Gym "guys"

itsDorian7

This guy at my gym is constantly "wooing" , Clapping and making other weird sounds, and yelling weird sayings- even out in the parking lot. He slaps himself in the face and pounds on his chest before he does a bench press. Everyone is just so impressed.

OhKelsey1

There's a guy who always groans and moans like he's doing naughty things when lifting weights. I'm not talking the usual workout grunts that are somewhat loud for the person next to you but don't really affect anyone else--everyone does those. I'm talking loud, obnoxious, AHHHHHHHHHH's that take over the whole gym for a second. He's also one of those guys that tries to coach EVERYONE, usually people he doesn't know. Cute, good muscles, but so damn obnoxious and way too overconfident. And LOUD.

marynificent

Funny, was just complaining about people who won't stop staring at me when I wear booty shorts and a sports bra. I'm not there trying to look cute or get attention. I am usually there to 1.) run my *kitten* off in time trials or intervals which are best preformed on a treadmill with accurate speed control or 2.) lift heavier weights than a lot of the dudes or more than likely 3.) both. I work out three hours a day and get really HOT and see no reason why I should have to drape myself in another layer while I do so. A lot of the time, I leave the gym and eat, then follow it up with an outdoor heat run to increase my endurance in the summer. No one complains about my outfits when I run my *kitten* off outside, why complain when I wear them inside?

Oh and I also stretch, hold complicated yoga poses (shoulder stands are my favorite) and use the bench to execute a balancing act core workout where I spend the majority of the time upside down. It was so popular at my old gym that the trainers stole it and started adding it to their sessions :P I always wipe down everything (before and after), rerack weights with compulsion, and only do supersets in an empty gym.

The biggest beefs here are ones of respect for others and those are totally cool. But when people are respectful and cognizant of their impact on others, it's not nice to judge them because of what they are wearing (ladies) or stare them down like they are dead lifting a spear with with a halved antelope. (guys)

And if I'm wearing headphones, which I always am, don't freaking talking to me unless my life or limbs are in imminent danger.

That being said, my biggest beef with my old gym was the trainers. if they weren't lounging around drinking coffee and having people do step ups on the bench under the smith machine for 45 mins (a balance machine, apparently), they were looping their giant rubber bands around every single piece of serious weight lifting equipment so as to allow their clients a stretchy back row with ease. god forbid you try to get a few sets in of anything while they were working out for themselves. talk about monopolizing every single dumbbell. insanity!

monipie

these different gym types are fun! my favorite are the "workout couples" either 2 men or 2 women, sometimes they come with a 3rd but at my gym there are like 3 or 4 of these "couples" that ALWAYS work out together and they look like lost puppies when one shows up and the other isn't there yet. awwwwe! so cute! except when they are hogging all the damn machines that i want to use!!! GRRRR!!! i am just jealous because no one wants to workout with me. they say i am mean and impatient and i get annoyed too easily. lol!

BodyFuel

This is the best detailed explanation of what really happens in a gym that I have ever heard. They drive me crazy!!!

halzuzu

Oh gosh, these are all good stories. Some of these have been mentioned but they are just so funny..and annoying:

*girl wearing high heels on the treadmill. yes, i have seen this. wtf?
*the old guy that wears way too big shorts while doing situps in front of the cardio machines therefore flashing everyone his junk
*the guy that is obviously past his prime that tries to show off when the cute 18 year old girls walk by
*the 63 year old women wearing her favorite Jane Fonda leotard who just stands around trying to pick up on all the young guys. She probably had some good luck at that gym in 80's and cant let it go.
*the guys and gals that have annoying loud personal conversations on their cell
*anyone that hogs the space/machine/equipment while they "rest" for 15 minutes
*this morning i encountered a group of about 10 workout buddies that were doing a circuit and basically hogged up the entire weight room for about a half hour. I just started doing New Rules so this was a bit intimidating at first but i said "F it!" and went about my work out with any weights/machines that they werent using.

NGMama

[/quote]



I tried so hard to stay away from this one but I just can't help myself, I guess.

It stuck out to me the first time I read the OP as well. He most definitely did what I call "othered" the Somali guys. Whatever. I just let that stuff slide off me. Better that that get labeled as the Angry Black Guy.

The young man just pointed out that about the original post. He wasn't referring to any of the other posts. So to answer your questions, Yes, it's fairly clear that people (in the OP) who's ethnicity wasn't pointed out were probably white. No, he wasn't saying that every other post in this thread was about white people, No, he's not trying to start an argument, just pointing out a conversational gaffe that a million people make a million times a day without being aware that they are "othering" and it might be offensive.

Why are you automatically assuming the other people weren't black?

The last question is really a question for another thread, on some other site. But whatever, I'm neck deep now. The answer is because the weren't. I read about one book (fiction) per week, and as a rule of thumb if no race is mentioned, all of the characters are white. When the occasional character of race shows up, the author will make you keenly aware (violent Somalis!) by some combination of name, description of skin or hair, or maybe even go Full Mark Twain and have them speak in a ridiculous accent. There are some books where none of that happens and I'm free to imagine the characters in my head as various races, but the second they do that labeling thing, I realize that every character up until that point was supposed to be white. Sometimes I don't care, sometimes it makes me sad. Depends on how stupid the accent is. As always, YMMV.

Hopefully that didn't come off as angry or like I'm trying to start and argument, because that's definitely not the spirit I typed this in. Just wanted it noted that he didn't just pull that thought out of his *kitten*. Or even if he did, he wasn't the only one
[/quote]


ME <stands and applauds>
[/quote]

Me too!!!

virjenmarie

Ms. "All Business" -

This one I like. She comes to the gym in a beat up t-shirt or tank top and some generic workout pants. She doesn't have her makeup done. She doesn't bother with machines. She goes straight to the free weights after her warmup and spends the next hour or so going through a series of resistance workouts you typically don't see women doing, moving poundages that could give a lot of the guys a run for their money. Half the guys in the gym have massive crushes on her but nobody will approach her because the intensity with which she goes at her workouts gives off an air that says "OFF LIMITS! I'M HERE TO GET STUFF DONE!"

You describe me to the T LolLHa!!

thumper317

This might be one of the funnest things i read. It is all true and every gym has these people. being a short guy like myself i sometimes get that look from those stereotypical "gym" guys like i shouldn't be in there around them

Roadie2000

Got on a treadmill yesterday next to a girl, and every 30 seconds or so she would let out this "Woo!" sound. I had to try not to laugh every time she did it.

Why would she be making that noise?! I tried to rationalize it... Just can't.

I have no idea but it was flipin hilarious. I think some people are just weird.

The gym I used to go to had a creepy old guy in the shower. He would literally sit on a chair in the shower room and creep on all the guys. He hardly every worked out, but sat in the sauna a lot too. One time he asked me about my tattoo, I told him it was none of his business and to quit f-in staring at me :laugh: .

ChrisRS87

I agree with all of these, hilarious.

Mr. barelycracksthejoints - He racks up 1,400 lb on the inverted leg press machine, crachs his knees, letting the weigh move 2 inches, and pushes it back into place. He also does shrugs with 400 pounds on a bar, and shrugs while using his arms and his legs to move the bar no more than .1". Puts 315 on the bench and moves the bar barely 3", can't bring it to 90 degrees, and his left arm is lagging behind his right.


I do however, drop weights sometimes. For example, when doing dumbbell flat bench press, if I go to exhaustion with 100lb dumbbells, you can bet I'll bring it down to my chest, and drop it from there. Trying to lower it to the ground would risk shoulder injury.

iWaffle

Puts 315 on the bench and moves the bar barely 3"

3 guys at my little gym the other night were taking turns trying to bench 225. A couple would do just this. They'd move the bar an inch or two then rack it back up and stand up like they were King Kong. One poor kid couldn't even do this. They kept making him try but the bar would always drop right to his chest which of course he had no prayer of moving again. I doubt any of them could honestly bench 185 if they did it correctly.