Visit any gym or health club during peak hours and chances are the majority of the people you’ll see there will be loafing around.

For those of you who are regular exercisers, you know who I’m talking about — the young woman doing curls with the five pound dumbbells is a great example.

So is the guy talking to his buddy for five minutes in between sets on the bench press.

But at Under Construction – a private gym just off of the corner of Market Street and Eisner Drive in Champaign — you’ll never see anyone sitting around.

The gym’s head honcho (and owner) David Plew doesn’t allow it.

“I can get more done in 45 minutes in here than most people can get done in an hour and half on their own,” Plew said.

Part of the reason for this is the controlled environment Under Construction provides. Clients who work out at Plew’s private gym don’t have to wait around for machines or dumbbells like they would at a campus rec center like the ARC.

But, Plew said the most important aspect of any training program is getting people into the correct mindset — one in which they are willing to work hard enough to reap the benefits of getting into the gym.

“Women have beliefs that if they lift heavy they’re going to look like a man,” he added. “Then I’ve got guys who think they’re going to make the transition from skinny beach boy to muscular guy without any effort. People don’t realize how hard it is.”

And “hard” may be putting it lightly. Because the training routines at Under Construction are grueling.

“You don’t come in here and get a drink every two minutes,” Plew said. “They’re constantly moving from machine to machine to machine as quickly as they can. It’s not uncommon for them to get 60 sets done in 45 minutes. And those 60 sets are with challenging weights — weights they can handle, but are heavy.”

A former collegiate basketball player, Plew finished up a 30-year career in bodybuilding after competing in his final show this past September.

He opened up Under Construction in 1996 after stints as a strength and conditioning coach for the U.S.A.’s 1984 Olympic team and as the head strength coach for football teams at both the University of Kansas and the University of Tennessee.

“A lot of people don’t realize how important strength and conditioning is. Behind every great team, there’s a great strength and conditioning program,” Plew said.

While working at Kansas and Tennessee, Plew also finished up a PhD in exercise physiology.

He said doctorate degrees in his field are rare as so many different theories and routines exist in the world of fitness.

But if there is one almost universally held belief among fitness professionals, it is that food is an integral part of achieving success in the gym.

“You can’t build a house without the lumber,” Plew said. “It’s always interesting to me that the first sacrifice people want to make is to eat less. But if you’re coming in here and killing yourself, why would the reward be to eat less? Would you work 60 hours a week for the same pay as 40?”

Clients at Under Construction are given a diet to follow, which at times includes basic supplements like protein shakes and amino acids.

And the walls at the gym bear witness to the results training with Plew can bring about.

They’re decked out with before and after pictures of former clients, with some losing up to 100 pounds during Plew’s 16-week program.

And his goal is for them all to be able and continue with a healthy lifestyle even after they’ve stopped training with him.

“I try to teach my people how to do exercises correctly and try to teach them variations of the exercises and try not to do the same workout with them twice,” Plew said. “I try to educate them so they can go out and train on their own.”