In the basement of Beyer exists an underground club.

If you follow a winding hallway past the racquetball courts and the women’s swim team locker room, you’ll find a door secured with a secret code.

From the hallway you’ll hear a mixture of techno, rap and rock music blaring; you’ll hear the clang of metal on metal and metal on concrete; you’ll hear the grunts of physical strain, the guttural yells of an unlikely cheer squad and the occasional burst of … laughter?

Rule No. 1 of weight club is that members can talk about weight club.

“It’s one of the oldest clubs on campus and certainly one of the largest,” said Mark Power, professor of finance and the weight club’s adviser.

Power was a member of the weight club in the ’70s, when he first attended Iowa State as an undergraduate.

The club, which has existed in Beyer since 1969, has not always been so elusive.

“It’s underground relative to where we used to be,” Power explained.

The club used to be located on the west end of the main floor of Beyer, under the old wrestling room, Power said. When the weight club was upstairs, there was no way to control access to the club or any way to enforce member dues.

At that time, the club was more visible to ISU students, including some of the university’s most notable athletes.

“When Dan Gable was training for the Olympics in ’72, he was in there weight training,” Power said.

The club was given permission to use the new, underground space after State Gym opened, Power said. In what he credits as a generous gift from ISU Recreation Services, the club was given a private space with controlled access and reinforced floors.

“The floor [upstairs] was precast concrete and we had deadlifted in the same place since the club started,” Power said. “Eventually it caused the precast to break up and chunks of precast fell down in the women’s gymnastics locker room.”

With the new, closed off space, the club can now regulate who has access to the room and better track the $30 annual membership dues, which it uses to purchase and maintain exercise equipment.

With the club’s move underground, it has become somewhat of a best-kept secret of the gym.

The new room, with no windows, low ceilings and fluorescent lights has a cage-like feel with two walls made of chain-link fence separating what belongs to the club from a storage area used by Recreation Services.

Baby powder and chalk clouds linger in the air and dust the black rubber flooring. Long, stainless steel chains hang on one wall. Members maneuver around the narrow room amid piles of weights stacked strategically to be added to someone’s deadlift, bench or squat bar.

“When you walk in, it has a ‘Fight Club’ atmosphere to it,” Power said.

Amy Kurr, junior in materials engineering, said the club’s unique charm almost scared her away.

“It didn’t look like the gym I was used to,” Kurr said. “So I was kind of nervous.”

Kurr, a previous high school athlete who wanted to continue weight training as a freshman at Iowa State, found the club on her first day of orientation. After someone from Recreation Services walked her down the hall to the locked door, Kurr chickened out.

“I got too scared,” Kurr said. “I didn’t even go in.”

Kurr decided to work out at State Gym instead. However, when she ran into weight club members at State, they convinced her to go back and give the club a chance.

“It’s more like a community,” Kurr said, comparing the weight club to other gyms on campus. “People are really friendly — it’s like a big hangout session.”

Ben Yoko, senior in mechanical engineering and weight club president, agrees that the club is unique in more ways than one.

“It’s definitely different,” Yoko said. “The atmosphere is a lot different from the Rec (sic) gyms. It’s a little more intense-looking on first impression.”

Yoko, who discovered the club his sophomore year, said it has been not only a way to stay in shape but also a way to make friends.

“There’s a social aspect to it too that you don’t really find anywhere else,” Yoko said. “In the club, you’re working out with a bunch of different people and you’re always cheering each other on.”

Yoko said he spends around 20 hours a week in the gym. He described the four subgroups members typically belong to: powerlifters, Olympic-style weightlifters, Strongman competitors, bodybuilders and casual weightlifters.

While each subgroup has its own signature exercises, its own routines and its own goals, they all have one thing in common: they all started somewhere.

“Just like you don’t talk about your drug problem until you come through it; you don’t talk about your bad lifting time until you come through it and you have something to show for it,” Kurr said.

Kurr and Yoko agreed the club is not exclusive to students who are already experienced weightlifters; newbies are welcomed, too.

“If someone wants to learn and wants to work hard, then absolutely,” Yoko said. “There’s a lot of people [in the club] willing to help out. That’s another unique aspect of it.”

Anyone interested in joining the weight club — open to students, faculty, staff and alumni — can visit the club’s page under student organizations on the ISU website. People can also follow the club on Instagram @isubarbellclub or show up and knock (really loudly) on the door in the Beyer basement.

Here are a few things people can expect to find at the weight club:

1. Minimal cardio equipment: Collin Goedken, senior in computer engineering and club treasurer, said the club has one stationary bike and one elliptical.

“A lot of our equipment is older and I think people like that sort of retro feel,” Goedken said.

2. A fashion statement: Members are known to wear a unique combination of spandex, short shorts, tall socks and high-top sneakers — when an Instagram post of someone’s personal record is imminent, style matters.

“Some people plan their outfits,” Yoko said. “Socks are getting big this year; I don’t know why,” he laughed.

3. A rotating cast of club DJs: Kurr said you’ll often see members crowded around the gym stereo in between sets. Members are welcome to plug their phones in and choose which jams they want to get pumped up to.

“I know some people have favorite songs when they go for a big lift,” Yoko said.

While no music is “off-limits,” Power said he’ll sometimes get emails from Recreation Services if “low-quality” music is played too loudly, so purge your playlist of obscenities before reaching for the auxiliary cord.

4. A spa-like atmosphere. OK, so maybe there aren’t any massage chairs, candles or ocean sounds, but members report lowered stress levels after leaving the gym.

“With my major, I get pretty busy sometimes,” Goedken said. “[Lifting] is a stress reliever. It’s good for me to blow off some steam in there.”

5. A lot of yelling. Members are not above loudly telling each other mid squat to “GET UP! GET UP! GET UP!” The shouting that may be misinterpreted from the hallway is undoubtedly friendly in nature from the other side of the locked door.

“Everyone is so supportive because they know the weight you put on the bar is a [personal record] for you,” Kurr said. “They know it’s hard for you.”

6. Someone willing to spot you.

“You can always have a spotter if you need one,” Yoko said. “Someone will always be there to cheer you on or help you get through your workout.”

7. Other ladies.

“We want girls to be able to meet girls and build a community,” Kurr said.

Kurr is in the process of starting an organization specifically for women called LiFT — Ladies in Fitness Training. She said research has shown that many women don’t feel comfortable going to the gym to lift weights by themselves or with other women.

“There’s kind of this stereotype of weight training and it’s not true,” Power said. “There’s a significant number of women who do weight training.”

8. A serious lack of “meatheads.”

Yoko said that while the myth of the “meathead” is pretty common, people won’t find any among the engineering, kinesiology and veterinary medicine students (among many other majors) at the weight club.

9. Zero trouble.

“Because [club members] lift, they don’t have the time or energy to go drinking or do drugs,” Kurr said. “They don’t seem to get in bad activities because they just can’t.”

10. A crowd … or not.

“I’ve been in there myself, but I’ve also been in there with 30 other people,” Goedken said.

Power said some hours are busier than others, like most gyms.

If you’re going to need a few spotters or some moral support, the gym is typically more crowded between 4 and 6 p.m., Power said.