USAWA

I had a chance to visit the oldest gym in North America while taking a trip to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. William “Bill” Oliphant Sr was born in 1893 and founded the gym in 1913. His grandfather was a strongman and Bill was interested in Physical Culture since boyhood.

The gym has a wonderful blend of modern and vintage equipment. The vintage equipment includes fixed weight Milo Barbells, a blend of vintage dumbbells and benches. It is supplemented with modern dumbbells, bumper plates, functional trainer and barbells. The decor sets it apart with drawings of the classic strongmen and performers of the time.

Nisha and I had a great workout with some bench press, cleans, seated rows, back extensions, pull-ups and alternating dumbbell curls.

One of the trainers Andrew was kind enough to share a few stories including how women were allowed to train at Oliphant’s when no other facility would let them train. All were welcome and life outside the gym was checked at the door. Judges and criminals could lift side by side. I also discovered a neck strengthener of a fashion I had never seen before.

The gym which is now a non-profit run by the members for the members preserves the history of physical culture in North America as the United States All-Round Weightlifting Associations preserves the history of the original forms of weightlifting.

Have you had any interesting physical culture experiences lately? Consider drafting an article and submitting to usawasec@gmail.com for publication on the website. Accomplishing our mission of preserving the history of the original forms of weightlifting depends on all of us.