Overheard in the gym - Share!

[Silo]

I use AMRAP on my last set for bench and squats. It's part of Greyskull LP (and Wendler's 5/3/1 I think?) 

[Cat in the rack]

Often a lot of people say failure when they really mean AMRAP, not knowing the difference, personally i see little reason to go to full failure other than the "pump", which isn't really useful when it comes to long term benefits.

[waywardsister]

A nice little moment at the gym: I was finishing up, and the guy next to me had his notebook open on the floor. It had fallen open to a page of sketches he'd done, little life studies. They were really good! I told him so and I think he was embarrassed, he muttered a 'thanks' - I was just so pleased to see art at the gym

[Cat in the rack]

The other day at the gym I needed to do squats but none of the racks were free and most were being used for bench press, there was one guy just about to start with squats so I asked what weight he was going up to, and it happened to be the exact weight I was going to work up to. He let me work in and it put a cherry on top of my day, especially as there was something of a line for the racks.

[LadyFenix]

Weird moment at the squat rack today.  We only have one rack at my gym, so I tend to go at low traffic times to insure I can get the station without waiting for or holding up others.  It was open, so I grabbed the station and started doing warm up reps. I must have gotten to it just moments before another girl, because she walked up with a few weights and stared at me.  I've gotten used to other people waiting for the station. I notice when other people eyeball the squat rack until I'm done with it and normally they just do something else until it's free, or ask how many sets I have left; like normal gym goers.  But this girl just stared at me through two sets and then replaced her weights and walked off. She didn't just switch to another exercise either, she literally left the gym.  

 

I would have happily let her work in if she had asked, but I wasn't going to offer with the way she was looking at me. It was like I had committed some sort of crime against her. I don't think I would have minded nearly as much if she was some sort of regular and I knew she usually needed the station; but I show up every week at consistent times and do the same exercises and have never seen her before, so her indignation really bugged me. She hadn't claimed the station in anyway, she hadn't been working on it beforehand, it had been empty for awhile before I got to it; so I didn't understand her sense of entitlement.  Her whole attitude really bugged me.

[Cat in the rack]

Ever since I started going to the gym in the afternoon/evening I've noticed five things:

 

1) Now that I'm not going first thing in the morning my friends often come at the same time as me. I do like having someone to chat with and work in and whatnot, but it can be a real pain when they're doing the same exercise with much lighter weights, and because I'm the only one who actually knows anything about proper training routines, a lot of them always just do what I'm doing. I'll be doing 92.5kg on squats, then as soon as I'm finished with my set we gotta take off 52.5kg so he can do 40kg squats, then throw the weight back on for my set, for a total of 10 sets between us.

 

2) One of my friends, let's call him Jack, because that's his name, is really really competitive. I suspect bench press is one of the only exercises he's ever done, as I don't think I've ever gone to the gym with him and have him not suggest doing bench that day, he also told me a couple days ago that he can't remember the last time he did squats (he was the 40kg squatter in the last point). Anyway, even though he does less weight in pretty much all exercises, he still checks how many reps I did and then do just one more every time, or at least tries to, for the last set on OHP he was about 10kg lighter and made it to two half reps before putting it back down. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with using a lighter weight or not managing the total number of reps you're aiming for if you're really trying, it wasn't that long ago I struggled to overhead press a pair of 2.5kg dumbbells (never underestimate how in poor shape I used to be), but he really needs to learn not to go to failure every time for the sake of "winning".

 

3) From overhearing conversations between guys in the gym I have figured out the outline for 50% of all conversations that occur there. The question "how much do you bench?" is asked ridiculously frequently, and the answer is always preceded by "Well I used to bench...". It sure is strange how almost everyone used to be able to bench so much more weight than they can currently manage, and how the amount they "used to bench" is in any way relevant to the question of how much you can actually bench.

 

4) People put the big bumper plates on the bar when doing exercises where the bar never goes near the floor. If you're doing bench press or overhead press or squats, why the hell are you using the bumper plates people? They're further away than the weights intended for use with the rack, they're more awkward to pick up, they don't have a handle, there is no reason I can conceive of to use them for those exercises. Is there something I'm missing?Because the only reason to do that that I can think of is to show everyone in the gym how big the weights your lifting are, as if we can't read that the plate reads "5kg" on the side of it.

 

5) I don't know if this is just the gym I go to, but damn do people flirt. In the mornings there's barely anyone there, and the people that are probably don't want to communicate with other human beings very much. But since I've started going later when it's more busy there seems to be a lot more flirting, usually it only happens when people are working in on a piece of equipment. It's actually pretty helpful though, if some pretty young thang is flirting with me between sets of pull-ups then I'm damn sure not gonna make a fool of myself by failing to finish the set.

[Trewest]

5) I don't know if this is just the gym I go to, but damn do people flirt. In the mornings there's barely anyone there, and the people that are probably don't want to communicate with other human beings very much. But since I've started going later when it's more busy there seems to be a lot more flirting, usually it only happens when people are working in on a piece of equipment. It's actually pretty helpful though, if some pretty young thang is flirting with me between sets of pull-ups then I'm damn sure not gonna make a fool of myself by failing to finish the set.

 

One of the gyms I used to go this, was hysterical for this. One of the regular heavy lifters (I'm not sure if he was a figure competitor or not but he looked like he knew what he was doing for sure), would flirt lightly with EVERYONE. Nothing gross or over the top, he seemed to know how far he could go with each person so that everyone was smiling and relax, and it was hilarious. Big beefy guy? Flirt. Scrawney newbie? Flirt. Hot chick? Flirt. His own reflection? Flirt.

 

He enjoyed complimenting people and seemed very honest about it. Made it really easy to ask him for help when you needed to too.

[SevenofSeven]

Hahaha, flirting with the mirror, I actually saw this first hand tonight! Half the footy team were mirrin' themselves! Funny as

[Nubbins McGee]

I don't really see any flirting in either of the gyms I go to. Maybe I'm oblivious. Maybe it's because I'm mean looking and people cool their jets when I'm around. Maybe it's just because I'm old so no one is flirting with me. [emoji12]

I did have a cute young lady talking to me the other day and the guy at the counter gave me a knowing look. What he DIDN'T know it's that my wife and her mom have been friends since middle school (true story) so it wasn't exactly THAT kind of conversation.

[Estrix]

Well you know, you're in the gym, lifting heavy, feeling like a beast, looking good, who WOULDN'T flirt in that situation Plus you know you share at least one common interest with the people around you.

[Barfly]

I shouldn't have been surprised since I live out west, but there was a blue bus in the parking lot.

Weird scenes inside the Gold's Gym...

[Sam Ashen]

I don't really see any flirting in either of the gyms I go to. Maybe I'm oblivious. Maybe it's because I'm mean looking and people cool their jets when I'm around. Maybe it's just because I'm old so no one is flirting with me. [emoji12]

 

 

I thought being old means it's pretty safe.

[Silo]

I don't really see any flirting in either of the gyms I go to. Maybe I'm oblivious. Maybe it's because I'm mean looking and people cool their jets when I'm around. Maybe it's just because I'm old so no one is flirting with me. [emoji12]

 

 

This is pretty much exactly what goes through my mind every time I read about people flirting at the gym.

 

[Mark D]

 

This is pretty much exactly what goes through my mind every time I read about people flirting at the gym.

 

 

 

As the guy who new girlfriends would describe to their friends as "Real smart, and a really nice guy" I assume any woman who flirts with me has ulterior motives (need computer fixed, looking for someone to buy them a drink, need furniture moved, etc).  Then again, I'm not sure I'd recognize if a woman WAS flirting with me, unless she threw her underwear at me with herself inside them.  

[SpecialSundae]

Ever since I started going to the gym in the afternoon/evening I've noticed five things:

1) Now that I'm not going first thing in the morning my friends often come at the same time as me. I do like having someone to chat with and work in and whatnot, but it can be a real pain when they're doing the same exercise with much lighter weights, and because I'm the only one who actually knows anything about proper training routines, a lot of them always just do what I'm doing. I'll be doing 92.5kg on squats, then as soon as I'm finished with my set we gotta take off 52.5kg so he can do 40kg squats, then throw the weight back on for my set, for a total of 10 sets between us.

So the big issue is moving plates on and off the bar so you can both squat in one rack? Are you firing through your sets so quickly this delays you or do you really have an issue moving a couple of plates between each set?

2) One of my friends, let's call him Jack, because that's his name, is really really competitive. I suspect bench press is one of the only exercises he's ever done, as I don't think I've ever gone to the gym with him and have him not suggest doing bench that day, he also told me a couple days ago that he can't remember the last time he did squats (he was the 40kg squatter in the last point). Anyway, even though he does less weight in pretty much all exercises, he still checks how many reps I did and then do just one more every time, or at least tries to, for the last set on OHP he was about 10kg lighter and made it to two half reps before putting it back down. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with using a lighter weight or not managing the total number of reps you're aiming for if you're really trying, it wasn't that long ago I struggled to overhead press a pair of 2.5kg dumbbells (never underestimate how in poor shape I used to be), but he really needs to learn not to go to failure every time for the sake of "winning".

Why not bring this up with him? Although, to me, it just sounds like he's using you as an incentive to try harder, which is hardly a crime.

3) From overhearing conversations between guys in the gym I have figured out the outline for 50% of all conversations that occur there. The question "how much do you bench?" is asked ridiculously frequently, and the answer is always preceded by "Well I used to bench...". It sure is strange how almost everyone used to be able to bench so much more weight than they can currently manage, and how the amount they "used to bench" is in any way relevant to the question of how much you can actually bench.

Put it under a someone else's problem field. My last 1RM squat and bench was 6 months ago but I'll still quote it as I'm pretty confident I could best it.

4) People put the big bumper plates on the bar when doing exercises where the bar never goes near the floor. If you're doing bench press or overhead press or squats, why the hell are you using the bumper plates people? They're further away than the weights intended for use with the rack, they're more awkward to pick up, they don't have a handle, there is no reason I can conceive of to use them for those exercises. Is there something I'm missing?Because the only reason to do that that I can think of is to show everyone in the gym how big the weights your lifting are, as if we can't read that the plate reads "5kg" on the side of it.

Unless it's causing you an issue, why stress about it? I'm used to using bumpers for pretty much everything these days because that's what I have. If they're stopping other people from doing lifts which they actually need bumpers for then take over a pair of the non-bumper plates and ask politely to swap.

5) I don't know if this is just the gym I go to, but damn do people flirt. In the mornings there's barely anyone there, and the people that are probably don't want to communicate with other human beings very much. But since I've started going later when it's more busy there seems to be a lot more flirting, usually it only happens when people are working in on a piece of equipment. It's actually pretty helpful though, if some pretty young thang is flirting with me between sets of pull-ups then I'm damn sure not gonna make a fool of myself by failing to finish the set.

And the problem is?

[Trewest]

As the guy who new girlfriends would describe to their friends as "Real smart, and a really nice guy" I assume any woman who flirts with me has ulterior motives (need computer fixed, looking for someone to buy them a drink, need furniture moved, etc).  Then again, I'm not sure I'd recognize if a woman WAS flirting with me, unless she threw her underwear at me with herself inside them.  

 

I generally don't recognize it when someone flirts with me, like at all. It's hilarious because I can detect when someone is flirting with anyone else, but once it's aimed at me, I am Captain OBLIVIOUS. Mainly because I'm quite used to not being flirted with. Like yourself, when I do feel like someone might have hit on me, I often wonder what it was they really wanted from me. A lot of guys would be friendly with me with the sole purpose of making their girlfriends jealous, and I hate that noise.

[Oramac]

As the guy who new girlfriends would describe to their friends as "Real smart, and a really nice guy" I assume any woman who flirts with me has ulterior motives (need computer fixed, looking for someone to buy them a drink, need furniture moved, etc).  Then again, I'm not sure I'd recognize if a woman WAS flirting with me, unless she threw her underwear at me with herself inside them.  

 

This is me to a T.  Also, I laughed at that last part.  

 

I generally don't recognize it when someone flirts with me, like at all. It's hilarious because I can detect when someone is flirting with anyone else, but once it's aimed at me, I am Captain OBLIVIOUS. Mainly because I'm quite used to not being flirted with. Like yourself, when I do feel like someone might have hit on me, I often wonder what it was they really wanted from me. A lot of guys would be friendly with me with the sole purpose of making their girlfriends jealous, and I hate that noise.

 

Same here.  I can usually tell when 2 other people are flirting, but if she's talking to me?  Not a snowflakes chance in hell.  Can't say I've ever done the whole "make the gf jealous" thing, for two reasons: 1) I hate that kind of crap too, and 2) it would require me to actually have a girlfriend.  Not just that, but a GF who goes to the same gym as me.  

[Trewest]

Same here.  I can usually tell when 2 other people are flirting, but if she's talking to me?  Not a snowflakes chance in hell.  Can't say I've ever done the whole "make the gf jealous" thing, for two reasons: 1) I hate that kind of crap too, and 2) it would require me to actually have a girlfriend.  Not just that, but a GF who goes to the same gym as me.  

 

My husband is odd, he likes it a bit when others check me out or mildly flirt with me, because he knows that I'm oblivious to it. It's like he's amused that others find 'his woman' appealing too. But if a guy gets TOO flirty, the protectiveness comes out and he'll step in to make sure I'm aware that the guy is crossing a line. Because I really don't notice it sometimes. Unless someone tries to touch me, then I catch on real quick. And unfortunately for the guy, I have fast reflexes. One of my friend's roommates learned the hard way to not grab my ass after I twisted his wrist and nearly dislocated it. I also used the wrist hold to drop him to his knees and apologize. 2 older brothers taught me to react without thinking, and apparently doing that to a drunk guy will make my husband laugh his ass off.

[Nubbins McGee]

On the subject of flirting, women rarely flirt with me during an initial encounter.   I think I could probably count on one hand the number of times I got that vibe off of someone the first time we meet.   I'm not sure why this is.  I would suspect it is because I can be kind of scary.  I'm large, tattooed, have visible scars, and a permanent scowl.  Which I suppose is the male equivalent of resting bitch face.  I suppose there is also the wedding ring.  That might also be a contributing factor.  

 

After awhile though... just about all of them (that I have regular interactions with) flirt with me at some point.  There have been more than a few ruined friendships over the years because of it.  I've had some very awkward encounters with people who suddenly decided that it was time to change the dynamic of the relationship.   

[Trewest]

After awhile though... just about all of them (that I have regular interactions with) flirt with me at some point.  There have been more than a few ruined friendships over the years because of it.  I've had some very awkward encounters with people who suddenly decided that it was time to change the dynamic of the relationship.   

 

My husband flirts with more guys than I do, all jokingly though. We do karaoke and a few of the girls flirt with him, but most of the guys do too, and I think it's hilarious. So my husband just smiles at the ladies, but flirts shamelessly with the guys and everyone has a good time laughing.

[Sam Ashen]

This is me to a T.  Also, I laughed at that last part.  

 

 

Same here.  I can usually tell when 2 other people are flirting, but if she's talking to me?  Not a snowflakes chance in hell.  Can't say I've ever done the whole "make the gf jealous" thing, for two reasons: 1) I hate that kind of crap too, and 2) it would require me to actually have a girlfriend.  Not just that, but a GF who goes to the same gym as me.  

 

Holy cow!  I never realized there was an entire class of people like this.

[insanity]

Holy cow!  I never realized there was an entire class of people like this.

Yep... we all meet on fridays...

[Trewest]

Holy cow!  I never realized there was an entire class of people like this.

 

 

Yep... we all meet on fridays...

 

It's a comfortable group of us who get together and awkwardly try to figure out if someone is joking, friendly, or flirting. Then we all go home alone because sometimes that's the easiest way out of a weird situation.

[AugustaAdaByron]

It's a comfortable group of us who get together and awkwardly try to figure out if someone is joking, friendly, or flirting. Then we all go home alone because sometimes that's the easiest way out of a weird situation.

 

That's on Fridays? Now I understand why I was waiting all alone at the meeting place on Saturdays. 

[Trewest]

That's on Fridays? Now I understand why I was waiting all alone at the meeting place on Saturdays. 

 

you should check and see if your membership to the 'I always get the dates wrong group' is still active. I think it might be....