Stepped in the weight room for the first time today!
MissGamerGirl
Posts: 187 Member
After reading NROLFW, watching the Stronglifts YouTube videos, and studying up on how to eat properly, I felt prepared to at least have enough courage to walk into the gym. This gym is at my college, which means that it's free to use. However, it's only open from 1pm-5pm Mon-Fri which is not very flexible for me. The school has personal trainers there during this shift that walk around to assist people.
Anyway, walked in and asked for assistance in showing me how to do the workout A sequence with just the bar alone (squat, barbell row, bench press). Trainer asked what I wanted to get out of being there. I said, "I'm not interested in the cardio machines. I'm not interested in the weight machines. I'm only interested in the free weights section for heavy lifting." He kind of smirks a little and says, "And why heavy lifting?" I had the NROLFW book in my hand at the time, and simple raised it up for him to view. He was taken aback a little, but smiled and nodded, adding "Fair enough. Walk on the treadmill for 5 minutes as a warm-up and we'll get started."
I expected us to go to the squat rack, but instead he took me into a separate area and asked me to just squat without the bar so he could observe my form. My knee placement was off and I couldn't drop below parallel. After awhile, he had me put my heels on two small plates and squat more. He showed me that essentially you have to rest your hips backward and THEN drop. This helped. He then had me wear a resistance band around my knees to keep them from moving outward. After that, he has me take the band off and wanted me to sit on a box and stand up, sitting and standing multiple times. Then, he wanted me to jump straight up from the box in one fluid motion. At this point, my quads are SCREAMING at me. Then he has me do a wall sit twice (I could barely survive the first sit, the second was a no-go after a few seconds), hold a plank for a minute (I did it, but it was very shaky), do push-ups to fatigue (was not very many, less than 10).
When we finally go over to the squat rack, he puts the bar down to the lowest level and has me lay flat on the floor beneath it. He tells me to straighten my legs and have my heels against the ground, toes upward. He tells me to hold onto the bar and pull my entire body up. I do this until fatigue. I'm beginning to feel frustrated because what we were doing was nothing that I had asked to be shown.
He asks me to pick up the 45 lb bar and put it back in its previous position. I hate to admit it, but while I completed it, it was difficult. I honestly for real did not expect it to feel that heavy to me.
He says, "Any other exercise you want to do?" I told him - again - the exercises I wanted to do. Basically, he tells me I'm not strong enough to use the bar and that I need to be doing body resistance work for several weeks in order to work up to using the bar. I said, well, at least lets try the overhead press. He grabs the 25lb bar and I'm able to do those. He adds 5 lb plates to each side and it suddenly felt like he added 50 lbs, but I was still able to push the bar up - although with much effort. He then took those off and replaced them with 2.5 plates each and I was able to manage those okay.
I asked him, "Why can't we do the exercises I wanted to do with this bar since it's lighter?" "You could probably get away with doing the overhead press with it, but everything else - especially deadlifts and squats - I would advise you not use a bar at all for quite awhile." "Maybe we could just try it and see how I do?" "In my opinion, I think you've done enough for today. You're new at this and don't want to overtrain."
So I left feeling like I didn't learn a damn thing, other than I'm a weakling that can't seem to move a 45 lb bar. Initially I felt like he could of at least given me some sort of plan, or some examples of non-bar exercises I could do that would be beneficial for me to gain strength for using the bar eventually.
Maybe he is right in everything he chose to do with me as well as all his suggestions. I was just disappointed because I literally could see myself doing workout A in my head to it's entirety with the bar, and I was excited about actually doing it. It took a lot for me to address the feeling of intimidation of walking into the free weight section, only to essentially not really work with the weights.
Needless to say, I won't be going back at least for the sole fact that those hours are too rigid. Immediately after leaving I joined an affordable gym close to where I live that has all the equipment I need. The people there were warm and welcoming and did not hesitate taking me over to the free-weights section and showing me around. They seemed very supportive of my cause and were quite familiar with the Stronglifts program, which is a plus. I also saw an attractive female lifter doing her thing - it was inspiring!
On the plus side of things, I really like how I'm eating now with all this protein. It is not as hard to get my protein in like I initially thought. My diary is public and I invite you to please view today and yesterday's logs (not anything previous, that eating wasn't with the intent of lifting yet - this decision was a swift one!) and kindly critique it if you don't mind.
I'm very excited to be here and try this whole new level of fitness that I at one time never gave much thought to!
Anyway, walked in and asked for assistance in showing me how to do the workout A sequence with just the bar alone (squat, barbell row, bench press). Trainer asked what I wanted to get out of being there. I said, "I'm not interested in the cardio machines. I'm not interested in the weight machines. I'm only interested in the free weights section for heavy lifting." He kind of smirks a little and says, "And why heavy lifting?" I had the NROLFW book in my hand at the time, and simple raised it up for him to view. He was taken aback a little, but smiled and nodded, adding "Fair enough. Walk on the treadmill for 5 minutes as a warm-up and we'll get started."
I expected us to go to the squat rack, but instead he took me into a separate area and asked me to just squat without the bar so he could observe my form. My knee placement was off and I couldn't drop below parallel. After awhile, he had me put my heels on two small plates and squat more. He showed me that essentially you have to rest your hips backward and THEN drop. This helped. He then had me wear a resistance band around my knees to keep them from moving outward. After that, he has me take the band off and wanted me to sit on a box and stand up, sitting and standing multiple times. Then, he wanted me to jump straight up from the box in one fluid motion. At this point, my quads are SCREAMING at me. Then he has me do a wall sit twice (I could barely survive the first sit, the second was a no-go after a few seconds), hold a plank for a minute (I did it, but it was very shaky), do push-ups to fatigue (was not very many, less than 10).
When we finally go over to the squat rack, he puts the bar down to the lowest level and has me lay flat on the floor beneath it. He tells me to straighten my legs and have my heels against the ground, toes upward. He tells me to hold onto the bar and pull my entire body up. I do this until fatigue. I'm beginning to feel frustrated because what we were doing was nothing that I had asked to be shown.
He asks me to pick up the 45 lb bar and put it back in its previous position. I hate to admit it, but while I completed it, it was difficult. I honestly for real did not expect it to feel that heavy to me.
He says, "Any other exercise you want to do?" I told him - again - the exercises I wanted to do. Basically, he tells me I'm not strong enough to use the bar and that I need to be doing body resistance work for several weeks in order to work up to using the bar. I said, well, at least lets try the overhead press. He grabs the 25lb bar and I'm able to do those. He adds 5 lb plates to each side and it suddenly felt like he added 50 lbs, but I was still able to push the bar up - although with much effort. He then took those off and replaced them with 2.5 plates each and I was able to manage those okay.
I asked him, "Why can't we do the exercises I wanted to do with this bar since it's lighter?" "You could probably get away with doing the overhead press with it, but everything else - especially deadlifts and squats - I would advise you not use a bar at all for quite awhile." "Maybe we could just try it and see how I do?" "In my opinion, I think you've done enough for today. You're new at this and don't want to overtrain."
So I left feeling like I didn't learn a damn thing, other than I'm a weakling that can't seem to move a 45 lb bar. Initially I felt like he could of at least given me some sort of plan, or some examples of non-bar exercises I could do that would be beneficial for me to gain strength for using the bar eventually.
Maybe he is right in everything he chose to do with me as well as all his suggestions. I was just disappointed because I literally could see myself doing workout A in my head to it's entirety with the bar, and I was excited about actually doing it. It took a lot for me to address the feeling of intimidation of walking into the free weight section, only to essentially not really work with the weights.
Needless to say, I won't be going back at least for the sole fact that those hours are too rigid. Immediately after leaving I joined an affordable gym close to where I live that has all the equipment I need. The people there were warm and welcoming and did not hesitate taking me over to the free-weights section and showing me around. They seemed very supportive of my cause and were quite familiar with the Stronglifts program, which is a plus. I also saw an attractive female lifter doing her thing - it was inspiring!
On the plus side of things, I really like how I'm eating now with all this protein. It is not as hard to get my protein in like I initially thought. My diary is public and I invite you to please view today and yesterday's logs (not anything previous, that eating wasn't with the intent of lifting yet - this decision was a swift one!) and kindly critique it if you don't mind.
I'm very excited to be here and try this whole new level of fitness that I at one time never gave much thought to!
0
Replies
-
The trainer doesn't sound like an idiot like some we have heard of on here. If the bar is too heavy, bodyweight squats and bodyweight exercises are a great way of building up your strength and learning good form. You can use a broomstick at home to practise too! Well done though!0
-
Well at least it wasn't a complete time waste as he got you BW squatting to depth, which is correct. I believe no one should add a bar or weight to their squat until they can get below parallel just with BW. The plates under your heels normally fixes ankle mobility issues or posterior chain weakness, so I would work on flexibility to get depth with a flat foot, just my two cents :bigsmile:
But yay for the new gym, hopefully someone there can run you through A and B and help you with modifications if the Oly bar is too heavy :drinker: good luck0 -
I agree, it wasn't a total waste of time. Getting to parallel is something I've had to really work on. I made the mistake of thinking I was doing fine, until the weight started getting heavier, then my weaknesses started showing up and now I'm really concentrating on hitting parallel every time, using lower weights. On the plus side, I'm almost back up to the weight where I deloaded. :happy: So, better to work on it now, before you get under the bar.
I'm glad to hear you found a gym that works better for you! Welcome and good luck!!!0 -
Even though you didn't learn the mechanics of the basic lifts, it sounds like he was doing some baseline strength and/or form testing, so I agree that it doesn't seem like a waste of time--if your knee positioning isn't right, then the further along you progress you could risk injury. The exercise where he had you lie straight on the floor and pull yourself up seems sort of like a variation of a reverse row starting from the ground (and could give you a good indication of existing upper body strength).
However, the second gym you joined seemed like a better fit (and frankly sounds like a great place in general). So long as they have people that can help with form, I'd say you found your lifting "home!"0 -
Thanks for the feedback ladies! I know it was a lot to read, I didn't realize how much of a novel it was until now!
Now that it's a new day and I've had time for relection, I realize I guess I was mainly frustrated with my body for not meeting the standards I expected for myself. But everyone has to start somewhere! And ultimately I'm just glad to be taking control of my strength capabilities now. I'm going to squeel when I can finally use just the bar, and will be completely over the moon to be able to add any weights at all to that bar!
To add: I'm pretty damn achy today. My arms aren't too bad but my quads are a different story. I can feel it a little in my abs as well. I had to use the armrail to help me pull myself up a flight of stairs, and sitting down and standing again requires effort and a few grunts here and there. I am drinking a lot of water, might do some stretches. I can tell already that this program is seriously going to change my body composition and I can't wait.
AND I LOVE THE BROOMSTICK IDEA!
0
