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Local Fitness Leadership Series
Editorial Spotlight / Newbury Park, California
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By Daniel Ford
Managing Editor
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When Odd Haugen talks about The Training Hall by Odd Haugen, the story does not begin with a polished fitness trend. It begins with a boy in Norway, drawn to strength at 10 years old, making his own equipment and finding ways to lift, climb, swing, and test what the body could become.
That lifelong pull toward strength eventually became a commercial gym in Southern California. What started in a garage grew into a specialized strength facility where strongman competitors, powerlifters, older adults, sports-minded younger members, and true beginners can all train with purpose. “It’s for everybody, not just somebody already strong. This is the place you get strong — you don’t need to be strong before you come here.”
Odd Haugen, Owner / The Training Hall
What Members Notice First
A new member notices that this is not a typical commercial fitness center. There are stones, tires, logs, turf, free weights, bars, and serious training tools, but the energy is friendly rather than cold. Members can train at their own pace, ask questions, get encouragement, and feel that the room is built for goal-oriented progress, not random workouts or crowded distractions.
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Featured Profile: Odd Haugen built The Training Hall around a lifetime in strength, from early lifting in Norway to a Southern California gym known for strongman equipment, practical coaching, and member support. The Training Hall by Odd Haugen
Newbury Park, California thetraininghall.net Owner Focus
Odd has shaped The Training Hall around a simple standard: teach the basics, respect the work, and help members get stronger. That owner-led tone gives the gym its rare mix of serious strength tools and welcoming member support.
The Training Hall uses indoor and outdoor training space, giving members room for strength work, strongman movements, and event-style practice.
The Training Hall Standard 24/7 Access
Members can train when their schedule allows, with a space that often feels private and uncrowded.
Strength Basics
Squats, deadlifts, presses, and proper technique come before more advanced work.
Strongman Tools
Stones, logs, tires, yokes, sandbags, farmer’s walks, and specialty bars support serious progress.
Who The Gym Serves Beginners
People new to lifting can start with coaching, fundamentals, and an encouraging member culture.
Athletes
Sports-minded younger members and developing athletes can build usable strength and better movement.
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A strength training member transformation does not always begin with a dramatic athletic background. At The Training Hall by Odd Haugen, one of the clearest examples began with a young attorney who had never lifted weights, never played sports, and wondered whether a serious-looking strength gym could be a place for her.
Odd’s answer was to invite her in. At first, she could not use a barbell and had to begin with very light weights. Three or four months later, he described her as thriving, squatting more than 100 pounds, deadlifting more, and enjoying the process. For Odd, that story explains the heart of the gym better than any slogan could.
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Why It’s Different
The gym combines strongman tools, powerlifting culture, outdoor space, and a practical training approach built around real strength.
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Who It Serves
It serves strongman competitors, powerlifters, older adults, younger athletes, and beginners who want to become stronger.
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Why It Stands Out
Its strength focus, 24/7 access, member support, and uncommon equipment give it a clear place in Southern California fitness.
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Odd Haugen’s strength story began long before he owned a gym. He said he started lifting around age 10, making his own equipment and looking for anything that might help him become stronger. Over time, that interest moved through shot put, discus, bodybuilding, Olympic weightlifting, powerlifting, track and field, football, wrestling, high jump, and eventually professional strongman.
The Training Hall began as a practical next step. Near the end of his professional strongman career, Odd had younger athletes training with him and getting enthusiastic about the work. He moved the gym from his garage into a commercial space, built it around strength, and gave members access to equipment most general fitness centers do not carry.
The story of the young attorney matters because it challenges the assumption many people bring to a strength gym. A room filled with free weights, stones, tires, logs, bars, and strong competitors can look intimidating from the outside. Odd wants people to understand that The Training Hall is not reserved for people who are already strong.
His examples are practical. Some members come in as former athletes trying to regain strength. Some are older adults who want to stay younger and keep their functionality. Some are competitive lifters practicing events. Others are new to weight training entirely. The common thread is not where they start. It is whether they are ready to become stronger.
Odd’s coaching philosophy is clear and direct. After evaluation, he starts with the basics: learning how to squat properly, how to deadlift, and how to press overhead and on the bench. He also spoke about using tools such as reverse hypermachines to help protect the back while members build strength.
As members advance, the work can expand into stones, farmer’s walks, yoke carries, sandbag carries, sandbag tossing, and weights thrown for height in the outdoor training area. But the larger idea remains simple: build the foundation first, keep the training purposeful, and help the member become more capable in and out of the gym.
The Training Hall serves more than one kind of member. Odd said the gym has something over 100 members, plus competitors who travel in on weekends to practice events. Some members drive from Los Angeles or other areas because the space offers equipment and training options that are not easy to find in a conventional gym.
The day-to-day member may be local, while weekend visitors may come from farther away. What ties the room together is the goal. Odd contrasted the gym with typical commercial fitness centers where people may socialize more than train. At The Training Hall, members usually arrive with a purpose: to lift, learn, practice, and get stronger.
Like many independent gyms, The Training Hall has grown largely through referrals, search visibility, and reputation. Odd said current members referring friends are the main source of new clients, while others discover the gym through Google, Yelp, social media, YouTube, or even by noticing the facility near a popular local restaurant.
He also acknowledged the challenge: attracting new members without a large marketing budget. Growth has been organic. That makes the member experience even more important, because the gym’s visibility depends heavily on people who train there, trust the space, and tell others what it feels like to belong.
In Newbury Park and the surrounding Southern California fitness market, many people can find standard gym equipment. Far fewer can find a strength training gym with strongman tools, powerlifting culture, outdoor training space, 24/7 access, and direct leadership from a lifelong strength athlete.
That matters for members searching for more than a place to exercise. The Training Hall gives local lifters, beginners, older adults, and competitors a place where strength is treated seriously, but not reserved for the already strong. For a member who wants confidence, functionality, and a clear path forward, that difference is easy to understand.
The Training Hall by Odd Haugen is owned by Odd Haugen, a lifelong strength athlete from Norway who moved the gym from his garage into a commercial space as his professional strongman career was winding down.
The Training Hall stands apart because it combines specialized strongman and powerlifting equipment with a welcoming member culture, 24/7 access, and a goal-oriented training environment that is rarely crowded.
No. In the interview, Odd emphasized that The Training Hall is for everybody, not only people who are already strong. The gym serves strongman competitors, powerlifters, older adults, sports-minded younger members, and beginners who want to build strength.
Odd emphasizes evaluation, proper technique, and simple strength basics such as squats, deadlifts, overhead pressing, and bench pressing before members advance into stones, farmer’s walks, yoke carries, sandbag work, and other strongman movements.
In the interview, Odd described The Training Hall as open to members 24/7, allowing members to train when it fits their schedule.
- The Training Hall by Odd Haugen is a strength training gym built around strongman equipment, powerlifting, functional strength, and practical coaching basics.
- Odd’s central message is that the gym is not only for people who are already strong; it is a place where members come to get strong.
- The member experience is shaped by 24/7 access, a rarely crowded training environment, friendly members, and goal-oriented workouts.
- The gym’s local value comes from its specialized equipment, supportive culture, and clear focus on strength, confidence, and everyday function.
The Training Hall by Odd Haugen is a story about strength in its most practical form. It is not only the strength of stones, logs, bars, and tires. It is the strength of a beginner learning to squat, an older adult protecting function, a competitor preparing for an event, and a member discovering what it feels like to be in charge of the body again.
Odd’s message is simple enough to remember and strong enough to define the gym: people do not need to be strong before they walk in. The Training Hall is where they begin building it.
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Featured Fitness Leader
About the Featured Expert
Odd Haugen
Owner / The Training Hall by Odd Haugen
Strength Athlete From Norway / Newbury Park, California
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Odd Haugen is the owner of The Training Hall by Odd Haugen, a strength training gym in Newbury Park, California. Originally from Norway, Odd described being drawn to strength from childhood and competing across many strength and athletic disciplines, including bodybuilding, Olympic weightlifting, powerlifting, track and field, football, wrestling, and strongman. He opened The Training Hall after moving the gym from his garage into a commercial space.
Odd’s philosophy begins with evaluation, proper technique, and simple strength basics. He teaches members how to squat, deadlift, and press correctly, then helps more advanced members move into strongman-style work. His larger goal is to help people become stronger, more functional, more confident, and less intimidated by the process of training.
His values include strength, proper technique, member support, practical progress, and a belief that serious training should still be welcoming. At The Training Hall, those values show up in the strongman equipment, powerlifting culture, full-body strength approach, 24/7 access, and a member community that encourages new people as they learn.
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