Vietnam - Old Olympic Stadium, Hue

Location - Gym in the old Olympic Stadium, Nguyen Thia Hoc, Hue City 

Google maps: Click here

Web: No way

Opening hours: 9am to 5pm

Price: 5,000 VND  

Review: Having spent a few days training at training at Club Olympic Gym, I began to hear hushed whispers about a secret gym based in the old Olympic stadium across the road. Walking home one night I saw a glimpse of this gym peaking out from behind iron bars across the road.

My interest peaked, I decided to check it out the next day. The old Olympic stadium could not be more different from the brand new Olympic gym on the other side of the road. The stadium itself loos almost derelict, with flaking yellow paint on the outer walls and moss covered stands soaked by a thousand Vietnamese rain showers. You can walk in and see the football field and running track for yourself. Its a very strange place. 

After a while wandering around the stadium and being yelled at in Vietnamese, I managed to find the gym, located on the ground floor on the right hand side. Walking in I could tel that this was going to be a tale of two gyms. The gym is pretty much as old school as it gets. There is no cardio equipment here, just free weights and machines which look like they may be homemade. With rusted dumbbells, homemade looking benches and and machines which use bicycle chains rather than cables, this is an interesting place to train to say the least made all the stranger by the fact that you can see the Club Olympic Gym across the road through the barred windows. This is the view:

Once you get over the contrast between the two gyms, you begin to realise that there is actually enough equipment here to get a decent workout. 

This gym has:

• Dumbbells up to 25kgs 
• Flat bench 
• Preacher curl bench 
• Flat barbell bench (non-olympic bars)
• Incline barbell bench (non-olympic bars)
• Decline barbell bench (non-olympic bars)
• Squat rack
• Smith machine 
• Cables
• Lat pulldown
• Leg press machine 
• Pull up bars 

There is no cardio equipment here, no wifi and definitely no supplements or water on sale. If you want something old school, stripped down and basic then this is the place for you. This gym may be preferable for those on a strict budget or those who want a gym to be an experience. Everything about this place is a one off. 

Who is this gym for? In all honesty, the whole stadium is pretty run down including the gym. Given that when I walked in here, the guys were all here training shirtless, and the fact that the gym is located in the lower level of the stadium, I probably wouldn’t recommend this place to lone females travellers, given that Club Olympic gym is literally on the other side of the road. This gym is probably only for those looking for a cheap gym in Hue.

Tips: To get to this gym you have to use the ground floor entrance to the stadium on the far right. The gym is literally on the other side of the road to the Club Olympic Gym. Also, if you are in the area you should definitely go check out the stadium. Its kinda creepy to wander around. Go check it out and thank me later. It looks like this:

Photos: