You realize that no one actually threatened violence, right? I was being tongue-in-cheek about @twojarslave’s post - which I should not have. I owe him an apology for both using his posts to express my disgust and for mischaracterizing his statements. @ChongLordUno used the term “violence,” jokingly, and I thought it was funny, so picked it up. “Beat up” is also tongue in cheek, as this is an internet forum. But yes, given that we are often a thousand miles from one another, “just staying away” is an easy solution. My long-ago would-be assailant lived in NY and I in Texas. Although I think I would fare very poorly in a fist fight with an adult male, I wasn’t really afraid. More amused.
I’m very sorry I’ve frightened you, Andrewgen_Receptors. I was clearly mistaken when I thought you would see the humor in it. I meant it all very lightly.
In fact, the worst I’ve offered in terms of mean words and disparagement of you is the statement that you and @Njord are being unkind. I understand that you don’t owe me a response, so I will merely offer as I have in the past that my hope is that you will consider for yourself (by which I mean for your own benefit) what I’ve said, and if you feel that you would NOT like to be someone who claims support for fitness but sabotages people trying to achieve that for themselves, make changes.
I can’t recall offhand the number of times it takes people to attempt to quit smoking for good or initiate a substance abuse recovery that sticks, but on average several. Some people get it right away, most don’t. Some never do. There should be room for them to want things just out of their reach. Everyone should feel the “high” of trying again. This is the joy of coming out of a slump for me and feeling dialed back in, a feeling I’m sure we all know. My diet feels good and my workouts are joyous and I get to ride a high until things turn, and I resent having to get up early or pass on things I want to eat.
No, it is not commendable. And the story has shifted slightly. Here:
These are people who don’t make the cut as determined by someone who feels superior by virtue of his self-determined non-meaningless sets and intent to make progress. Where I’m from, we call this entitlement. Which I believe would be the beef with the Insta crowd.
It’s been a long time since I’ve worked out in a commercial gym, but Tim McGraw did a good job of describing appropriate etiquette. The most heartwarming things I hear, see (vids), or read have successful gym-goers helping overweight, insecure newbs. Maybe then they stay and progress?
When the dreams you’re dreaming come to you
When the work you’ve put in is realized
let yourself feel the pride but
always stay humble and kind
…
Don’t take for granted the love that life gives you
When you get where you’re goin’
don’t forget turn back 'round
and help the next one in line
Always stay humble and kind
Not my dog in the particular quotes above, but why do you insist on reframing what people say in a new context and redirect the conversation to your bias? I’ve noticed this quite a bit.
The explained original context is that he is looking for and expecting traditional gym etiquette and is using his size to push it. This is not uncommon. It’s actually rude for people to hog equipment and it happens incredibly frequently now. Gaggles of teens and women usually, in my experience, who will run circuits and “save” each piece of the circuit up to 4 or 5 deep at times, leaving gym bags on benches they are not otherwise using, the age old curls in squat racks, now instagramming instead of actually working or getting lost in YouTube videos between sets for ridiculous amounts of time and “working in” is nearly a relic.
“Muscling” this shit out of the way is not sabotage, it’s leading by example, and actually making it easier for newbies, the elderly et cetera to gain a toe hold.
You insist on framing it as rude bullying so intense you’re sick about it. Why do you do that? Ignore original context, reframe, reinforce, victimize?
No, bud, you did that. That’s why in the post just above yours, I clarify that “the story has shifted” and requote the original. It’s all here for all of us to see.
“Hey, mind if I use this?” goes a long way. Or, you can do as many of us have done and set up a home gym. Personally, I like working out near my own bathroom and closet. I don’t like shared showers. Resenting my fellow gym-goers for showering and somehow bullying them not to didn’t seem the appropriate solution.
I am victimized by pointing out the conflict between the statements “I want people to lose weight because it’s gross to me and also expensive” and “I go out of my way to express my disdain for people on diets/working out ineffectively”? LOL, you’re kind of silly.
I only ask that you (AR, really, but you too) be kind, if being kind is something you feel would be of value to you. If not, party on! But don’t pretend you’re not being nasty to people.
Good men strive for decency and integrity. You have not displayed that here. Elsewhere on the boards, you have. Check yourself. I have not pretended to be victimized and you are certainly not the victim of me. If you feel comfortable doing a thing, you should be comfortable with having light shined on it.
Serious question: how would one become a 500+ squatter if he was coincidentally routinely interrupted? Did the same go for bench? Like, maybe there were two benches, and as soon as men benching 300 arrived, sixteen-year-old beginners benching 135 had to leave?
Great post. I’m a 500+ squatter. I never would push or rush someone who is using the equipment appropriately. You have to start somewhere. I have however politely asked people doing pull ups etc in the squat rack if the minded switching to another nearby pull up bar so I can squat. Being polite always went well for me.
It is all about your determination. You see what can be accomplished by the “big dogs.” You figure out a way to get it done. If you have no more drive than to “throw in the towel” at a “pecking order” hurdle, chances are you never will be one of the “big dogs,” Not to mention, our gym was not the only gym in town. Maybe you aren’t ready to “attend.” You would not attempt calculus if you weren’t proficient with algebra and trigonometry.
Our gym was not a beginners gym. The beginner is not going to our gym at the peak hours and have any expectation of dominating a squat rack. And we only had two benches. No problem. And those were the days when the bench press was king among exercises. BTW, squatters always had priority to use the only squat rack. No one questioned that.
What about: How did the 500+lb squatter get that strong if they were coincidentally routinely interrupted?
That is not possible if one is, as I said, routinely interrupted for his sessions which are needed to build a big squat. Drive means nothing if one is prohibited from using it. One could go to ball court or track as a beginner or youngin and it there’s a gang of stronger, older men there telling him to leave, he can take his drive and shove it.
However, if there was an understanding that one must have started at another gym, then doing so would have been figuring out a way to get it done. So you gave me an answer. (No sarcasm.)
I’m not reading all this, but speaking of former fat fucks who did something about it, how 'bout Angry German Kid?
Remember him?
Dude got into bodybuilding, powerlifting, all that jazz.
Well maybe not jazz but rap or whatever.
That old keyboard of his doesn’t know how lucky it was.
I remember back in the 90s and aughts, a time at which I think the gym scene was so much better, no one even cared about such stuff, and weaker and stronger people would share squat racks and benches with none of this even thought of. So like, two guys had to unload and load some plates for a minute between sets. Oh well.
Granted people did have common sense not to ask some exceptionally strong guy to work in after he was well into his workout.
Emily your contributions to this thread are both insightful and highly amusing, but for the sake of your own mental health, this might be a good time to remind you:
Arguing on the internet is like running in the Special Olympics - even if you win, you’re still retarded
A lot of people consider a diet they did a failure if they don’t make it to a goal weight or goal “look”. They consider it a failure if they regain some of the lost weight. However, out of the lean people I know who had more fat in the past, most of them got there with a series of “failed” diets. They didn’t go from 25% to 10% in one go. There are professional coaches that are now advocating for doing dieting in stages (I think the Renaissance Prioritization diets do this). Lose some fat, go into maintenance for a few months (which will see scale weight go up as water is gained), then lose more fat. Repeat until goal achieved. They may even throw in a small gaining phase in there to get the metabolism humming and relieve some of the mental impact of long term dieting.
I like the new avatar. Looking bad ass!
This is what I do as well. Or asking to work in, which is one of the easiest ways to make a new friend.
I am someone who does a lot of chin-ups. My gym only has pull-up bars on the squat racks. I realize most people are too shy to ask how many sets do you have left, or if they can work in. If I see that all the racks are being used, and identify someone kinda walking around aimlessly, I assume they are waiting for a rack, and I’ll say that they can start squatting as long as I can do my sets after my rest periods. A set of chins takes maybe 20 seconds, and then I rest for 2-3 minutes. Their squat sets are also only like 20-30 seconds with rest in between. It isn’t difficult to make this work.
So, I’m not sure I should share this story, but it feels relevant.
My half-brother has an extensive career as a Ranger, Special Forces, and a post-retirement mercenary group. From what I know about his home life and marrages, it was always dangerous.
Obviously a total gym rat. His forearms are as big as my thighs.
One time we were out at a bar and someone got in his face about something. He was totally chill, let the person run out of steam, and said good night. On the way back to the house, we were talking about it and he said something like “I know how to kill people, not how to fight them.” Which is haunting.
The quiet ones should worry you, not the shit talkers.
As related to weight training this is a faulty analogy. No one squatted 7 days a week. The big squatters had a “squat party” on Saturday mornings. So for no more than two hours on Saturday morning between 10:00am and noon, everyone knew that the squat rack would be in use. Even the mentally challenged would eventually figure out that Saturday morning at 10:00am was a poor time to do squats. Our powerlifting team trained at the gym.
The beginner would learn more watching the powerlifters squat than any benefit they would get squatting as a beginner.
Two of my best buddies are ex special forces. One is former seal team 5 and the other is a ranger.
The most relaxed laid-back guys ever, but they have a switch. It is like they get possessed by a different person when “battle mode” turns on. These are guys that have done double digit tours and stacked bodies.
I sure as fuck don’t want to ever have to fight either of them. I got to do some “training” with the seals in Walls, MS. I got to play the insurgent side in mockups. Lets just say we never won.
These details help with your answers to my questions. Again, I’m not being sarcastic. That’s different than the thought of random or routine interruption with use of equipment after a teenager gets out of school.
My old roommate was a 600+lb squatter and dead lifter. I generally trained in the 200s and 300s for each lift at the time. Whenever we lifted together we’d just get “racking gains” as he called them, from swapping weights between sets. I also have about 4-5 inches on him so we’d get double when adjusting bar height for the squat rack haha. You could count it as sneaky conditioning work within your workout.
