Helping People in the Gym...

Off Topic
121

[quote]Davinci.v2 wrote:
I’m a good guy so I like to help out around my gym. I’m consistently being asked for spots on bench. Being that I’m a nice guy I always reply with “Sure!”. Usually my spotting technique involves standing directly over their head in a wide horse-stance, straddling their face if you will.

Granted I sport baggy shorts and like going commando in the gym, so they may have the distraction of a smiling willy in their eye during the set. I always warn them out the gate too that if the weight makes me strain, I may accidentally deliver a squirt in their eye, urine or shart, it varies depending if he’s got hot abs or not. Like I said, I’m a good guy.[/quote]

Fixed.

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Well force of one, i’m happy for you.Probably the best possible result that could come out of the situation. Though, i’m not gonna lie, i’m very curious to find out if she comes back. lol

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[quote]Heracles_rocks wrote:
Davinci.v2 wrote:
I’m a good guy so I like to help out around my gym. I’m consistently being asked for spots on bench. Being that I’m a nice guy I always reply with “Sure!”. Usually my spotting technique involves standing directly over their head in a wide horse-stance, straddling their face if you will.

Granted I sport baggy shorts and like going commando in the gym, so they may have the distraction of a smiling willy in their eye during the set. I always warn them out the gate too that if the weight makes me strain, I may accidentally deliver a squirt in their eye, urine or shart, it varies depending if he’s got hot abs or not. Like I said, I’m a good guy.

Fixed.[/quote]

I knew I left something out.

124

[quote]samdan wrote:
So I found myself in a slightly new situation in the gym earlier today. People use horrible form on exercises all the time, but you can tell they’re cheating for more weight or something equally ego-inflating.

Today, however, there was a woman, likely a mother trying to lose some baby weight or just trying to get back in shape after letting herself go for a bit. I was grabbing a cleaner bottle to wipe down my bench and saw her in the Yoga studio doing what looked like Romanian Deadlifts, although her back seemed to be a little rounded from the 2 seconds I saw her. Later on, she was doing some standing dumbbell curls and was throwing her whole body into it which seemed to be because she was just trying to go fast to me.

I had thought about giving her a little advice to help her get a better bang from her workout, since these were probably all little things that the trainer that likely wrote up her workout never mentioned. In the end, I didn’t say anything but felt kinda bad because while the curl thing might not be too horrible, the rounded back thing could be harmful even at lower weights.

Anyway, what do you guys think as far as helping innocently ignorant people in the gym?[/quote]

I really only chat with people in one of two situations

#1 They are doing something that will get them or the people around them hurt.

#2 They really are trying but just don’t seem to know.

The best tip I can give you is to not start off with advice but ask them (in a friendly way) to tell you about their exercise. Listen and think hard, since more than a couple of times its turned out to be someone who really knows their stuff but is, e.g., trying to comeback from an injury and is just trying to figure a way to keep working out. If they are a candidate for advice, I usually phrase along the lines of, “every one is different, but this works for me. you might want to give it a shot.”

This lets them feel like they aren’t idiots. Most people who are noobs in a gym think those of us that live there are assholes, meatheads or bullies rather than ardent and often very good athletes we are. You have to assume they have a weird stereotype of you, so don’t feed it. Just be nice. Once they wrap their heads around it, things should be fine.

And as always, I might just be full of shit…

– jj

125

I was lifting last night, and was towards the end of my workout when some younger kids came in, probably 17 or 18 years old. they were both small dudes, the one kid looked like the kinda kid that would get picked on at school, the other dude was small too but had some muscle. he was showing the shrimp kid some exercises and ow to do them. im at the db rack and the 2 kids are doing db shoulder shrugs. the more experienced looking kid was talling the shrimpy kid all about using straps, and that you dont even need to grip the db, just wrap the straps around them and let them do all the work. mind you they were shrugging with 40 pound dbs. i was finishing up with some fat grip training and wrist curls and all that good stuff to build my forearms and grip, so i was going to mention to them o maybe incorporate some grip training, and to use the straps for some really heavy weights to take a bit of the load off. i was putting my db back when i heard the teacher kid go “be careful when you lift the weights off the ground and you have your ass in the air, all the gays in here will go crazy and try to ram you. its like blood in water for sharks, they can smell it for miles. they really want guys like us” and he kept going on and on about it and im thinking, what the hell? where did that come from? this isnt a fucking prison workout yard. i stopped right then and thought, fuck that kid, i hope his arms fall off and his shoulders blow out. of course now i feel like i gotta put out the disclaimer: im not gay, nor do i exude any feminine qualities or look feminine or any other stereotype. i never seen any really openly gay dudes at my gym, and if i did, who the fuck cares, im here to accomplish strength goals i dont have time to care about other people, if the dude puts in the effort and works hard, thats all that matters. so fuck giving that kid advice, he probably would have called me queer or told me to stfu. i moved over to some other weights, and about 5 minutes later i could still hear him talking about it. i dont know that bugged me its got no place in the gym, and that fuck is teaching that shrimpy kid all wrong, thats what really irks me.

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[quote]AllTraps wrote:

With women, it’s easy, first, don’t walk up like you’re trying to mack them (so no dicks in hand as someone already posted). Say instead “Wow, you have pretty good strength in that motion (in this case RDL). May I show you a trick that really helped me target my glutes instead of hurting my lower back?” If she tells you to get a life (which she won’t), fine…walk. 95% of the time she’s gonna say “sure!”[/quote]

The number of times you will give advice on a movement like RDLs/SLDLs and not look creepy vs the times you’ll look like you are straight scamming on her are minute… think about what that movement involves, now she already knows you were watching enough to see her doing it ‘wrong’ and then you’re going to show her that the ‘right’ way is to initiate the movement by pushing her hips back nice and far and bend over keeping her chest high? I mean seriously… if you aren’t her designated trainer(that means not just a dude in a uniform at the gym) then leave her be, way more bad than good can come out of that situation IMO.

127

I stopped giving unsolicited advice in gym the day I saw a woman flat bench pressing the bar to the pit of her neck with her elbows flared out. I approached her and informed her that she could potentially hurt her shoulders using that form. Her answer to me(remember it like it was yesterday, even though it was in 1994),“Well, my husband’s a physical therapist, so…”. After that never again!

I currently work and train at a large commercial gym in NYC and know a fair amount of the members. The members that I know have been with the gym for awhile don’t want to take advice from trainers because they know it’s opening the door to a hardcore sales pitch.

128

What bothers me the most are the peeps that come into the gym every other day and do the same exercises with the same weight and the same reps for months on end. There’s a kid that comes to our gym every M,W,F,Sat and puts 95lbs on the incline bench and does 5 sets of 8 every friggin time. Hes been doing this for almost 3 months now. Always 95lbs for 8 reps.

Isn’t there a point where one says to self "maybe it’s time to add some reps or throw on another 5. It’s killing me ever time I see this kid jump on the incline. One of these days I am going to walk over and slap on 10’s to each side and see if he even notices. What is it with people doing the same fucking shit every workout and never changing a thing?

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[quote]AzCats wrote:
What bothers me the most are the peeps that come into the gym every other day and do the same exercises with the same weight and the same reps for months on end. There’s a kid that comes to our gym every M,W,F,Sat and puts 95lbs on the incline bench and does 5 sets of 8 every friggin time. Hes been doing this for almost 3 months now. Always 95lbs for 8 reps.

Isn’t there a point where one says to self "maybe it’s time to add some reps or throw on another 5. It’s killing me ever time I see this kid jump on the incline. One of these days I am going to walk over and slap on 10’s to each side and see if he even notices. What is it with people doing the same fucking shit every workout and never changing a thing?[/quote]

some people like the feeling of working out rather than to be progressive. you should walk your bigass over and say hello.

130

[quote]spinsykel wrote:
AzCats wrote:
What bothers me the most are the peeps that come into the gym every other day and do the same exercises with the same weight and the same reps for months on end. There’s a kid that comes to our gym every M,W,F,Sat and puts 95lbs on the incline bench and does 5 sets of 8 every friggin time. Hes been doing this for almost 3 months now. Always 95lbs for 8 reps.

Isn’t there a point where one says to self "maybe it’s time to add some reps or throw on another 5. It’s killing me ever time I see this kid jump on the incline. One of these days I am going to walk over and slap on 10’s to each side and see if he even notices. What is it with people doing the same fucking shit every workout and never changing a thing?

some people like the feeling of working out rather than to be progressive. you should walk your bigass over and say hello.
[/quote]

true words here, don’t know why people mke the assumption that all trainees have the same goals.

what’s up spinsykel

131

[quote]Ct. Rockula wrote:
spinsykel wrote:
AzCats wrote:
What bothers me the most are the peeps that come into the gym every other day and do the same exercises with the same weight and the same reps for months on end. There’s a kid that comes to our gym every M,W,F,Sat and puts 95lbs on the incline bench and does 5 sets of 8 every friggin time. Hes been doing this for almost 3 months now. Always 95lbs for 8 reps.

Isn’t there a point where one says to self "maybe it’s time to add some reps or throw on another 5. It’s killing me ever time I see this kid jump on the incline. One of these days I am going to walk over and slap on 10’s to each side and see if he even notices. What is it with people doing the same fucking shit every workout and never changing a thing?

some people like the feeling of working out rather than to be progressive. you should walk your bigass over and say hello.

true words here, don’t know why people mke the assumption that all trainees have the same goals.

what’s up spinsykel
[/quote]

whaaaazzaaaaaaaa!

132

[quote]spinsykel wrote:
Ct. Rockula wrote:
spinsykel wrote:
AzCats wrote:
What bothers me the most are the peeps that come into the gym every other day and do the same exercises with the same weight and the same reps for months on end. There’s a kid that comes to our gym every M,W,F,Sat and puts 95lbs on the incline bench and does 5 sets of 8 every friggin time. Hes been doing this for almost 3 months now. Always 95lbs for 8 reps.

Isn’t there a point where one says to self "maybe it’s time to add some reps or throw on another 5. It’s killing me ever time I see this kid jump on the incline. One of these days I am going to walk over and slap on 10’s to each side and see if he even notices. What is it with people doing the same fucking shit every workout and never changing a thing?

some people like the feeling of working out rather than to be progressive. you should walk your bigass over and say hello.

true words here, don’t know why people mke the assumption that all trainees have the same goals.

what’s up spinsykel

whaaaazzaaaaaaaa![/quote]

whhhhaaaaazzzzzzzaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

133

I don’t even bother - it’s just not worth it. Most people aren’t even thinking about doing things differently, so no matter what you say it simply does not register with them.

If someone comes to me with a question, I’m usually glad to answer… but I swear every conversation goes one of two ways:

random dude: yo, that’s a lot of weight on dat dere bench press, do you take any supplements besides protein?

me: Yeah, I take creatine.

random dude: Ahhhh (it wasn’t an “ahhh” like an OK sound, it was almost as if he had resolved some sort of inner turmoil with himself; the fact that I took creatine somehow validated some missing piece within the depths of his soul.

-or-

random dude: yo, that’s a lot of weight on dat dere bench press, how long have you been working out?

me: I’ve been training regularly for over X years (however long it had been at the time).

random dude: oh [enthusiasm rapidly fading, as the reality sets it that getting stronger (or bigger) is something that takes a lot of work]

At this point, I’ve just invested in noise-canceling earbuds and mind my own business.

134

When I was starting out in the gym I was approached several different times by guys giving me unsolicited advice, and it was usually really helpful, so I appreciated it very much. It’s all in the approach, as a few posters have said. One of them ended up asking me out, so I guess he had an ulterior motive, but the advice was good, so who cares.

One poster asked if it would be appropriate to begin by asking permission to give advice, saying, “I was watching your form…” Of course, you can’t judge someone’s form without watching it, but if a guy came up to me & said, “I was watching your form” I might just hear “I was watching you”. A little creepy sounding, in spite of his good intentions.

135

Hah…from working at a gym for the last few years i’ve got a couple of advice stories. Here’s one.

Thoroughly suspend your disbelief.

A trio of (shit you not) bounty hunters purchased a membership here…i’d say about 3 years ago.

…Bunch of fucking retards. Think Deliverance with badges.

About a week into their contract the eldest of the three approaches me and asks me how to use a machine correctly. I figure its on of the more complicated Cybex machines we have laying around so I oblige.

It was a fucking bench.

just your garden variety flat bench, with the supports for the barbell built in to it.

So…I humor them. 135 was on the bar at the time, so I just laid down and picked up the bar.

…Brought it to my chest…Lifted it off…did this about 9 more times while these goons watched.

I put it down. The youngest one (he was 26 at the time) proceeds to pick up the bar and drop it on his chest, pinning himself to the bench.

Wonderful. I pull it off of him and he looks at me, wide-eyed and says,

“Whoa, you make this look easy! But I guess you’ve been lifting for a couple of years.”

“Well I started lifting when I was a sophomore-”

“In college?”

“…no, high school. i’m 16.”

…yeah haven’t seen him since.

136

[quote]Ct. Rockula wrote:
spinsykel wrote:
Ct. Rockula wrote:
spinsykel wrote:
AzCats wrote:
What bothers me the most are the peeps that come into the gym every other day and do the same exercises with the same weight and the same reps for months on end. There’s a kid that comes to our gym every M,W,F,Sat and puts 95lbs on the incline bench and does 5 sets of 8 every friggin time. Hes been doing this for almost 3 months now. Always 95lbs for 8 reps.

Isn’t there a point where one says to self "maybe it’s time to add some reps or throw on another 5. It’s killing me ever time I see this kid jump on the incline. One of these days I am going to walk over and slap on 10’s to each side and see if he even notices. What is it with people doing the same fucking shit every workout and never changing a thing?

some people like the feeling of working out rather than to be progressive. you should walk your bigass over and say hello.

true words here, don’t know why people mke the assumption that all trainees have the same goals.

what’s up spinsykel

whaaaazzaaaaaaaa!

whhhhaaaaazzzzzzzaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

[/quote]

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!..oh nothin…whatchin’ the game…havin a protein shake.

137

[quote]WormwoodTheory wrote:
Hah…from working at a gym for the last few years i’ve got a couple of advice stories. Here’s one.

Thoroughly suspend your disbelief.

A trio of (shit you not) bounty hunters purchased a membership here…i’d say about 3 years ago.

…Bunch of fucking retards. Think Deliverance with badges.

About a week into their contract the eldest of the three approaches me and asks me how to use a machine correctly. I figure its on of the more complicated Cybex machines we have laying around so I oblige.

It was a fucking bench.

just your garden variety flat bench, with the supports for the barbell built in to it.

So…I humor them. 135 was on the bar at the time, so I just laid down and picked up the bar.

…Brought it to my chest…Lifted it off…did this about 9 more times while these goons watched.

I put it down. The youngest one (he was 26 at the time) proceeds to pick up the bar and drop it on his chest, pinning himself to the bench.

Wonderful. I pull it off of him and he looks at me, wide-eyed and says,

“Whoa, you make this look easy! But I guess you’ve been lifting for a couple of years.”

“Well I started lifting when I was a sophomore-”

“In college?”

“…no, high school. i’m 16.”

…yeah haven’t seen him since.

[/quote]
hilarious :slight_smile: