Overheard in the gym - Share!

[LadyFenix]

So yesterday at the gym someone actually used the smith machine for something usefull! He put some plates on the bar then added some chains and proceeded to shimmy under the bar on his belly (by this point I didn't know wtf he was doing), then proceeded to do push-ups!

 

Gotta hand it to the guy I never thought of using the smith machine to load my push-ups.

 

Wait, chains and plates for push ups?  I understand the chains if he was suspending himself, but what were the plates for?  To stabilize the bar? 

[insanity]

Wait, chains and plates for push ups?  I understand the chains if he was suspending himself, but what were the plates for?  To stabilize the bar? 

Add weight... the bar is on his back when he starts his pushups.

[TMedina]

For that matter, so were the chains - I'm not exactly sure *why* chains on a Smith machine, but there ya go.

 

Chains add weight, but they also add a "sway" factor to account for in free lifting, which makes the exercise that much harder.  Or so I've been told.

[Oramac]

So yesterday at the gym someone actually used the smith machine for something usefull! He put some plates on the bar then added some chains and proceeded to shimmy under the bar on his belly (by this point I didn't know wtf he was doing), then proceeded to do push-ups!

 

Gotta hand it to the guy I never thought of using the smith machine to load my push-ups.

 

Seems like an awful lot of work to load push-ups, but I guess it's still not a bad use for the Smith machine. 

[insanity]

For that matter, so were the chains - I'm not exactly sure *why* chains on a Smith machine, but there ya go.

 

Chains add weight, but they also add a "sway" factor to account for in free lifting, which makes the exercise that much harder.  Or so I've been told.

I've also heard that since the chains have some of the weight on the floor, so barbells will get heavier as you raise it. This helps with making it weigh the most when you're almost fully extended, which is when your able to move the most.

[matty_mcfly]

Seems like an awful lot of work to load push-ups, but I guess it's still not a bad use for the Smith machine.

Yeah I agree, I would have just put the chains on my back/shoulders.

Though loaded push-ups aren't super easy if you don't have a weighted vest or some to put a plate on your back.

[TMedina]

Oh yes we do.

[Artinum]

I'm finding this image more and more useful....

  

http://www.livestrong.com/article/361972-what-is-the-official-size-of-the-nfl-football/

 

Notice the length....

 

"About 11 inches ball" doesn't roll off the tongue nearly the same...

Okay. I will accept "footlong egg".

[insanity]

  

Okay. I will accept "footlong egg".

Which through linguistic evolution will get changed to footlong ball, since it was orginally shaped like a sphere, and then shortened to football and you'll be right back here... trying to figure out why they call it a football. :-)

[Resqtech]

We were doing choke from the from practice in class one night and one of the women wanted me to choke her a few times to see if it would work..

 

after a few rounds she turned to her female training partner and said "you have to try him, he's hard to get off..."

[TMedina]

Can it be any worse than wondering how "11 inches ball" does anything *but* roll off the tongue?

[pwallace]

We were doing choke from the from practice in class one night and one of the women wanted me to choke her a few times to see if it would work..

 

after a few rounds she turned to her female training partner and said "you have to try him, he's hard to get off..."

amazing. please tell me you asked her out to dinner after that

[Machete]

I've also heard that since the chains have some of the weight on the floor, so barbells will get heavier as you raise it. This helps with making it weigh the most when you're almost fully extended, which is when your able to move the most.

 

Chains and bands do that. Sometimes called accommodating resistance--a big part of the Westside Method, or so I read. The main principle is the acceleration. With free weights you have to decelerate near the end of the lift (unless they're Olympic lifts) so your muscles aren't getting as much work at that particular ROM. (Hence the reason some people use quarter reps and lockouts with >1RM.) With accommodating resistance the load is reduced at the "sticking point" and greatest when you have the most mechanical advantage (near the top), so it's supposed to make your movements more "functional". I guess. I only use them for pullups.

 

 

Which through linguistic evolution will get changed to footlong ball, since it was orginally shaped like a sphere, and then shortened to football and you'll be right back here... trying to figure out why they call it a football. :-)

 

[insanity]

Chains and bands do that. Sometimes called accommodating resistance--a big part of the Westside Method, or so I read. The main principle is the acceleration. With free weights you have to decelerate near the end of the lift (unless they're Olympic lifts) so your muscles aren't getting as much work at that particular ROM. (Hence the reason some people use quarter reps and lockouts with >1RM.) With accommodating resistance the load is reduced at the "sticking point" and greatest when you have the most mechanical advantage (near the top), so it's supposed to make your movements more "functional". I guess. I only use them for pullups.

 

 

 

[Dleffe]

Today I was squatting and the gym owner comes up to me and goes "You know theres another guy here, bit chubby that squats alot. He was squatting 170kg yesterday, but he doesn't go to parralel." Which instantly made me go "Then he doesn't squat 170kg". Asked how deep the guy goes, seems he goes utill his knees are 90 degrees. Tell him that can easily give a 50kg difference, he didn't believe me so I did a set of 3 halfreps With 200kg. (My normal 1 rep max is 150kg) It's so damn easy with such a short ROM

[Obitim]

It's the mental picture of a guy standing there trying to read his own t-shirt in the mirror, being confused, and muttering it out loud that's funny.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Try being that guy at a computer monitor...in work

[Machete]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L__jTK0BjN4

 

 

 

Out-fucking-standing.

[Rookiebeotch]

What the fuck kind of push ups are those?

[Dradis]

What the fuck kind of push ups are those?

 

Exactly what i thought. Surely thats just planking with a high voltage current attached?

[Rookiebeotch]

The second guy is pivoting at the hips. Thats worse than doing knee push ups.

[RutgerS]

I heard the "squats are for girls" comment yesterday. By some buff no legs dude, talking to a girl 'squatting' at the smith machine.

[Oramac]

 

And I totally understood both of these.  

[insanity]

And I totally understood both of these.  

I relate to both of em, I hate when someone talks endlessly about anything pretty much... even if I enjoy it.

[Buff Brogan]

Which of us is the dude?

 

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

For that matter, so were the chains - I'm not exactly sure *why* chains on a Smith machine, but there ya go.

 

Chains add weight, but they also add a "sway" factor to account for in free lifting, which makes the exercise that much harder.  Or so I've been told.

 

 

I've also heard that since the chains have some of the weight on the floor, so barbells will get heavier as you raise it. This helps with making it weigh the most when you're almost fully extended, which is when your able to move the most.

 

In addition to what Machete said, it's also just to make the top portion of the lift harder, since as the bar goes up, the chain links come off the ground, and are instead supported by the bar, making it heavier the higher it goes. It's used in Westside and other "geared" (bench shirts and squat suits) lifting programs because the gear adds more support in the bottom of the lift, where it is stretched out more. So, since their competition lifts themselves are harder at the top, they train in such a way as to mimic that without having to climb into their gear (quite a process I hear) and it has more carry over to their competition lifts compared to benching or squatting straight weight. This is the reason you don't see it used nearly as much in RAW lifting, what most of us do here, because the hardest parts of the lift are the bottom or near the bottom in those cases, so we don't want a lighter weight there.