FROGMORE LEISURE CENTRE

I’ll admit it — I’ve been an idiot.

IMAGE SOURCE: EVERYONE ACTIVE

Here’s a tip: when you walk into a new gym, have a proper look around before forming an opinion.

I was over in Farnborough recently and needed to get a Friday back workout in. Frogmore Leisure Centre looked like a decent enough option. Walking into an Everyone Active gym, you generally know what to expect: plenty of red, grey and pine, familiar equipment, and staff who all seem to have been issued the same haircut. Just a good, solid gym.

My first reaction, though, was: OK, this is a bit small. And not just because of the low ceiling that makes you feel like you’re training under a car park, but because of how little there seemed to be in terms of kit.

The gym occupies most of the first floor, with the changing rooms only accessible once you’ve scanned in — which is different, but in some ways better. On entry, you’re greeted by a range of pin-loaded cable machines and, off to one side, a small free-weights area with dumbbells, a rack, and a Smith machine. Not vast, but enough for what I needed.

For the next hour and a half I happily cracked on with my business. Everything worked as expected, nothing really to report. It was only towards the end, when I wandered into what is effectively the next room — home to the cardio equipment and a few cable stations — that things took an unexpected turn.

Tucked away around the corner was one of the best free-weights and plate-loaded areas I’ve come across in a long time.

I could not have been more pissed with myself. So many new toys to play with, and so little time — and energy — left to do it. Everything I should have been using for the previous 90 minutes was there, and then some.

Admittedly, the stupidly low ceiling joist between you and this area does put you at mild risk of knocking yourself out if you’re anything over four-foot-eight, but once you’ve ducked past it, it’s a very welcome surprise. There’s a lot packed into a relatively small area, and it’s been done well.

Three proper racks, a good range of lifting bars, and a great range of plate-loaded machines that actually feel like they’re working with you targeting the muscles advertised on the side. Best of all, a leg press and a hip-thrust machine facing the wall, rather than forcing you to bare your crotch to the person opposite.

Thinking about it now, hiding the lifting area like this is actually a clever move. If free weights intimidate you — which is perfectly understandable — you can quite happily stick to the main gym floor without ever encountering it. At the same time, it gives those who want to lift heavier a sense of having their own dedicated space, which no doubt keeps a few egos nicely massaged.

The only slightly odd thing is that to load the sled with anything remotely challenging, you’ll need to transport plates what feels like half a mile to the turf track, which lives by the smith machine on the other side of the gym. And realistically if you are over six feet tall, there’s only one narrow spot in the entire place where you can lift anything overhead without redecorating the ceiling. Still, these are minor gripes in the grand scheme of things.

Overall, the place is well looked after, the changing rooms are genuinely pleasant, and — perhaps most importantly — it wasn’t full of wankers. It felt like a gym people go to train in, not a wannabe social club. I was there on a Friday afternoon during half term, so I can’t speak for peak times, but it certainly wasn’t making me want to bang my head against the wall. Quite the opposite.

So if you’re in the area, give Frogmore a go — just remember to take a brave pill and poke your head around the corner. You never know what might be hiding there. Which, in some ways, is probably a lesson for life.