Mahfoed Gym, Labuan Bajo
Jl Bandara, Labuan Bajo
Opening Hours: Mon – Sat: 9:00 – 21:00, Sun: 15:00 – 21:00
Cost: 25k per session, or 150 / 200k per month. I don’t understand the sign in Indonesian, but it’s one or the other. I think it’s 150k to renew, but you might need to pay 200k the first time?
Location
Mahfoed Gym is located a little out of the main town of Labuan Bajo, around 1.5km away. If you’re planning to walk there, bear in mind it’s uphill, and a bit of a workout in itself. Especially taking into account the heat!
It’s in the correct position on Google maps, but it’s still not entirely intuitive how to find it at the end. You’ll see the sign for it on the main road, but it’s not the building that’s right there. You need to turn down the dirt track/road right by the sign and follow it all the way to the end. Thankfully I was guided by the sound of upbeat music from this point, which helped with the rest. Oh and gesturing shoulder press actions at locals worked too. 🙂 In any case, turn left at the end of the dirt track and you’ll see the building pictured at the top of this post. Go around to the left of it and you’ll immediately see stairs up on your right – the gym is up one floor.
I was greeted by the friendly receptionist, who spoke a little English, and certainly enough to let me know the cost.
Facilities
Ok, so Mahfoed Gym is very much a local gym, and the only one I could find in Labuan Bajo. This is reflected in the price, and it’s very much a no frills place. That means no aircon, no fans and a rough and ready gym. And for the most part it is ready – I only found one resistance machine which didn’t work.
Mahfoed Gym focuses mainly on weights, but you’ll find a handful of cardio machines too. The floor is fully matted with hard mats, and covered with a very classy red carpet throughout. I jest, the carpet is very much in need of replacing. But my main point is that the floor is sort of soft enough to lie on, in the absence of other mats.
Bear in mind the toilet is a squat toilet and when I attended, I saw a sign saying the sink was broken, so no hand-washing.
Take your own water, though there is a board up with prices of various drinks. I didn’t see where these were made or anyone drinking them when I went though – but let me know how they are if you have one!
The club intermittently played good music which really helped add an inspiring atmosphere, when it was on.
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Weights
You’ll find dumbbell free weights up to 30kg and they’re composed of discs, but most are labelled with the dumbbells’ total weights. Whilst none of them whatsoever were on the rack, I was amused that all were neatly stored on the floor in front of it in pairs!
You’ll find an adjustable barbell here (curled), with other adjustable barbells on racks. These include five bench press racks (2 flat, 2 inclined, 1 declined), a basic squat rack and a Smith machine. The Smith machine additionally has cables with a lat pulldown and row attached.
You’ll also find cable crossovers with pull up bars, and a further set of pull up bars on the hanging leg raise machine. Also for upper body, you’ll find a preacher curl, loadable chest press and a pec dec.
For the lower body, there’s an inclined leg press.
The other resistance machine I found was a multifunctional leg extension / curl and tricep pulldown machine, but it looked somewhat worse for wear when I saw it and I didn’t risk it, convinced it was broken.
You’ll also find two inclined abs benches and a hip extension bench.
Functional Training
I found little here in terms of gym toys, but I saw an abs roller, if that counts? There’s no dedicated floorwork area either – or mats. But as mentioned above, you’ll find the whole floor is fully matted with the hard mats that fit together, and you’ll see a couple more lying around if you want extra cushioning. You’ll find space between equipment to lie down / do burpees or whatever takes your fancy.
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Cardio
Mahfoed gym offers two Spin bikes and one treadmill. Not a lot, but the treadmill was by far the most modern piece of equipment in the gym. Possibly by a couple of decades – no exaggeration! It was a top notch Techno Gym one, fully computerised and looked brand new (and if I may say, slightly out of place here!). The Spin bikes were old, but seemed good quality – I used one briefly and it had a good feel to it.
Summary
Mahfoed Gym is probably the cheapest gym I’ve found in Indonesia so far, so no complaints. Definitely train early to beat the heat here, what with no cooling devices. Windows are at least open, and I didn’t find it too hot at 10am today (Sunday) when I went. There were probably only around four others there, so it was easy enough to get on things as well. Whilst the facilities are basic, if you’re on a budget, you’ll welcome the price tag of using this place!
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