Fit girl problems/ gym stories

One of the very rare moments I was in a gym, I saw a guy with two very attractive girls throwing a medicine ball around. He was giving them pointers and advice on fitness. I guess they didn't know any themselves.

Well, I heard him tell them that the muscles in your back are the most important and the strongest in your body. You are supposed to lift with your back, and you need to focus on it when working out, because they are the muscles that support your spine.

I just shook my head and walked away.

I already put this on my wall but I though I share here to get some funny stories

So today, some guy asked me if I wanted help when I was setting up the bar for deadlifts (granted I probably looked a little funny cause we got a new platform with a super gripping floor and new plates that handle very differently to the old ones)
I said: no thanks I'm alright but I thought: what do you think I'm going to do with this bar once I'm done? Sit on it while I'm doing my nails?
I know he probably just wanted to be nice but that was insulting!

Also one of the guys that's always there at this time and knows me looked very amused, might well be because of my expression when the guy offered me to help...

So what are funny stories that happened to you in the gym? Anyone ever insulted you by accident?

So you're visibly struggling loading the bar. Some guy offers to help and you're INSULTED? Oh please!

I know that seems crazy to a guy, and it's not entirely rational...but sometimes, as a strong woman, it can feel like an insult when a man offers to help with a physical task. Any time a man used to offer to help me carry something heavy I'd think to myself "what, you think I'm not strong enough to do it myself?!" I eventually got over that as I got older and realized they were genuinely just trying to be helpful and polite...even if that politeness comes from years of being conditioned to think that men are more capable of lifting heavy things (which, often, they are). Truth is, if it was another guy setting up instead of a woman, the help would less likely have been offered.

I also think you were being a bit touchy about it. I don't think I look like I lift, and new guys in the gym kinda give me an odd look sometimes when they see me in the weight area. Occasionally they will offer to help me, but I just smile and say "nah...don't worry about it, I got it"

a few months ago I helped the fitness attendant demonstrate the back extension machine for another gym member ( Ron had tweaked his back and couldn't do it himself). I got on and it was set for 130lbs. he saw it and advised me to "drop the weight a little". I just smiled and said " nope, it's fine" and proceeded to knock out 12 perfect reps.

1. I have seen guys helping guys with loading bars many times. The one doesn't seem bothered that the other helped.

2. I have had guys give me advice or help with loading, and I don't get upset about it. Since the guys help each other all the time, I figure that I was now one of the gang.

3. I have helped guys load bars from time to time. They never seem insulted.

4. If a woman had helped you, would you have felt as insulted?

5. If you don't want people to help you with loading bars, then wear a sign that says so. Otherwise, don't be so overly sensitive.

Debate aside...

:sad: :sad:

crowded gyms....ugh.

I kid, I kid! Please continue to use your manners.

yes ma'am

Different perspective here...I'm a black woman with visible muscles...but I can't lift THAT heavy yet.

Yes it's nice to feel strong, but perhaps because I live in a white-dominated environment and I'm probably quite sensitive anyway I get the impression that people don't really acknowledge your femininity.

In my old gym, the guys (by the way I was the only woman ever in the weights area) would leave all the weights on. I'd often struggle for 10 mins+ of each workout removing/re-racking weights. Not a single person ever offered a hand.

In my new gym I am often pleasantly surprised at the number of guys who will offer to help even before I begin to struggle. And grateful. Is it objectifying/old-fashioned chivalrous and making me a 'weak' female? Maybe, but considering how little help I get generally (due to the perception that I must be very strong/have it all together - seriously, my friends have told me this) I'm very pleased.

Yes it is true that I can do most things myself but it is nice to have it offered. So thanks to all the kind guys in my gym

You know, I'm not in the habit of paying attention to the other people at the gym. I am there to focus on my workout, get in and get out. So I would not have noticed you struggling for 10 minutes, no matter what color your skin was and what your plumbing looked like. If you stopped me in between sets and asked me for a hand, though, I would be absolutely thrilled to help you! It would thoroughly jazz me to have an opportunity to interact with another female lifter. I bet the guys would also be more than pleased to help you too, whenever you ask.

I kindly thank people who hold doors for me. Whenever someone offers to carry something for me, though, and I don't need help, I politely decline. I definitely thank them, but I might also make some kind of joke about needing the workout or being able to deadlift them or something like that. If some people take that as me calling them a jerk, that's their problem, not mine. My responsibility is satisfied at the thanking and politely declining.

I also view loading and unloading as part of my workout, so I don't want to cheat myself out of part of my workout. Unless I'm working with my trainer, and then it's his job to load and unload. That way I don't have to think about how much weight I'm adding or anything. I just concentrate on lifting and incorporating the coaching he's giving me.

Chivalry is Dead!
*Exhale*
What a jerk he tried to help!
*Inhale*
.....

I got a round of applause from a group of guys at the gym when I deadlifted 125 the first time. :blushing:

Ooh I also had a new personal trainer come over while I was deadlifting and advise me to do some trick with the stability ball instead. :huh:

I already put this on my wall but I though I share here to get some funny stories

So today, some guy asked me if I wanted help when I was setting up the bar for deadlifts (granted I probably looked a little funny cause we got a new platform with a super gripping floor and new plates that handle very differently to the old ones)
I said: no thanks I'm alright but I thought: what do you think I'm going to do with this bar once I'm done? Sit on it while I'm doing my nails?
I know he probably just wanted to be nice but that was insulting!

Also one of the guys that's always there at this time and knows me looked very amused, might well be because of my expression when the guy offered me to help...

So what are funny stories that happened to you in the gym? Anyone ever insulted you by accident?

i'm betting you looked like you needed the help.

if it's any consolation, i would have just watched you struggle. :flowerforyou:

Methinks this thread was intended to humble brag.

I could be wrong though.

I already put this on my wall but I though I share here to get some funny stories

So today, some guy asked me if I wanted help when I was setting up the bar for deadlifts (granted I probably looked a little funny cause we got a new platform with a super gripping floor and new plates that handle very differently to the old ones)
I said: no thanks I'm alright but I thought: what do you think I'm going to do with this bar once I'm done? Sit on it while I'm doing my nails?
I know he probably just wanted to be nice but that was insulting!

Also one of the guys that's always there at this time and knows me looked very amused, might well be because of my expression when the guy offered me to help...

So what are funny stories that happened to you in the gym? Anyone ever insulted you by accident?

i'm betting you looked like you needed the help.

if it's any consolation, i would have just watched you struggle. :flowerforyou:

:laugh: