Insurgent Fitness Flagstaff AZ
1650 S Plaza Way #5, Flagstaff 86001
Opening hours: 24 access for members, staffed hours are Mon-Fri: 1100-1400 and 1600-1900.
Cost: $15 per day for casual use
Location and Entry
Insurgent Fitness is a medium-sized gym, located 15 minutes’ walk south of downtown Flagstaff.
Facilities
Forget your mainstream gyms, Insurgent Fitness Flagstaff is a gym with a difference – no resistance machines in sight! And a good thing too in my opinion. Here the emphasis is on freeweights – focus on technique and functional training, for which I found plenty of floorspace for everyone. Even in busy periods I can’t imagine this large space gets full. Describing itself as a cross between a martial arts centre and a Crossfit gym, the space is divided into a large martial arts studio and a large gym with plenty of floor space between equipment.
The friendly owners showed me around and said I was welcome to take equipment outside and train there too if I wished. Great! Who needs aircon when you can breathe in all that fresh air? You’ll see overhead fans inside in any case and this ground floor facility was fully open at the back when I attended – a couple of members were indeed training outside.
Weights
You’ll find a full set of dumbbells up to 110lbs and numerous adjustable barbells in varying shapes, weights and sizes. You’ll also find a large area with stations for doing pull-ups and squats, along with powerlifting platforms. Heavy lifters should feel at home here. You can also find a cable crossover machine and a lat pull down, in case you’re missing your regular gym equipment. Whilst talking to one of the very friendly owners, I commented that the only thing I was missing was an assisted-chin-ups machine, and she kindly showed me an excellent alternative involving wrapping a looped resistance band around a pull-up bar – bingo! (Thank you Michelle!)
Cardio
There is a small range of cardio equipment too, including a couple each of treadmills, bikes, rowers and a crosstrainer, all of which looked to be good condition.
Classes and Functional Equipment
The club offers a range of martial arts classes including Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai and Judo for both adults and children. You’ll also find Yoga and other group fitness classes on offer, totalling around 22 classes per week. The attractive martial arts studio has a fully padded floor and is also equipped with boxing bags. Other gym toys include kettlebells, a roller, a variety of resistance bands, Swiss balls and wall balls.
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Summary
Insurgent Fitness was a refreshing change, having done my last two workouts in Planet Fitness. Although PF has good facilities, I find it over-equipped with resistance machines. I definitely recommend going to Insurgent if you are looking for a good weights workout. This Flagstaff gym caters well for heavy lifters, yet it is far from filled with bodybuilders. The clientele was very mixed with a welcoming atmosphere. I know next to nothing about martial arts, but if I’d had more time here I’d have certainly tried a class out. If you’re travelling in Flagstaff, you’re probably there to see the nearby awesome Grand Canyon, but if you have time for a gym workout before or afterwards, this is your place!
Other Gyms in Flagstaff
To the East of downtown you’ll find a couple of gyms in Flagstaff, namely Orangetheory Fitness club (classes only) and a Crossfit gym (Crossfit Flagstaff) in close proximity to each other.
More centrally, you can find Tranzend Studio Fitness; however, this club is not a gym and only has classes. Insurgent gym is actually the most mainstream gym in Flagstaff that I found!
As it’s a fairly small town, Flagstaff lacks many of the large chains, which is not a bad thing. Complement hikes in the Grand Canyon with an upper body workout at Insurgent Fitness. And although I didn’t get there, several people recommended the nearby San Francisco Peaks to me.
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