Location: Lance Dyther Fitness, Real Street, Coron, Palawan, Philippines
Google maps: Click here
Website: No chance
Opening hours: 8.30am to 8.30pm
Price: 40 pesos (approx £0.80)
Review: So after El Nido nearly killed me, I had recovered just enough to be able to take the 4 hour fast boat to the promised land: Coron. There were two choices for this crossing. An 8 hour slow boat or a 4 hour fast boat. Having done the research, we decided to take the fast boat given our somewhat checkered history with boat journeys.
Predictably by this point, this journey was absolutely awful. The fast boat was as promised, and the sea was rough. It turns out a tropical storm was hitting the other side of the Philippines and as it happened they actually closed this route the next day leading to a lot of people getting stuck in El Nido. What this meant for us, was 4 hours of being thrown around in 3D. I am not ashamed to say that I ended up throwing up a couple of times on this journey and I was by no means the only one. There were a lot of El Nido victims on this trip. Pale, exhausted faces trying to ride out each stomach churning wave. And it went on and on. For hours.
But you know what? Coron is AMAZING! And worth every minuet of that hellish crossing. The town centre is referred to as Coron City Proper. To be honest, there isn't a lot to do here besides eat, drink and book day trips to the amazing islands near by. The two local beaches are pretty shoddy and nothing compared to the paradise islands you will see on the day tours. This is me on CYC beach, a beautiful white sandbar with clear blue seas around it!
This means there is quite a bit of spare time in the evenings here. Luckily there are TWO gyms in Coron. A smaller one in the town centre and a larger one on the edge of town just past the hospital.
I did find reference to another public gym in town in blogs online, but having looked around online and spent a lot of time in town, this was the only gym that I found in Coron Town Proper and therefore the best and cheapest gym in Coron Town.
The gym its-self has no signage and is basically found inside a shop. There is no reception desk or staff here. You need to pay in a shop across the road, but there is nothing to explain this. (See below for details of where to pay).
I found the name from some of the paperwork displayed on the wall, but I am sure you won't find any reference to this online.
Lance Dyther Fitness is a tiny gym with no air conditioning or fans and very basic equipment. There is definitely no cardio equipment here and this seemed to be a gym for the local guys only. It is dusty and kinda dirty. There is junk piled up high at the back of the gym and despite having an air con unit taking up space, this is never switched on. The same CD blares from speakers outside the gym and plays the same songs over and over every day but, all in all, I loved working out here and getting to meet some of the local guys.
This gym has:
- DIY dumbbells
- Adjustable bench
- Flat barbell bench
- Squat rack
- Cables
- Pull up bat
- Easy bar
- Leg press machine
- Shoulder press machine
The gym does have a toilet / changing room at the back, but honestly the smell was so bad I just pinned the door shut when I was working out in there. Just don't do it to yourself, change and shower in your hotel.
The shop where you pay for admittance to this gym also sells water and isotonic drinks. It also sells Optimum Nutrition amino acid 1500 tablets for 10 pesos each but other than that, I hope you stocked up on protein before you got to Coron because I couldn't find any on this island.
Who is this gym for? This place appears to be a male only gym according to comments made by the local guys who train here. I didn't see any women training here in the 8 days I was in Coron, but I also didn't see any signage to suggest that this was officially a men only gym.
There is another gym just outside of town which appears to be mixed sex and is actually much better equipped and does have cardio equipment. Given the small size of this gym, and the prevailing attitude of the locals who trained here, I would suggest that lone female travellers consider training in the other gym in Coron, which was larger, better equipped and frequented by both sexes. You can read about this gym in my next post.
If you are a female traveller and you do train here, drop me a message in the comments and let me know how you got on.
Tip: There are no signs for the gym or instructions on what to do to pay for entrance. I found out that you need to pay in the shop across the street, shown in the picture. You need to pay your entrance and sign your name in their records books. Coron is a analog sort of place.
Photos:
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