Wichita Falls Athletic Club

Just finished the first month of the Novice Progression program. Rusty did an outstanding job as my trainer. He is organized, knowledgable of his program and detailed about form and technique. I had outstanding results in my gains and MUCH improvement in my technique! When I started, I had dealt with knee pain and persistant pain in my left shoulder for the last year. Today was the first time I squatted without knee wraps and the pain that was in my shoulder is basically gone!I highly recommend the Starting Strength Program and highly recommend Rusty as a trainer. Due to the results, I have upped for another (4) weeks of training!

Attended seminar in February 2023. Competent and patient staff and instructors. Facility was clean and well organized. Would highly recommend for students of weightlifting and strength training of all ages sizes and demographics.

Only one word best describes this place “Iconic”Spent 30 minute touring inside. This will indeed get etched into my travel log book.This what inspired me to start my strength journey.

Iconic gym for fans of Starting Strength. The gym itself is a no-frills, basic barbell gym for those who understand the importance of strength training. They have at least 10 squat racks and Olympic platforms. Best coaching you will receive in the entire world. Come here to get strong!

I want to thank "Rip" and all his trainers for first of all helping me to overcome so much muscle and joint trauma after I had a serious car wreck many years ago. "Rip" emphasizes doing all the exercises correctly, and yes, there is an emphasis on adding weight to each exercise week after week. There is a certain point at which each person reaches his or her limit on adding weight. At that point, the trainers introduce other exercises or other types of sets (lower weight, faster reps is one such option).There are other ways to gain strength, but I firmly believe the approach of this gym, over a long period of time, achieves a better level of strength AND fitness. I have certainly benefited from being a regular at this gym.

I drove out here from the Dallas area while on a work trip to do a training session at Rip's home gym. The training session was excellent - I picked up a bunch of form adjustments that have been extremely helpful. This place is awesome.Some people call their gym the iron temple - I say skip the temple for a day and find your way to Valhalla! Witcheta Falls Athletic Club does not disappoint.

I was in town on business, and decided to stop in. I went up to someone who looked like they worked there, and said "Hello my good man, I'd like one fitness, please". He stared at me for a second, and then started angrily lecturing me about something called "Rip". I felt uncomfortable, so I ran away and hid behind a stack of iron barbell plates, until I felt certain that man had gone away. I did my stretches, and started doing sets of 25 Sea Lions (stand on a Pilates ball, balancing a 5lbs kettlebell on your nose, clapping your hands, while barking like a seal). I must have been on my 5th set, when a large man in his early 60's burst through the wall like the Kool-Aid Man, clutching a gallon of milk each hand. He demanded to know just what the hell I was doing, and why the hell I was doing it in his gym. This, it turns out, was the owner: a burly, gruff man named Rip. I explained to him that I was doing Sea Lions, and how they are outstanding at breaking up lactic acid between the muscle fibers, and just SLAY my quads! He didn't appreciate how boss my quads looked in my male yoga pants. He also didn't seem to have any patience for my explanation, so I whipped out my CCFT level 2 certificate, so he knew just who he was dealing with. He stared at my cross fit certificate with such emnity, that it literally burst into flames in my hand! I said "Look here, Mr. Rip, that certificate cost me $100, and I had to use my own printer and paper to print it out!". He grabbed me, slung me over his back in what he referred to as "the low bar position", and used something he called "hip drive" to unceremoniously squat me like a barbell. At this point, I was starting to get the feeling I wasn't welcome here, and tried unsuccessfully to squirm my way out of his strong grip. "Congratulations", he said to me, "you're now one of the 5 basic lifts", as he dipped me slightly below parallel. "Mr. Rip, don't do that!", I yelled. "Had enough, have you?", he asked. "No, you'll hurt your knees doing that!", I cried. He put me down, and he started shaking his head, muttering something about stupidity. I must have gotten through to him. I'll be back again, next time I'm in town, and try to explain why deadlifting is bad, unless it is in a hex bar.

Went here for a meet in April 2017 and was very impressed with the atmosphere. However, you can definitely tell that this is not a place you want to go if you're looking for "fitness", only strength. I agree though that between it and Westside Barbell, it's one of the best in the world.

The trainers here know squat all. I overheard them talking about how exercise is what the uninformed do, and that they do "training". The elite-ness was off-putting. When I discussed with one of them the concept of varying exercises to maximise muscles confusion, I got put down. Talk about not understanding modern exercise literature...When I came to doing my overhead squats, an old guy in the corner began perv-ing and I overheard him talk about my "heeyip-drahve" to one of the trainers. He even got that trainer to come tell me to emphasize my butt movement. What a lecher. And he was doing this sleazy hang-lean at the corner squat rack while he perv-ed. Can't you at least leave the rack for other people who actually want to squat?The practices there are borderline dangerous. Increasing the weight everytime you exercise? That way deadlifts are going to bust your back, squats will kill your knees, and pressing will stuff your shoulders. Also, the amount of protein that a trainer tried to advise me to consume was ludicrous. I think I prefer to keep my kidneys, thank you.

This gym lacks many of the things I need to do functional fitness. I could not find any bosu balls so I couldn't do my squats, and there weren't enough mirrors either. It has no juice bar or sauna and they don't offer free pizza like the gym in my home town.People make loud noises with the weights too. I think they should install some kind of alarm that could go off if people are too loud. Also, my tricep kickbacks were disturbed because the gravity in the gym was pulling too much to the left.