Overheard in the gym - Share!

[hwrdfrnd]

I was put on mando pt in the navy for failing a pft (you try running a mile and a half in puerto rico in summer with a severe rum hangover ).

Anyways, I was forced to go to the base gym 3 times a week and one of those times I decided to run on the treadmill. I was getting bordd so I cranked that baby up full speed to see how long I could go.

I must have been running half a mile an hour too slow cause next thing I know my foot went off the back of the treadmill, launched me to the front of the treadmill where I lost my balance to be slungshot off the back end into some other machine.

And of course there was a hot woman 3 or so treadmills down...

[hwrdfrnd]

P.S. I work out in my garage now

[Dleffe]

Last week walk into the gym, always say hello to the owner before starting. Find out that a couple women have apparanetly come up to him and told him I looked better during my cutting fase. Told him to let them know they'd probably look better if they lifted heavy

[Obitim]

Was at the gym on Friday and saw a man working with his wife and doing some squats - must have been teaching her form as he had a box under where she should drop to, which looked like it's a good idea, up till the point hat I saw he was teaching her to squat on the Smith machine, and she looked to be leaning back on the bar when squatting - this is a trend that I'm seeing a lot more in my gym, which is getting a bit worrying to be honest!

[Dleffe]

Ah the leaning back into the bar thing is normal. Trainer had me do those at my previous gym and leaning back is the only way that lets you go down without major knee pains. Or at least thats what he told me, since its coming from the same guy that put me in the smith machine in the first place it may be misinformation >.<

[Machete]

I'd use a Smith Machine unloaded to drill a straight bar path but then I'd actually move to loaded free weights.

 

Here's Ross with a bit of an enlightening rant that I think to some degree applies to us all.

[Dleffe]

The smith machines Ive seen though don't go straigth up and down they tilt the path slightly backwards. Also Ive never found a way to squat in the smith machine that didn't hurt me in some way, leaning back into the bar came closest but even that didn't feel that great for my knees.

[Obitim]

The smith machines Ive seen though don't go straigth up and down they tilt the path slightly backwards. Also Ive never found a way to squat in the smith machine that didn't hurt me in some way, leaning back into the bar came closest but even that didn't feel that great for my knees.

 

This is what the Smith machine in my gym is like as well!

[LadyFenix]

An instructor approached me today to say how impressed she was that I showed up every week even though I worked out by myself.  Cue warm glow-y feeling.

[purplerose028]

The smith machines Ive seen though don't go straigth up and down they tilt the path slightly backwards. Also Ive never found a way to squat in the smith machine that didn't hurt me in some way, leaning back into the bar came closest but even that didn't feel that great for my knees.

 

It would never have occurred to me to squat in the Smith, having so often heard the equipment berated by my strongman other half. But I watched someone squat in it the other morning and wondered how on earth it serves as a viable equivalent to the bar equivalent!?

[Dleffe]

Some people have strange ideas, this old powerlifter at the gym always uses it and he does alot of halfrepping on his squats to. He firmly believes that halfrepping his squats in the smithmachine is easier on his knees and back. Personally I think he's just losing a step in his old age and downgrading weight hurts his ego (I know it will probably happen to me someday to >.<)

[Machete]

An instructor approached me today to say how impressed she was that I showed up every week even though I worked out by myself.  Cue warm glow-y feeling.

 

Showing up is half the battle.

 

Some people have strange ideas, this old powerlifter at the gym always uses it and he does alot of halfrepping on his squats to. He firmly believes that halfrepping his squats in the smithmachine is easier on his knees and back. Personally I think he's just losing a step in his old age and downgrading weight hurts his ego (I know it will probably happen to me someday to >.<)

 

This is why I'm always a little apprehensive about this thread. It gets dangerously close to turning us into gym snobs and fitness hipsters, scoffing at people because they don't subscribe to the same beliefs we do and instead going with the mainstream. I think we're better than that. (I happen to be a huge fitness snob. Got it. I'm working on it.) As mentioned in the video I shared earlier, maybe we should worry more about what we are doing instead of worrying about what someone else is doing (unless of course that person happens to be our client). Sure, we hear some funny comments from the gym, like some fat guy telling me that my [deadlift] "form was shit" (Perfect time for a Do you even lift, bro?), and we share that here for a laugh. But judging people on the way they train, or equating one's worth to the depth of one's squat? We are definitely better than that. We are Nerd Fitness. We have seven guilds to choose from because people are free to decide how they want to train. We accept all comers, from all levels and all walks of life. I believe a similar topic has been discussed before:

Double tap.

But... while I'm here

As someone who does weird things I guess I get frustrated with people who get snarky about shit they don't understand and feel it's beneath them just because they have never seen or heard of it.

Just because you aren't familiar with what's going on doesn't invalidated the exercise.

(especially annoying when you spend lots of time explaining workouts and programs to people who don't know anything and really just want to to me I'm wrong because they don't get my squat bench squat bench day)

Shit gets old and serves no purpose.

 

If a guy wants to do partial squats, let him to it (and don't berate him for it). He's not stealing your rack. More time for us. If he does curls on the rack however, destroy him.

 

 

P.S. Partial squats have their place in training.

 

Here's an Olympic Bobsled hopeful and NSCA Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist doing quarter squats:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=421049551357023

 

And here's Squat Day at Westside Barbell ("The Strongest Gym in the World"), where no one seems to be squatting deep enough:

[Dleffe]

Meh, I just pointed out his misguided belief that he was saving his knees by halfrepping in the switch machine, if your feelings get hurt by a simple observation like that you really shouldn't start a conversation about the topic youself.

 

I know half-reps have their place, hell theres one guy that has mobility limits due to an accident, but putting less strain on the knee and is not one of the reasons.

 

Also the old guy may slightly irritate me from time to time with his need to point out he used to lift x amount on whatever lift I'm doing in his glory days. Hence my belief towards ego.

[Machete]

Oh. I was under the impression that this thread is where hurt feelings are supposed to go; like an outlet for when something someone does bothers us in the gym and we can't gather up the guts to tell them to their face. Anyway, my point is that I don't know about you, but I personally do not find myself anywhere near qualified to label any practice as "misguided" or even tell what something is not good for. There are so many conflicting studies out there, and facts are always changing. It wasn't that long ago when science "proved" that squats are bad for the knees, butter caused chronic heart disease, and Pluto was a planet. Taking a stance means I could be right (and it would probably make no difference), but I could also potentially end up sounding like this guy:

[Barfly]

I dunno, I feel qualified to say - in my opinion - this is not a good idea.

 

[Obitim]

I dunno, I feel qualified to say - in my opinion - this is not a good idea.

 

 

Fair play on the depth though!

[Machete]

I dunno, I feel qualified to say - in my opinion - this is not a good idea.

 

 

What constitutes a "good idea" though? Tell a caveman that you want to put a heavy metal thing weighing twice what you weigh on your back so you can bring it down low and bring it back up, or that you want to run 24 miles as fast as possible with no one chasing you, or that you are fighting a man literally 1.5 times your size one-on-one with no weapons, eye-gouging, biting, or ball-punching; he would probably call you crazy. This is fitness, and we are adults. Everything we do comes with some risk of injury. It is up to us to evaluate whether the risks are worth it. Hell, you can call Staci out for her back rounding when she pulled 400, saying that deadlifting with a rounded back is not a good idea. It doesn't change the fact that she is a 147-pound female who just legitimately pulled 400.

 

The guy who is so against barbell squats (he condones Smith Machine squats, by the way) could turn out to be correct for all I know. But my problem with him is that he is so sure of himself and his "facts", and how he berates everyone else who doesn't agree with him (calling them "the world's dumbest men"). I may be a hypocrite for calling him a chode for this, but I am at least making an attempt to be self-aware and not be one. (It is pretty hard to watch his video and not think "How the fuck did THAT sperm win?" though.)

 

We have a thread for that on Slowtwitch; feel free to drop by

 

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?do=post_view_flat;post=1566945

 

Fantastic. Posting now.

[insanity]

147-pound female who just legitimately pulled 400.

I'm sure there's a word to describe this, I'll let you know when I find it...

 

*heads off to deadlift*

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

I'm sure there's a word to describe this, I'll let you know when I find it...

 

*heads off to deadlift*

Speztastic?

 

I love/hate reading the comments on her vids.

[insanity]

Speztastic?

 

I love/hate reading the comments on her vids.

Saying that, doesn't seem to deliver that sense of awe that it needs to.... it makes me sound like a teen chick. Not that I was walking around saying it or anything...

 

Didn't read much, just stared in disbelief and most of them. :-)

[insanity]

NF's Spezzal Forces

That needs to be a patch... I want the 401st Brigade one...

[Dleffe]

Oh. I was under the impression that this thread is where hurt feelings are supposed to go; like an outlet for when something someone does bothers us in the gym and we can't gather up the guts to tell them to their face.

 

I really just thought it was a thread meant to be funny, I didn't know I should really take it seriously O.o

[Dradis]

Typically the trainers in my gym seem to be pretty good, from my limited but improving knowledge. However the other day i witnessed one PT giving a lesson to a chap in squatting. He ignored the empty rack and put him on the smith machine. I swear if the bar hadn't been there the guy would have been on his back he was leaning back so much. Surely that isn't right? His feet were like 2ft in front of the bar, and the trainer said nothing.

Also, he was using the pad.

[Kevin Mack]

Despite having access to a free gym, I am saving to buy my own rack just so I don't have to watch other people. I find that I am overly critical of others, the old "anyone stronger than me has bad form, anyone weaker than me is a p---- and anyone bigger than me must be on steroids" trap.

[LadyFenix]

Today this jerk was monopolizing four different stations while he did a circuit.  Besides casting his personal stuff over a weight bench, he was also frequently utilizing a leg machine, was deadlifting with the bar from the squat rack and used the squat rack itself for step ups weighted with dumbbells.   At one point, though he waited 2-3 minutes in between each set anyway, he kicked some girl off the leg machine so he could continue his circuit uninterrupted.  I had to modify my entire routine because he was using so many stations at once.