The best bodybuilding gym in Alicante made for an amazing discovery while killing time over the post Christmas break. It’s in a league of it’s own and even has it’s own kitchenette for you to use.
David // Barbells Abroad
Bodybuilding Gyms and Alicante
Jump to: Winner
A city I’ve always fancied living in but never visited, Alicante is an easy flight from my local airport in the UK. With a bit of downtime to use up after Christmas, I decided to finally tick some Costa Blanca sites off the travel bucket list and get myself on a last minute flight. Alicante is blessed with a long beachfront which inevitably means it will attract its share of body beautiful in the summer months; I took the time to find out where they train when they come here.
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History of bodybuilding and Alicante
Don’t expect a storied history of Alicante and bodybuilding. No local bodybuilder has yet achieved global acclaim in the world of spray tanned stage physiques, but a growing scene may change that in the future.
Is bodybuilding popular in Alicante?
While you won’t bump medial delts with any of the big names in the chest game, there is a popular bodybuilding scene in and around Alicante. There are annual amateur Mr Olympia events hosted in the city, plus a number of regional contests too. The Bigman tournaments are well attended and participated in, and you’ll find the city is a stop on the European NPC tour as well.
This all creates opportunity for local physique athletes to get on the scene and with that brings about gyms which cater to this niche sport in Alicante.
How to ask for a gym day pass in Alicante?
If you’re in Alicante and wondering how to ask for a day pass, try this:
“Pase de una dia, por favor”
This translates literally as a ‘pass of one day, please’, which is how it is known in the city.
This is pronounced as:
PAH-Say Day OOH-na DEE-yah Pour FAH-vaw
How I picked the best gyms in Alicante?
First up, we are rarely if ever invited, mostly because no one knows who we are. This means we do what you do when you get to a new town or city. Out comes the Google maps and we start browsing for photos and gym reviews that include things which stand out to us. Then it’s just a case of picking up our gym straps, belt and hotel towel; and making our way to these little meccas, one by one.
What are we looking for when we get there? We try to continue our normal workouts, we want to see if these gyms can cater to all types of splits. Often we throw in a legs and glutes session, as this really tests the depth and breadth of machine types, but whether it’s great music, friendly faces on the reception, sensible day pass prices or a fridge stocked with insanely good macro meals; we look at all areas to make a judgement call.
Now, here’s the brief guidline list:
- Is it an independent/local chain gym business or is it a nationwide franchise.
- Bodybuilder credible equipment brands. Nautilus, Arsenal Strength, Watson, Hammer Strength etc
- Random Wins – Posing rooms, old school bodybuilding posters, mirrors in front of squat racks
- Pump Vibe – Do you feel the desire to strap up and rinse a new deadlift PB – or is Mariah Carey music killing your sets?
When we write this section, it is not an exhaustive list but it gives you an idea of what we are looking for as fans of weight training and PT qualified lifters. Any warehouse can hold barbells, but not everyone can develop an intoxicatingly fun place to train. It’s the small details that matter.
Winner – Best Gym For Bodybuilders In Alicante
Alicante or Alacant as it’s known locally, is a significant city on the East coast of Spain, occupying a stretch known as the Costa Blanca. These are things you’re probably already familiar with if you happen to have landed here looking for the best bodybuilding gyms in the local area. With a regular flow of Brits, Germans and other tourist nationalities, as well as being a pretty active commercial hub for the Spanish, you can find some good places to train, and the area caters well to people who like to feel good on the beach in the warmer months.
In this guide I took time to explore beyond just ‘Centro’, as I know people tend to head a little further out looking for beach spots, such as San Juan. The gym I love here though is a little closer in. In fact, it is so close to the airport, if you’re coming in from the UK, you could realistically fly in from London and be setting up your weights in under 3 hours.
Titan Fitness Alicante – Alicante, ES
(Online Reviews 4.9)
4.9/5
A perfectly stepped out walk from Alicante town centre, 30 minutes along the promenade brings you in front of a big box beast of bodybuilding centre – Titan Fitness. Having been in the town for a couple of days over Christmas and both drunk and eaten a little too much, I needed to kickstart my mind back into training mode and nowhere I’d worked out had really blown me away, or inspired me.
Then I scrolled out on Google Maps and looped in this place into my field of view. I’d not been recommended it, no one had mentioned it to me, but then my social circle tends to gravitate around an interest in US bodybuilding gyms as opposed to those in Europe – however, this place looks the business from the outside and as it transpired – the inside too.
Open since 2020-21, this bodybuilder’s paradise on the Costa Blanca is not ot be confused with the chain brand of the same name. It’s an independent gym with all the customary bespoke touches you would expect, a load more you don’t…Barber’s salon on site anyone???
Why we love Titan Fitness Alicante
If you’ve spent much time in Spanish gyms, you’ll know what I mean when I say a few of them feel a bit ‘Call on me’. They have this early 90s vibe, which is inspired more by leotards, retired ladies, holiday posers and something camp. They are a world away from a Las Vegas style Dragon’s Lair gym aesthetic. They are well run for the most part, clean, have some good brands, but they lack bite.
Whereas you go to somewhere like Podgorica in Montenegro, and the gym is filled with men who have seen war, or you visit a bodybuilder’s gym in New Jersey and you know these guys have grown up on industrial and mean streets, it gives a place a certain grittiness to it, and that rubs off on you when you go to train. You find yourself easily falling into hardcore mode. You lift more, you put your phone down, you have a good workout. I don’t always get that vibe in Western Mediterranean gyms. But Titan – Titan has that. It blends cosmetically appealing, with usefulness and a well thought out gym features set. There’s a barbershop, a communal kitchen to make mid-workout protein snacks, posing mirrors, a workout clothing store and a massive leg equipment section. It’s without doubt the best bodybuilding gym in Alicante, and likely one of the best we will see on the Costa Blanca. It draws in IFBB Pros, is run by local competive physique models and is all of the things you want in a modern hardcore gym but remains importantly – friendly and inviting.
Small Wins
We talk about the price, or the facilities, the weight quantity etc, but if I had to pull out a few lovely touches for this gym, they’d be:
- Easy T pull handle for adjusting cable columns.
- Numbered rack holes for getting safety bars in the right holes.
- Free Coffee pod machine.
Overall, I loved this gym and I’d go back to Alicante for Titan Fitness alone. In fact it seems many do come to the city to train here before competing. With affordable rates, great weather, easy parking and low cost of living locally, there can’t be many better places to get yourself in shape before your national qualification rounds in an NPC event. If you’re like me and simply want to feel good in the bar on a Friday night, the sentiment is the same. This gym nails it.
How to find Titan Fitness near Alicante Centro
A great big car park out the front means you can roll up in your standard rental car and admire the big illuminated muscle sign before your workout. Otherwise if you’re staying in Alicante Centro, you can just walk here. Its located further up the boardwalk – as if you’re heading toward the airport direction. From the marina by foot, it took me 20 minutes. It’s a nice walk too. You’ve got the sea on one side and the route takes you along a pedestrianised walkway. I love a gym that includes a lazy cardio there and back, and this fits that bill perfectly.
Address: Calle México 4, Avinguda d’Elx, 51, Bajo, 03008 Alicante, Spain
Opening Hours
Price To Train
Reviews
Facility Info
Any Downsides?
Opening Hours
Staffed Hours:
Monday – Friday: 6 am – 11 pm
Weekends: 6 am – 11 pm
24 Hours Access? No
Price To Train
Day Passes
1 x Day: €15 (Euros)
5 x Days: €50 (€10 per day)
10 x Days: €80 (€8 per day)
Monthly:
From €40 (with €490 Annual Payment) to €60 PAYG
Reviews
4.9 / 5.0 | 133 Reviews (See all)
Our favourite:
“The best gym in Spain by far for all bodybuilding and powerlifting lovers, both in terms of machinery, atmosphere and attention from the staff. If you go through Alicante and are looking for a gym to really train, this is your gym. Nothing is missing. Out of 10. Special mention also to the owner for his kindness and attention. We will return 100% for sure!!!”
Source: Google
Facility Info
Free Parking
Plate Loaded & Selectorised Gym Equipment
Barbershop
Tanning Rooms
Sauna
Posing Rooms
On-Site Workout Clothing Store
On-Site Supplement Vending Machines
Free Communal Kitchen
Lounge
Strength Training Area – Chalk etc
Brands: Hammer Strength, Life Fitness, Precor, Jordan, Nautilus. The gym is an official Hammer Strength Training Facility.
Reinforced Benches/Squats
Local IFBB and NPC Amateur & Pros in residence
Any Downsides?
There’s not a lot to knock here. The bathrooms are clean, it has good parking, it’s easy to find, it’s well priced. The only two downsides I’d pull out here, are that it’s not 24 hours, and in some of the back training areas, machines were perhaps a little too tightly packed. It’s a spacious place, with a LOT of equipment, and generally there is no issue with density of kit, but I did find myself waiting to use a pullover machine while another user loaded up a T-Bar.
Pretty minor stuff.
Other Great Bodybuilder Gyms Near Alicante
Alicante is more than just a town – it’s a region….I think, also. Well, it’s pretty sprawling anyway, and within the Alicante/Elche region, you’ve got about 400,000 people and they can’t all go to our number 1 gym. This means we have to suggest a few more champions for you too, and in doing so, we have pulled out a few different spots to visit, to cover a couple of extra bases.
Best Old School Gym in Alacant
A bit of a gem that’s been open to the local weightlifting and bodybuilding community in Alacant for many decades. We are talking historic in the world of gyms…1965. I couldn’t NOT go when I heard about it.
Gimnasio Atenas
Ah the humble old school gym. There is equipment at Atenas that was there when it opened in the 60s. Something about the stories and the experiences shared by people who join you in your passion for training with weights, makes a visit to any ‘historic’ bodybuilding gym a real treat.
This was no exception. I loved it and you will too. This for us is definitely the best old school gym in Alicante.
Is it as deeply fitted out as Titan? No. But does it warrant a session from any bodybuilding fan in Alicante? Hell yes!
The equipment like any well managed old school facility is a collection of the best bits of kit gathered through the decades. Heavy duty kit is abound, plenty of benches and tons of plates. It’s also a hangout for a lot of local amateur bodybuilders too.
Expect to find: A bit of everything, lovingly collected (and maintained) over the years.
Best Bit: Old School vibe – others take training seriously here.
Pricing: 1 Day Pass = €10 : 1 Mth €40
Find them: C. Gral. Pintos, 17, 03010 Alicante, Spain
(Reviews 4.7)
4.7/5
Best Bodybuilder Gym in Elche
Elche sucks for gyms. Not going to lie, but this one is more than nice. I didn’t think it was the biggest space but it’s well kitted out with the Ferrari of gym equipment, Panatta. Well maintained floor if not a little ‘ambient’.
Rock Gym Elche
Not a struggle to find this if you’re in central Elche. I was looking for somewhere to train and this was recommended back up at Titan in Alicante.
It’s clean, well maintained and you can get between machines comfortably. While it does have a little bit of an ‘every person’ vibe about it, you don’t leave a workout dissatisfied because you couldn’t find what you need. There’s also a good range of equipment per muscle group, which is what I am really looking for. A gym that has little variety for a muscle group, can get boring but also make you feel a bit like the session was only a ‘tide you over’. I didn’t get that here. Topping it off, Panatta equipment is super ergonomic, if you’ve not trained with it before, it’s well worth a try.
If you’re in Elche and need a decent bodybuilding gym, you can do far worse.
Expect to find: Only Panatta – and it’s in mint condition.
Best Bit: Panatta everywhere, aka comfortable-AF machines.
Pricing: 1 Day Pass = €10 : €45 per month
Find them: Avinguda de la Universitat d’Elx, 64, 03202 Elche, Alicante, Spain
(Reviews 4.9)
4.9/5
Best Gym In Playa San Juan
Located an hours walk (and then some) from Centro, Playa San Juan is a popular beach spot, and a likely destination for many visitors. It’s worth finding this gym near by for that pre beach pump.
6-23h Gym San Juan Beach
One of 3 gyms this group owns, so it just about falls into my independent gym classifier, the beach location is their most bodybuilding vibe facility.
Kitted out with plate loaded and selectorised Technogym equipment, there’s hack squat machines, a good range of chest angles that can be hit and it has respectable hours. Not quite 24 hours here, but if you can fit a workout in between 6am and 11pm, you’re going to be happy.
The day price is a bit toppy, but if you’re here for a few days, pick up a no contract monthly and it works out really well priced. Clean tidy and close enough to the beach that your arms won’t deflate by the time you get there.
It’s not Titan, but it’s a darn sight more convenient for those staying down in San Juan.
Expect to find: Technogym, Matrix, Life Fitness.
Best Bit: Close to beach, good walking lunge space
Pricing: 1 Day Pass = €14.95 : €35 per month
Find them: Av. de Ansaldo, 27, 03540 Alicante, Spain
(Reviews 4.4)
4.4/5
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