Loprinzi’s Gym

I thought about giving it four stars because of how crowded it is (way too many old machines that no one really uses anymore), but here are the pros:
–everyone’s friendly
–everyone’s welcome
–the barbells and bumper plates exist
–the fees are cheap
–the classes are FREE
–they have a great rowing machine for cardio
Even if the old bodybuilding stuff needs to be replaced with squat racks, you can’t beat this place for $ 350 a year. That’s an insane price, especially when Crossfit gyms are sometimes as much as $ 150 a month.
Also, they have a copy of Starting Strength for public use. That’s awesome.

I’m so torn.
On the one hand, I love supporting local businesses. I love a gym that’s straight out of a Rocky movie complete with grizzled old weightlifters. I especially love a place that’s 80% iron. If you work out here, you mean business. Right? Eh, well. Kind of.
The pros: mostly weights and machines. To an iron-​loving gal like myself, this is heaven. Loprinizi’s also has a fantastic community feel to it. The owners know your name and your story – and if they don’t yet, they will. People are also pretty friendly for the most part.
The drawbacks: *sigh* It’s a weightlifting gym which means the same five people are going to be hogging the squat racks and deadlifting platforms each and every time you go there. It doesn’t matter how long you’re there or what time you go, those racks will be taken be the same people each time.
Hygiene is also an issue. Zero spray cleaners to be found to wipe off the machines, people are allowed to walk around barefoot (dude, at a lifting gym – really?) and there’s black mold growing on some of the ceiling tiles.
Overall, lots of potential but I took my business elsewhere after a month. It’s a damn shame because Portland is really lacking a great weightlifting gym.

Come here to lift! Whether you are the strongest man in Oregon or a young woman just getting started (me), you will find the equipment you need and be welcomed. They have enough presses and racks to accommodate everyone, and it doesn’t get packed. Regulars come to sweat, not be seen.
Flexible and very low rates. Even a punch card! You can’t find that anywhere else.
Yeah it’s a bit cramped and the facility needs some TLC, but that is part of the 1950s neighborly charm.

It’s a great local gym staffed with people who care. Their rates are more than reasonable, they’re never too busy, and they have serious weights. Before I went here, I was under the impression that I was going to be surrounded by dudes who would scoff at the little bit of weight I was benching but there are all ages, genders, and ability levels here. Plus they have a gym cat. How awesome is that?

I know the ins and outs of how gyms work, and this place gets 5 stars because it’s not the typical health club with the usual fees and hard sells.
Health clubs tend to have similar business models: they offer long-​term contracts, and charge initiation fees, as well as other fees in addition to the monthly fee. Some will charge more for lockers. The people that work there are hired to track and make sales. Their bosses only care about sales and are out of shape.
So to find a place that charges month to month, and has more free weights than a more expensive typical gym, is like finding a gem.
The place isn’t that clean that’s for sure, and I wouldn’t take a shower here, but I don’t come to the fucking gym to take a fucking shower. FYI, some people come to gyms and hang out entirely in the showers and saunas while they’re there.
It’s not crowded here at all, and it attracts people who are more serious about their workouts. You do have a few «bros» who do really dumb workouts but the guys tend to be into strength rather than bodybuilding even though a bodybuilder started the gym.
The people who work here want you to be healthy, that’s the most important difference.
I come here because for my goals, it has what I need and provides it better than gyms I have been accustomed to going to. They also have chalk which helps a lot on the metal pull up bar and anytime you need more grip.

An old school gym with lots of history. Has all the basics you need and the lack of bench/​curl bros is a big plus. The staff is friendly and no one will try to sell you anything.
Competitive lifters are welcome at Loprinzi’s just as much as anyone else (hard to find places like this nowadays) and if you’re into making some serious progress, you will find experienced lifters here who will be happy to give some tips.
It can get crowded at times due to the small space and if you use a power rack a lot, you might need to wait for your turn occasionally since there’s only one of them. Please don’t hog the rack if you don’t need it for squats or overhead presses by the way. :)

I was assaulted last month.
I owe a debt of gratitude to Bob, and the owners of the past, for giving me the strength to overcome my attacker. Always, the members assisted me in questions I needed to pursue a solid regimen of strength training. Free weights teach balance. The machines are more muscle specific. No frills. No prancing. Just honest iron tossing. Although it has been several years since I have been here, these guys saved my life.

This place has been my gym for a while now. It’s no nonsense. Just good, hard work. No bros or plastics here. No smoothie bar. No contracts or «initiation» fees. No pushy sales people. Never crowded but pretty constant. Chat if you’d like or sign in, lift weights and be on your way. The way it should be.

Update: Looks like the Unilocal map is now correct.
Also, we got a question about wi-​fi in the gym and we do have it. If you need to stay connected at the gym, Loprinzi’s is your place!

Great place to workout! They are open until 10pm on weekdays, plenty of parking, bike racks in front to lock up your bike, and no contracts! Staff is friendly. There is a good mix of people of all ages all trying to improve their health, but it appeals to more of the body builder types. There is nothing fancy about this place, just good old fashioned free weights and heavy lifting. This gym is also on a bike route street. There are a few lock cubies to put keys and wallet in, but there are only a few working ones, I have not had an issue where there was not one available. Also there is no AC and the water fountain is barely functional, so I just always remember to bring water and a towel!

Great no nonsense old school gym! always clean and equipment always in great working order.

I hate most gyms. I’ll just say that right now. But this one is different for a few reasons:
1) Bob, the owner, is probably the nicest person you’ll ever meet. He’s excited to answer any questions, and always greets you with a smile.
2) There is a striking absence of dude-​bros doing curls, which is nice.
3) It’s never insanely crowded.
4) It has character. Most places are just box stores blaring cable news, many could be located in a strip mall. This place has photos of old lifters, old drawings by
«the guys,» and even those old band exercisers in the changing room. I know that shouldn’t matter, but it makes the place feel a bit more welcoming.

I love working out here! The equipment is ancient and NOT clean, but the vibe in this place is great. A community of friendly folks who love to bump some weights. Also, Oregon’s Strongest Man works out here — so I hear.
No contracts. You pay your dues on honor system. What a noble place! Love it. No douche bag sales people (see 24 Hour Fitness — where you’re just another number caught in the corporate gym rat race! Hahaha, I hate that place so much. You really want to buy a membership from someone who can’t bench their body weight? Don’t stink so!)
I’ve been working out for 15 years and in just a few weeks at Loprinzi’s I’ve managed to peak. Because…
There’s less distractions. No TVs. It doesn’t take 30 minutes to get in and out of. It’s never too busy and anyone will give you a spot.
This is one of my favorite places in Portland. Seriously.
Oh – there’s also a cat named Blacky that lives there. He’s real sweet but you should only pet him when he’s sleepy.

Remember the original Rocky movie? Burgess Meredith plays his reluctant coach? He’s dressed in old gray sweats and has an equally grizzled attitude? Well, that sums up who I expect to see each time I enter this gym! It’s for serious gym folks who do not wear designer duds to sweat in, do not carry giant frappuccino-​style drinks to spill on the hamster wheel Exo-​Cizers, and who also do not need 80’s style club music to get their burn on. It’s a crowded little gym with a no-​frills approach. You wanna work those muscles? We can help you do that.
There is a pool, theoretically ‘solar heated’. I wager the water is COLD. There is a Ladies’ sauna, but you need to let ‘em know if you want to use it — it’ll take awhile to heat up. There are yoga classes twice a week, and lots of other classes to check out. Lots of the equipment benches were built by the Loprinzi family themselves. There’s photos of Jack Lalane, Jesse Ventura, and Ahhhnald… you get the picture? This is NOT 24 Hour Fitness! I feel a wee bit self conscious in my yoga pants and work out top — like maybe even that’s too fancy. But you cannot beat the price! We got a 10 visit punch card for $ 70.00 and there’s no initiation fee. So, I’m stickin’ with my blue collar, no-​frills, gym which I can walk to. Let the fancy people keep their Pearl District gyms where no one would dare to break a sweat (ewww — it might ruin their make up). I’ll just keep working out here. Check it out — it is a great deal!

Top Ten reasons why Loprinzi’s kicks ass and why I’ll never leave:
#10) You have to sign in on a sweat and blood stained notebook. That way I can see if Don B. has been slackin’.
#9) A hanging graveyard of destroyed olympic bars decorates the front wall.
#8) I had never seen someone (besides me) benchpress about 600lbs raw before.
#7) If you see a clean piece of equipment, you know you should avoid it.
#6) Some of the chicks here lift more than I do.
#5) The most interesting, helpful, and friendly gym-​goers and owners I’ve met (awwww).
#4) They have a crack-​bin at the deadlift and clean-&-jerk stations. Ok, it’s just chalk… but some people use that stuff like it’s crack.
#3) All dues are honor system based, and if you don’t pay, you know Loprinzi can break you.
#2) They have a state of the art LCD television. That only plays TV shows from 1950.
#1) «60 Years and still going strong. I’ll never quit!»

This place should be called «Average Joe’s»… or «Lorenzo’s Oil»… because both come to mind every time I set foot in this place.
Lorenzo’s.. I Mean Loprinzi’s is this great old school bodybuilder gym where, if legend holds true, Jesse «The Body» Ventura used to press iron. And frankly, there is a ton of iron to go around here. This place reminds me of those 1960’s and 70’s gyms you see huge roided out muscle head bodybuilders working out in, in films like Pumping Iron. Think Muscle Beach crammed into a tiny ghetto-​ass shack in SE PDX, but with an odd assortment of people (ranging from muscle-​bound to average to old to whatever) hanging out and working out.
The gym itself is small and crammed so full of equipment that you generally can’t use about half of the machines in the place. That’s fine tho, because it’s all of the specialty barbell sets and rounded barbells that I go there for. Most of the machines are older than me (probably by about 2-​times), and many of the benches and weights were custom made for Loprinzi himself.
The walls are festooned with yellowing, cheaply framed photos of oiled-​up muscle men (and the occasional muscle chicks), and motivational sayings from people like Jack Lalane. Many of the photos are signed by the muscle dudes themselves!
Just about any and every torture device/​universal machine you could never want is here, crammed one next to the other, so close that sometimes you have to climb over the bench of one to get to the other. Needless to say, on a crowded day, it can take some ballerina-​like coordination to move about without colliding with someone else.
Yeah, the place is dirty. Real dity.
This is not really the place to get cardio equipment, although they do have some treadmills, bikes, and elliptical machines. This is really a weightlifter’s heaven, with all sorts of specialty benches you can use to target those specific muscles. Where can I go from flat bench to incline bench to decline bench, all in a 10 foot radius, when I really want to work that chest? Loprinzi’s, that’s where.
Reasonable fees, honor system, month-​to-​month (NO CONTRACTS), no pushy sales people, and an employee almost always available to spot you if you need one, this place is total community, an total strength training.
I am not sure if I will ever be able to go back to a glossy corporate cardio-​driven workout facility after the Average Joe’s experience.
Oh, and they have an outdoor pool that’s pretty much only useful in the summer.

Mixed review. Loprinzi’s has everything a good strength training facility needs… plus a whole bunch of relatively useless old junk, all crammed into an improbably tiny space. I had to crawl on top of things and move equipment around just to do basic exercises like pull ups or use a barbell.
They have olympic lifting platforms and bumper plates, which is great, but the platforms are crammed with machines and junk that make serious olympic lifting impossible. If you dumped a bar or failed a lift, you’d probably be seriously injured crashing into stuff. D’ohh!
The old school spherical end dumbbells are cool, but all the silly benches and contraptions are crammed so close together that you have to move a lot of stuff to lift heavy ones safely.

Something must have happened with the space since the old-​school days of Loprinzi, because there’s no way the venerable guys on the wall would have tolerated such a cluttered junk room as a workout facility. Real old school lifting is simple: barbells, dumbbells, bodyweight exercises, a few benches and squat racks are all that’s needed.
If they removed at least half the machines and useless specialty benches, it would be one of the best gyms I’ve ever been to. As is, I think three stars is generous. Judging by the other reviews, most people don’t seem to care. Too bad. If enough customers bugged them about it, maybe they would clear out the space and make it into a functional gym.

When I moved to the SE Hawthorne/​Division area last fall, I kept passing a little, hole-​in-​the-​wall, neighborhood gym called Loprinzi’s. Intrigued, I stopped by and was amazed at how much character this place has. A blast from the past – it’s a gym from a time before Gold’s and 24 Hour Fitness existed.
Granted, I had to get used to some of the crazy old equipment and lack of extras you get in other modern gyms (no smoothie bar, no flat screens to watch while doing cardio.) But after a couple visits, I was sold on this place. The family-​run business is so friendly. The owners will help you with your workouts and/​or give you tips and advice. Its cheap – there’s a standard rate sheet that tells you how much you can pay per day, week, month, or year (no negotiating with a sleazy sales person that is gonna rope you into a long term contract you can’t get out of.) It seems the entire community is welcome there as well – old, young, rich, poor, male, female… and everyone just works out – no meat market atmosphere.
Now, after six months working out at Loprinzi’s, I wouldn’t want to go back to a «modern» gym where you’re just a number.

In the weeks leading up to my move to PDX from LA, I kept my eye on the Oregonian in an effort to become acclimated to my new home (think putting your goldfish bag into the aquarium before releasing him).
The week before I set out, I ran across an article about an old-​school gym in SE that has hosted the heavy lifting crowd like Jack Lalanne and Jesse Ventura since before your mama met your daddy. The writer placed great emphasis on the community feel of the gym, and the no-​frills health club experience. Since I’d called LA home for 4 years, I was understandably intrigued by the concept of an unpretentious workout.
When we moved in, I was delighted to find Loprinzi’s within sight of my front door! I joined without delay, and a year on, I don’t regret the decision.
You can pay by the day, week, month or year, and all of the prices are terribly reasonable. Your workout options include cardio, weights, the occasional yoga class, and even swimming in their outdoor lap-​pool.
The equipment looks ancient, but any gym rat worth their salt will soon discover that it’s all in perfect working order.
Now, for those of you who get the heebie-​jeebies when you think of bacteria invading your personal space, stay the hell away from Loprinzi’s. Seriously. Their idea of sanitizing is hitting the equipment with some Windex and a paper towel.
In sum, if you’re in SE Portland and you need to work off all the great beer this city has to offer, check out Loprinzi’s. If nothing else, you’ll have witnessed a little piece of fitness history.

This place is a crackup — yeah, there’re old pictures of the weight-​lifting guys in there, and there is also really ancient equipment. In the women’s locker room there’s that old thing (not even sure what it’s called) that has a piece of material that wraps around your central «trouble» area and shakes you! All the outlets lining the ceiling are certainly «out of code» and there are several interesting people hanging out in there. No fashion meat-​market-​like place here…
There’s a stretching room upstairs (yes, they have yoga for donations), the fee structure is great — it’s more like a community center. And there’s also a semi-​hot sauna in the locker room. Overall great place for the price. I’ll be back soon…