There’s this really annoying grunter at the gym I go to. Guy looks like an average American, his strength is on the low side, and he grunts on nearly every rep of every exercise he performs. Leg press with 3 plates, hack squats with 1 plate, SLDLs with 1 plate…GRUNT GRUNT GRUNT.
I happened to be doing a set of SLDLs right before he did his set. I did over twice the weight he was using (he had 135) and I didn’t grunt or make any audible noise. He did his set shortly after and was grunting from rep 1, and I noticed his last 3 reps are always really fucking loud. I stood there facing him head-on and gave him a WTF look while he was in his set.
I had the urge to ask “How many reps does the grunting give you?” but decided I’d ask T-Nation before I do anything stupid. Maybe I’ll start wearing headphones. I might need the big headphones that cancel out all outside noise.
I fucking hate the ppl who grunt every rep. I mean the ones who do it out of habit. IMO a grunt on the last rep of the hardest set is perfectly okay and normal but doing it just to do it gets on my nerves.
However, you should leave him alone. Let him look like a dumbass. If you want to confront him, ask if you can work in on whatever he’s doing and then keep quiet and if possible lift a bunch more. Maybe he will feel like a dork and stop.
Well, my girlfriend grunts every time I go balls deep, however I do not suppose I’d confront her just because I was doing more work than her and she was just laying on her back with her legs on my shoulders.
You sound like a jackass that feels he is elite, and you do not feel that you should confront this guy because you are elite but because you are insecure.
If you do not grunt, maybe you should put more weight on the bar, pussy.
You sound like a jackass that feels he is elite, and you do not feel that you should confront this guy because you are elite but because you are insecure.
If you do not grunt, maybe you should put more weight on the bar, pussy.[/quote]
This, I grunt and make funny faces when the shit is heavy. I also sweat and breath heavy sometimes. It’s called effort.
There was one guy who was practically yelling one time at my gym, he was so loud that when I’ve told the story to people first hand I still won’t demonstrate how loud he was…whatever you were thinking, double it.
So I walked up, he was doing the machine incline bench press, I seem to remember it being about 75lbs…like 6 or 7 of those plates, so I said “Shhhhh…because that’s just fucking stupid.”
There’s grunting and then there’s grunting. I know the type OP is describing–they would grunt with 10 lb dumbbells–it’s their thing. I grunt, even on most exercises, but only as it gets very difficult, so I have nothing against grunting generally. But grunting excessively can be a psychological disorder. I’ll bet this type of grunter makes the same noises when loading groceries onto the conveyor belt at WalMart or taking money out of an ATM machine.
That being said, if he has a disorder, confronting him about it won’t help. You need a full-on intervention. Gather all the non-grunters (or reasonable grunters) together at the same time this guy works out, pull the benches together in a circle, put the excessive grunter in the middle, and talk it through.
It helps lifting the weight. The first few reps? No. But if I’m doing a set of 8-10 you bet your ass I’m making noise by rep 5. You don’t need to roar from rep 1, agreed. But in general grunting is only done by the big guys in my gym so it’s more motivating than irritating.
Also, what does weight have to do with anything? If the weight for that individual is heavy, why would it matter that it’s only half of what you lift?
