Warhouse Gym is not your average gym.
Warhouse (@thewarhousegym on Instagram) or WHG, the moniker displayed on nearly every machine in the gym and on the gym’s own apparel line, is not one to imitate. It’s not a chain gym like Gold’s, RetroFitness, or Planet Fitness. There is never pop music playing in the gym. It’s exclusively metal and/or rap filled to the brim with all of the expected profanities. Everything in the gym is either black or grey.
There are no special colors to get people’s attention when they drive by. In fact, if a person drove by they would not even be able to see it. Warhouse is tucked away in a pretty unimpressive shopping center. There’s a drug store down a ways in the center but other than that, nothing of significance. Warhouse is left unaltered and alone, and it is completely fine with that.
Dana Linn Bailey is an IFBB (International Federation of BodyBuilding & Fitness) Pro and has reached the highest peak of her sport. She won the Ms. Olympia in 2013 and has been a massive presence for female bodybuilders everywhere since that victory. Bailey is a Reading native and owns Warhouse Gym.
Bailey worked incredibly hard to achieve her goal and that is something that translated to her gym. Members and people who lift here have one goal in mind: working hard to get stronger.
Up to this point Warhouse ought to seem like an intimidating place. Well one is right to assume that because it is a little bit intimidating at first! One soon realizes that although Warhouse itself may be formidable, the people that workout there are anything but that. It’s truly incredible and welcoming to see a person lift several hundred pounds then be giddy like a child when the weight is out of their hands, talking to the people around them as if the weight they lifted was insignificant. No one here is super flashy. It’s common to oftentimes see people taking hideously cringeworthy pictures of themselves at the gym but this almost never happens at Warhouse. Everyone here is unassuming and works towards a common goal.
Lifting big weights is a commonality at Warhouse. WHG hosts a “Winter Open” powerlifting meet every January (there are other meets hosted there throughout the year but this is the most important one.) The Warhouse Gym Winter Open is a USAPL sanctioned powerlifting meet. USA Powerlifting is the United States affiliate of the International Powerlifting Federation (IPF.)
Warhouse does not just curtail to powerlifting and bodybuilding though; “We…support…any training style that someone could be into whether it’s general fitness, bodybuilding, powerlifting, and even strongman,” said Warhouse Manager Collin Whitney. Whitney is an accomplished powerlifter himself and has pushed himself immensely to get where he is today. See just how far he’s come on his Instagram: @ct_whitney.
The person reading this article might be left with the question “Ok, so what?” That is an excellent question that can be answered readily. If people are seeking to improve themselves physically and are natives of the greater Reading area, they should without a doubt join the Warhouse Gym.
Whitney was adamant about why Berks Countians should join WHG: “I feel like you should join…if you are really interested in bettering yourself. From our atmosphere, equipment, staff, and members, you’ll have literally all the resources you could imagine in order to reach your goals.”
Warhouse is filled with people that want to see each other succeed. Warhouse is a gym that promotes an atmosphere of hard work and achievement. It’s filled with friendly staff and has all the squat racks a person could ask for (a joke for the seasoned lifters.)
Warhouse Gym is an amazing place to better yourself and an amazing place in general. Reading this and wondering whether or not the hype is true? Go there and find out for yourself!
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