Not wanting to work out around bodybuilders?

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  • dewd2
    dewd2 Posts: 2,445 Member
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    It is nice to see a few folks here managed to reinforce the stereotype that OP is referring to. I mean, putting down folks who go to PF and disregarding it as a real gym because of their marketing strategy/business model? Really? How rude. How superior of you to laugh at them.

    I don't go to PF due to other reasons (no way I am giving ANYONE my bank account), but how they operate their business is not one of them.
  • CasperNaegle
    CasperNaegle Posts: 936 Member
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    Seems to me anyone working out is building their body. People just have different end goals and are in different stages of getting there. Most people at the gyms I have worked out at are very friendly and helpful.
  • sunnybeaches105
    sunnybeaches105 Posts: 2,831 Member
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    dewd2 wrote: »
    It is nice to see a few folks here managed to reinforce the stereotype that OP is referring to. I mean, putting down folks who go to PF and disregarding it as a real gym because of their marketing strategy/business model? Really? How rude. How superior of you to laugh at them.

    I don't go to PF due to other reasons (no way I am giving ANYONE my bank account), but how they operate their business is not one of them.

    I don't get worked up about PF, their business is their business, but their advertising and rules are pretty laughable. Can you imagine the reaction to a gym with an alarm for fat people? They play into a stereotype. That's bound to piss off a few people. Just because it's a small group that they're mocking doesn't mean people don't have the right to flame them for it. And yes, they do seem to actively work against anyone succeeding. That said, at $10 a month it's a great place to get in a little treadmill or machine work. Cheaper than buying an EliteFTS leg extension for my garage.
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
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    singingflutelady wrote: »
    Wow australia has some weird gyms. I have never been at a gym where anyone, let alone bodybuilders swear back and forth, wrestle, etc.

    I have never been yelled at, laughed at or shoved at the gym by anyone either and we have lots of super competitive high level powerlifters including a world record holder, world champion and a few national champions. They are the nicest people in the gym. I get more looks from other women, especially cardio bunnies, in the gym who think I am weird and will get bulky because I lift heavy.

    I'm a 40 year old women btw.

    +1

    To all of it, sans the high-level powerlifters. My current gym has pro ball players and first responders among the serious lifters rather than pure powerlifters.

    Even when I was a teenager and lifting at the local Gold's - and they did have competitive bodybuilders and powerlifters - I never had anyone be anything other than polite.
  • MelissaPhippsFeagins
    MelissaPhippsFeagins Posts: 8,063 Member
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    RebeccaParmenter wrote: »
    that seems crazy. The body builders are awesome! PLUS, they'll spot if you need one, or give advice if you ask. We are all a big family at the gym. Esp. the regulars.
    RebeccaParmenter wrote: »
    that seems crazy. The body builders are awesome! PLUS, they'll spot if you need one, or give advice if you ask. We are all a big family at the gym. Esp. the regulars.

    This about family is true. When my husband's mom passed.last year and we were gone for a week, people at the gym were as good as the people at our church. <3 them all
  • mrsjowen1
    mrsjowen1 Posts: 8 Member
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    I have just started at the YMCA and I really haven't talked to anyone at all. I'm sure everyone is friendly but the weight room is mostly men, most of which are the bodybuilder type. When I went in today they all watch to see who's coming in and it makes me uncomfortable. I have used weights before and I don't need to be monitored. They are mostly older men (50+) or teen guys sitting around lifting and watching everything the women do. Its just not an environment I am comfortable in. Maybe that will change as I meet people or become a regular but I don't like the "being on display" feeling.
  • positivepowers
    positivepowers Posts: 902 Member
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    Machka9 wrote: »
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    Machka9 wrote: »
    spartan_d wrote: »
    A friend of mine recently surprised me when she said, "Nothing de-motivates me more than having a bunch of big bodybuilders around while I'm exercising. I don't want to work out with those kind of people around."

    This took me by surprise, perhaps because I can't really relate to that feeling. Does anyone else feel the same way about working out around these hardcore types? If so, why?

    I can definitely relate!!

    When I was a bodybuilder, I didn't mind at all. I was right in there with them. But then I got into cycling I haven't been into bodybuilding for years.

    The last 3 gyms I've been a member of, I stuck to cardio because I very quickly grew wearing of being stared at, laughed at, yelled at, and shoved out of the way.

    Wow, hard to believe you've found three crappy gyms in a row like that. The odds are positively astounding. I've belonged to about 25 gyms in two different states over the last 38 years (and worked out in several more), and not once have I ever been stared at, laughed at, yelled at or shoved out of the way in any of them. And I look nothing like a bodybuilder.

    One of the Gold's Gyms I was a member at was the home gym for several professional and amateur bodybuilders. Most of them were among the nicest, kindest, most helpful people I've met in a gym. A couple of them were just so tuned into their workouts that nobody and nothing else existed in the gym around them. They weren't unfriendly or mean, they were just in their own world.

    But you're male, right?

    When a relatively small middle-aged female walks into the midst of a group of 18 year old guys who are swearing loudly back and forth to each other, hogging all the equipment, wrestling each other in between the equipment etc. ... she's not going to be treated very nicely when she tries to take a turn at a weight bench or something ...


    I've been a member of a lot of different gyms in two countries over the past 27 years, and most have been all right. But it probably didn't help that first one of the most recent 3 gyms was a university gym ...

    I'm a middle-aged female (hopefully I'll live to be 104) and I have never had trouble with the young guys. I can outswear any of them and if I ask not only will they let me use the equipment, if I ask them, they'll be glad to talk my leg off teaching me how to use it.
  • mrsjowen1
    mrsjowen1 Posts: 8 Member
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    I never said I knew what they were thinking. And I didn't stare at anyone but me and another lady walked in and everything we did or everywhere we went they were watching what we did. They all face the door and size up everyone that walks through like its a private room. Its like they need to hike their leg and pee on the machines to mark their territory. Not saying thats how they think just how I felt. The other lady was so uncomfortable at the guys looking as they passed by her that she left about 10 min into her workout. Working out with men doesn't bother me, but this bunch watch like they are hunting their next meal. Its unsettling.
  • ummyasminah
    ummyasminah Posts: 95 Member
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    I actually like the weight room better than anywhere else in my gym because all the 'bodybuilder typed' don't give a damn what anybody else is doing. Super focused on their own workouts and gains, and hardly notice anyone around them.
  • AnitaDJ88
    AnitaDJ88 Posts: 5 Member
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    thorsmom01 wrote: »
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    Machka9 wrote: »
    spartan_d wrote: »
    A friend of mine recently surprised me when she said, "Nothing de-motivates me more than having a bunch of big bodybuilders around while I'm exercising. I don't want to work out with those kind of people around."

    This took me by surprise, perhaps because I can't really relate to that feeling. Does anyone else feel the same way about working out around these hardcore types? If so, why?

    I can definitely relate!!

    When I was a bodybuilder, I didn't mind at all. I was right in there with them. But then I got into cycling I haven't been into bodybuilding for years.

    The last 3 gyms I've been a member of, I stuck to cardio because I very quickly grew wearing of being stared at, laughed at, yelled at, and shoved out of the way.

    Wow, hard to believe you've found three crappy gyms in a row like that. The odds are positively astounding. I've belonged to about 25 gyms in two different states over the last 38 years (and worked out in several more), and not once have I ever been stared at, laughed at, yelled at or shoved out of the way in any of them. And I look nothing like a bodybuilder.

    One of the Gold's Gyms I was a member at was the home gym for several professional and amateur bodybuilders. Most of them were among the nicest, kindest, most helpful people I've met in a gym. A couple of them were just so tuned into their workouts that nobody and nothing else existed in the gym around them. They weren't unfriendly or mean, they were just in their own world.

    All of this

    I worked for golds gym while I was in school. I've never ever saw people being laughed at , shoved or yelled at .

    They don't need to laugh,shove or yell at you......it's the look in their eyes and on their faces that says it all! And that's what keeps me well away from gyms although I could really do with going to do some strength training.
  • AlphaCajun
    AlphaCajun Posts: 290 Member
    edited May 2016
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    in my experience it's the skinny fat little bird, not the body builder, that you should worry about. He's the one staring at you through the mirror while he's half repping curls in the rack. lmao
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    ummijaaz560 wrote: »

    Yeah well whatever. As long as my husband is around to help raise our children we're happy.

    what does that have to do with the conversation?
    Any activity is better than none and the journey to fitness is yours alone.
    this is true.

  • aub6689
    aub6689 Posts: 351 Member
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    Maybe I missed it. Did your friend provide reasons for why they'd be less motivated by bodybuilders? Personally I love working out around people that are serious about working out. I think sometimes people assume bodybuilders are jerks because their hyper-focus may make them seem unapproachable or angry, but I find nothing can be further from the truth.
  • samhennings
    samhennings Posts: 441 Member
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    I love working out around bodybuilders, guys and girls. I watch them all, look at their form, see what they are doing - and have learned tonnes in doing so.

    And at no point have I ever had any instance with them to feel belittled or anything, quite the opposite in fact.

  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
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    ArmyofAdrian wrote: »
    mrsjowen1 wrote: »
    I have just started at the YMCA and I really haven't talked to anyone at all. I'm sure everyone is friendly but the weight room is mostly men, most of which are the bodybuilder type. When I went in today they all watch to see who's coming in and it makes me uncomfortable. I have used weights before and I don't need to be monitored. They are mostly older men (50+) or teen guys sitting around lifting and watching everything the women do. Its just not an environment I am comfortable in. Maybe that will change as I meet people or become a regular but I don't like the "being on display" feeling.

    Maybe they are wondering why you are staring at them. You must be otherwise you wouldn't know where they are looking. I am curious how you know what they're thinking?

    I've found myself staring off into space during rests at the gym. But, it's a gym, and there are people everywhere, so I usually end up staring at or near someone. I must look pretty darn creepy.

    I swear I'm not creepy.

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