Overheard in the gym - Share!

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

Sometime around 6:40PM there was a collective - yet diatonic - "Ohhhhhhh!!!!" when this came across the giant TV

 

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/12415886/philadelphia-eagles-trade-lesean-mccoy-buffalo-bills

 

The higher tone of "Ohhhhhhh!!!!" was generated by those in favor; the lower was from those against

 

Last night completely screwed my rest times as I was VERY busy blowing up twitter as various updates came out.

[Machete]

At BJJ today:

 

"Yeah you need to train both sides, judo guys tend to only train one.  Ask Lou." 

"Actually we train both, I don't because I'm a lazy chancer."

Proceeded to demonstrate both right and left handed techniques.  Also proceeded to accidentally tomoe nage people when we're doing some weird guardy sweep thing.

 

I don't either. I like to have left techniques and right techniques.

[jfreaksho]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that's done this.  I put 2.5kg on one side and 1.25kg on the other. When I noticed, I just looked around to see if anyone was looking at me weirdly and walked very quickly away from the rack....

 

Do it a couple more times and someone will help you notice before you get too far into it.  It's a little embarrassing, but much worse when it's a 25 on one side and a 35 on the other, or something like that.  It's like looking at people who fail reps- all you really want to know is if you have to call the ambulance or not, and trying to prevent it when you can.

[pwallace]

for some reason I have a more difficult time calculating and putting the correct ammount of weight on the bar IF it is lightweight. Anything under 100lbs and I sit there like a retarted monkey counting everything

[Br0din]

Do it a couple more times and someone will help you notice before you get too far into it.  It's a little embarrassing, but much worse when it's a 25 on one side and a 35 on the other, or something like that.  It's like looking at people who fail reps- all you really want to know is if you have to call the ambulance or not, and trying to prevent it when you can.

 

About a year ago I saw someone benching with a 35 on 1 side and a 25 on the other.  I rushed over to help him expecting a failure in the near future.  He got all pissy at me cause he had a 25 and a 10 on the side that I didnt see.  I made a comment to the effect of "that isnt too smart" and he of course got more pissy.  I left rolling my eyes.  I never saw him again.

 

I don't think I would act any differently if that situation came up again. 

[Sam Ashen]

I did a bench press with a 45 and 35 on one side and a 45 and 25 on the other.  Down.  Up.  WTF?  Why is this so hard?

 

I did the same thing on deadlift with a couple of 45's, a 25, and some dimes on one side and a 35 instead of a 25 on the other, wondering why this is messing with my grip so much.  However, I was properly distracted in that situation.

[Tankweazel]

I did a bench press with a 45 and 35 on one side and a 45 and 25 on the other.  Down.  Up.  WTF?  Why is this so hard?

 

I did the same thing on deadlift with a couple of 45's, a 25, and some dimes on one side and a 35 instead of a 25 on the other, wondering why this is messing with my grip so much.  However, I was properly distracted in that situation.

I've done a bueatiful IPC standard bench with one side loaded like 82.5kg and the other 77.5kg.  Possibly the best technically that I've ever done as I had to put in more effort stabilizing that bad boy.

[Squidwina]

for some reason I have a more difficult time calculating and putting the correct ammount of weight on the bar IF it is lightweight. Anything under 100lbs and I sit there like a retarted monkey counting everything

 

I've been running into the same problem, but at all weights.  I call it having a case of barbell brain.

 

Maybe this chart will help?  I haven't actually used it in the weight room yet, but I'm thinking of sticking it to my water bottle in an effort to be subtle about the fact that I'm having temporary mathematical dementia.

 

[Dradis]

Kg ftw :-)

[Silo]

Have you all ever used this website? You can set it for lbs. or kg and choose your bar type and then it tells you how many of each plate to put on the bar. I found it while trying to figure out warmup sets. (Aside--why are there so few resources telling newbies how to do warmup sets?) My bar is only 15 lbs. as opposed to the standard standard (heh) 20 lb. bar but I still find the site useful on mornings when my brain hasn't totally woken up yet. I just have to remember to add 2.5 to each side in addition to whatever the website recommends.

[Oramac]

I've been running into the same problem, but at all weights.  I call it having a case of barbell brain.

 

Me too.  Sadly, my gym doesn't have any 35 pound weights.    They skip from 25 to 45 pound plates.  I guess they figure we're all badasses or something.  

[Squidwina]

Me too.  Sadly, my gym doesn't have any 35 pound weights.    They skip from 25 to 45 pound plates.  I guess they figure we're all badasses or something.  

 

Oof.  That would be annoying! 

 

Would you like a chart without the 35s?

 

ETA:  It was easy enough just to put it together, so here you go:

 

 

Kg ftw :-)

 

LOL...okay.  If you tell me what the standard bar and plates are in Kg, I'll be happy to work up a chart for you.

[Barfly]

Yup. I was making up 35# dumbbells for flyes and made them 45# and couldn't figure out why I felt so weak

[Squidwina]

Have you all ever used this website? You can set it for lbs. or kg and choose your bar type and then it tells you how many of each plate to put on the bar. I found it while trying to figure out warmup sets. (Aside--why are there so few resources telling newbies how to do warmup sets?) My bar is only 15 lbs. as opposed to the standard standard (heh) 20 lb. bar but I still find the site useful on mornings when my brain hasn't totally woken up yet. I just have to remember to add 2.5 to each side in addition to whatever the website recommends.

 

That site is fantastic.  Thank you!

 

I'd also like to see more about what newbies and/or people using lower weights should do about warmups. 

 

(Isn't a standard bar 45 lbs, though?)

[SpecialSundae]

Kg ftw :-)

 

One day they will join us!

[Br0din]

One day they will join us!

 

 

[SpecialSundae]

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2007/08jan_metricmoon/

[Sylvaa]

So not something I heard, but something I was able to witness.

 

There was this guy on the leg press machine. He was pressing maybe 50 lbs (I was trying not to be too obvious as I stared) as he played his DS.

  

Not kidding, he was practically rhythmic as he just went back and forth; I don't think I saw him stop for a good 20 minutes.

[Georges]

for some reason I have a more difficult time calculating and putting the correct ammount of weight on the bar IF it is lightweight. Anything under 100lbs and I sit there like a retarted monkey counting everything

Is it cheating that I jot down all the plates on my workout log before I start?  Then I just write in the reps as I go.  Otherwise, I'll end up spending more time staring at the bar & plates than actually doing each warmup set...

[Sam Ashen]

 

One day they will join us!

 

I just came out of a discussion like this.  So I will say it again:

 

I can understand:  If you are used to it, then you are used to it.  I just wish I had a silver piece, or even a dollar or Euro for every time I used 2.2, 0.225, 0.0254, or even 231 in my calculations.  (The last one is not English to Metric - It is cubic inches to US Gallons.)

 

I don't know what will make them convert.  Maybe they will convert before the price of gasoline reaches $10 per gallon.  Hmm.  When is oil going to be traded in cubic meters, or even liters?  When is copper going to be traded in kilograms?

 

The bar I use is 45 pounds and the plates are 45, 35, 25, 10, 5, and 2.5 pounds - So I log my working weights in pounds and only convert to kilograms for recording 1RM and 5RM.  I just assume that the rest of the people who generally use kilograms are smart enough to just make the conversion.

[Sam Ashen]

Forgive my asking, but why wouldn't you just use pounds for everything? What's so special about kilograms?

 

No offense taken for asking.  I was working with the assumption that most of the people here are expecting to see weights referenced in kilograms.  For example, on the powerlifting leaderboards:

 

All weights should be in kilograms. This is the weight system power lifting competitions use. If pounds are your mass measurement of choice, just multiply your total by 0.454 to find the equivalent mass in kilograms.

 

It might be once every other week or so that I try to make a 1RM or a 5RM, if that.  So making the conversion is not a big deal and people who generally use kilograms as the unit of reference can easily see where I am at.  On the other hand, converting all the working sets to kilograms can be a bit of a pain.

[Squidwina]

Oh, so it's the same plates, just converted to kilograms? I thought you meant that Europeans used plates that weighed different amounts. I'll gladly do the conversion. Or rather, let Excel do it.

[Silo]

Totally off topic. I drove past an Excel Avenue last weekend and almost turned around to take a picture of the street sign. Yes, I am an accountant.

[Squidwina]

Totally off topic. I drove past an Excel Avenue last weekend and almost turned around to take a picture of the street sign. Yes, I am an accountant.

I like how you think.

I'm such an Excel nerd that I would totally buy spreadsheet bedsheets.

[insert conditional formatting joke here]

 

 

To bring it (sort of) back on topic, Excel is my favorite lifting accessory.  For example:

 

[Cat in the rack]

Dayum, that's one neat graph. I have to settle for a table drawn on a piece of A4 pinned to my wall (lines were drawn with a pencil and ruler so I didn't lose marks).