Gyms aka the souls of strength sports. In the heart of Berlin, in Friedrichshain on RAW grounds, there is Berlin Strength. Surrounded by graffiti, clubs, street food, and also one of the last, most historic areas of the city, people are lifting weights. The building speaks history - the old bricks, which are now filled with chalk and iron, were part of the railway garage in DDR times.
Founded in 2014, with the intention to set up a “pub-like” training facility, Joni Purmonen, also the owner of Strength Shop Europe wanted to create an affordable place for people passionate about lifting (and also to have a place to train for his own sake). Berlin Strength is a special venue, not just for its history, but for what it is today.
Doing sports in a great company should always enrich your training experience, whether it's your lifting attitude, knowledge, or understanding of other people's lifts. Learning from YouTube, the internet is one thing, but actively practicing, observing, and living the sport is something else entirely. Today the gym is a well-known place for powerlifting, weightlifting, strong(wo)man training, calisthenics, and functional fitness.
Run by a collective of passionate lifters themselves, the gym is also one of the first powerlifting gyms in Germany. Specializing knowledge for a sport that is not very popular with most people, the gym has invited big names for seminars to learn from the best and make the knowledge available to its members.
Run by a collective of passionate lifters themselves, the gym is also one of the first powerlifting gyms in Germany.
Learning from legends, like Boris Sheiko, Malanichev, Barbell Medicine, Ursula Garza, and many more have shaped the coaching and understanding of the sport taught at Berlin Strength.
The gym is made by the atmosphere, the customers, staff, sports lovers, and gym dogs. Walking in you can see the gyms outside walls, covered in graffiti - inside the setup and wallart speaks for its own.
“Put some fckn life into it” is one of the most special wall pieces. Berlin Strength is like a community place, people don't just come for training and leave.
Most come, say hello to people they know, enjoy chilling and chatting on their own time, and then start working out and are all in. The vibe is special, you hear dropping bars, iron scratching on iron, loud music.
The gym's athletes know they are accepted for who they are. It doesn't matter if you want to talk to your gym mates, leave the world outside and work out with headphones on, shielded from the noise of your surroundings.
Mutual respect for each other and for the way you work out is key. After all, everyone is different, not only because of their training style, but also because of different life situations, professions, families, time pressures, physiology, etc., and it's important for the staff to be understanding of different needs. Bullshit - that is, any form of discrimination will not be tolerated though.
Since Berlin is a city with a lot of history, it attracts many people from all over the world, and most of them come to do their training abroad at Berlin Strength, as it is the only gym for powerlifting, weightlifting, and strongman in Berlin. The gym is a home for everyone, whether they are new to the city or from the area, it brings like-minded people together. The language in sports is universal, if someone hits a new PR, you cheer them on, that's it.
Strength Shop is still closely tied to the gym because we use it to test new products and get feedback from customers and employees. We rely on their feedback and have decided to further expand our partnership to keep our finger on the pulse and offer the best equipment to our customers, focussing on understanding their needs.
Whenever you are in Berlin, visit Berlin Strength.