Metroflex Fort Worth Experience

26 May 2014
      Yesterday, on Memorial Day, I had the privilege to train with Brian, who is active duty Navy, and my boy Luke who is home on summer break.  Luke is a former state powerlifting qualifier and current scholarship thrower at UTSA.  Luke is one of the most explosive athletes I have trained with.   We decided to train somewhere new today and decided upon Metroflex Fort Worth.

      I have trained many times at the original Metroflex in Arlington, and I have been to "The Castle", as they call it, once before but I have never trained here.  You can tell this place is hardcore from the moment you walk up.  The girl at the front desk was very courteous and helpful.  They have a day pass rate of 10$ which I thought was reasonable and even better than that, military members train for free there.  I thought that was awesome.  

      Brian was already warming up when Luke and I got there.  I had forgotten how far it was from my house so the timing was a little off but we caught up quickly.  I was going to work up to a max off three boards, Luke said he was going to  hit some volume work since he is just coming off of outdoor throwing season, and Brian decided he would shirt up.  Training beside us were some pretty swole dudes throwing around 315, 405, and 455, I almost decided to hang with them but thought it best to stick to the plan since I'm going to compete in less than a month.   The bench was a little slick and Brian had some bands, so I thought I would try something I had seen in some different videos.  Turns out the bands work really well and give you a nice surface to stick and bridge on.  If I was going to miss weights it wasn't going to be because I couldn't get set up properly.  

Here is the bench we were working on:

Added bands to the bench to provide more traction - worked great!!

Warm ups went well and the weights were moving fast.  Luke hammered out 225, 275, and 315 all for eight solid reps.  I went 475 x 3, 505, 535, 550 all for singles..  Was happy since I had gone 525 off of 2 boards the previous week.  Next week I'll look to improve on the 550.  Brian was smashing weights in his rage x.  He had a tricked out F6 I wanted him to try, but the rage was working.  

Big Luke reppin' UTSA - rollin' swollin'

Loaded and ready for battle!

Once we all finished benching, it was on to the incline.  There were a couple different ones to choose from and we chose the one with the least amount of incline..  Warming up the weights didn't feel great but not too bad either.. I went 135, 225, 275 all for five reps.  My previous work on the incline was 295 x 10, so I thought I would hit a rest pause set with 315 thinking I would only be able to get 5-6 reps on the first set.  Well, once I started the lift 315 was flying off my chest and I quickly passed the 6 reps mark.  I ended up stopping at 10 reps and then hit 2 more after a 30 second break  Tried for a couple more after another 30 sec break, but was a no go.

Here is a shot of their strongman training section, very impressive.

Strongman's Training Center

Once we finished on the incline we thought we would go down to the main floor and work on our "pump".  Brian had to leave so it was just Luke and me.   I had heard some chains rattling around and thought that we could rig up some chain flies, but couldn't make it work.  I really want to try those out sometime.  Next best choice was the pec deck.  I hit a couple three sets or so.  I'm still having issues with my left biceps that I tweaked back during the winter.  Finished up with some triceps work and then it was starting to get pretty crowded so we decided to go grab some grub.

They have a huge supplement section with just about anything you need.

Supplements anyone?  You want it, they have it!

Here is a pic looking into the belly of the dungeon where we benched.  Lots of room and plenty of space up here.  Everybody wants to be big, but don't no one want to lift no heavy weights.   I hear they have a monolift too.  So might be a good place to get some squats in gear in during the summer.

Into the belly of the Dungeon

Training  at Metroflex Fort Worth was an awesome experience and well worth the drive and the money.  If you are close by and looking for a hardcore training facility that has everything you need, then "The Castle" - Metroflex Fort Worth is your place to train.  I will definitely be coming back to train very soon.