After 40 years, countless champions and a generation of athletes who keep coming back, Bev Francis Powerhouse Gym has built a legacy that has helped shape modern bodybuilding.
The Long Island gym recently celebrated its 40th anniversary with a gathering worthy of its reputation as the legendary East Coast Mecca, bringing together an iconic collection of Mr. Olympia and Ms. Olympia champions past and present, top professional competitors, bodybuilding leaders, along with athletes from other sports and longtime friends.
The event turned into a massive reunion of bodybuilding history, fitting for an institution that has helped build some of the most massive physiques in the sport of bodybuilding.
And as the iconic gym celebrated its first four decades, the get-together also set the stage for the next chapter: the upcoming release of IRON LEGACY: The Incredible Journey of Steve Weinberger, arriving in September, chronicling the creation of the East Coast Mecca from Day 1 to today.
Bev Francis Gym
40 Years Under One Roof
Few places in bodybuilding can assemble this many generations of champions and influential figures in one room.
In addition to Weinberger and and the woman whose name has been on the building and part of its story from the beginning, Bev Francis, those in attendance at the 40th anniversary celebration included two-time Mr. Olympia winner and current champion Derek Lunsford.
The women’s side of Olympia history was equally well represented by six-time Ms. Olympia Cory Everson and eight-time winner Lenda Murray, two of the most accomplished champions in the history of the sport.
Also in attendance were Nick Walker, Bikini Olympia champion Lauralie Chapados, pro bodybuilder Victor Martinez, Men’s Physique Olympia winner Ali Bilal, boxer Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller,
But the party extended beyond the champions onstage. Some of the sport’s most influential people, those responsible for putting on the Olympia, were there as well, including Olympia owner Jake Wood, Olympia President Dan Solomon and NPC/IFBB Pro League President Jim Manion.
Together, the athletes, executives, officials and friends represented decades of bodybuilding history in one place.
For Steve Weinberger, seeing so many people from different eras come together was a powerful reminder of what he and Bev Francis have built over the past four decades.
“When Bev and I started this, we weren’t thinking about creating a legacy,” Weinberger says. “We wanted to build a great gym and a place where people who were serious about training could come together. Forty years later, you look around the room and see champions from different generations, friends we’ve known for decades and people who have been part of this place for years. That’s what makes me proud. The trophies and titles are incredible, but it’s the people who made this gym what it is.”
Bev Francis Gym
The East Coast Mecca
For generations of bodybuilders, Bev Francis Powerhouse Gym hasn’t simply been somewhere to work out. It’s been a bodybuilding and weightlifting enthusiast’s bucket list destination. Walk through its doors on the right day and an amateur competitor preparing for a first show might find himself training only a few feet away from a Mr. Olympia champion.
That environment helped create the gym’s reputation as the East Coast Mecca.
Over four decades, champions, contenders and aspiring professionals from around the world have made their way to the gym to train, prepare for competitions and experience a piece of bodybuilding culture.
But championships alone don’t explain why the gym has endured. It’s the atmosphere, relationships, and of course the stories that make Bev’s so iconic.
It’s the feeling that once someone becomes part of the gym, they’re part of something larger.
That was evident throughout the anniversary celebration.
Instead of a room filled with formalities, it was filled with conversations, memories and laughter.
Former rivals traded stories. Champions from different eras caught up with one another. People who helped build bodybuilding’s history stood alongside athletes who are writing its next chapter.
It was real talk between people who lived it—but most importantly, everyone was having a good time.
Bev Francis Gym
Iron Legacy
Those stories are now becoming part of something bigger with September scheduled release of IRON LEGACY: The Incredible Journey of Steve Weinberger Authors authors Frank Sepe and Zack Zeigler will take readers inside Weinberger’s remarkable journey and the world that developed around Bev Francis Powerhouse Gym.
The book will examine the people, relationships, decisions and moments behind the man who became one of bodybuilding’s most recognizable and influential figures. But Iron Legacy isn’t simply the story of Weinberger, it’s also the story of a new and exciting era in bodybuilding and how a small gym in Syosset grew into the most iconic home for bodybuilding and fitness—and of the people who walked through its doors and helped transform it into an institution.
Bev Francis
Bev and Steve
At the heart of the East Coast Mecca story is the partnership of Bev Francis and Steve Weinberger.
Francis brought her own groundbreaking history in strength sports and bodybuilding to the partnership. Together, Bev and Steve created a gym with an identity that eventually stretched far beyond New York.
Its reputation traveled around the world. For elite competitors, training at Bev’s became part of preparing for the biggest stages in bodybuilding.
For young athletes, walking through the doors could mean seeing the people they had previously only seen in magazines, videos or on the Olympia stage.
And for thousands of members over the years, it simply became their gym and sometimes even felt like a second home.
It’s those stories that turned the gym into the East Coast Mecca.
IRON LEGACY: The Incredible Journey of Steve Weinberger is scheduled for release this September.
