Resolutioner Season

Okiludy

mwpennybacker wrote: »

LOL. Learned a long time ago those that feel the need to use a lot of words to make their point, usually don’t have one.

I learned to ignore *kitten*.

Unknown

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jessef593

mwpennybacker wrote: »

LOL. Learned a long time ago those that feel the need to use a lot of words to make their point, usually don’t have one.

You’re right, exactly why you wrote a paragraph to passively attack a full forum of people. Short enough for you?

I also learned a long time ago that people who take offense to words on the internet tend to be lacking in a certain ability to process both sides of an argument in order to see both points.

wizzybeth

BZAH10 wrote: »

cyndit1 wrote: »

Its just about that time of year soon where the gym is taken over by resolutioners. Although I am thrilled when new folks join the gym and want to improve their fitness and health, I get a kick out of the newbies that go all out for the first few times and then you never see them again. I know it only lasts a few months but I can't be the only one that cringes every January.

I don't. That means something went wrong for them. I'd much rather see them succeed and continue to be there regularly and enjoy it.

I don't (nor have I ever) give unsolicited advice, but there are times I'd like to chat with the new folks just for a bit of encouragement or helpful hints to keep them going.

When I was first starting at the gym something like what you suggested above would have sent me a way embarrassed never to return again

wizzybeth

mwpennybacker wrote: »

We all had a first day. Generally, it’s best to treat the new folks with kindness. It’s not up to we regulars to pass judgement on their worthiness to be there.

I did ask my gyms manager about the financial impact to New Years resolutionists. He didn’t have that number. But what he does know is that 15% of his annual revenue comes from people that buy and pay for a full year membership, and NEVER come back.

Welcome the new folks and wish them well. If nothing else, we all benefit from the incremental revenue.

Well to be fair nobody said be mean to them

wizzybeth

JaydedMiss wrote: »

Believe i saw a thread like this back when i was a newbie and its the reason why iv yet to sign up for a gym and still want to cry even considering going to one. People are judgemental and rude at gyms threads like this prove that to me >.<

Thought of going to a gym and learning the mchines while all the "old folk" stare at you and judge you for being new.....*kitten* that.

You need to toughen up and not care what other people think. If you are going to let other people's thoughts, most of which you are largely imagining, dictate what you are going to do with your life... That's a very sad sad sad existence.

bendyourkneekatie

I find this concept of not judging so peculiar, and dishonest. People judge. We all judge all the time. It's how we behave that matters, not whatever fleeting unkind thoughts that may flit through our heads, or private petty annoyances we may grumble silently about.

I judge people at the gym. It's something to do while I'm running on the treadmill and today's podcast is a bit dull and I'm planning on running for 90 minutes and I'm bored. I think of it as people watching but of course I'm judging cos that's what people do. But I also don't really care about these people and my thoughts on them are fleeting and then I'm onto the next thing in my head.

My psychologist taught me a great thing to combat my social anxiety: no one is really thinking that much about you. How much do you think about other people, like, *really* think about them? Compared to how much you think about yourself? Cos everyone else is just the same.

So I'll see people at the gym next week and I'll judge some of them and see them 'doing it wrong' or half-arsing it or getting in the way, and for a moment I'll judge them. But at the end of the day I won't remember who I judged or why any more than I'll remember what roman mars was talking about this time. Probably something to do with architecture in an American city I've never heard of.

Packerjohn

mwpennybacker wrote: »

My 88 year old father is making a New Years resolution to get into better shape. Navy Vet, pace maker, two replaced knees, cancer survivor and tough as hell. He asked me for help. Tomorrow I will buy him a membership at my gym and set him up with a trainer. Any of you New Years resolutionist haters have a problem with that?

God bless your father. If he doesn't mind post some progress pics.

RangeBoss

Thanks Packerjohn. Very proud of him. He’s got the heart of a lion.

AnvilHead

bendyourkneekatie wrote: »

I find this concept of not judging so peculiar, and dishonest. People judge. We all judge all the time. It's how we behave that matters, not whatever fleeting unkind thoughts that may flit through our heads, or private petty annoyances we may grumble silently about.

I judge people at the gym. It's something to do while I'm running on the treadmill and today's podcast is a bit dull and I'm planning on running for 90 minutes and I'm bored. I think of it as people watching but of course I'm judging cos that's what people do. But I also don't really care about these people and my thoughts on them are fleeting and then I'm onto the next thing in my head...

Good point. For better or worse, I'll admit I do this - when I'm heading to the gym or down to my favorite park for a run and I really don't much feel like doing it, I'll see some 300-pounder trundling down the street munching on an ice cream cone with his gut hanging halfway to his knees over his belt, and I'll grin and think to myself "Yep, thaaaaat's why I do this."

Of course, I could be way out in left field. That 300-pounder might have been a 400-pounder a year ago, and he might be walking home after spending an hour working out and that ice cream may be the only treat he's allowed himself this entire week while religiously sticking to a calorie deficit in an effort to lose that weight that he knows is unhealthy for him. He might be fighting a more difficult battle and working harder than I have ever had to in an effort to better himself. Or maybe not. I don't know.

And of course that fleeting thought is entirely in my own head and I would never think of saying it out loud - or laughing at him or doing anything insulting, because that's not how I roll. I was a fatty at one point too and it would have hurt me, and I don't like to hurt other people. That ain't how I was raised and it ain't right. Trundle on bro, we're good. Oh, and thanks for the inspiration.

Either way, a quarter mile down the road I don't remember ice cream cone dude anymore anyway, because I'm thinking about how much I really don't feel like doing this workout today, and how I need to get the oil changed in my car pretty soon, and when is payday coming, isn't it here yet? And oh yeah, I need to stop and get milk but if I do it now it will sit in the car and get warm, but if I do it afterward I'm going to be all sweaty and gross when I walk in the store. And I really don't feel like doing this workout today.

So ice cream cone dude never even knows I silently judged him and now I've forgotten about him anyway and my thoughts about whether I stop for milk now or later and how I really don't feel like doing this workout today are interrupted by the scrawny kid in his twenties with green hair and a neckbeard and a safety pin through his nose riding his skateboard across the street in front of me. I'm thinking it's 10:00 am on a Tuesday and he should really cut his hair and shave that scruffy neckbeard off and pull the stupid safety pin out of his nose and get a job, and then he wouldn't be out here almost getting creamed in an intersection riding a skateboard if he was at work like he should be instead. And aren't you a little too old to be riding a skateboard around? If you had a job, you could have a car like anybody else, how about getting with the program?

Another block down the street and green-hair neckbeard sk8r boi is ancient history and I'm wondering if this freaking radio station is going to play any freaking songs or just commercials all day....and screw the milk, I probably have enough left at home to last until tomorrow. And don't forget tonight is trash night. And damn, I really, really don't feel like doing this workout, I'm just not into it today.

Yeah, I judged those people. But they never even knew it happened and I won't remember them or think about them beyond those fleeting moments because I've got my own stuff going on. That oil in my car isn't going to change itself and I really hope I remember to take the trash out when I get home. And I'm gonna get this workout done if it kills me - and the way I feel right now, it just might.

bendyourkneekatie wrote: »

My psychologist taught me a great thing to combat my social anxiety: no one is really thinking that much about you. How much do you think about other people, like, *really* think about them? Compared to how much you think about yourself? Cos everyone else is just the same.

Another good point. Regardless of where we are on the social anxiety scale, I think most of us (people in general) are guilty of thinking that other people think about us a lot more than they actually do. We're the center focus of our own lives, so we tend to project that we're the center focus of everybody else's lives too.

As it relates to the gym, I'm pretty comfortable in a gym environment. I've been in a lot of them over a lot of years, I know where the weights and machines are and how to use them, and I know what my workout is going to be before I ever set foot in the door. I'm no Greek god, but I guess I'm in decent enough shape for a guy my age - probably better than 90% of the 55-year old guys walking around. Yet I still catch myself thinking that the two big meatheads over there deadlifting four plates are probably laughing at my poverty bench press - or that 5-foot-nothing little girl who just breezed effortlessly past me at mile 2 of a run like I was standing still is probably snickering at what a turtle I am and wondering why I'm running instead of over there at the bocce ball courts with all the other old farts. When in reality, neither of those things probably just happened and in fact they probably didn't even notice me because they've got their own stuff going on and I don't even register on their Richter scale. And even if they did just judge me, I never knew it happened - and 30 seconds from now they'll have moved on and forgotten all about it just like I forgot about ice cream cone dude and green-hair neckbeard sk8r boi.

rheddmobile

So I'm now one of those people who judges resolutioners! Or at least ONE resolutioner. That one guy. Who watches me get a 45 lb bar, carry it over to the deadlift pads, struggle to set it up with plates (I can lift the 45 lb plates now but have trouble handling them and the bar at the same time to get the first set of plates on which holds the bar at the right height) and then after I do a warm-up set and step back to rest for a minute, he heads on over and starts lifting my bar! Dude! I don't work here, I'm not the deadlift fairy, what do you think I was doing that for?

murp4069

I made the mistake of going to my gym last night after work, thinking that it wasn't very busy this weekend so it wouldn't be too bad during the week. I was totally wrong. I got there around 6:30 and it was an absolute MADHOUSE. I've never seen it like that. People practically on top of each other in the weights and lifting areas, and only a handful of free machines in the cardio area (at least 2 of which were out of order - I'd also note that neither of those machines was out of order when I was there over the weekend). There were so many people particularly in the free weights area that I felt it might actually not be safe to try to workout in that area.

So I guess until at least February I'll probably stick with working out at home during the week and gym on the weekends which even this past weekend was surprisingly not busy at all. If I had started going to the gym as a new years resolution like a lot of people and constantly had to workout in that kind of atmosphere, I'd give up too!

JoRocka

Funny- I went to my gym last Tuesday- It was surprisingly quiet.

NoxeemaJackson

I am so glad I didn't read this thread before starting going to a gym! I dont think I would have ever gone.

cwolfman13

I don't belong to a large commercial gym anymore, so I don't really have to worry about the crowds. When I did belong to a big commercial gym, I found the crowds to be a mild annoyance in the same way that I find large crowds anywhere to be annoying. But I was a noob once too and a resolutionist at that, so I always kept that in mind...many don't stick with it, but some of us do...

spartan_d

cwolfman13 wrote: »

But I was a noob once too and a resolutionist at that, so I always kept that in mind...many don't stick with it, but some of us do...

A resolutionist? Good for you! You're one of those rarities who stuck it out, and obviously a knowledgeable one.

kdbulger

I've been working out from home a lot, since I'm still new enough at the gym (November) to be a bit foggy on the etiquette of when it's busy. I will go really early on the weekend because it's only me and the older people there at that hour. Regardless of the reason or time of year, I just don't enjoy a busy gym.

hesn92

murp4069 wrote: »

I made the mistake of going to my gym last night after work, thinking that it wasn't very busy this weekend so it wouldn't be too bad during the week. I was totally wrong. I got there around 6:30 and it was an absolute MADHOUSE. I've never seen it like that. People practically on top of each other in the weights and lifting areas, and only a handful of free machines in the cardio area (at least 2 of which were out of order - I'd also note that neither of those machines was out of order when I was there over the weekend). There were so many people particularly in the free weights area that I felt it might actually not be safe to try to workout in that area.

So I guess until at least February I'll probably stick with working out at home during the week and gym on the weekends which even this past weekend was surprisingly not busy at all. If I had started going to the gym as a new years resolution like a lot of people and constantly had to workout in that kind of atmosphere, I'd give up too!

I went to the gym after work last week and had the same experience. I have kids to get to so I can’t stand around waiting forever. Not only was all the equipment in use but there were a lot of people standing around waiting as well. The treadmills were even all in use. Sucks.

ashtree42

Really most gyms encourage this. So hate the manegment as well as the resolutioners. For years money was tight enough that gym membership was hard. In Nov-Dec when it got colder and it was harder to be active, I’d start looking for a gym. You typically save a ton by starting in Jan rather than oct-dec, so I would wait and make do with home workouts. And by Apr it’s easy to do fun stuff ouside to workout, so I’d save money my dropping the membership.

Also, I’ve moved a bunch of times and typically waited til it was cheaper to join. Aug and Jan were the months I found they waived fee the most. Saving $50-$100 on signup means I can buy more cake

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Okiludy

Pretty good article on this. It is not a negative article as some might think of the title. It goes into differences of training vs' exercise. It puts forth the idea that following a reasonable training program has a better chance of making real changes that encourage people to make life-changing habits.

https://startingstrength.com/article/new-years-resolutions-and-your-lazy-*kitten*