Location: Where are You Spreading YOUR Intensity?

Off Topic
1

I often feel pretty alone with my intense mentality(ies) about training and physical improvement (regardless of goal). It seems as though so much of North America is comprised of unhealthy, out of shape people, my parents included.

What I observe is that their quality of life is TERRIBLE! This is of course, a relative term. I compare it to seeing the older 50-60 year old guys in the gym who are in amazing physical condition, play soccer daily with their sons, go out and run with dogs, etc.

If you ‘lose your body,’ aesthetically, but more importantly, functionally, how could life be worth living with all the health risks and physical restrictions? How about the mere difficulty of daily life? Chronic joint pain, difficulty ascending the stairs, or doing ANY of your daily ‘chores’ and errands… It blows my mind!

One thing I wonder is if it’s just the environment I’m in.

I’m about to turn 20 and attend an arts school. The area of the city I’m in is extremely gay/gay-friendly. The people in the best shape I encounter are gay men, but they’re always lean and small if they’ve made any progress whatsoever. The problem is, I’ve trained at my current gym for a year and a half now and haven’t seen any change in any of them!

If they’re just maintaining, cool, I’m glad they’ve accomplished what they wanted to accomplish and are able to keep it. Nearly no one in my school is physically active (except the dancers, but they’re a whole 'nother problem altogether). Some may run now and then, but even that’s a rarity. Smoking is extremely prevalent, even among singers, sax/horn instrumentalists, and dancers. The problem about dancers is that their main physical activity comes from their daily dance regimens. Many go to the gym, but they waste time there, doing endless hours of cardio with no weight-training. I will also add that they all eat horribly.

Many are skinny, but it doesn’t take much to guess that their body composition is quite ‘average.’ I would expect it to be a bit better than ‘average’ for the kind of person who plans to constantly be onstage, on display, and doing something extremely physical.

Worse yet, it’s not as if they don’t find their physical condition unimportant, they are ALWAYS concerned with it! They just seem to lack something that would teach them how to do things properly. I additionally feel that outside of the dance itself, they’re lazy and wouldn’t partake in the sorts of training/dieting that is required to make them the best they could be. I don’t know, I feel I’m just ranting at this point…

To get back to my initial inquisition…I think of all that I know about the west coast (I live on the east coast) and have the impression it’s a sort of fitness mecca.

I’ve never seen an active Gold’s or World Gym here. The bodybuilding and powerlifting scenes seem to be as low-key as they come, even for cult-driven activities.

There is no better collection of people who share great intensity, discipline, and dedication to fitness, health, diet, and athletic performance than T-Nation.

My question to all of you is simple: Where ya from?
If you’d like to add anything about what you perceive about the ‘scene’ around your area, anything about your gym, etc. please do!

I’d like to see if there are large concentrations of people who regularly visit/follow this site in particular areas of the country.

If you’re outside the U.S., please specify.

I reside in the Philadelphia, PA / South Jersey areas.

2

I’ve lived in West/Southwest Michigan my entire life… and still do. I do plan on moving down to Gainesville or Orlando after I complete my college, though.

I just train at my university’s rec center. There are an insane amount of dumbasses, but I don’t really care, because they don’t generally interfere with my workouts. The gym is okay, although I do see “NO EXPLOSIVE MOVEMENTS!” and signs posted everywhere saying benching over 315 and squatting over 350 isn’t allowed… puzzling.

There’s a decent BB scene that I think of around here, nothing prominant, though. Before I transferred down to WMU I use to go to CMU, and there was definitely a decent amount of serious bodybuilders there. I know there was one frat where essentially every dude in it was yoked to a certain degree.

Anyway, the reason I want to move down to Florida is because I have several connections and family members down there, and since I’m going into Strength and Conditioning I feel it’s a much better breeding grounds for athletes.

That’s about all I got.

3

I live in Bethel CT. Right now Im either working out at my HS gym or house.

Before that I worked out at our War Memorial in Danbury. The place had its share of d-bags, but had quite a few strong guys as well.

I know for a fact that a proffesional boxer works out there, and 4 or 5 powerlifters. 2 of whom bench 400+ Raw.

It only has 1 squat rack, and one power rack. But it has DB’s goin up to 150 lbs. T-bar rows, cable crossovers, smiths, benches etc.

4

RIght now I’m at Chinese University in Hong Kong.
Gym has an incline bench, a barbell bench, several machines (I haven’t taken inventory of the machines), and a smith machine.

And about 200kg of weight. Total.

FML.

5

I just read that Germany has more fat people than the US now. Also that the UK is almost there also.

6

I am a little north of boston, MA. The gyms around here are mostly crap. All treadmills, stairmasters, and machines. Most have very little to no weights.

A new LA fitness just opened, and the free weight section is very nice. I have already started to hear horror stories about the personal trainers they have there. The prices are ridiculous as well. I also have found that most “trainers” around here just read muscle and fitness and spew that stuff out. I haven’t been impressed by any. I would wager that 90% or more of the people here could do a much greater service to the people who have no idea how to reach their goals.

For all of the above reasons (and more) I lift at home. Every few months I will spend $50-$75 and add to my equipment. The only thing that stinks is the low ceiling which keeps me from doing some overhead lifts.

7

I’m in Denver, and we’re supposedly one of the fittest cities in the country. We have a lot of sporty types (climbing, hiking, running, skiing), and I definitely think we are on the whole healthier looking than the people I knew when I lived in Oklahoma and Minnesota.

I still see obese children using the hand bike at the gym.

I usually train at a local rec center, which is full of everyone from figure chicks to the previously-mentioned obese children. I also train at two PL gyms. I think I’m pretty lucky, although I wish I could train at the PL gyms all the time.

8

[quote]Otep wrote:
RIght now I’m at Chinese University in Hong Kong.
Gym has an incline bench, a barbell bench, several machines (I haven’t taken inventory of the machines), and a smith machine.

And about 200kg of weight. Total.

FML.[/quote]

Good call, haha.

PMPL, by hand bikes, do you mean those cardio machines in which you have ‘pedals’ with handles in front of your face that you crank similarly to a bicycle?

I’m beginning to think that your environment with regards to its classification as rural, urban, or anywhere in between may have a big effect on the physical side of the population.

I’ve never been to Denver. Are you in the heart of Denver or just outside? How would you describe it as a city? As overwhelming as New York; as low-key as Philadelphia?

9

fuck the midwest.

10

I’m on Long Island, north shore. There’s certainly no shortage of gyms around here. Most towns have at least a Gold’s, a New York Sports Club, and maybe a couple smaller gyms, all of which are pretty busy.

Of course for all the activity, very little progress is made. Unfortunately the kids who are growing are the ones who started their pharmaceutical regimen as soon as they picked up a barbell.

11

I live in NYC and go to a bally gym in the Bronx. There are some obese people around, but the general trend seems to be just a lot of overweight people. My gym actually has quite a few strong people an some pretty dedicated folks.

They let us deadlift heavy with no issues and squat. We don’t get to use chalk unfortunately. Most people don’t really get why I do it, but most people don’t really understand anything.

Here in NYC most people are content with paying bills for an apartment that doesn’t belong to them, seeing a doctor for pains and aches that they can’t control, and living with kids that don’t really respect them or anyone else. I just want to have some control and influence on my life before I lose it.

My little brother always looks at me with some admiration and asks me about lifting. I think he becomes more and more interested in me as I get bigger and stronger so I guess my intensity is spreading somewhat.

12

I’m glad to hear that about your brother, Steel. If you can spread to at least one person, then you’ve made some difference. Imagine where he’ll spread it.

It’s also quite a shame to hear your story, wfifer. I take pride in being natural, and the accusation of steroid use (as ass-backwards a claim it is for any sort of success) is merely a compliment to me, not that I even consider myself to have an advanced enough physique to warrant such accusations, haha.

13

I train at my college gym in northern california.

Because everyone is relatively young and our school doesn’t have a football team, there aren’t that many strong/big people.

There are quite a few doing the right things to get there though - it’s actually kind of cool to workout there because even though a lot of the people are doing dumb things, almost all of them are doing it with intensity and genuinely striving for something.

14

I’m originally from northern california, and the gym I went to there for a few years kind of doubled as a senior center (the one benefit being that the weight room was pretty much deserted save for myself and the other couple of young guys there). I’ve lived in Austin, Texas for about 3 years now, and it is also supposed to be one of the fittest cities in the US.

I go to a Gold’s (one of 11 in town), which is right across the street from a 24 and right down the street from a Lifetime fitness. You still see fatasses now and then, but nowhere near as many as when you go up towards Dallas or Houston.

As for the OP talking about the dancers being dumb about their ‘training’, what do you expect? Really all they value is their flexibility, and the ‘training’ they get for it is at their dance practices. A lot of them wind up being gay/hippie/yuppie as well, which leads to lots of smoking/drinking/eating like shit.

Bottom line is, what would you expect from a drinker and smoker who does nothing but stretch all day and then eat trash?

15

[quote]Tumbles wrote:
I train at my college gym in northern california.

Because everyone is relatively young and our school doesn’t have a football team, there aren’t that many strong/big people.

There are quite a few doing the right things to get there though - it’s actually kind of cool to workout there because even though a lot of the people are doing dumb things, almost all of them are doing it with intensity and genuinely striving for something.[/quote]

I used to live in Nor call. Where exactly are you located?

16

[quote]Stength4life wrote:
Tumbles wrote:
I train at my college gym in northern california.

Because everyone is relatively young and our school doesn’t have a football team, there aren’t that many strong/big people.

There are quite a few doing the right things to get there though - it’s actually kind of cool to workout there because even though a lot of the people are doing dumb things, almost all of them are doing it with intensity and genuinely striving for something.

I used to live in Nor call. Where exactly are you located?[/quote]

I’m a Sacramento kid, I’m intrigued as well. A little networking goin’ on, lol.

I train in my school’s gym. I’m pretty much the strongest guy there, which is pretty sad. I put 225 on the incline and I’m a god amongst mortals, and cleaning 205 for a few reps I’ve ascended to the heavens. It’s not bad though, because there are a couple guys that come in on occassion with really good physiques, but none of them are really that strong, except for this one short, built ex-Marine guy who pushes some decent weight. 100 db’s for reps in the seated shoulder press (half way down, but shit, still definitely not bad)and pretty heavy curls from what I’ve seen, but haven’t seen him in a while either.

There’s also this totally nerdy lookin’ dude that’s got a Body Builder-in waiting physique. A little spot work and he could legitimitely hit an amateur stage and hold his own. Not many fat guys, the couple that are there train with the fitter guys and seem determined.

Personally I don’t really go in there and talk to anybody or try to give advice (like I’m qualified…), but I do work harder than everybody in there, and I do get looks every once in a while so I guess it ain’t that bad for me.

17

[quote]utHAUS wrote:
As for the OP talking about the dancers being dumb about their ‘training’, what do you expect? Really all they value is their flexibility, and the ‘training’ they get for it is at their dance practices. A lot of them wind up being gay/hippie/yuppie as well, which leads to lots of smoking/drinking/eating like shit.

Bottom line is, what would you expect from a drinker and smoker who does nothing but stretch all day and then eat trash?[/quote]

I agree with you, but my confusion rests moreso on the fact that it’s their profession. Any sort of performer, be it musician, dancer, or actor, is undoubtedly aware of how important their body is as it’s what’s on display, but even moreso with dancers than any other performer. I just would like to think they were a little more involved in the upkeep of the medium in which they express their art. It’s their profession. Imagine if some other more typical professional slacked off on the most fundamental aspect of his profession? Maybe it’s a car mechanic who can’t change a tire or check the oil, yet he can rebuild an engine or something. I don’t know, it’s just baffling to me.

18

[quote]nz6stringaxe wrote:
Maybe it’s a car mechanic who can’t change a tire or check the oil, yet he can rebuild an engine or something. I don’t know, it’s just baffling to me.

[/quote]

More like dropping heavy shit on his hands then thrusting them into a jar of broken glass. Just saying, destroying what he uses to make a living.

wfifer, I’m from more or less dead center of Long Island (Ronkonkoma area). Definitely a ton of gyms and stuff around the area. Most of the guys I see regularly in the gym I go to have gotten to a decent point strength and size-wise, while the girls are there for socializing and flirting and treadmilling. Out in the real world, you don’t see too many people that appear to train except for the occasional dude in the two sizes too small t-shirt at a bar. Speaking of which, I was approached and addressed as “the guy who squats a lot at the gym” while I was out earlier.

Steel88, I was inspired to lift when I saw my brother get results after a year of lifting, so keep at it and pretty soon you’ll have some competition. Nothing beats sibling rivalry, though you’ll never hear the end of it if he beats you at arm wrestling.

In general it seems that outside of the gym, finding people out there that care about building strength or muscle is very rare. I’m the only one of my friends and at my job that even bothers to lift. We are indeed a rare breed.

19

Ah, don’t worry about what everyone else is doing with their lives. Compete with yourself; find out what you’re capable of.

20

[quote]greggio wrote:
I am a little north of boston, MA. The gyms around here are mostly crap. All treadmills, stairmasters, and machines. Most have very little to no weights.

A new LA fitness just opened, and the free weight section is very nice. I have already started to hear horror stories about the personal trainers they have there. The prices are ridiculous as well. I also have found that most “trainers” around here just read muscle and fitness and spew that stuff out. I haven’t been impressed by any. I would wager that 90% or more of the people here could do a much greater service to the people who have no idea how to reach their goals.

For all of the above reasons (and more) I lift at home. Every few months I will spend $50-$75 and add to my equipment. The only thing that stinks is the low ceiling which keeps me from doing some overhead lifts.[/quote]

where do you live in MA cuzzo?