Building Allegiate: Century City
BUILDING ALLEGIATE CENTURY CITY
Written by cofounder and head coach Tim Caron, who designs all our weight rooms.
How we built out Allegiate Century City, why it’s different compared to our other locations, and why different doesn’t mean better.
The decisions we made building our first Allegiate in 2016-2017 don’t apply with our second location in Santa Monica, and neither our third in Century City. As we’ve grown we’ve evolved, but our mission stayed the same.
Provide High Quality Strength Training in a Group Environment.
With that comes a relentless pursuit of doing it better and better each day, week, month, year, decade, and if we’re lucky, a century.
You’ll notice some equipment in Century City differs from equipment in South Bay and Santa Monica. This isn’t because it is better. It’s more specific to what Allegiate is now compared to what Allegiate was in 2017. Some equipment will be different variations of existing equipment. The key thing to remember is that Century City’s build-out is different, but different does not mean better.
The Racks
The centerpiece of all three of our locations. Our racks are built by Sorinex and we love the versatility their racks offer - Weight Catches for Rack Pulls/Rows, Landmines, Multi Grip Pull-up Bar, and cross bridge with pull up attachment.
What you’ll see in Century City are Half Racks. Santa Monica racks and 4 of the 6 racks in South Bay are Full racks. We chose the Half Racks for Century City to gain more floor space.
When we opened in 2017 we thought that all of our programming would be centered around the barbell. This created a functional need for the full rack at that time. As we evolved we learned that barbell-based exercises were not the center of our programs. Our programs evolved to use Kettlebells, Dumbbells, Cables, Landmines, or Bodyweight exercises way more than we intended. All those variations need more space - this is what the Half Racks provide. More space.
Our programming versatility is now unlimited.
The Dumbbells
You should be familiar with these - Watson 2” dumbbells w/ revolving handles. These are a staple of Allegiate’s programming. The rate-limiting aspect of fat grip handles (your grip goes out before your back) are paramount to successfully training safely and effectively year-round. In using a larger diameter grip dumbbell our members are more instinctive about weight selection. They are more intentional about choosing a weight they feel comfortable carrying to their station. This encourages better technique and safer positioning during training.
A decision we made for Century City was to have dumbbells 3-15kg in 1 kg increments (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15kg), 15-50kg in 2.5kg increments (15, 17.5. 20, 22.5. 25, 27.5, 30, 32.5, 35, 37.5, 40, 42.5, 45, 47.5, 50kg), and 50-65kg in 5kg increments (50, 55, 60, 65kg). This allows for more micro loading with lighter weights and creates less violent jumps with heavier weights.
Unconventional Strength
We have a Philosophy at Allegiate:
a group based strength programing using multi-joint/ closed kinetic chain/ multi-planar/ vector movements always adhereing to first principles of physica and principles of training.
With barbells and dumbbells, we can effectively do everything really well within that philosophy, except for Multi-Planar/Vector Movements. We value moving in all planes and vectors because it keeps tread on the tire, metaphorically speaking. Our body is built to move in all three planes and vectors. Most muscles run obliquely (at an angle) and insert in multiple directions on tendons. Ligaments run in obliquely as well, creating greater need to train in all three planes and vectors. What does this mean? We need more movement options than just up and down and forward and back.
This is where all of our Unconventional options come in - kettlebells, maces, Indian clubs, cable resistance, and med balls. In all three of our locations we have:
KBs from 4kg to 48kg
Maces from 7lbs to 35lbs
Indian Clubs from 10lbs to 45lbs
Cable attachments, at each rack, that run from 5-55lbs
Medballs from 5lb to 100lb
We can accommodate everyone regardless of their strength levels in all planes and vectors to encourage long-term, safe, and effective programming and training.
Creating Structural Balance
We put so much emphasis on creating balance or symmetry from left to right and front to back. Training unilaterally is a huge piece of that. We have options to do just that with the tools we have.
Harder areas to train include the posterior chain and upper back. We test NordBord (eccentric hamstring strength) weekly and we test Pullup Strength biannually. Analytics tell us that a majority of new members have relative weakness in those two areas. This creates a need for us to develop these areas to promote structural balance for safety and overall performance.
For this reason, we added both a pulldown and leg curl. We went with Prime for the leg curl and pulldown options because it gives us the ability to load each part of the strength curve for the hamstring and has an adjustable cable column/latpulldown/seated row option.
Sport Science
ForceDeck, NordBord, Dynamo, and BodyMetrix.
These are the tools that hold us accountable. Are we delivering on our mission? We need reliable and valid data to make sure we are on the right track. These are the tools that remove human bias and give objective/meaningful information.
For new members, how much information we track can feel overwhelming at first. We want to deliver. For us to do that we need to establish that what we’re doing is working. Weekly, monthly, and biannually tracking is foundational to our business ethos. We have the best tracking products from Vald for testing jump performance, eccentric hamstring loading, and grip strength. We also offer body composition assessments. This is included in all memberships. Why? It’s the right thing to do to ensure we’re making a positive impact on your health and fitness.
Conclusion
There will be tweaks from location to location but this is the manifestation of improvements we’ve made over the years. If you come in for a class in any location, on any given day, you’ll be familiar with how to orient and maximize your session from the continuity of each set up.
We’ve evolved a great deal in the past 6 years. This next location is not better than any of the other locations. It may be newer, but the bones are exactly the same.
Thank you to everyone that’s been a part of this journey. It’s a tremendous honor to serve your health and fitness needs. Our progress as a business is a reflection of your progress in the gym. You get stronger, Allegiate grows bigger!
Coach Tim