I’m doing some Good Mornings today and next to me I notice this kid come in and start lifting. When I say kid, I mean kid. He was about 5" tall, looked to be around maybe 12 years old, and he was doing bench press and squats. Although he was using the Smith Machine, he was using more intensity than almost anyone else I usually see in that gym. He was adding weight and squeezing out reps. I was damned impressed.
When I finished, I couldn’t find him. I felt really bad because I wanted to say something encouraging to him like “Nice lifts, keep up the good work.”
So my question is, do you guys generally give out encouragement, like I wanted to do? Sometimes I get a little bit sentimental (for lack of a better word) when I see someone that young come in with no attitude, work hard, and put most of the “regulars” to shame.
On a side note, something funny happened today in the gym. I was doing barbell step-ups to a bench and at the bench right next to me, this female trainer was working with a female client doing something which vaguely resembled dumbbell military presses. Anyways, they were chatting and blabbing while she used 2.5 pound dumbbells, and finally the trainer asked her if she’d like to use the 5 pound dumbbells now. The trainer said something like “it’s good to use lighter weights because it helps you get tighter skin” or something like that.
Meanwhile, I am cranking out another set, and I feel like a bull in a china shop - I’m panting, grimacing, etc. I hear the client asking about what I was doing, and so the trainer explains and starts her doing bodyweight step-ups. The trainer says it’s better to do it without weights. Something about toning. It was all I could do to keep quiet, me and that woman were both doing step-ups on benches facing each other. It was some funny shit.
… which made me feel even more bad for not saying anything to that kid later… never know when some encouragement might go a long way.