2010, we hosted our first annual APF/AAPF meet. Come
ask us how it went! We also had an Extreme Ripped Fitness unsanctioned
raw division in order to encourage new lifters. We tried to draw
in some of the teens, to get them interested in lifting.
Our gym logo is also something that is very important to mention
because our son Kyle is the artist! All three of our children
are teenagers now, but they have been a big part of the gym! Plus,
they still enjoy lifting! Our youngest daughter, Chase, competed
in our recent April APF/AAPF Powerlifting meet!
HERE IS TO EVERYONE FOLLOWING THEIR DREAM; if you are in the Salt Lake
area, stop in and check us out.
Extreme Ripped Fitness
8700 South Sandy Parkway
Sandy, UT 84070
801-572-1112
www.extremerippedfitness.com
Thanks to Jody & Brad Tripp for including us in their big dream!
Okay folks; we made it easy for you to find the gym this time—Extreme
Ripped Fitness is in Utah! Go say hey!
If you look at last month’s PL USA article, there is actually
a really big clue about the location of W.A.R. House Gym. Until
next month, keep training, and keep guessing! Email me at rick@houseofpain.com.
*photographs courtesy of Extreme Ripped Fitness