About our blog

About us

Hi! We are the Barbells Abroad Team

“Treadmills don’t count!”

I’m David, the lead writer for Barbells Abroad and one half of the two hotel gym pumpers that started this site. Why did we start this? If you like the gym and you like to travel, you’ve probably made that schoolkid error of booking a hotel based on it having a ‘fitness centre’ only to find it’s an army of treadmills and a solid floor that you can’t even do a sit up on.

Treadmills don’t count! If there are two things every city can offer, it’s bike hire and walking, hotels offering a room of overpriced cardio machines and not a barbell in sight send us mad. So we decided to help nerds like us find good hotels when travelling that don’t mean a missed day in your schedule.

We love to train, it’s our meditation, it’s not a holiday if we can’t have a great workout free from the distractions of life back home. I used to be overweight and don’t plan to go back there again.

Current gym goal – 15 Reps 100kg Bench

About the author

I’m the other one

Lee – Gym Owner

I’ve been training with David since 2009 when we first met in Ibiza, I own a gym in the South West of the UK and I’m the kind of person to pack lifting straps in my suitcase for an all inclusive holiday to Turkey.

I’ve been lifting weights for 15 years and tend to focus on strength at a conditioning range. I love to explore a new city but not to the detriment of ruining my gym focus.

Gym goals? 24 Inch Pythons

Want free irregular travel fitness stories?

If you want to stay in touch with new travel fitness posts/tips or deals – do the unlikely and join us

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Do you even lift bro?

No content is produced on this site without being edited or written by someone who loves the gym. The moment that stops happening, the moment the point of this blog is lost.

2. How can you talk with authority?

David and Lee have both been REPS registered trainers in the the past and have combined around 10,000 hours of training.

3. Are you Qualified Personal Trainers?

As founders of the blog we have both been qualified trainers, we are not practising trainers these days. Lee owns a gym, David works in Tech.

4. Natty or No?

Both natty (right now) but never say never. That being said, we both take creatine regularly as part of our supplement regime and have played with pro-hormones or SARMs in the past.

Affiliate Disclaimer: Some parts of the site feature links which link out to sites that enable booking of hotels or services.
These sites may offer discounts for you to utilise and pay us a little commission as a thank you. We retain an editorial policy to ensure no links
are given to sites that do not meet our personal standards of integrity. We promise to waste any commission on protein and beer

Save To My Phone 

Want Bigger Legs?

Get our FREE Monster Leg Workout plan