Havana Strength
By David Corrie Jr.
“Cerrdo Por Almuerzo”
The gyms that I have visited in Habana all had distinctive traits that made them all standout in different ways. Some gyms were smaller than others while having really good equipment compared to others that were big with very limited and unorthodox machines being used. However I believe one of the nicest gyms in all of Habana was discovered yesterday that was located right down the block from the U.S. Embassy called Osorio’s Gym. This gym was the most modern out of all the gyms that I have been to as far as the lighting, equipment, and spacing goes. This was a gym I could see myself working out in, which I did the following day.
My workout partner and I ended up arriving at the gym at 11:30am to workout legs. We started out by hopping on different pieces of cardio equipment that was there to get the body warmed-up. After getting the blood flowing I spotted the only squat rack in the entire gym that was open for the taken so we snatched it quick and decided to due some front squats for our first exercise. Of course we started of with a couple warm-up sets with small weight to prevent any injuries and then we threw on some big boy weight to kill the legs. We did about 4 sets of squats and were sweating like never before back in the states. The humidity was nothing to play with, as there was no form of AC within the building to save us.
Once getting a good pump in the legs, Russian deadlifts were next on the list to show the hamstrings some well-deserved attention. While transitioning into different exercises we noticed that the music that was playing in the building turned off and that we were the only two people working out in the gym. We weren’t sure what was happening but we continued to workout. Once the owner realized that we weren’t getting the hint he approached us and said that the gym was closed for lunch and that it would open back up at 3. It was a bummer to say the least because we only were there for less than a half hour before we had to leave but it was a good learning experience that most business close around noon and open up later on in the afternoon. Now I know either to go early or later in in the afternoon if I don’t want my workout to get cut short.