Overheard in the gym - Share!

[Guest Gemeaux]

Today I was working out at the gym and there was a PT and his client , a young woman . He wanted her to plank on a exercise ball . She put on a whiny girly voice ( thinking it was cute ) and went on and on about how she hates balancing etc . He seemed to get a bit annoyed and got her to do something simple .

If I had a PT I would let him push me to the point of throwing up . Some women are annoying .

[Bumblebee4]

My 24 year old son joined the gym yesterday and today he had the free fitness consultation that comes with it. He is 6 ft and pretty skinny right now. About 150 lbs and apparently only 4% BF so the guy at the gym told him to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with milk all day everyday for now to help put some fat on and then later change to different eating to start adding muscle. Really dude? Rely on peanut butter and milk for all of your protein? Thank God my son is old enough that he believes I might know a few things now and was willing to listen to what I had to say.

[The Tin Man]

My 24 year old son...Thank God my son is old enough that he believes I might know a few things now and was willing to listen to what I had to say.

My understanding of how it works (ages are approximate):

Age < 10: Parents know everything

10 < Age < 20: Parents know nothing

20 < Age: Parents know something

[Bumblebee4]

My understanding of how it works (ages are approximate):

Age < 10: Parents know everything

10 < Age < 20: Parents know nothing

20 < Age: Parents know something

So True Tin Man. I'm at a sweet spot right now, my son is old enough to listen to me and my 3 year old granddaughter is young enough to think I hung the moon!

[BadWolf]

My understanding of how it works (ages are approximate):

Age < 10: Parents know everything

10 < Age < 20: Parents know nothing

20 < Age: Parents know something

Yep, this is pretty much how I remember my childhood/teenage years. Yay 25!

[ETFnerd]

a couple of bro's were bench pressing 365lbs... spotter was yelling...

something that i no longer feel should be repeated anywhere

the NOT funny part wasn't what he was saying but the dumbfounded look on everybody's face while they were watching these two meatheads... kinda like the look you have on your face now... just a guess if you're wondering how i know what look you have on your face now...

[Arashi]

My understanding of how it works (ages are approximate):

Age < 10: Parents know everything

10 < Age < 20: Parents know nothing

20 < Age: Parents know something

I'll add:

Age>25/30: OMG, they were right all the time!!!!

[Beckles]

a couple of bro's were bench pressing 365lbs... spotter was yelling...

"push that sh!t like you'd push a r*pist off your mother you f*g"

the funny part wasn't what he was saying but the dumbfounded look on everybody's face while they were watching these two meatheads... kinda like the look you have on your face now... just a guess if you're wondering how i know what look you have on your face now...

I don't think anyone could read that without suddenly making a horrified/disgusted look on their face like I did.

Why would that be the motivational phrase of choice? I think the last bit is the offensive part of that (the /disgusted). Without that part, it's just simply a strange comment to pump someone up (the horrified/)

[ETFnerd]

i agree with you Beckles... i think the statement is wrong on so many levels... i regret posting it because while i think that the statement wans't meant to be homophobic or insensitive to r*pe, i think that the casual reference to these sensitive matters was at best insensitive and more likely extremely inconsiderate to anyone who has gone through experiences of this nature. i am deleting my post and i apologize deeply for my lapse in judgment...

[Fogo]

We've got a regular at my gym that comes in, walks straight over to one of press machines (while still in street clothes), and proceeds to do as many sets as possible without breaking a sweat. After that, he gets up and walks out, mission accomplished.

Another favorite of mine is a dude who comes in (again in street clothes), hops on a treadmill, and at about .75f mph, ambles along, sipping a latte. I call him "Lemon".

[ETFnerd]

yup, people get on the treadmill and talk and text for an hour... still think it's better than lying on your couch though...

didn't know you could set a treadmill to 0.75mph...

[Timmy M]

i joined a new gym last month, wrongly thinking it was a 'proper gym', it's got better and more of the equipment that i wanted and yet still it still has an annoyingly high percentage of idiots, only one squat rack (i've seen only a handful of people actually squat, very few to anything like proper depth, about half with fairly ok form) and thankfully a stand for a bar for curling from so i don't get idiots curling in the rack and at least it's got plenty of bars HOWEVER as i said... idiots:

a couple of your usual bro's that i recognised from school (year below me) who just curl and bench (wide grip bench with arms at 90deg to the torso) and remember a deer in headlights look as one of them just stared as i went about my Incline Bench/Deadlift Superset which is ever so much fun

Half squats of course

massive over reliance on machines and curls etc

i don't know what to call them but reverse shrugs...on the dip bars (arms straight and essentially shrugging so that his body goes around an inch lower down)

same group of people at the dip bars, one of them having to push himself up with one foot (whilst using bodyweight) then decides to give it a go with 10kg added and half ROM

a group of bro's benching, i didn't hear but i presume one guy (looked like he'd hardly set foot in the gym, his fellow bro's look like they had) said that his wrist hurt, so what does his mate do? goes and gets a leg wrap to put round this guys wrist... looked liked he had half a boxing glove on

another group of benchers with a newbie (i was on the next bench working away with my 5x5 of around 75kg on Close grip i believe) when these two big guys who had been training with this little guy got the little guy to try what they were benching (around 90kg or so) typical arm position (90deg from torso) and the guy barely controls the weight down, with a great deal of shaking, and his mate hefts that bar back up to the rack for him

YAY! more Bro Benchers again typical arm position with super duper wide grip and half ROM, these guys go from flat to incline to decline, hogging both of the respective benches at one time so they can do a drop set on the other whilst their mate's doing a working set, when they get to declines (which is right next to where i was doing heavy OHP (similar weight to what they were benching )) and i over hear the spotter (somehow, they were ever so quiet...) demanding that every rep was to the chest (not one of them got past halfway without really forcing themselves, due to the arm angle obviously) so being the good samaritan that i am after one of them finishes his set i politely mention that if he want's to go deeper he could try having less of an angle with his arms, showing him (standing up) how i prefer to have my arms positioned. i basically get a meh and waved off, i wasn't too surprised so i just cleaned my weight and began pressing again, when i stop that set i saw that the stronger 2 of them had decided they'd up the weight... (was doing 65kg and put an extra 20kg a side on... 105kg genius ) and proceeded to do an even wider grip 2inch ROM decline bench with my sitting a couple of metres away both chuckling and dying a little inside :/ fuck dem bros i ain't helping anyone again (unless they're working in with me, i don't mind it then because they can actually see me doing the set)

so yeah... fun times at Steel Town in Scunthorpe, i've gained quite a bit in my month or so there (old PB's on my rows and OHP are now my working weight ) and it's one of the best gyms in town but still i do wish the silliness would just go away

[ScrabbleGirl]

Wanted to add one... not technically overheard, but still...

Guy squatting to the floor, weight over his ankles, with a massive weight (I couldn't see how heavy it was), wearing SKINNY JEANS. Skinny jeans. Come on guy.

[humanperson832]

Overheard in the locker room a couple of months ago:

Girl #1: Yeah, one of my roommates was a guy, but he was gay, so I didn't feel weird about rooming with him or anything.

Girl #2: ...I mean... I'm okay with gay people, as long as they don't ACT on it.

...........I can't really say I was shocked, but I sure was disgusted.

[Pheidippides]

Great thread,

3 years ago, I had some shady guy come up to me and was like, "Hey man, if you're interested, I can hook you up with some bull shark testosterone."

I was super sketched out.

On the topic of steroids, I had a personal trainer awhile back who was big, strong, and dumb. I used to ask him if he took steroid, "come on, be honest." He would swear up in down he didn't. When he was fired I asked him again. He was like, "Oh, hell ya, I take them all the time. No way I'd get this big otherwise."

[progress126]

Overheard in the locker room at my gym:

Guy1 (who is older and has a bodybuilder body): so it's like this... you have a pretty small body, not muscular like me. Think of yourself as a Honda with a V-8 under the Hood...you could go on forever on the treadmill and run miles and miles right?

Guy2 (smaller Asian dude who has just started going to gym): ya, okay.

Guy1: so picture me as a muscle car. I look good at the car show and I'm getting all the attention at the beach. But pop the hood and you're gonna find a wimpy 4 cylinder engine in there that can't get this body to even run a mile! Plus I smoke so that doesn't help!

I had to leave the room so I wouldn't laugh! Guy1 also seems to be a mentor to all the high school kids who work out.I guess they all want to be all show with no go! Poor misguided youth...

[The Tin Man]

Overheard in the locker room at my gym:

Guy1 (who is older and has a bodybuilder body): so it's like this... you have a pretty small body, not muscular like me. Think of yourself as a Honda with a V-8 under the Hood...you could go on forever on the treadmill and run miles and miles right?

Guy2 (smaller Asian dude who has just started going to gym): ya, okay.

Guy1: so picture me as a muscle car. I look good at the car show and I'm getting all the attention at the beach. But pop the hood and you're gonna find a wimpy 4 cylinder engine in there that can't get this body to even run a mile! Plus I smoke so that doesn't help!

I had to leave the room so I wouldn't laugh! Guy1 also seems to be a mentor to all the high school kids who work out.I guess they all want to be all show with no go! Poor misguided youth...

I'm confused, is he saying it's a good thing to be built but actually very out of shape?

[andygates]

If your goal is to get all the attention at the beach, yes.

A good thing overheard at my place today: one of the older bodybuilders going for a squat drop set. I'll hang my "that wasn't depth" snob hat aside for a moment because he did a bunch at 4 plates, then a bunch at 3, 2, 1, without stopping except to drop the weight, and finished up as red as my shirt, on the floor, laughing between trying not to puke, utterly wrung out. Nice one.

[bigm141414]

Overheard in the locker room at my gym:

Guy1 (who is older and has a bodybuilder body): so it's like this... you have a pretty small body, not muscular like me. Think of yourself as a Honda with a V-8 under the Hood...you could go on forever on the treadmill and run miles and miles right?

Guy2 (smaller Asian dude who has just started going to gym): ya, okay.

Guy1: so picture me as a muscle car. I look good at the car show and I'm getting all the attention at the beach. But pop the hood and you're gonna find a wimpy 4 cylinder engine in there that can't get this body to even run a mile! Plus I smoke so that doesn't help!

I had to leave the room so I wouldn't laugh! Guy1 also seems to be a mentor to all the high school kids who work out.I guess they all want to be all show with no go! Poor misguided youth...

If I could be a fat slob with a 350 DL and an 8.5 min mile with no health complications, I'd take it in a heart beat. Everybody likes a soft pillowy stomach to nap on....

[mrRed]

My 24 year old son joined the gym yesterday and today he had the free fitness consultation that comes with it. He is 6 ft and pretty skinny right now. About 150 lbs and apparently only 4% BF so the guy at the gym told him to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with milk all day everyday for now to help put some fat on and then later change to different eating to start adding muscle. Really dude? Rely on peanut butter and milk for all of your protein? Thank God my son is old enough that he believes I might know a few things now and was willing to listen to what I had to say.

For all it, no, but milk is a really great food for putting on muscle and fat at the same time. I did half gomad (half Gallon Of Milk A Day in addition to regular food) for a few months and was able to pack on close to 15 lbs and a ton of strength without going up in my waist size. I'm lactose intolerant so I had to take lactaid with every glass and never had any stomach issues.

[Maggie May]

Ok this wasn't really in the gym, but in the lunchroom at work. My coworker and I (we're both in marketing, are close, and CrossFit together) ended up eating lunch with a somewhat newer employee who is around our age. He's pretty interested in fitness and has asked about CrossFit in the past, so I've explained it to him. I even sent him some links about it and told him he should come check it out.

so while we're eating, he says,

..."So you guys do a lotta curls and stuff, right?"

...no...

"ohhhh. ohh yeah, right okay.."

we still laugh about this awkward conversation.

he also just got his personal trainer certificiate... sigh

[gymell]

I saw some terrifying split jerks the other day. This is hard to describe. It was being done in a half power cage with large safety bars set just below shoulder level.

So you know how in a jerk, you're supposed to drop under the bar, with the arms locked out (which is a very strong position for them to support the weight)? Everyone say "yes."

Well, this person started the jerk behind the neck- ok, I can live with that. But then proceeded to basically throw the bar over head while simultaneously pushing the body back, and in that process momentarily holding the bar overhead in a very weak position with the elbows bent at 90 degrees. The split looked more like a very unstable, off balance jump lunge with a hyper extended back. The bar then comes crashing down on the safety bars of the rack in front of the lifter. Of course the bar isn't designed to catch the force of the weight like that, it's designed to be dropped on the floor (or jerk boxes) with the weights themselves taking it.

The lifter did several sets at ever increasing weight. At some point I think this technique will result in decapitation!

[Timmy M]

You guys should really check this thread out. It may take a while to get through everything.

http://startingstrength.com/resources/forum/showthread.php?t=14425

Day 30 total page count now at 909... currently on page 632... supplies running low.

you're an arse

[gymell]

When you're done with that, here's more reading material: http://board.crossfit.com/showthread.php?t=31110

[Timmy M]

you're an evil, evil thing you... (bookmarked )