Dickheads at the Gym

[quote]joelakko wrote:
This thread is Rediciolus. Some of you saying that hogging a peice of equipment is rude for longer then 15 minutes? what freaking world do you live in? Who in the world gets their squat or bench workout done in 15 minutes or less… I sure as hell know prof. x or any of you dont. Shit some of you fatasses probably take 20 minutes just to warm up on the bench press.

[/quote]

My whole chest workout took me about 35 minutes. I timed it. There is no way in hell I spend more than 15 minutes on one exercise when 3-4 different movements are completed in under 40 minutes. What the hell are you talking about? If you spent 20 damn minutes on only one exercise, you would be in the gym over an hour for only one body part.

We can definitely see who the serious people are.

Strangely, it seems those of you not seeing much progress haven’t figured out why that is yet.

OK so lets have two different scenarios in the gym… The first is how i would handle the situation, the next would be how prof. x would want it.

scenario A.

Prof. x - (throws gym bag near my incline hammer strength bench, he sits near my equipment on the calf machine the whole time staring me down)

me- (continues to do my workout)

Prof.x - (after 4 minutes of me using the bench he has had enough and his patience has worn out.) HEY MAN, do you know who i am? look at these muscles ( flexes) get off the equipment.

me- dude, i just got on here, let me finish up my sets.

prof. x - goes home and rants in the forums

Scenario B. (this is how prof. x thinks he should be treated)

As soon as Prof. x pulls into the gym parking lot, he hears trumpets playing. He then steps foot in the gym where the greeters put out a red carpet for him and throw rose pedals at his feet. It is also announced that Prof.X has stepped foot in the gym on the intercom system. While he is walking in the gym, everyone parts and makes way for him with their head down, no one daring to look at him.

As soon as he starts walking towards a peice of equipment, the person on it either jumps up and runs out the way or if they accidently held up his workout for 5 minutes must apologize to him immediatley, and start kissing his feet. The person would then offer to be his personal weight changer for the day, so the Prof wouldnt strain himself.

In scenario B

Prof. X - get off the equipment, im gonna use it, look at these muscles man ( starts flexing)

random guy with no spine- oh im so sorry sir, i did not know you wanted this, I just got to the gym and this was the only equipment i wanted to use, but ill just drive home, im so sorry.

Sooo, did i get it right? is that the way it should be according to you? i must have got it close.

[quote]hungry4more wrote:
If they are actually working hard, they most likely won’t be on for long anyways.
[/quote]

x2

[quote]Professor X wrote:
My whole chest workout took me about 35 minutes. I timed it. There is no way in hell I spend more than 15 minutes on one exercise when 3-4 different movements are completed in under 40 minutes. What the hell are you talking about? If you spent 20 damn minutes on only one exercise, you would be in the gym over an hour for only one body part.

We can definitely see who the serious people are.

Strangely, it seems those of you not seeing much progress haven’t figured out why that is yet.[/quote]
Really? 15-20 minutes on one exercise means you’re not serious? So when I’m on Day 6, Week 3 of Smolov Base, my squats shouldn’t take more than 20 minutes (I’m not even including warm-ups and acclimation sets), or I’ll be branded ‘not serious’ and ‘dicking around’ and be liable to be tossed 45s at? Does it matter if I use 225? 315? 405? At what point am I deemed serious enough to be allowed to finish my workout? Who draws the line? How big should a guy be before I abandon my goals to accomodate his precious needs? Is bodyweight the catalyst? Gunz? Back hair?

Honestly, I’ve no idea how you people come up with these scenarios. Gym life has never been this complicated for me. And oddly, none of the serious PL, BB, SM and WL guys at my old gym ever displayed any of this self-righteous, entitlement bullshit attitude. Always courteous, friendly and helpful. And the skinny college kids, wifebeater gangstas and little ass-hats never pissed anybody off, except of course by power of their sheer presence.

Meh, it could just be a cultural thing, I guess.

[quote]Khaine wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:
My whole chest workout took me about 35 minutes. I timed it. There is no way in hell I spend more than 15 minutes on one exercise when 3-4 different movements are completed in under 40 minutes. What the hell are you talking about? If you spent 20 damn minutes on only one exercise, you would be in the gym over an hour for only one body part.

We can definitely see who the serious people are.

Strangely, it seems those of you not seeing much progress haven’t figured out why that is yet.[/quote]
Really? 15-20 minutes on one exercise means you’re not serious? So when I’m on Day 6, Week 3 of Smolov Base, my squats shouldn’t take more than 20 minutes (I’m not even including warm-ups and acclimation sets), or I’ll be branded ‘not serious’ and ‘dicking around’ and be liable to be tossed 45s at? Does it matter if I use 225? 315? 405? At what point am I deemed serious enough to be allowed to finish my workout? Who draws the line? How big should a guy be before I abandon my goals to accomodate his precious needs? Is bodyweight the catalyst? Gunz? Back hair?

Honestly, I’ve no idea how you people come up with these scenarios. Gym life has never been this complicated for me. And oddly, none of the serious PL, BB, SM and WL guys at my old gym ever displayed any of this self-righteous, entitlement bullshit attitude. Always courteous, friendly and helpful. And the skinny college kids, wifebeater gangstas and little ass-hats never pissed anybody off, except of course by power of their sheer presence.

Meh, it could just be a cultural thing, I guess.[/quote]

Self righteous entitlement?

Wouldn’t the guy tying up a single piece of equipment in a public gym for over 20 min when other people need to use it be the one with the SENSE OF ENTITLEMENT?

A tad slow.

Really? So Smolov is not acceptable in a public gym then? Because that shit takes time.

[quote]Khaine wrote:
Really? So Smolov is not acceptable in a public gym then? Because that shit takes time.[/quote]

Then maybe you should find another gym if you are hindering other serious trainers from working out because of your personal very long sessions.

Once again, the guy with the “sense of entitlement” is the jackass tying up equipment for nearly half an hour when others need to use it.

Okay, cool. So I should find a new gym then, because my training philosophy doesn’t fit in with the rest of the trainees at my current gym?

What if I let people work in? What if I help them change the plates between sets? How many minutes can I be in the squat rack without letting anyone work in, before I am hindering their progress? What if I’m the biggest, most serious motherfucker in the gym? How do these variables affect the rules?

Goddamn, this is why I stay the hell away from gyms with people bigger than me (aka anywhere but my garage).

shits complicated

naw mean.

[quote]CapnYousef wrote:
Goddamn, this is why I stay the hell away from gyms with people bigger than me (aka anywhere but my garage).

shits complicated

naw mean.[/quote]

It isn’t complicated at all. I am also betting that if you compared the progress of those responding like I have in this thread (Like VTballa, Bonez and others) to those acting like the guy right above your post that you would see a very drastic difference in appearance.

I am in the gym like it’s my job even though I enjoy it. I take it seriously even though I may joke around a little with other people who are serious. I am NOT there to spend over 20 minutes on only one machine when other people as serious or more-so than me need to use it as well.

You have guys who like hogging equipment calling those of us ready move right along “entitled”. They have literally justified being an ass in the gym all while degrading every big guy for taking this seriously…yet they can’t even see that.

I get along with most people I come across in the gym…and I would still tell some jackass who had been on one single machine for half an hour that their time is up if they were being an ass and not letting others work in or simply move on after a generous amount of time.

Yet, these fuckers actually see that as wrong.

Funny shit.

yeah, maybe you should stay in the garage.

I think it’s kind of funny that this entire thread started over a calf raise machine. If you want to find out what exercises are the easiest look for where you see people lined up to use something. It’s typically always preacher curl, pec deck, lateral raises, etc. Usually the guys I see using this stuff never rest less than 3 minutes and never finish a workout in under an hour.

Wow 20 minutes at the Calf Raise machine? your calves must HYYOOOOOOGE! I kid.

[quote]Professor X wrote:
It isn’t complicated at all. [/quote]
I agree. Gym life is simple as hell. Like I said, I’ve no idea how these situations even occur, and in my previous gym, the big guys and little guys never got on each others nerves like this.

Let me just reiterate that: I’ve never had an issue with guys over equipment in the gym, whether they were bigger or smaller than me.

[quote]Professor X wrote:
I am also betting that if you compared the progress of those responding like I have in this thread (Like VTballa, Bonez and others) to those acting like the guy right above your post that you would see a very drastic difference in appearance.[/quote]
This may be true. It may also be false. And you won’t find out. You know this. So this ‘bet’ isn’t going to make a difference.

For what it’s worth, I’ll likely be competing in the National Championships next summer. PL, 181 or 198 class, depending on how I progress this fall. I should, hopefully, total around 1250, raw. Whether this is enough progress to be deemed serious, I don’t know. Nor does it, like I said, really matter, does it.

[quote]Professor X wrote:
You have guys who like hogging equipment calling those of us ready move right along “entitled”. They have literally justified being an ass in the gym all while degrading every big guy for taking this seriously…yet they can’t even see that.[/quote]
I’m assuming I’m not in this group. If you’re seriously saying I am, you’re assigning ridiculous opinions and actions to me. I don’t justify asshattery, nor do I degrade serious lifters. Straw man bullshit in other words.

I do however see the sense of entitlement in your posts. If I wait my turn for a machine, I can use it to fulfill my training needs. Period. This is the point of waiting your turn and why we all pay the same fees. So can everybody else, big or small. I won’t do that to the exclusion of letting others work in, obviously, because that would be egotistical and I’m not that. This should apply to everybody else too, big or small.

However, expecting people to let you cut in line because of a difference in body mass IS entitlement. You’re saying you have MORE rights because of your size. You’re not a dumb guy, so you know this.

[quote]Professor X wrote:
I would still tell some jackass who had been on one single machine for half an hour that their time is up if they were being an ass and not letting others work in or simply move on after a generous amount of time.[/quote]
Sure, but who does that? Who doesn’t let people work in? That’s just obvious and where I’m from, everybody let’s people work in, regardless of their size.

I mean, I agree with you on pretty much everything here, except for the part about prioritising guys because of their size. I could make a comparison between the guy who’s been stagnating at 250 for 2 years and the guy who’s gone from 150-190 in 6 months, and how the smaller guy is the more serious in that case, but fuck all that. It’s beside the point.

The point is, if I’m squatting, and a smaller guy wants to work in, he can. I’ll even help him load and unload the plates. I’ll spot him if he wants. I’ll be a helpful son of a bitch. If a big guy needs to squat, he can work in too. I’ll help him load and unload the plates. I’ll spot him if he wants. I’ll be a helpful son of a bitch. In my experience, this is usually reciprocated, by both lifters. The result is a bunch of happy motherfuckers at my gym.

If any of those two think they have the right to cut my squatting session short due to a size or strength disparity, they should fuck themselves. It doesn’t work like that, nor should it.

After that marathon of a post, the final part is the one that really matters.

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Once again, the guy with the “sense of entitlement” is the jackass tying up equipment for nearly half an hour when others need to use it.[/quote]

Your last 6 words are most important to me. I generally don’t care what people do if the gym is empty or there are multiples of that piece of equipment (eg the 20 different bench stations at my gym).

I’m actually pretty lucky in that most of the free weights don’t ever have people waiting. All of the machines and cable towers are selectorized, so for the most part it isn’t a big deal to ask to work in when those get busy.

Still, there have been a few times when a group of three frat boys thinks it’s okay to use every cable attachment because they are doing giant sets of tricep pushdown variations. My workouts aren’t extremely rigid, so I will try to come back later. But it never fails… 3 of my exercises later, they will still be there.

Most annoying is when a small group takes an entire row of dumbbells to the other side of the gym for an hour. I don’t know why it is, but it seems like if people are in a group they think it is a license to do whatever they want.

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]Khaine wrote:
Really? So Smolov is not acceptable in a public gym then? Because that shit takes time.[/quote]

Then maybe you should find another gym if you are hindering other serious trainers from working out because of your personal very long sessions.

Once again, the guy with the “sense of entitlement” is the jackass tying up equipment for nearly half an hour when others need to use it.[/quote]

I agree.

I have one day a week of weights where I do variations/play around, i.e. try to shock my body by deviating from the norm. The rest of the time, I’m going in on a tight schedule trying to get through my routine for the day ASAP. I love lifting, I even like HIT cardio, but when you’re going to the gym 5-6 times a week, all that time ads up, so waiting twenty min for some dick to get off his cell phone and get away from piece of equipment z five times a week really adds up. It’s qualitatively different than someone who comes to the gym maybe twice a week “sort of” lift.

My gym has a group of bros who fancy themselves power lifters (three of the six are just fat). The gym has two squat racks. It’s never crowded, but if you happen to get there when they get in, there’s going to be tension, because they have to move around all the equipment, prep it, leave their shit sitting on it while they foam roll and play on the rowing machines, exe. Very obnoxious. And yeah, once they’ve moved everything around, it takes a couple min to get everything back to where I’d want to use it, plus they’re rude asshats so working in isn’t an option.

Not totally sure what I’m getting at, but the ass-hat-ness can come from both people being obliviously naive/narcissistic (the guy who comes in twice a week for a leisurely tour of the gym/catching up on cell phone calls/reading), and the guys who think they’re so hard-core that it’s their right to monopolize entire sections of the weight room until their circle-jerk is done.

[quote]joelakko wrote:
As soon as Prof. x pulls into the gym parking lot, he hears trumpets playing. He then steps foot in the gym where the greeters put out a red carpet for him and throw rose pedals at his feet. It is also announced that Prof.X has stepped foot in the gym on the intercom system. While he is walking in the gym, everyone parts and makes way for him with their head down, no one daring to look at him.

As soon as he starts walking towards a piece of equipment, the person on it either jumps up and runs out the way or if they accidentally held up his workout for 5 minutes must apologize to him immediately, and start kissing his feet. The person would then offer to be his personal weight changer for the day, so the Prof wouldnt strain himself.

[/quote]

This would be sweet. Not for everyone else, obviously. I’d consider paying some sort of inflated membership fee for this. You could also include a guy with your name on his t-shirt who shouts “You are AWESOME!” when you finish a set. Better yet, everyone in the gym could do it in the style of a Broadway chorus.

Serously though, sounds like both the OP and the other guy could have done more to come to some sort of compromise.