so there was this guy in the gym . . .

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  • Fittreelol
    Fittreelol Posts: 2,535 Member
    Vetticus_3 wrote: »
    Today I was the only female in the weights room - and it was quite strange.
    I had just finished my squats (67.5kg! yay)... and then cooled down with 40kgs (so, 10kgs on each side). In the rack beside be was a big rugby player type guy (who I hadn't seen before). He was sitting up and bench pressing really heavy weights.
    So, I took of one 10kg plate - because it was time to move on - but before I could take the other one off... he jumped up from his seat and took it off for me.
    I said thanks, and he had this really goofy smile on his face - and muttered that he though I was finished. I said, no, not yet. And he wandered off to the wide press machine but between sets he'd walk almost up to me, and then turn back.
    One of the trainers came up and started talking to him about rugby...
    But he kept on looking around at what I was doing. Perhaps seeing a girl was a novelty? It was really odd.

    In other news, I've realized that I make faces when I lift heavy. I look like an angry Hector "Tio" Salamanca from Breaking Bad.

    He might have wanted to use the rack, and didn't want anyone else to take it when you finished?
  • canadianlbs
    canadianlbs Posts: 5,199 Member
    Vetticus_3 wrote: »
    In other news, I've realized that I make faces when I lift heavy. I look like an angry Hector "Tio" Salamanca from Breaking Bad.

    lol! one of mr t's clients asked all of the women if they'd participate in a photo shoot she wanted to for school. i never ever allow pictures of myself if i can help it so i said no. but the request email was titled 'show me your best deadlift face!!'

  • canadianlbs
    canadianlbs Posts: 5,199 Member
    edited April 2016
    creepy creeper guy is 'back' i.e. never picked up the cues and never went away in the first place. keep forgetting to mention. almost every time i've been in there he's been in there too.

    and my charity reserve has run out. he is NOT non-creepy. he just wanders around not doing any program and watching me. and whatever i do, he finds something to do right four feet away and in my line of vision. i use the double cable pulldown, i look round after one set and he's doing single-cable right on the adjacent corner of the stack. i deadlift, he comes and does rows at the bench near that space. i rotate 90' so i'm not looking at him anymore, and he moves into the smith. go do kettlebells in the stretching zone and hey lookee here - now he suddenly feels a need to lie down on a mat and do some kind of stretch. he's blatantly just trying/hoping to make eye contact and get some kind of conversation going.

    and he's not doing any of hte stuff that he 'does'. he's just waving at all of it.

    nope.
  • Vetticus_3
    Vetticus_3 Posts: 78 Member
    Fittreelol wrote: »
    He might have wanted to use the rack, and didn't want anyone else to take it when you finished?

    He had he's own rack... maybe he wanted to say something about my technique but thought the better of it.
    Still, never had anyone come rushing over to help tidy up before.

    Oh, and this has been annoying me for weeks... there are these 2 girls (ladies, women... I'd say late 30s, early 40s) and they share a trainer every other day.
    The trainer is great when he does his own stuff, but with these two. I don't know, it's like he's lost the will to go on with these two.
    When they're left to their own devices- it's chatty time on the treadmill (gentle walk). But, during trainer day, they do everything in the worst form possible and won't take his advice on correcting it. They were on the crossfit box, and everything was half - assed. He moved them to doing HIIT on the rower - highest resistance, and urrggghhhhhh... it's so bad.

    And during Easter break - I went to the gym a bit later during the day, and there was a line up for the racks... when I finally got on, it was right beside the smith machine. Anyway, someone needed a 20kg plate. So, the guy in the smith machine went and took my only 20kg plate (right before I needed it to deadlift) because, I'm too little to pick up something that heavy. Oh, not impressed. Not impressed at all.
  • Vetticus_3
    Vetticus_3 Posts: 78 Member
    There were 2 teenage boys sharing a rack this morning. The alpha male was teaching his young beta how to bench press.
    OMG. :open_mouth:
    It was both terrifying and hilarious at the same time. Feet were everywhere.
    And apparently, it's really helpful to bounce the bar off the chest. Bro science starts young. It starts when they are so very, very, young.
  • Ariadnula
    Ariadnula Posts: 435 Member
    i had one yesterday i forgot to mention . . . much much older guy who i don't think had had any training, looking the way i sometimes feel when nothing works and i don't know what i'm doing. we kept trailing each other around on the equipment. like, all sad and confused and lost and probably in a state of 'everything hurts' all the time.

    he had absolutely noob squats going on in the rack. really wearing that look that says 'i've read most of the basic stuff, now i'm trying it . . . omg how does this even happen?' the entire time.

    really thinking i should maybe try to say something. his form was soooo awful and he was adding weight . . . i just hadn't figured out yet what i oculd say that would actually help, because he was doing so many things wrong at the same time. so i'm on the bench trying to side-eye him for that reason, going to say something as soon as i'd figured out what to say. he's doing like 1/4-way squats and his heels were waaaaay up, but then i saw suddenly he's wearing these baggy sweats and apparenly livin' free inside them.

    because his heels weren't the only things that were up.

    Oh! That took me by surprise. I'm sure it did you too :blush:
  • Ariadnula
    Ariadnula Posts: 435 Member
    And we suddenly have a 'like button' !
  • canadianlbs
    canadianlbs Posts: 5,199 Member
    Ariadnula wrote: »
    Oh! That took me by surprise. I'm sure it did you too :blush:

    oh . . . well, tb my reaction was somewhere between 'poor guy, he's got enough troubles right now, i'll just leave him alone' and the later thought 'well, errbody knows lifting boosts your testosterone' :p

  • DawnEmbers
    DawnEmbers Posts: 2,451 Member
    hehehehe


    Lately I've been dealing with the random couple lifting together at the gym. Have seen them twice so far and they are a little on the annoying side. The guy is trying to get her more into lifting and such, so plays the role of trainer but isn't quite an actual trainer. She's not that into it and complains part of the time. When they aren't complaining, arguing a little or such they are either lovey dovey or dancing and singing to the music. Mild entertainment but would rather have empty gym when I have to practice in the singlet. But oh well. Nice to know others are trying to lift at least.
  • canadianlbs
    canadianlbs Posts: 5,199 Member
    so there was this girl in the gym. well, a woman really. she must be fifty if she's half a day.

    but anyway. she was changing out of her street shoes and she took out her chucks, and she had the stinkiest chucks that that gym's ever seen.

    oh. and also . . . i think maybe that woman was me.
  • canadianlbs
    canadianlbs Posts: 5,199 Member
    older guy in the gym saw me removing and packing my lifting shoes at the end of my workout today.

    asks me 'are you a powerlifter?' and that was embarrassing. i told him i do the same lifts, but my shoes are bigger than my muscles right now. not sure he got it, but at least he laughed.
  • Vetticus_3
    Vetticus_3 Posts: 78 Member
    I think this is the more appropriate for this thread that starting a new topic... the question is, is this a type of squat or just weird/bad form?

    There was this couple (early 20s) in the gym this morning sharing a rack... and then the boyfriend wandered off to the dumbbells.
    Anyway, the girl, who was small (I'd say 5'2, maybe 55kgs... not muscled at all), was doing high back squats. But instead of just going to parallel or ATG, she did a half squat/curtsy and when she rose back up, squeezed her tush and did a tiny hip thrust. It looked like her lower back ate a lemon and was caving in on itself.

    Ok, there are reasons why people do a half squat. But I do not understand why do a curtsy, squeeze tush and thrust. Is this an actual move?
  • mirrim52
    mirrim52 Posts: 763 Member
    Curtsy squats are totally a thing. We do body weight ones at derby practice. As for the end, it just sounds like she was over-emphasizing lockout.

    PS - I am 5'0" and 50 kgs, and definitely muscled ;)
  • Vetticus_3
    Vetticus_3 Posts: 78 Member
    Maybe curtsy was the wrong word... it's like she bobbed up and down. Not even a half squat... possibly a quarter squat. Feet where slightly wider than shoulder width, bend knees slightly to go maybe an inch down, then straight back up... exaggerated squeeze, tiny thrust.

    It looked like something from a comedy skit on how to perform squats badly.

    Which is why I'm wondering if this was a real move... or supposed to be related to a real move.

    When I get home I'm going to start looking up different squat moves to see if anything fits.

    And I mean no disrespect to all the ladies who are on the lighter side of the spectrum and lift heavy. I am in awe of you. I was just noting that she looked highly unaccustomed to weights... which makes me think made up move.
  • DawnEmbers
    DawnEmbers Posts: 2,451 Member
    Sounds a little strange to me and I do curtsy lunges when doing PHUL. I didn't really to a tiny thrust with them. I would do a step back lunge but off to the side so that it's a curtsy instead of going back like a regular back lunge.

    People do some different things but I guess if you don't ask it's hard to say for sure on what some of them are doing.
  • Vetticus_3
    Vetticus_3 Posts: 78 Member
    I asked a few people about it. The consensus was: It was seriously bad form, and she probably thought it would help her glutes. :neutral: They have not been back.

    What is the etiquette on really bad rowers - or people who things with really bad form?

    I love rowing, it's my go-to cardio fun sport. But, so many people... I just.. you can't... that's not... urggh.

    Today, there were two women with their personal trainer. They were both in bad form, but one... omg. She was jerking each pull so much I thought her arms were about to dislocate. The chain was whipping up and down, hitting the bar where the handle rests. She didn't fully extend her legs, never pulled her arms back, and her back was hunched over... omg.

    And today was my cardio day, so I was rowing right next to them. Ok, so most people don't row with great form, but this was just painful. And her trainer was just sitting and watching.

    I really want to say something, but... it is none of my business, right? I mean, it is his job to correct them, not mine.

    I've had someone help me with doing a bent over row - and suggest I do a yates instead. I've also had someone say nice form on my squat. But these were people who I nod and grunt at when walking into the room (gym friends?), so there was some familiarity. But the cardio people, I don't know who they are, they're strangers to me.
  • VeryKatie
    VeryKatie Posts: 5,928 Member
    Anniel88 wrote: »
    I got stuck at work last night so I ended up during the gym during peak hours. Most people were just doing their thing, but one larger woman came in and kept giving me these dart eyes because I was in the squat rack and she wanted the entire mirror to herself. (I was there first too.) Now I get that you want to use the mirror but I'm in the rack doing my thing and you can trust me that you aren't going to hurt yourself throwing around that 1 lb barbie weight. I'm not even really sure what she was doing. She had started just sort of flailing her arms around and then added the 1 lb weights. It was very odd.

    Another woman brought her 8ish year old son and highschool aged daughter with her. The kid surprisingly was very well behaved but I just felt bad for the whole group. The mother was trying so hard to get in a workout and the kids were bored out of their minds.

    I kind of wonder if she was wanting to ask you for advice.

    I realize I'm a few pages behind for reading this haha.
  • canadianlbs
    canadianlbs Posts: 5,199 Member
    there was another woman at friday training, for once. i liked her. i especially liked her giggle reflex. apparently 90% of what mr t says to her makes her crack up.

    so we got her on her back doing bench and him standing and spotting for her, and going 'c'mon! tight! air!
    etc, and then she hit a sticking point and he said 'ANGRY lift!' and she cracked up. missed the rep and then she just lay there under the bar and laughed her head off for five or six minutes. she has one of those great gurgly laughs that get everyone else laughing too.

    we also got mr t telling us how he made head cheese. i think he does cooking projects, i've heard of a couple of things. so with this one he apparently bought half a pig and his wife gave him six weeks with it before she was going to throw it out, and he made this substance that had all of us grabbing our jaws and doing that giant squeee thing that makes you pull one of your feet off the ground.

    so then mr finland had to tell us about the time his grandmother who is old-school chinese had this old-school chinese banquet one time, and . . . i'm surprised i was even hungry when i got home.