DNA Gym Kanchanaburi
210/2 Unnamed Road, 71000, Kanchanaburi (see Location for how to find it)
Opening Hours: Mon – Sat: 21:00 – 22:00, Sun: closed
Cost: 69 baht per go or 1200 per month.
Staff showed me a current offer in Thai, which looks like you can get a month for 999 or two months for 1799!
Location
DNA Gym is located around 1.5km north of the main tourist area in Kanchanaburi. You’ll find it on a wide main road, which reminded me of travelling between cities in Western Australia. It’s very open, straight and boiling hot! You could walk from town, but I recommend cycling if possible – my accommodation rented me a bicycle, charging me only 30 baht for 24 hours! So I got to use it two days running – bonus. I stayed at D Luck Hostel near the bus station, for those interested – it’s a little southwest of town, very comfortable with super-friendly staff and lots of breakfast options. I slept really well here, especially having taken an overnight bus from Phuket prior to arriving!
This Kanchanaburi gym is clearly visible from the main road (just don’t go on a Sunday like I did at first – it’s shut!) and correctly marked on Google. The staff don’t speak much English, but like most Thai people, they’ll welcome you with a smile and can communicate the price. And what a welcoming price this was too.
Facilities
My first gym stop in Kanchanaburi has definitely set the standard. I wasn’t sure what to expect from outside and my expectations dropped further when I heard the price, bur I was seriously pleased with what I found! DNA Gym has all new equipment in an open-plan attractive building. (Well it’s attractive inside anyway!)
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This medium-sized gym is all on one floor and very spacious. You’ll find a mix of free weights, plate-loadable and pin-loadable resistance machines, cardio and an excellent functional training area. DNA Gym generally spaces out its equipment and additionally has a lot of floor space, in the centre of which is a lovely rig.
You’ll find this club well-airconditioned, but take your own water and a towel, as I couldn’t see either freely available. They do sell protein shakes for 60-70 baht though, so I’m sure you could buy water too.
I took a quick look in the female changing rooms and found a toilet and two showers. All looked modern and clean and they even provided toilet roll (not a given in Thailand!). I’d have happily showered here if I’d brought my stuff.
When I arrived soon after it opened on a Monday morning, I was concerned it might be heaving with customers, but I found around seven people (both Thai and westerners) training, a couple of whom were with PTs. Enough to have a good atmosphere without the challenge of getting on equipment. Good start to my week!
Weights
You’ll find a very long rack of dumbbells up to 50kg, which contained many duplicates. The weights were all neatly racked, not necessarily in order, but usually in pairs and it was easy to find what I wanted. You’ll find a full rack of light weight dumbbells in the functional training area too, with every number form 1 – 10kg. They’ve also provided barbells here – a full rack of each of straight and curled, from 10 – 30kg in 5kg increments.
For your upper body, you’ll find wide cable crossovers with pull-up bars, a flat and declined bench press and a preacher curl. There are further pull-up bar options around the gym.
Lower body equipment includes a squat rack and Smith machine.
Heavy lifters will be pleased to see a few plate-loadable options here, including a low row, shoulder press, chest press, leg press and calf raise.
Meanwhile, regular people will likely be content with pin-adjusted ones, though there are only a few. I found a leg extension, leg curl, and inner thigh machine for legs, and an assisted pull-ups, lat pulldown, camber curl and “long pull” (row) for your upper body.
You’ll also find a couple of adjustable abs benches and a hip extension.
Functional Training
If this is your main workout focus, you should be pleased with this gym’s offerings. First and foremost, you have floor space and a selection of thick or thin mats. Secondly, you’ll find a very nice looking rig with lots of gym toys!
Your training options include monkey bars, TRXs, battle ropes and a hanging punch bag with sets of boxing gloves and pads. You’ll also see kettle-bells up to 40lbs, an inclined trampet and some foam rollers.
At the side of the room, further gym toys include an abs rollers, step boards with risers, Swiss balls, a BOSU and some press-up bars.
Cardio
You’ll find a fair range of cardio equipment here – all very modern, but not a huge range and no rower or upright bikes. They’ve currently got six treadmills, three recumbent bikes and three crosstrainers, all facing out of the window out front.
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Summary
I loved this gym. As a traveller on a budget, this is exactly the sort of gym I want find everywhere – it simply ticks all the boxes. You’ll find gym equipment to suit all types of workout, clean modern facilities, aircon and all at a really reasonable price. Thank you DNA Gym!
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