Put weight
on the bar.

Anvil is a barbell and conditioning gym on Foundry Street in Brayton. Eight platforms, twenty-nine coached classes a week, and staffed open gym for people running their own program.

Start with a free week See the schedule

2016Opened

8Platforms

29Classes a week

12Barbell class cap

Four ways to train

Every class is coached by a person who watches your set. Nothing here is a video on a screen.

Barbell strength

For anyone who wants a heavier squat, press, and pull, from week one to a tenth year.

Squat, press, bench, deadlift, cleans
Written in six-week percentage blocks
Your numbers tracked in the whiteboard book
Coach on the floor the whole hour

60 minutescap 12

Conditioning

For lungs and legs. Rowers, bikes, sleds, and carries, with no max-effort barbell work.

Intervals, tempo pieces, and loaded carries
Scaled by pace, not by watching the room
Pairs well with two strength days
Sweatier than it looks, easier than it sounds

45 minutescap 16

Open gym

For people running their own program who want a real bar, real plates, and space to work.

Eight platforms, calibrated plates to 25kg
Belts, straps, and chalk on the shelf
A coach on staff for a spot or a question
Never more than half booked

staffed hoursno booking

Beginner on-ramp

For a first barbell. Four sessions, six people, and an empty bar until the shape is right.

Four 60-minute sessions over two weeks
Six lifts taught from the ground up
Starting numbers set for you at the end
Included with every membership, always

4 sessionscap 6

The week

The same schedule every week, all year. Holiday changes go on the door and in the Sunday email.

Barbell strength Conditioning On-ramp

Mon5 classes

6:00aBarbell strengthDara · cap 12

7:15aConditioningPriya · cap 16

12:10pConditioningPriya · cap 16

5:30pBarbell strengthSam · cap 12

6:45pBarbell strengthDara · cap 12

Open gym8:30a to 5:00p, 8:00p to 8:30p

Tue5 classes

6:00aConditioningPriya · cap 16

7:15aBarbell strengthSam · cap 12

12:10pBarbell strengthSam · cap 12

5:30pConditioningPriya · cap 16

6:45pOn-ramp, week oneTheo · cap 6

Open gym8:30a to 5:00p, 8:00p to 8:30p

Wed5 classes

6:00aBarbell strengthDara · cap 12

7:15aConditioningSam · cap 16

12:10pBarbell strengthDara · cap 12

5:30pBarbell strengthSam · cap 12

6:45pConditioningPriya · cap 16

Open gym8:30a to 5:00p, 8:00p to 8:30p

Thu5 classes

6:00aConditioningPriya · cap 16

7:15aBarbell strengthDara · cap 12

12:10pConditioningSam · cap 16

5:30pBarbell strengthDara · cap 12

6:45pOn-ramp, week twoTheo · cap 6

Open gym8:30a to 5:00p, 8:00p to 8:30p

Fri4 classes

6:00aBarbell strengthSam · cap 12

7:15aConditioningPriya · cap 16

12:10pBarbell strengthDara · cap 12

5:00pBarbell strength, heavy singlesDara · cap 12

Open gym8:30a to 4:30p, 6:15p to 7:00p

Sat4 classes

8:00aBarbell strengthDara · cap 12

9:15aConditioningPriya · cap 16

10:30aOn-ramp, first sessionTheo · cap 6

11:30aSleds and carriesSam · cap 16

Open gym8:00a to 1:00p

Sun1 class

10:00aEasy aerobic hourPriya · cap 16

Open gym9:00a to 12:00p, coach on staff

How booking works. Members reserve a spot by text or on the whiteboard by the door, up to a week ahead. If a class is full there is a standby line, and it moves most days. Walk in for open gym any staffed hour, no booking at all.

Your first week

Most people who write to us have not touched a barbell, or have not touched one in fifteen years. Both are the normal start here.

A coach kneeling beside a new member setting up a deadlift with an empty bar

"I stood outside for ten minutes before my first session. Theo handed me an empty bar and we spent forty minutes on it. Nobody in that room looked up once."

Nadia R., member since 2024

Nobody here is watching you.

There are no mirrors on the training floor and no music you have to shout over. The room is loud when someone is pulling heavy and quiet the rest of the time. Everyone in it started at an empty bar, and the strongest people in the building are usually the ones spotting somebody on their first set of five.

Your free week is a real week. Come to as many classes as you like, use open gym, ask every question you have, and decide at the end of it.

Write or callTell us roughly what you have done before and when you can train. We answer within a day.
Come and look aroundFifteen minutes, any staffed hour. You watch a class, we show you the changing rooms, nobody signs anything.
Start the on-rampFour sessions over two weeks, six people, an empty bar first. Tuesday and Thursday evenings or Saturday mornings.
Take your first classYou walk in with numbers written for you and a coach who already knows your name.

The coaches

Four of us, all on the floor every week. We still train here, and you will see us do it.

Head coach, owner

Dara Whitlock

USA Weightlifting Level 2. Ten years coaching, opened Anvil in 2016.

Competes inRaw powerlifting at 63kg. Best total 372.5kg, deadlift 172.5kg.

Strength coach

Sam Okonkwo

NSCA Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. Former collegiate hammer thrower.

Best liftsBack squat 215kg, bench 145kg, power clean 125kg.

Conditioning lead

Priya Raman

NSCA Certified Personal Trainer, Concept2 instructor. Writes every conditioning block.

Competes inIndoor rowing and road racing. 2k in 7:24, marathon 3:11.

On-ramp coach

Theo Barnes

USA Weightlifting Level 1, StrongFirst SFG. Teaches every on-ramp group personally.

Best liftsDeadlift 240kg, front squat 160kg, strict press 92.5kg.

Membership

Month to month, every tier. No joining fee, no annual agreement, cancel by email before the first of the month.

Open gym

$85 a month

Every staffed open gym hour, seven days
Platforms, racks, calibrated plates, sleds
The beginner on-ramp, included
Add any single class for $12

Start a free week

What most members take

Full

$145 a month

All 29 coached classes a week
Every open gym hour as well
The beginner on-ramp, included
Your numbers tracked, reviewed each block
Bring a guest one Saturday a month

Start a free week

Ten spots, waitlist most months

Coached

$265 a month

Everything in Full
A program written for you, six weeks at a time
A 30-minute review at the end of every block
Video feedback on your lifts between sessions
Meet prep if you decide to compete

Ask about a spot

First week free

A full week of classes and open gym before you pay anything. No card, no paperwork.

Drop in for $22

Visiting town or trying one class. Same rate for everyone, no packages to buy.

Pause any month

Injury, travel, a hard month at work. Email us and the month is off, no fee to come back.

The training floor at Anvil: rows of platforms and racks under tall industrial windows

Come and look

Fifteen minutes, any staffed hour. Ask for whoever is on the floor.

Hours

Monday to Thursday5:45a to 8:30p
Friday5:45a to 7:00p
Saturday8:00a to 1:00p
Sunday9:00a to 12:00p
Coach on staffAll open hours

What to bring

Flat shoes. Trainers are fine, lifting shoes are not needed.
A water bottle. There is a filler by the door.
A small towel. We launder loaners on Fridays.
Ten minutes early for your first class, that is all.
Chalk, belts, straps, and sleeves are ours to lend.

Where we are

Anvil240 Foundry Street, Unit 2
Brayton, in the old sash works

Free lot behind the building, entrance off Kell Lane. The number 9 bus stops at Foundry and Third, two minutes on foot. Bike racks are inside the roller door.

(555) 555-0166
hello@anvil.example

Take the free week.

Tell us when you can train and what you have done before, in three sentences or fewer. Dara reads every note and answers within a day, usually the same evening.

hello@anvil.example or call (555) 555-0166, someone is on the floor all open hours

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