so there was this guy in the gym . . .
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Canadian, you are the best gym story-teller ever! I swear you could make money off a humor act just detailing that stuff! xD
Confession time: I am one of them grunters. It's something I honestly can't really help when I'm struggling even just a bit (and if you're trying to go heavy, that's pretty much every rep). I experience the weird looks from time to time and apologize. We don't mean to disturb, I swear! (although, some people DO take it to a whole different level, lol)0 -
She is indeed the best.
I don't mind grunting, just some times are more awkward than others. Like when someone is right behind me and I'm trying to squat. I'm the silent type though. Even when foam rolling. I don't make much noise except the occasional talk to self mutter after a lift.0 -
I wholeheartedly agree -- Canadian, I'm sure you are the best QA or QR or Q-whatever in the biz, but you've missed her calling as a writer. You're descriptions are simply fantastic.
The loudest I get at the gym is some heavy, forceful outward-bound breathing -- more of a whoosh than a pant, if that makes any sense. Maybe that will change when I get to heavier weights.
For the record, I have no issue with grunters -- as long as they're doing it for real, rather than as a way to draw attention to themselves. I can always tell the difference, you know?0 -
Canadian, you are the best gym story-teller ever!
i love people stuff, and not everyone gets as much enjoyment out of the little nuances as i do. so it's a bit of a relief to hear i'm not boring people and there's so many other people-watchers in here. my squat king in his hoodies is one of my favourites 
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DawnEmbers wrote: »Even when foam rolling.
lol! i have made definite noises while doing that. like 'ow! ow! ow ow ow eeeeessshh [swearword]' and sometimes some quiet whimpering.
but i do try to keep them quiet. i have a terrible habit of talking to myself while i'm on my bike, and holding long conversations with imaginary interviewers/biographers. it's how i sort some of the stuff in my life, but i just can't seem to absorb the idea that other people ride bicycles too. unbelievably embarrassing to turn round at a stop light or something and realise there's been someone behind me for half of some long-drawn out argument with one of my invisible friends.
my son doesn't talk to himself at all. it makes me think he's some kind of changeling. in fact, i have a sort of superstitious awe of someone who can think without hearing himself doing it - i'm not sure my brain quite understands how it's done.
a lot of testers mutter, i've noticed. we have these huge chains of thought and plan and intention going on in our minds, and if we didn't talk ourselves through some of it we'd never know what we were doing, sometimes. it can be fun to go into a designated 'test lab' and listen to it. if you had your eyes shut you would think it was conversation, but it isn't. it's just the sound of half a dozen people so deeply sunk inside their own heads they probably don't even really know where they are.0 -
I talk out loud to my self all of the time, just not at the gym. I live alone, not even any pets (yet) but even at work I will sometimes talk out loud. I've confused customers before, as I work in retail), because I won't know they are nearby then they'll ask if I'm talking to them. But one of the managers also talks to herself out loud. At times I've had to double-check just to make sure she wasn't talking to me. So, it was fun closing a few nights ago at midnight with her cause as we both faced different parts of the store, we talked out loud and not to each other. lol
I will admit, sometimes at the gym, if I'm listening to the musical playlist or the disney one I have on my iPod, I will mouth the words. Treadmill, lifting, doesn't matter. It probably looks silly but it's fun music. Especially when I'm pushing to break 80 on bench press and suddenly This is the Moment plays.0 -
Got 2 from today's workout at the gym.
Short guy who still was taller than me used the squat rack since I had the cage. He would get the weights, get set up, then suck in a bunch of air so his cheeks were nice and puffy before dropping down to squat. He held his breath during the squat so he didn't release the air till he was back up again. So his cheeks were puffed out the whole time. He kinda looked like a monkey when he did that.
Later, after finishing my blah of an overhead press, I had to wait to do deadlifts. I don't like taking up the cage bar for those so let someone else use that area for squats and awaited the one padded area for the bar that is always on the floor. One guy was using it and when I asked only had 5 minutes left. So I waited. When he finished, he let me know then just walked away, leaving 6 45's on the bar (3 on each side). Like seriously dude, let the almost 5' tall girl handle your weights. *grumbles* I struggle getting weight off the bar when it's on the floor, the 45's in particular. So, it took me several minutes to get 4 of them off.
Funny part. About half way through the struggles, I overheard another guy go over to the one that had left the mess and tell him that he should have helped take the weights off. The one guy just shrugged and said it looked like I had it okay. But the other still lectured him a little about it. During which, I struggled with the weights, as the knight didn't offer to help either. Boys...1 -
pssshttt. i guess guy 1 thinks he's a 'feminist'. where's the eyeroll?0
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I had the perfect song on my playlist though for that moment.
One Girl Revolution - Saving Jane
They could use a few more emoticons easily accessible on here, like an eye roll one.0 -
That's ridiculous. He'll lecture someone on not helping, but not actually offer to help himself? LAME.
Today, when I walked in to the random little gym I'm using while on vacation, there was a woman laying on the floor inside one of the squat racks. She's got her TRX band tied over the top bar and proceeds to do all these random exercises with her feet in the loops. Then she does all her stretching there too. There was a half-rack thing open, so I just used that, but I still thought it was weird.0 -
She's got her TRX band tied over the top bar and proceeds to do all these random exercises with her feet in the loops. Then she does all her stretching there too.
lol! i had a great pair tonight - two women in the smith machine. and i'm just going to say starting right out that at least one of them clearly knew what she was doing and was miles stronger than me, so this isn't a weird-workout story. both of them looked like the kinds of women you see in a rough biker bar, and they were kind of dressed that way too. but they were sort of a late-40s hard-living betty-and-veronica pair. the strong one was a brunette and wearing pretty basic black stuff, but her friend had on a bright pink tank top, and she had her hair all bundled up under this snazzy bandeau thing, kind of a beehive-casual sort of look. really rough hair, strong blonde dye job with a couple months' worth of dark roots. and my favourite part: half-inch eyelashes so thick they'd protect her in a howling blizzard.
i quite liked them. i listened in quite shamelessly, and then at one point they were conversing with this guy who had tattoos all over every visible fragment of skin, and the topic of conversation was their injuries - i heard veronica saying that she'd had a torn disc or something, and they were comparing 'doctors suck' and 'medical conspiracy' stories. then archie started telling veronica about this great pharmaceutical he had that's a 'nerve blocker', and i kind of checked out.0 -
You need to start snapping circumspect pics of all the characters at your gym. Or, start writing and illustrating your own comic book. It would be so freaking genius. 1
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madhatter2013 wrote: »canadianlbs wrote: »And a little glimpse into the perhaps less kind and supportive side of my personality. (You've been warned! )
well, i like that. funny thing, back when i was an active mom i could tell anyone to do or not to do anything, but the habit kind of wore off.
i swear i'm going to find a screenprinting shop some day and get a shirt made up that says 'YOUR MOTHER DOESN'T LIFT HERE' on the front and 'PUT YOUR WEIGHTS BACK' on the back. it's starting to drive me right out of my mind.
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One day I went into the gym, noticed a guy just putting the bar down from squatting and then walked away. I figured he was using the rack so I'd start with my bench press. Went through all 5 sets, took about 20 minutes, and he hadn't come back so I firgured screw it, I was going to do my squats. La la la did 4 sets and he finally shows up just as I finish set 4, screams at me that I took over his squat rack. I did my final set as he was screaming at me, which just caused him to get even more angry, and put my weights back when I completed my 5th set. At that point, he was out of breath and I was done. I looked right at him and simply said "thanks for giving me the time to complete my workout during your %^&*( fest. It's all yours now."
I can't believe he actually yelled at you. That's scary. I would have wanted to call the cops.0 -
DawnEmbers wrote: »She is indeed the best.
I don't mind grunting, just some times are more awkward than others. Like when someone is right behind me and I'm trying to squat. I'm the silent type though. Even when foam rolling. I don't make much noise except the occasional talk to self mutter after a lift.
I make some noise squatting and benching. It's mostly an eloquent string of curses in a creepy whisper. Some noise is understandable but more decibels can be quite distracting. I try to stay out of the bench and dumb bell room when there's an abundance of chains, screaming, and conversations going on across the room.0 -
canadianlbs wrote: »She's got her TRX band tied over the top bar and proceeds to do all these random exercises with her feet in the loops. Then she does all her stretching there too.
lol! i had a great pair tonight - two women in the smith machine. and i'm just going to say starting right out that at least one of them clearly knew what she was doing and was miles stronger than me, so this isn't a weird-workout story. both of them looked like the kinds of women you see in a rough biker bar, and they were kind of dressed that way too. but they were sort of a late-40s hard-living betty-and-veronica pair. the strong one was a brunette and wearing pretty basic black stuff, but her friend had on a bright pink tank top, and she had her hair all bundled up under this snazzy bandeau thing, kind of a beehive-casual sort of look. really rough hair, strong blonde dye job with a couple months' worth of dark roots. and my favourite part: half-inch eyelashes so thick they'd protect her in a howling blizzard.
i quite liked them. i listened in quite shamelessly, and then at one point they were conversing with this guy who had tattoos all over every visible fragment of skin, and the topic of conversation was their injuries - i heard veronica saying that she'd had a torn disc or something, and they were comparing 'doctors suck' and 'medical conspiracy' stories. then archie started telling veronica about this great pharmaceutical he had that's a 'nerve blocker', and i kind of checked out.
I read this while grinning like an idiot in front of my computer. Not only hilarious but full of fashion advice. I need to get on Pinterest and get the casual beehive down.0 -
they sounded like what you would get at a local tourettes-syndrome convention, if a capella had been one of the activities planned.[/quote]
Ha! Ha! Sorry for bellowing...it is nothing to sniff at...it messes up with one's tempo/mojo sometimes when someone is yelling their gizzards off!0 -
I am a long time lurker... and wish I was half as good as story telling as some of you guys, because yesterday's gym session was the "so there was this guy" version of Monty Python's "ministry of funny walks".... just everyone was ridiculous... The top 2 contenders though... there was a girl using the smith machine, and the end result was some sort of laying down/squat thing like knees bent at 90 degrees and the rest of her perpendicular with the floor... and number 2, in terms of grunts and making noises, i was doing my cool down on the treadmill, and some guys grunt sounded like he was crying every single time... i kept stopping and turning around thinking something had gone horribly wrong1
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Today there was this cute young thing doing power-cleans next to me -- yay for young women lifting! -- but then she dumped the bar and weights from about hip level after every lift. She was using mostly bumper plates, so it's technically allowed, but man, was it annoying. And then, about every third or fourth lift, she'd set it down nice and gentle. No rhyme or reason as far as I could tell. A guy I'm assuming was her dad was just hanging out watching while her sister futzed around on random machines.
She had a really nice body -- slender legs and killer arms / shoulders, but not overly built (I'd trade with her in a second, but would personally probably prefer a little more muscle). After her cleans, she threw a couple 45s on the bar for squats, so I was duly impressed. Until she actually squatted. She did quarter squats... *maybe*! I think she did about seven and moved on. I suppose there could have been a good reason, but given her full range of motion on her 107 loud, clang-y power cleans, I can't guess what it would be.
Later, while I was doing bicep curls using the tens and a set of pink 3 lbs. weights (to get me to 13 lbs. in each hand), she wanders over and grabs a 40 lb. dumbbell and goes off to do her rows. So, I guess ultimately I'm impressed (but conflicted).
This was just a random story. Not terrible etiquette, but not great. She's no "squat king in a hoodie." 1 -
Maybe she doesn't know better? It's weird to get technical lifts down like cleans but then do squats wrong but if she's super young, the brain doesn't always make sense. My friend body builds and posted a video of herself doing like 300 lb. squats. Well dang! Opened it, and it was her doing a quarter squat. Almost had me.
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Today there was this cute young thing doing power-cleans next to me -- yay for young women lifting! -- but then she dumped the bar and weights from about hip level after every lift. She was using mostly bumper plates, so it's technically allowed, but man, was it annoying. And then, about every third or fourth lift, she'd set it down nice and gentle. No rhyme or reason as far as I could tell. A guy I'm assuming was her dad was just hanging out watching while her sister futzed around on random machines.
She had a really nice body -- slender legs and killer arms / shoulders, but not overly built (I'd trade with her in a second, but would personally probably prefer a little more muscle). After her cleans, she threw a couple 45s on the bar for squats, so I was duly impressed. Until she actually squatted. She did quarter squats... *maybe*! I think she did about seven and moved on. I suppose there could have been a good reason, but given her full range of motion on her 107 loud, clang-y power cleans, I can't guess what it would be.
Later, while I was doing bicep curls using the tens and a set of pink 3 lbs. weights (to get me to 13 lbs. in each hand), she wanders over and grabs a 40 lb. dumbbell and goes off to do her rows. So, I guess ultimately I'm impressed (but conflicted).
This was just a random story. Not terrible etiquette, but not great. She's no "squat king in a hoodie."
This huge, muscular guy was up and about doing the same thing right next to me the other day. Had 3 plates on each side and would go down about 3 inches then back up for 3-5 reps, then disappear for 5-10 minutes and come back for another set. I mean obviously he knew what he was doing - his musculature was quite impressive, although he was wearing sweatpants (originally typo-ed this as swatpants. I'm not so sure he's spec ops tho! lol) so maybe his legs suck... lol
BTW, Power cleans are actually the cleans where you catch the bar in about a quarter-squat. If she was going ATG, she was doing cleans, or squat cleans
And catching the bar on the way down is pretty hard on the shoulders, so she might've just been trying to spare herself a bit? Sometimes it's just not worth crisping your fingers around the bar to try and slow it down if you've dropped it a lil too fast 
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I almost forgot to post about the red running crying girl last year... There's a trail near my family's house where I stay for Christmas. It's about 5 miles and I try to get some exercise in while I'm on vacation eating with wild abandon. Last winter was cold and I went for a walk on it wearing my ski thermals, coat, hat gloves, etc. Well I see this girl running towards me from afar wearing shorts. I gasp like I'm my mother seeing a tween at the bus stop without a coat. As she approaches, I see her legs are bright red because it's bitter cold out and tears are streaming down her face (and I assume freezing shortly after). She did two laps (that I saw) like that and all I could think was, "WHY GOD, WHY??!"0
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BTW, Power cleans are actually the cleans where you catch the bar in about a quarter-squat. If she was going ATG, she was doing cleans, or squat cleans And catching the bar on the way down is pretty hard on the shoulders, so she might've just been trying to spare herself a bit? Sometimes it's just not worth crisping your fingers around the bar to try and slow it down if you've dropped it a lil too fast
She was catching the cleans at quarter squat, but had full range of motion when she picked up the bar from the ground -- does that make more sense?
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BTW, Power cleans are actually the cleans where you catch the bar in about a quarter-squat. If she was going ATG, she was doing cleans, or squat cleans And catching the bar on the way down is pretty hard on the shoulders, so she might've just been trying to spare herself a bit? Sometimes it's just not worth crisping your fingers around the bar to try and slow it down if you've dropped it a lil too fast
She was catching the cleans at quarter squat, but had full range of motion when she picked up the bar from the ground -- does that make more sense?
Um... you're supposed to be in pretty much a deadlift position when you pick up the bar from the ground, so I really don't know what to say to that. She must've had somewhat of a poor coach when it comes to form? Iunno xD0 -
I'm not nearly as good a story teller as the rest of y'all, but: there was this guy in the gym tonight....
not sure if he's a regular, 'cuz I went later than usual and there's also a bunch of home-from-college kids lurking round. Anyhow, 20-something walks into the weight corner in shorts and a T shirt, popping his chest and arms a bit. Think wanna-be T rex and you'll have it. He's wearing shorts (it's January and cold here!) and I *had* to look down because of this thread.... yup, he's sporting skinny little chicken sticks. I start mentally sniggering a bit and go back to bench pressing. After the set, I look over and he's on the sled. Kudos, maybe he's gonna work those legs to catch up to the arms. He does, but with about 155# on the sled. REALLY? dude, I deadlift more than that and I'm probably 2.5x your age. Someone needs to teach him about balance, and maybe also squats.
The other fun people-watching was the 20 something couple in the cage when I went in. Usually the cage is empty (think tumbleweeds and howling winds...) but not with New Year's resolutions still fresh. So BF is teaching GF how to squat. Manly and touching- if he'd done it right. I watched for a bit to see if I could get their attention -both blasting music- and see how many sets I'd have to wait. He loads up 155 or so on the bar, and proceeds to grunt and grind out 7 half squats. Triumphantly turns to GF and gives her instruction. Yo, are you serious? I didn't say a word. Just waited til they were done then put on my measly 115 and set my a** on the ground. Repeatedly.
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Today there was this cute young thing doing power-cleans next to me -- yay for young women lifting! -- but then she dumped the bar and weights from about hip level after every lift. She was using mostly bumper plates, so it's technically allowed, but man, was it annoying. And then, about every third or fourth lift, she'd set it down nice and gentle. No rhyme or reason as far as I could tell. A guy I'm assuming was her dad was just hanging out watching while her sister futzed around on random machines.
She had a really nice body -- slender legs and killer arms / shoulders, but not overly built (I'd trade with her in a second, but would personally probably prefer a little more muscle). After her cleans, she threw a couple 45s on the bar for squats, so I was duly impressed. Until she actually squatted. She did quarter squats... *maybe*! I think she did about seven and moved on. I suppose there could have been a good reason, but given her full range of motion on her 107 loud, clang-y power cleans, I can't guess what it would be.
Later, while I was doing bicep curls using the tens and a set of pink 3 lbs. weights (to get me to 13 lbs. in each hand), she wanders over and grabs a 40 lb. dumbbell and goes off to do her rows. So, I guess ultimately I'm impressed (but conflicted).
This was just a random story. Not terrible etiquette, but not great. She's no "squat king in a hoodie."
Sounds like she's skipping leg day.0 -
Usually the cage is empty (think tumbleweeds and howling winds...)
ohhhh, i wanna come lift at your gym. the times i've jumped straight into squats without stretching or warming up properly just because i took a number and it came up before i was ready for it and i knew if it passed i might be waiting 3 hours for another chance . . .
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Sure, I'd love some company. We're in the VA burbs, so it's usually just the geriatric set chatting on the stationary bikes when we go over.canadianlbs wrote: »Usually the cage is empty (think tumbleweeds and howling winds...)
ohhhh, i wanna come lift at your gym. the times i've jumped straight into squats without stretching or warming up properly just because i took a number and it came up before i was ready for it and i knew if it passed i might be waiting 3 hours for another chance . . .) Using the cage is normally easy.
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guy in the gym was a girl in the gym.
it was this woman who was in the squat rack when i got in. early 40's probably, with all milky-fair skin and red hair piled up on top of her head and an absolute gym-rat body. i honestly don't assess people very much in that way, but i swear it was hard to miss this woman; she had a really serious crossfitter physique to show off and the skintight everything that seems to go with that stuff.
she was getting set to squat with around 150 pounds when i saw her, and asked if someone was already waiting. they were of course, so i went and did my own thing on pulldowns. she does her squats. she finishes squats, and hands off to somebody else. then she struts around for a minute or two fanning herself with one hand looking sort of restless and dissatisfied . . . idk, maybe i just took a sour-natured scunner to her or something. but she went off and did something like pullups or something like that and i forgot her.
she approaches me. like a big fish circling - she sort of had to cross half the gym to come back into my orbit so i'm not making this part of it up. i'm BUSY, and she cruises into my field of vision where i have to stop or risk giving her a black eye with the end of the pulldown bar. and i realise her eyes are like great misty blue headlamps and they're not focused on anything. she says for no reason at all: 'i'm so weak. i'm just really shocked at how weak i am.' like hell you are, lady - i saw you squatting. but i didn't say anything because i'm already getting the next earful from her. "first time back since christmas and now i really know how fat and weak i've gotten" [no you haven't] "i had the flu TWICE in december and just didn't lift at all that month. at all." probably wise, sez me. "oh, i couldn't. i mean i couldn't stand up." and i think she was waiting for something from me but i must have disappointed her because she *kitten* off again, thank goodness.
i quit the pulldowns and ask the new kid in the rack if someone else is in behind him, and somebody is. so i go off to look for a bar and there are no free bars. the broomstick is still around though so i snag that and settle down to do dislocations. i get through several sets of those and then i use it to try and get a sense of whether my shoulder is up for the bar. so i'm standing with the broomstick in low-bar position across my back and kind of gently easing all my left side into it . . . and heeeeere's crossfit lady again.
if you can believe this, she says to me: i don't know if those kids in the rack will be finished any time soon - they won't, i tell her, i've talked to them. oh good she says, but that's obviously not what she's bugging me for. here's what she's bugging me for. "if you're here to squat, and you can find a bar somewhere - well, i can easily clean 95 pounds so i could load you up if you like." i can't picture a worse fate, tbh, and tbh the only words that came into my brain were '*kitten* off'. but i declined fairly politely, i think. and finally, finally, she went away.
idk. like i say, maybe i am just defensive and sour today. or maybe she was just socially challenged somehow, but i really disliked her. i would almost have preferred it if she'd just come out with it the way men with that kind of mindset tend to. 'i'm uber-great and you're not.'0 -
canadianlbs wrote: »...but i must have disappointed her because she *kitten* off again, thank goodness.
This totally made me laugh out loud. Maybe because I feel like you don't drop f-bombs very often, so when you did I can just hear it in my head. Plus, it's in the past tense which is unusual. Just cracked me up.canadianlbs wrote: »"if you're here to squat, and you can find a bar somewhere - well, i can easily clean 95 pounds so i could load you up if you like." i can't picture a worse fate, tbh, and tbh the only words that came into my brain were '*kitten* off'. but i declined fairly politely, i think. and finally, finally, she went away.
And with this -- is she offering to spot you, or just help you load the bar? Either way, anooooying. (But damn you're funny.)
xo0 -
And with this -- is she offering to spot you, or just help you load the bar? Either way, anooooying. (But damn you're funny.)
xo
if you ask me, she was bragging that she can clean 95 pounds. i was still really unsure of my shoulder and hip and i wasn't about to let her watch me try to squat with it.
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