Does anyone else there just hate lifting in a college gym… I’m only comfortable in there at like 730 in the morning… I have to grunt and make ugly faces whenever I’m straining and my performance drops if I don’t… that and everyone looks at you crooked for doing one arm barbell snatches or anything like that… I’ve found I have to train alone cause my frat bros dont give lifting the same priority that I do… I figure early morning lifts are the only thing to do which is annoying… fuck it sometimes shit has to get done… In my perfect world I’d be able to get in the varsity gym… this is more of a late night/early morning just finished problem set gripe before i hit the gym in an hour
First of all, if your only gripe about training in a “college” gym is that people stare at you for doing REAL exercises than all I have to say is screw em!!! You’re there to train, not to socialize with your frat brothers and hit on the sorority girls. I for one could give a rats ass if I was getting stared at for doing certain exercises.
Now on the other hand, I used to be in the same boat as you in that I HATED training at my college gym, only because it would get waaaaaay too crowded at times. All the frat brothers would come in with their wife-beaters on in groups of 3-5 and all crowd around the bench presses or preacher curls, so you would have to wait FOREVER to get anything done. Nothing is worse than trying to work in with a group of 4 guys. I swear it was more of a social hour for most people at the gym. It got to the point where I would either train early in the mornings or just go get a membership at a less crowded gym.
In any case, like I said, if your only gripe is that people stare at you…than don’t sweat it. Don’t pat any attention to them. You do your thing and they will do theirs.
Personally, I despise lifting at my college gym. I’m at FSU, and the gym is always packed, there’s always someone on the piece of equipment you need to use, and get this, with roughly 30,000 undergrad students, ONLY 3 SQUAT RACKS…
I can beat that, leeds uni has 30,000 students and only 1 squat rack, which becomes mine between the hours of 8-9am on mon, wed and fri.
As for people staring at you, i agree with tony, screw them.
Try breaking out the westside training bands for an even greater stare of dissbelief!
yeah, i got the same problem here at ohio university…I’d kill to be able to use the varsity weight room…
Clemson had a good setup. There was a “regular” free weight area, and then there was the Dungeon. You had to pay a little to join it, but it was MUCH less crowded, and only had pretty serious lifters. Plus a 50-CD player full of mixed CDs focusing on heavier stuff. Very nice. It was also below the main floor so it had a nice dungeon feel to it too.
Jared, did you wear whips and chains and leather when you were in the dungeon? Ya know, practicing your “secret” lifts?
J…Wright - they had a “back room” for that.
Hey that dungeon sounds exactly like the weightroom I used in college.
Up the very very big long snowy hill from the dorms and main campus was the sports facility. That had the main weight rooms and all the activity courts (hockey/tennis/b-ball/racquetball) in it.
Now besides the horrible walk up to that place in the months of november-april, it was always packed with people just hanging around. Lots of equipment, but still a bit too busy for my tastes.
So I paid ~$25/term to use the dorm weightroom, was in basement level, 2 rooms just crammed with stuff. Hardly any space to walk, no cardio stuff, loud music, and all the big guys in it. The fee paid for your access to that room plus went towards a quarterly show from pro’s.
Hey man, can understand that. I used to go at 7 in the morning when they opened. That was when i was a soph/junior. It was great cause i got done early and had the rest of the day. The bad part is it put a HEAVY damper on my social life, which is important when your in school. Now, I joined a local gym and go at about 12 in the afternoon. Can still go out from time to time, the gym isn’t that busy, less distractions, and more equipment. Of course you do have to pay, but it was worth it for me. GO in the mornings or switch gyms.
Hey Ren, you’re at OU?
I am as well. I like lifting in the morning but that doesn’t always happen for one reason or anything. Ping seems to pretty much blow anytime after 5 p.m. and I avoid it like the plague.
Not to mention they’ve got a pretty ass backwards setup for all the equipment and the personnel there usually don’t know their hands from their asses.
PM me. maybe we can get together and train sometime.
- Mark
The lifting situation is actually pretty good at my school, we have 3 squat racks, a oly lift platform with bumber plates, a number of boxes at various hights for box squatting, dumbells up to 140lb. Its a pretty nice deal. I have noticed some interesting trends too, for instance, the gym is always crowded on mondays, because people come off the weekend resolving never to drink again, hit the gym, get in shape, etc. The numbers are down on wenesday, cause people realize the work involved in staying in shape, and the place is deserted on fridays, when people are off getting ready to get wasted that night. Nothing wrong with drinking, just a trend I’ve noticed.
As far as the staring thing goes, I don’t really mind it. I mean, I will always think of myself as a short, fat, white, ex-Jewish kid from New York, so when I throw around 405 Squats like it’s my job in life, some people tend to stare. I agree that it can get annoying after a while, but that’s why I wear heaphones at all times…
I’m not knocking how you choose to lift, but I think you have to admit that the reason you would do 1 arm barbell snatch is that at some level you think it makes you look cool or like a badass or whatever… so expect people to stare. Otherwise there are probably more effective lifts than that, where you can avoid staring.
MP, yes it is awful, i never go in the evenings, usually 9 or 10am if i didn’t get hammered the night before. I’ll pm ya sometime about lifting, but you’ll have to wait a while as i strained my wrist in a rugby game 2 weeks ago and i still struggle to do pushups 
I’ll look into an off-campus gym… til then its just early morning lifts and stuffing my face before class… as for the one-arm barbell snatch being badass… lets just say when you’re 150 pounds at 6 feet NOTHING I do is remotely badass just bitch… my problem is that I’ve been getting hammered about 3 nights a week since I got here and when I twisted my ankle then sprained my wrist the week after I figured I’d rest which subsequently turned into some quality time with Mr. Daniels. Stepped on the scale yesterday and hung my head in shame.
have you OU people been to the Miami gym? I just graduated from there in May, and I really didn’t like the gym. All the frat fucks would take over and do benching and curling, in the squat rack. Every now and then, I would see a really strong dude, and it made me happy. The rest of the time, it was a bunch of pussies looking up to the top level to see the chicks in tight clothing.
be glad you dont go to georgetown. they dont even have real wieghts. They only have nautalus and a few dumbells. I had to join a gym in the city, which turned out to be very expensive.
To Ren and MP,
I graduated from OU in '99, and started there before Ping opened. The old fitness center was terrible. They had a few machines in there that were at least three hundred years old. Ping is a godsend in comparison. But, it still was packed as hell all the time.
I couldn’t handle lifting at the SMU gym. It was over crowed and full of tools who only worked out their biceps and checked out girls. I got a membership to 24 fitness.
I’m also in a fraternity, but luckily my roomate lifts, so it works out great.