Venice Beach

The Muscle Beach area from Venice is actually the newer version of this beach. The Original Muscle Beach was located in the vicinity of Santa Monica Pier, but now the one from Venice Beach is where you can find all the hard bodies showing off.

The Venice Muscle Beach has gotten the attention and fame which were once reserved for the original Muscle Beach, when the first one was converted as a place where gymnast can train. The bodybuilding, weightlifting and barbell activities which were once reserved for the Santa Monica beach are now found at Venice Beach. The name of Muscle Beach Venice was received in 1987, in order to make the name different from that of the Santa Monica Muscle Beach.

Once the first Muscle Beach from Santa Monica was closed, the attention of the bodybuilders changed to the Weigh Pen from Venice Beach. The initial weight pen was built in 1952, but eventually it was replaced with a bigger facility and during the 1990s it was redeveloped. Now, Muscle Beach Venice has a big concrete barbell mounted on its roof and spectators can stand in bleachers.

The equipment destined for weight lifting is found in a gated area, located in an open playground. There is a second area where you can find acrobatic bars, rope climbing and gymnastics equipment.

Naturally, since there are so many bodybuilders here, there are also many businesses which cater to them and to the products they use.

Some of the former regular users of Muscle Beach were people like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dave Draper, Danny Trejo or Larry Scot. Besides them, many other actors and bodybuilders trained here and lived in the area.

If you love bodybuilding, or if you’re simply in the area and you want to admire some hard bodies, make sure you check out Muscle Beach and its athletes.