Overheard in the gym - Share!

[Zorch]

I know that there's a reason why Runners should do squats, but the Surfer in me can't remember shit

 

One big reason, which may not apply to 100% of people is to correct muscle imbalances.  Muscle imbalances(particularly a weak posterior chain) can lead to oddities in form and potentially inuries - particularly knee issues and/or iliotibial band syndrome.

 

Just in general, you should take note of how much you're using your hamstrings and quads, and how tired you're getting.  If your hamstrings are worn out before your quads, it's a good sign that you should work on strengthening them.  The old saying that you're only as strong as your weakest link applies here - as soon as one muscle group fatigues you'll slow down, and/or your form will tend to get worse(injury risk).

 

Any endurance runner needs a strong core and posterior chain - and there are a number of runners who may benefit from giving a little attention to them.

[Tony]

So much fail at the gym last Friday. I don't pay it that much attention until it holds me up.

 

Two guys doing shoulder rolls? in the squat rack.

 

A couple making eyes at each other holding up one of the two deadlift spots.

 

And about 5 guys deadlifting together but taking 10 minutes between sets because they're talking.

[I-Jo]

So much fail at the gym last Friday. I don't pay it that much attention until it holds me up.

 

Two guys doing shoulder rolls? in the squat rack.

 

A couple making eyes at each other holding up one of the two deadlift spots.

 

And about 5 guys deadlifting together but taking 10 minutes between sets because they're talking.

 

I don't understand... you can dead lift anywhere- you don't need a "deadlift" spot.

[Tony]

I don't understand... you can dead lift anywhere- you don't need a "deadlift" spot.

I understand you can deadlift anywhere, the gym manager, on the other hand, does not. At my gym there are two spots with rubber mats, bumper plates, and a barbell for deadlifts/rows/olympic lift. All the other barbells are associated with a bench or rack. I often take a bar from one of the ten benches and use it; however, if the gym is busy, you're told to put the bar back on the bench and go to one of the bars on the ground. That's what I meant by deadlift spot.

[pwallace]

I understand you can deadlift anywhere, the gym manager, on the other hand, does not. At my gym there are two spots with rubber mats, bumper plates, and a barbell for deadlifts/rows/olympic lift. All the other barbells are associated with a bench or rack. I often take a bar from one of the ten benches and use it; however, if the gym is busy, you're told to put the bar back on the bench and go to one of the bars on the ground. That's what I meant by deadlift spot.

LAME!

[I-Jo]

I understand you can deadlift anywhere, the gym manager, on the other hand, does not. At my gym there are two spots with rubber mats, bumper plates, and a barbell for deadlifts/rows/olympic lift. All the other barbells are associated with a bench or rack. I often take a bar from one of the ten benches and use it; however, if the gym is busy, you're told to put the bar back on the bench and go to one of the bars on the ground. That's what I meant by deadlift spot.

That's just stupid.

 

LAME!

I concur.

 

You need a new gym LOL  my gym doesn't have any special 'area'- I mean we have 1 power cage and 2 of those like half rack squat things- most people do their dead lifting there- but I have given up my space for sure to someone who wants to squat.  I think we have like 8 or 10 spare barebells for benching- so yeah- I steal them all the time- I have no shame. 

 

blarg- that sucks.   esp with a crowd holding it up- I feel like 2 people rotating through heavy lifts takes up a shit load of time- much less like... 5. 

[Timmy M]

saw an odd thing today... 2 obvious newbies doing cable rows, guy not doing them sits down with a massive arch in his back, bracing like mad, the guy doing the rows uses 1st guy as a seat back and has his back rounded to match his mates arch, he then proceeds to do rows that have no back action whatsoever

kinda wanted to say something but i was in a hurry and i don't usually train at that time anyway (t'was the broing hour on a monday...*shudder* luckily i did some arse to ankles squats and pendlay rows to balance things out a bit)

[Angie_Phoenix]

Conversation with an elderly man at the gym.
Him looking at the treadmill I just got off- "you run 30 minutes?"
Me- "nope, 26 I've only been running since September. I can't run 30 minutes straight yet."
Him- "wait till you get older"
Me- "I don't know I can do more now than I could when I was younger" 
Him-"me too"...pause..."that's right, you've got to lick the salt off the nuts"

 

(I think it was implying you have to get everything you can from life not a creepy pick up line )

[Timmy M]

ooooor... he was telling you that you'd sweated an awful lot and need to replenish your sodium

[Timmy M]

had a right mix of stuff today:

clips on the plate loaded leg extension... 1 15kg plate a side with room for about 6 more of them... i mean come on... IT'S A FIXED AXIS!!!!!

behind the back upright rows on the smith, bar moves about 6 inches

'yates rows' done pretty much vertically and with about 3 inch of movement, in the squat rack and off the safeties

same guy as the rows on the smith, pushdowns with the rowing attachment shown below, elbows pointed outwards, the guy also had an elbow brace on... your choice of pushdowns my be the reason you need a brace my friend

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

"Women skipping the weight room because of misconceptions about weights is just as silly as men skipping yoga because they're afraid it will make them get their periods."

 

This is going on FB and possibly my signature.

[Cr33g]

Apparently when squatting, you don't need to squat down low. All you need to do is bend your knees and flex your quads.

 

And then - you will get mad gains.

 

The last part was added by me, but the first part is what some guy told me. Because apparently squatting low is going to break every single joint in my lower body.

[Timmy M]

i don't get why most people believe that parallel is hamstrings to parallel... it's hip crease to knee crease! saw one guy even worse the other day though, wasn't getting depth on anything, he got up to 100kg and we thought he'd not go any further... NOPE! 11, 120, 130 aaaaaaaaaand 140kg! he also managed to half rep some front squats with 60kg, i wasn't aware it was possible to screw up a front squat...

[andygates]

Never underestimate the ability of people to half-ass a squat.

[Artinum]

Which is a neat trick, given that it's supposed to work your whole ass.

[andygates]

*My* whole ass is so sore I can't sit comfortably today, but I was doing pause-at-parallel squats earlier.

 

Actually, wind back a while and I was doing what I thought were decent squats, but turned out to be the traditional too-damn-shallow affairs.  It took asking a trainer to eyeball my squat depth for powerlifting meet legality ("hey, check my depth?" "dude, red lights" "whaaa?") to highlight the problem.

 

A solo trainee is always at risk of doing things that they think feel and look okay, but are horrible.  

[Guest Dirty Deads]

Saw a guy in his mid-late 60's on the leg press doing 3-6" motions. Later he sees me on there shoving my knees into my armpits and says "I would go that far, but I'm not young and have bad knees" So I say "By only doing the first few inches you're stressing your knees more.

Then he comes with this bit of fantastic "I only lift like that in case I ever need to lift a car off a friend and he only needs 3-4" of room to escape."

I guess if they need 5"+ they die.

[Georges]

^ Hey, dude, friendship only goes so far...

[Morrigainz]

Why are they trying to clean with alternate grip? that doesn't even make any sense.

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

There are some gems in the audio [AND in the Comments]

 

 

Although the title card says "Albany Crossfit," I don't believe this is really a Crossfit workout; just a bunch of knuckleheads pretending to be weightlifters

 

The mixed grip power cleans make me want to punch my screen. Any weight that allows you to switch grips while holding it on your belly does not require mixed grip. And it's not a 1 time thing, these clips were taken at multiple times of day and there were multiple references to PRs.

[chairohkey]

That video has been floating around for awhile now. They're doing some Strongman stuff and continental cleaning an axle. Its a legit technique including mix gripping. Still probably not the best idea for weak noobs to try.

 

[chairohkey]

Although the title card says "Albany Crossfit," I don't believe this is really a Crossfit workout; just a bunch of knuckleheads pretending to be weightlifters

 

See, you're applying Logic to something Xfitter-ish ... that's a bad path, right there

 

Everyone who's familiar with me knows I'm a CF skeptic but please don't bash them out of ignorance. 

[I-Jo]

I have so many many many questions. 

[chairohkey]

As a Runner, a Surfer, a Triathlete, a long-standing member of Slowtwitch, and as a friend of someone who OWNS a Crossfit joint, I have many tools at my disposal. other than just Ignorance; it just works 90% of the time

 

Makes sense that you didn't recognize a traditional Strongman lift and passed it off as "just a bunch of knuckleheads pretending to be weightlifters".

[This is Seth]

Oh hey, more people talking about continental cleans. These things are like the litmus test for lifters:

 

Do you know what it is or do you think it's idiots with bad form.