Quads Gym

How it Began

Quads Gym is now one of the most well known gyms around the world, but it did not start that way. It began 45 years ago when Dave De Young and Tom Milanovich wanted to have their own gym where they could hangout and lift with friends. It began in their basement until they moved to a small storefront. After they moved to a 46,000 square foot location in Chicago, which is now known as the “Land of the Giants”. This is due to the massive bodybuilders who train here. Now it is one of the most well known gyms in the world due to its diverse range of equipment, impressive bodybuilders, and top tier trainers.

Notable Visitors

Quads is the home gym for many mass monsters such as Pete Miller, Jeff King, The Late Chuck Durr (Mr. America), Anthony Watkins (Teenage Mr. America), and Chris Cormier (Mr. Olympia). Aside from male competitors they have also had Cynthia Barker (Ms. America) and Laura Creavalle (Ms. Olympia).

They have also had a number of pro athletes who have trained here regularly such as Michael Finley of the Dallas Mavericks, Jason Mckie of the Chicago Bears, Rodney Harrison of the New England Patriots, and Simeon Rice of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Other athletes and celebrities have made appearances to check it out including Michael Jordan, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, John Meadows, Sean Hayes, Chris O’Donnell, and Henry Rollins.

Range of Equipment

Quads has every option of equipment you could desire and more. They have over 15 different brands of equipment, but they are known for their Hammer Strength room. This room is on the second level and has every free weight Hammer Strength machine ever made. This is complimented by 4 other rooms that have free weights, pin loaded machines, cable towers, racks, platforms, and every bar a lifter could ever desire.

My Experience

My girlfriend Annalise and I recently went to Chicago for our two year anniversary. She knew I had been wanting to go to Quads for some time now so we set aside a good three hours of our morning to go their enjoy a workout, and come get back to our Airbnb. When we arrived it was everything I expected, multiple floors packed with everything I could imagine. There was equipment I had never seen or used before. I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to workout with so many option so I ended up doing a little bit of everything.

On my way out I kept on setting my bag down to stop at another machine to try it out. I couldn’t help it, I knew I would never step foot in a gym with this many options of interesting and different equipment. Near the end I turning a corner to walk down the stairs were I found a forearm machine in a corner I had not seem. I sat all my tuff down to give it a try and forgot my water bottle right next to it. I am sure its still in that gym today, hopefully I will be able to get back and collect some time in the future.

(Links to website for citations under “Additional Info” page)