IPEC Fitness – Gym, Chaiyaphum
Physical Education Institute, Chaiyaphum Campus
Address: Follow Ongkan Sai 2 out West from the night market.
Cost: 20 baht per workout!
Location
IPEC Fitness is located centrally, a few hundred metres west of the night market on the same street. It is part of such a large physical education centre, that it was initially tricky to find the building where the actual gym was located! You’ll find it in a white building which lies between a pink building and a green building.
If you’re arriving from the direction of the night market/town centre, you’ll come to an obvious main entrance on your left, level with a running track. After you turn in, you’ll immediately see some signs in Thai where you’ll have to turn either right or left. Turn left here and follow the road around so that the running track is on your right. As you approach the pink, white and green building on your left, you’ll see an entrance with a big sign outside, by a court.
Facilities
The gym is a bit of a step back in time, but at 20 baht a go (including use of a towel!) you can’t really complain. I used it while my usual gym TG Fitness was closed for renovations. Ipec is medium-sized and has a good (but old) range of resistance equipment. There are some pretty good quality mats there for floor work and sufficient space to use them, along with a couple of medicine balls.
In terms of free weights, there are some dumbbells, although they only went up to 10kg. There are a few adjustable-weight barbells (both straight and curled), but no fixed weight ones. You’ll find a Smith machine too (no squat rack) and plenty of disc weights around the room. There are flat and inclined benches with racks.
Cardio equipment includes 2 rowing machines, some old treadmills, cross-trainers and some lateral steppers. There are also 4 bikes of two different types, all of which look a bit dated but perfectly usable.
The pull up bars only offered a narrow grip, although I still managed to use them for both overarm and underarm pull-ups. The angle of them is such that you’ll want to stand facing a certain direction for each. There is a lat pull down machine but no assisted chin ups.
Forget aircon, but there are a few fans in operation (and a few that weren’t) when I went.
Summary
IPEC Fitness is fantastic value for money for anyone a budget. The women’s toilets do however stink of urine (pleased to say I didn’t encounter the men’s). The gym is extremely cheap, but TG Fitness is also good value for money at 70 baht a go and is significantly bigger with a larger range of equipment and free weights. Both gyms are similarly ventilated with fans only.
See also Siam River Resort in Chaiyaphum, although this gym is fairly basic yet more expensive, and only a viable option if you are staying at or very close to the resort.
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