Overheard in the gym - Share!

[Timmy M]

i saw a relatively new guy to my gym do some squats the other day (win!) to full depth too (DOUBLE WIN) buuuuuut throughout the entire move he kept his back in the exact same position (same angle relative to the ground) as he had it in after he dropped down for the first rep?????????

[azsf]

he kept his back in the exact same position (same angle relative to the ground)

you mean he did squats as they should be done, and didn't squat-morning the weight up? or that he didn't stand upright at the end of every rep? depending on the angle, this doesn't sound too bad...

[Timmy M]

didn't stand upright after each rep, just seemed like it would put excess strain on the very lower back...

[Lachy]

OK I have two from this morning's session.

A couple of guys came in and began using the smith machine, next to the power rack that I was using. I'd seen one of them a bunch of times before with a PT, he's a tall skinny guy and I think he wants to get stronger, but today he was with a friend who seemed be "showing him what to do". They were using their towels rolled around the bar for a pad, and the friend told the skinny guy to wrap his wrists under the bar to take the weight of it. They then proceeded to do squats, and the tall kid was obviously folding in all the wrong ways and was visibly uncomfortable with the movement. So many things wrong, it took all my will power not to say anything to them!

Then on the TVs they've been showing some exercise segments from time to time between the horrible music video clips, and advertisments. They had an Olympic beach volley baller being coached the front squat. She wasn't resting the bar on her delts and she wasn't getting to parrallel. The segment barely lasted a minute and didn't go into any details about the lift. This is just asking for people to try it and hurt themselves. You can't coach the front squat in 60 seconds in a video clip, and you should at least show good form (why an Olympian doesn't have good front squat techinque I don't know).

[katpower]

I've just started going to the gym again, and I was very excited to see some bro-dudes tonight - but they were actually quite sweet, and came and let me know when they were done with the machine I wanted. Oh well, I'm sure I'll see some funny soon enough.

[Church]

This has gotta be an EPIC WIN for nerds everywhere:

A couple meat-heads at the gym-

"dude, we should go to comic-con this year."

"??? That shit's for nerds."

"Have you seen the kind of girls that go there? And how they dress?"

*shows pics on phone*

"DUDE!!!!"

This was awesome, but I was laughing so hard it ruined my pull ups.

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

Then on the TVs they've been showing some exercise segments from time to time between the horrible music video clips, and advertisments. They had an Olympic beach volley baller being coached the front squat. She wasn't resting the bar on her delts and she wasn't getting to parrallel. The segment barely lasted a minute and didn't go into any details about the lift. This is just asking for people to try it and hurt themselves. You can't coach the front squat in 60 seconds in a video clip, and you should at least show good form (why an Olympian doesn't have good front squat techinque I don't know).

Half squats have their place in sports training. Think about how you jump, do you bend down more than a few inches before you explosively jump upward? Nope. This is why you see a lot of half squats in sports training, especially those that focus on explosive power rather than pure strength. They're training the part of the motion useful to their sports.

As for olympic athletes doing squats, I know most olympic sprinters do heavy half squats as part of their training, full squats being much lighter. Even then, it's almost always a variation of back squat from what I know. Front squat is a rarer, more specific variation that focuses much more on the quads and from what I can tell doesn't have as much carry over to natural movements like jumping or running, where you are typically bent slightly forward at the hips. I personally have never done a heavy front squat as a back squat hits almost all the same muscles and more.

[Shoshie]

I haven't overheard anything, but I always shake my head at the people who take the elevator up one floor to go hit the cardio machines.

I definitely appreciated the elevator when I was going back to the gym after spraining my ankle. Rowing was way better than using stairs, especially going down.

Also on days after heavy or high rep squatting. Ouchquads.

[Lachy]

Half squats have their place in sports training. Think about how you jump, do you bend down more than a few inches before you explosively jump upward? Nope. This is why you see a lot of half squats in sports training, especially those that focus on explosive power rather than pure strength. They're training the part of the motion useful to their sports.

As for olympic athletes doing squats, I know most olympic sprinters do heavy half squats as part of their training, full squats being much lighter. Even then, it's almost always a variation of back squat from what I know. Front squat is a rarer, more specific variation that focuses much more on the quads and from what I can tell doesn't have as much carry over to natural movements like jumping or running, where you are typically bent slightly forward at the hips. I personally have never done a heavy front squat as a back squat hits almost all the same muscles and more.

Fair enough, half squats may have their place in a structured program, but should they be taught that way to the general public when showing them the lift?

As for back vs front squats, I'm under the impression that a front squat will target the quads more, and less the posterior chain, and would be useful if you want to emphasise those muscles. They can certainly be done heavy, but probably not to the same degree as back squats.

[andygates]

I gotta say, I've been thinking about doing the heavy-bar walkouts myself, because the heavy sets are feeling heavy on my back (if that makes any sense). Slapping four plates on and walking it in and out, coming off knee-lock and back, sounds like good drill to get over the "holy hell, this is some heavy shit!" reaction.

[Amazon Grimm]

So Last night at my house...

I finished my workout, and I'm really sweaty, I had my shirt off in the AC to cool off. I'm stretching, and I get down on the floor.

I proceed to try to stretch and my back comes off the floor making this almost musical noise as the suction between my moist, supple fat and the smooth floor is broken.

My wife's comment: "How moist are you?" I got out my mat after that...

[Wicked Pixie]

So Last night at my house...

I finished my workout, and I'm really sweaty, I had my shirt off in the AC to cool off. I'm stretching, and I get down on the floor.

I proceed to try to stretch and my back comes off the floor making this almost musical noise as the suction between my moist, supple fat and the smooth floor is broken.

My wife's comment: "How moist are you?" I got out my mat after that...

I know that sound....but it's usually when I get up out of the tanning bed....ewwww that noise is awful!

[Mad Rocker]

This might be its own thread, but what is the NF position on non-sun-tanning?

I'm a pale English guy so it's not something I've ever thought about really, but I'd think it also contradicts the NF manifesto a bit. Though if you don't get much natural sun I suppose it could be justified on those terms.

[Lachy]

Fake tan is never justifyied.

[realbrickwall]

Whether you are pale or dark, good people will still love you. I don't think there's any reason to go about damaging your skin to please shallow people (especially since the fad will probably change in a couple decades minimum).

[Flip Nunez]

Also the guy on the lat pull down who loaded it up, pulled himself to standing (on the bench so the bar was completely retracted) and hip thrusted mid air for about ten seconds. I have no idea what he was doing.

i might be visualizing this wrong but maybe he was trying to use the machine to stretch out his back, iv had quite a few back problems growing up but have adopted the idea of being a monkey and hanging from stuff to fix alot of the problems.

[vintageenvy]

That just made me straight up snort with laugher. Thank god I didn't read this at work...

On a more embarrassing note, I've totally been that person. Lots of good veggies mixed with a volatile stomach make for some interesting moments in yoga...

[concretecavewoman]

Whether you are pale or dark, good people will still love you. I don't think there's any reason to go about damaging your skin to please shallow people (especially since the fad will probably change in a couple decades minimum).

Hi, hispanic living in Seattle here (read: dark skin produces less Vitamin D natively). I go all the time during the winter in order to feel healthy and energetic. Nice side benefit: maintaining my tan. Sometimes it's not just about being shallow.

[WarriorAmy]

We have a woman in our gym who comes in twice a week, gets immediately onto the treadmill, sets it at the highest incline possible and the highest possible speed you can walk on, and holds on for dear life while trotting on the machine. She does this for about forty minutes, gets off, goes home. End of workout.

Somehow paying $29 a fortnight to walk up a steep hill while holding onto what is essentially a walking frame doesn't equate with me. There are cheaper ways to get zero results, surely?

[YuYu2]

Hi, hispanic living in Seattle here (read: dark skin produces less Vitamin D natively). I go all the time during the winter in order to feel healthy and energetic. Nice side benefit: maintaining my tan. Sometimes it's not just about being shallow.

Yes, I'm dark skinned too (MUCH darker than you if that's you in your avatar) and the midatlantic region doesn't get enough sun for me to maintain anything approaching normal Vitamin D levels in the Fall or Winter. After taking some blood tests, my doctor has me on a high dose Vitamin D supplement during the cold months. I've considered tanning but it just would be so weird for me since I'm so colorful already. When my Vitamin D is good (like in the summer when I'm outside more or when I travel to sunnier/longer day climates like Latin America and Africa) I feel amazing. It's a big difference.

[fire.eagle]

Interesting day at the gym today...

When I started on squats, all three cages were taken. Two were used for deadlifts, which I forgive since the gym doesn't keep spare oly bars out. The third one had three high school kids in it doing terrible ROM squats and... pullups. On the oly bar. Yea.

There were a group of bros next to me when I was doing bench. The weird thing was they were talking about things they saw at Bed, Bath, and Beyond...

And, for awesomeness, on the other side of me while I was benching, there was about a 60 year old woman benching. I later saw her strapping rings onto the pullup bar on the power cage. That made me happy.

[coonskee]

At the gym on Friday, doing Workout B Stage 1 of NRoLfW. I'm walking over to pick up some free weights (15lbs shoulder presses! I know it's pathetic, but hey, I'm getting stronger!), and there's a guy sitting on one of the benches by the freeweights, looking looking how I would imagine a boyband member dresses when he works out (hairdo, hip clothing, wristbands IIRC).

He's grunting/breathing hard while doing curls. Like, loud enough that I (who am VERY new to lifting and therefore avoid judging / keep to myself as much has possible) look over to what weight he could POSSIBLY be using that would require that much noise.

Judging from the dumbbells I use for my exercises... Pretty sure it was 12lbs.

I get that people are at different levels of fitness. Maybe he was injured. I don't know. But... I could still hear him when I crossed the room to the lat pulldown machine!

[Kuiken]

We have a woman in our gym who comes in twice a week, gets immediately onto the treadmill, sets it at the highest incline possible and the highest possible speed you can walk on, and holds on for dear life while trotting on the machine. She does this for about forty minutes, gets off, goes home. End of workout.

Her boyfriend goes to my gym!!! Same modus operandi with the addition of a sauna suit tops and matching headband. But he's got more motivation than your runner-he's there everyday and is seems like at all hours of the day-no matter what time of day I go to the gym, he's there. I'm not quite sure what he's trying to achieve, but he seems very enthusiastic about it.

I had a lady last week walk on the back safety sides of the 3 treadmills (including mine) to get to the fourth treadmill. The gym was empty and there's a lot of space behind the treadmill row, so I'm not sure what that was about. I had headphones on and just heard/felt a loud bam-bam as she jumped across behind me-scared the crackers out of me!

The worst one in recent memory was a personal trainer who had a group of 6-7 ladies (mostly 20-30s and a 13 yr old daughter). The personal trainer was having them do circuits of squats, lunges, burpees, etc... and they were all complaining about how hard everything was and how they were too tired to do all these moves. It was a bit funny when the personal trainer would go check on one group and the others would stop their workouts and chat while checking to see when the trainer was coming back so they could start again-way to get your money's worth! But then they started to discuss that 50 Shades of Gray book. In graphic detail. In front of a 13 yr old. With her mother standing there as well. Ewww.

As a side note-I hate when trainers count aloud for their clients when I'm trying to count my own reps in my head!

[Church]

Her boyfriend goes to my gym!!! Same modus operandi with the addition of a sauna suit tops and matching headband. But he's got more motivation than your runner-he's there everyday and is seems like at all hours of the day-no matter what time of day I go to the gym, he's there. I'm not quite sure what he's trying to achieve, but he seems very enthusiastic about it.

I had a lady last week walk on the back safety sides of the 3 treadmills (including mine) to get to the fourth treadmill. The gym was empty and there's a lot of space behind the treadmill row, so I'm not sure what that was about. I had headphones on and just heard/felt a loud bam-bam as she jumped across behind me-scared the crackers out of me!

The worst one in recent memory was a personal trainer who had a group of 6-7 ladies (mostly 20-30s and a 13 yr old daughter). The personal trainer was having them do circuits of squats, lunges, burpees, etc... and they were all complaining about how hard everything was and how they were too tired to do all these moves. It was a bit funny when the personal trainer would go check on one group and the others would stop their workouts and chat while checking to see when the trainer was coming back so they could start again-way to get your money's worth! But then they started to discuss that 50 Shades of Gray book. In graphic detail. In front of a 13 yr old. With her mother standing there as well. Ewww.

As a side note-I hate when trainers count aloud for their clients when I'm trying to count my own reps in my head!

I know I hate that! Some people just don't make any sense. On Thursday when I saw my trainer, she mentioned in passing that the routine I was doing was 'really intense'. You're damn right it's intense, I want to get in, kill it, and get out, with amazing results and a result. Lol. I'm not there to socialize! Lol.

[KungFuTuba]

"Don't worry, it just takes a little practice!"

- My daughter, every time I try one more rep (exercises, music practice, Hardcore DIII character) and fail.