so there was this guy in the gym . . .
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I was pondering weights and gender at the gym... well, there's not much else to do while hanging about resting between sets!
And ... In the hour and a bit that I was in the gym, the two racks were used by three women and one man. There are definitely more and more women using serious weights. Which must be ... a bit frustrating for the guys who used to have less 'competition' for the racks! I mean, I'm not suggesting it's a bad thing in any way - what I do I think is that gyms are going to have to make changes and get more equipment. If an increasing percentage of their customers are squatting, bench pressing etc, then they're going to need to provide more gear. Whether that actually happens is another matter...
As well as the more serious lifters, two teenage girls came in and were messing about trying to do pull-ups. They did something that made the plates bang a bit and collapsed into horrified giggles and ran away. I'm just ...so glad I'm not that age any more!
I'm rambling here - I think I wore myself out!0 -
While I was over using the dumbbells tonight, there was a guy using one of the benches for leg raises or whatever they are called that worked core. Anyways, after he was all done, he wiped the spot where his head had been with his knee (was wearing sweat pants), cause that's enough to get off the little sweat from his head. Didn't care about any other part of the bench or that it didn't really do much good.
Saw him doing back extensions later. Only saw him work bodyweight stuff and seemed focused on core and back, moving fast and getting as many reps as he could. Kinda different than usual slow Saturday night in the gym.0 -
Last night had a few interesting things going on. Namely one guy that I first noticed when I was walking through the gym towards the locker room. He was using the little platform thing that is set up well for bent over rows and I don't often see many people using it. Makes me feel a little tall cause it's raised up but doesn't take up that much space. That guy, however, was tall to begin with so just using it cause it's good for doing that particular lift. Seriously, his hip was probably about shoulder height in comparison to me when he was standing on the ground. Granted I'm short, but he was rather tall.
His outfit of choice was interesting. Stringer type tank top and black shorts that were tight, like show off that he does squats type. Noticeable in particular when he walked in front of me when I was using the leg curl machine so he could use the lying leg curl machine. X.X
Also, there was a guy using the squat rack for bodyweight things. He used the safeties in order to do dips, then was on the ground in the squat rack doing mountain climbers and push ups. Used the pull up attachment on top for a couple reps. Don't think I saw him use any weights.
And there was one guy who had that lat syndrome walk down. Kept his hands in front of him as he walked with a bit of a lean to make it seem like he was that big or something. hehe0 -
DawnEmbers wrote: »And there was one guy who had that lat syndrome walk down. Kept his hands in front of him as he walked with a bit of a lean to make it seem like he was that big or something. hehe
LOL! and here's me just had my first successful deadlift session in quite a while, doing exactly that walk round the gym every rep and thinking 'i love the way dl makes you walk like the tasmanian devil whether you're trying to look cool or not.' kind of stalking around like a heron, or like something accidental happened to you on the pull and you're trying to quietly shake something awful out of each leg of your pants. i amuse me.
two women asked me to help them with squat basics today. no rack, which is a Good Thing. but i was able to give them the basic pointers and get their knees out. language was a barrier for one of them and, uh, iq might have been for the other. but i felt like i must have got something right when they both did it my way and then clutched themselves in the hamstrings and went 'woah, i FELT that.'
ended up showing the second one where the rowing rig was, and also something she could do glute-ham raises on. walked her through the idea of upright rowing, gave her the basic sets/reps info for her level and goals, and then i bowed out by telling her about the intro-to-weights course that started me off.
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guy my kid's age was using the short bar today with a plate and a ten on each side, to deadlift. i almost took it off him because i didn't know he was using it, so then i waited for him to do his last set.
he was a nice kid - very polite, even though he had to come shoo me off. so i felt kind of bad when he did finish up and hand off to me. he'd been fighting 140 so hard and scaring the pants off me while i waited for him. i do try never to judge anyone else's lifting, but i honestly think if he keeps that form up he's going to be ruined for life before he turns 30.
i might have said something, actually . . . except the first weight i tried was 120, only 20 pounds lighter than him. it was easy, but i saw his expression as i locked it out. and he was trying not to look like i'd just hit him with a big sack of 'you suck'. i really wasn't trying to do it 'at' him, to show him up. but i decided that under the circumstances i probably shouldn't try to advise him as well. i just went ahead and kept doing my lifts, and tried to keep my own form as good as i could.0 -
*blinks*
Guys and their tight clothes... Tonight it was a guy that had on bright blue, tight pants and a t-shirt that was a little too short. He was using the cables to do things like face pulls, right near where I was doing the seated row. Later saw the back of the shirt had Mr Olympia written on it, so some merchandise from that.
So many people at the gym after 6 pm. Definitely the reason I don't go then but at times, it's nice to mix things up. More trainers around at that time too, so I saw a couple of them working with people. Saw one training a female doing different lifting things like tricep extensions and some of the plate loaded machines for upper body that I haven't tried yet.
A lot of people were around the upper body section (as the weights are sort of split into upper body versus lower body, though smith machine is over in the upper body area and the rack plus power cage are over in lower body). One guy joked to his friend that everyone decided to work chest tonight, which is also funny cause chest day is supposed to be Mondays.
Had some guys who were nice to let me use the 10's on bench when they were done with their warm ups. The one benched with 2 45's on each side plus other plates, so freakin heavy.
Oh and the other night when the gym attendant got the bar pad for me, he called the smith machine a rack, as if it was like the others. I almost shook my head at him, just a little. But he was nice to get the pad for me, which I needed for hip thrusts. And he mentioned using it for leg press which would fix a minor issue I encounter sometimes, so I might try that.
I also like when there is more people cause I get to see different leggings I like but don't own. Not as many women at 11pm lifting so not as much fashion to glance over.
/ramble0 -
Tonight I was really surprised when a week dressed lady in dress and open sandals came and sat at the bench beside me and started to do single arm rows then proceeded to work her way through tricep, bicep and calf exercises. Not the usual thing I see.0
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Wow! Forgot her gym stuff? I suppose there's no real reason to wear lycra just to lift some things...0
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I've forgotten my top so just worked out in my sports bra before.... Just made out it was a normal everyday look I go for! Thankfully it was a crop top type bra so not so bad, but I don't think I would have done it in my office gear!!
Gym after work... Will report back!0 -
sigh. gym etiquette is so difficult. i'm in my second year-round pass with the parks board, and i usually go to the same rec centre. so naturally there are other regulars besides me. yesterday not one but TWO of the people i see in there all the time initiated 'conversation' with me.
it sucks being an introvert who also actually cares about shyness and not hurting feels and all that. i wish there was some way to magically filter people. you i enjoy. you i'm afraid of; you i despise; you're actually interesting. you i'll grin at but we both know that we're not gonna talk. you i don't plan to react to at all.
you, i'm happy enough on this day to exchange a few pleasantries with, but pleeeeeeeaaaase stop percolating the thought that this now means we're friends. that's what just happened, and now my toes are curling. sigh. there's nothing creepy about the guy; he's just some little late-middle-aged chinese man who (sorry) i can already tell is as boring as hell. and he's lonely, and he's got that chinese thing of never-knew-a-stranger and everyone-socialize-out-here-in-public. i sympathize all the way out the wazoo.
i just. do not want. to become part of his mental-health management plan. it's a huge, legendarily cold-hearted city. everyone's lonely. can't we just kind of take that fact in and keep leaving each other alone? it didn't help that i out-deadlifted him too.0 -
Canadianslbs- I sympathize with you! I would be too shy to say something. Where earbuds and next time tell him you're studying for a class.0
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fanncy0626 wrote: »Where earbuds and next time tell him you're studying for a class.
i just cannot do that kind of thing. it's like the social-avoidance version of 'give a guy a fish'. it gets rid of him for a day, but unless he got the hidden message in it you always know he'll be back. and if he did get the message then i have to deal with the fact that i didn't show him enough respect to tell him the real deal to his face.
i wasn't especially super-friendly. i just gave him the amount of generic cheerfulness that i do give to people when i'm at the gym, so that part's okay. it's just the residual awareness that crept up on me afterwards. and for all i know he'll put things together himself and make his own adjustment without me having to do anything. i hope so. i honestly don't go to the gym for the social factor. i think i'm friendly enough, but i'm in there to do my lifting. from what he said, he's in there to kill time while he's either unemployed or freshly retired. different thing.
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Canadianlbs, you sound very much like me. I hope he gets the hint and lets you do your thing. Sadly, he probably won't without you needing to be a little more definite
Nothing much to report at my gym, although last night there was a guy there, middle aged (as am I so nowt wrong with that) but wearing a "I finished xxx half marathon" or something like that, t-shirt.....that he probably obtained back in 1998 when he was significantly smaller.
Said t-shirt certainly didn't cover his middle aged spare tyre. Perhaps he is using it as his "measure" of how close he is to being the weight he was when he was younger, or something. I certainly hope he realises that it wasn't exactly providing full coverage and that he needs to work towards obtaining a new t-shirt, perhaps training for another half marathon in 2016 would do the trick?0 -
fun conversation tonight with mr squat, who's extremely verklempt and frustrated because he says that his squats are 'broken'. i followed a hunch and asked him to confirm that at the same time as his squats went sideways, ohp finally came together and started working for him.
this reinforces my own belief that lifts are like 'second' languages. your brain can hold more than one of them, but at any given moment in time there's always going to be one that it will be better at than the other ones.0 -
canadianlbs wrote: »
this reinforces my own belief that lifts are like 'second' languages. your brain can hold more than one of them, but at any given moment in time there's always going to be one that it will be better at than the other ones.
This is so true for me, in both language and lifting! For the short time I was able to squat with good form, my deadlift went to hell. Now my squat is horrendous again, my deadlift form is perfect.
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This is so true for me, in both language and lifting! For the short time I was able to squat with good form, my deadlift went to hell. Now my squat is horrendous again, my deadlift form is perfect.
yeah, this is me. squat/deadlift in particular. i try to see it as a kind of a natural cycling thing - like each lift takes a turn to be star and then it peaks and drops back for a while to make room for a different one while it recovers itself. it's like having a family of kids where there's always one going through a good phase and one that's being a pain in the butt.1 -
the crazy crossfit chicken lady always brings her horrible little sidekick with her these days. i've started calling them the selfish sisters in my own mind.
chicken girl herself is an easy base; i detest her. it's her sidekick that holds my attention though. she's like a celtic knot of involuted reactions, for me.
stage 1:
1. she's selfish and rude
1a. actually, maybe she's just clueless.
1b. actually, she's both of those things.
stage 2:
2. chicken girl treats her like dirt.
2.a. maybe i should be cutting her slack.
2.a.a. wow; yes . . . maybe i should.
2.b. nope. she's hanging out with a jerk, and it's not an accident. she LIKES it.
stage 3:
oh thank goodness, they're gone.0 -
also, i 'll just mention that in between phases of abusing and upbraiding her horrible little friend, chicken girl herself seems to have lost her squat form. *Snicker*. yeah, i don't like her at all.0
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Last Sunday, the gym was rammed full of people... at 9am! I couldn't believe it. I usually go at that time on a Sunday because nobody is there and I have the run of the place but it was as if everyone had the same idea - come in early and beat the crowd.
Anyway, after warming up I made my way over to the power rack to start my routine. There were 2 guys using the platform behind the squatting area, so I asked if I could work in between their sets. They insisted on moving (even when I told them it wasn't necessary), but I could see them behind me in the mirror while I was squatting. One of the 2 I'd seen before holding down the bench area. He was wearing tight fitting sweatpants, and basically looked like a chest with legs. The other guy was young and lanky (like he was still growing into his limbs). I don't think he'd ever been to a gym before in his life.
The guy who looked a bit like Foghorn Leghorn was "coaching" this young guy. I think he was trying to power clean, but there was no technique to it whatsoever! Skinny guy was standing straight-legged and jerking the weight up to his chest with what looked like his upper back! It was actually terrifying to watch...
I'm never sure what to do in these situations. Like, I want to say something so bad, but I'm never certain how well it's going to go over. O_O0
