I moved a few months ago and have been training with a friend in his garage. His dedication was lacking so I decided join a new “health club” this week. It’s one of only two places within 50 miles that has weights. Upon signing up, one of the first questions I asked the woman at the desk if they minded people doing deadlifts, power cleans, etc. To my amazement she tought I was kidding. I told her I have been to gyms where they frown upon such activites. She said I could do whatever I wanted just so I didn’t break anything.
[quote]tw0scoops2 wrote:
Ask the trainer to show you how to lift that weight without banging it, and if he can you’d be happy to oblige.
[/quote]
That would be fun to try.
If they can’t (they probably can’t even lift the weight, let alone lower it without dropping it), then they obviously don’t know what they’re talking about anyhow.
If they can, start training with them. 
Sadly, and I know this from an insider’s standpoint, most fitness clubs don’t give a shit about the serious lifters. They pretty much completely take us/them for granted. We seek out the fitness clubs, they don’t have to really do much except offer a space and some equipment to attract us.
We also generally know what we’re doing. So, they also realize that they can’t take advantage of us when it comes to personal training (extra revenue).
As a result they pretty much focus the majority of their energy/attention on the other 80% (just a hypothetical percentage) of potential gym goers. That’s why places like Planet Fitness have rules prohibiting real lifting, or you have all these know nothing trainers running around telling people to do pink dumbbell lateral raises while standing on a bosu ball. It’s to attract/appease the majority of the gym going population.
Most people really don’t want to do what it takes to get in the shape they’d truly like to be. So, when they see someone who is, they find it intimidating, annoying, and disturbing. They want to believe that things like walking on a treadmill (and never increasing intensity), or taking a yoga class or two a week, or doing some super complicated “core” exercises are going to make them look like Jessica Simpson, or Brad Pitt.
They don’t want to accept that it’s going to see some blood sweat and tears to actually reach their goals. That and the media/medical industry/fitness industry as a whole has done a great job of mis-educating them into believing that exercises like deads, squats, benches, you know the actually beneficial and results producing exercises, are in some way harmful to perform.
[quote]
Maybe you should have a talk with the manager anyway about the trainer. Trainers are a dime a dozen(the amatuer trainers that is) :-P[/quote]
That actually might work. I’ve seen a trainer get fired because several members complained about them. Of course, the fact that this trainer was a complete dick (and was completely unaware of it) and rubbed everyone (including the other staff/trainers) the wrong way probably contributed to their getting fired as well.
Same thing happened to me at 24. I was doing cleans and the trainer told me not to “wreck
the weights.” And yet I was only doing hang cleans and then putting the bar back on the ground.
had the exact same thing happen to me at Golds Gym. Found a small college gym that played loud music on a shitty radio. It was heaven and I miss it a lot!
more like 95%. even at the good gym that i go to now ive only seen one person doing a deadlift the right way and he was a pro bodybuilder… whose deadlift wasnt all that impressive. i think it was 220kgs which im pretty sure ill reach fast.a couple or 3 do deep squats without throwing the weight on their toes, and thats about it that ive seen.
there are though 3-4 bodybuilders there but all they ever seem to be doing is upper body stuff. heck i almost never see them doing anything compound.
I don’t get how it disturbs people I swear I see 99% of people training with ipods a long with the gym blasting music. A little clanking metal shouldn’t be a problem. Its way too dangerous on heavy deadlifts to go down very slow for myself, do what is safe always and just tell the other people its necessary.
[quote]Pushit wrote:
I moved a few months ago and have been training with a friend in his garage. His dedication was lacking so I decided join a new “health club” this week. It’s one of only two places within 50 miles that has weights. Upon signing up, one of the first questions I asked the woman at the desk if they minded people doing deadlifts, power cleans, etc. To my amazement she tought I was kidding. I told her I have been to gyms where they frown upon such activites. She said I could do whatever I wanted just so I didn’t break anything.[/quote]
GOOD gyms are like that, mate.
[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
It is certainly not as goofy as a “fitness center” but it is full of old people.
[/quote]
Yeah. You’re one of them.
[quote]deadlift655 wrote:
The Ymca that let me out of my contract ~45minutes after I signed it had almost no free weight section at all. They had 12 45 lb. plates and their db’s only went up to 70 lbs.[/quote]
My Y has dumbbells up to 120 pounds and plenty of plates. unfortunately they are 20 KG, 25 KG and 45 LB and 100 LB iron as well as bumper plates and they are never matched up so I have to run around the weight room to find the stuff I need.
A few weeks ago there was a 25 KG on one side and a $% LB on the other still on the bench. The idiot probably wondered why one arm was weaker.
[quote]rrjc5488 wrote:
Zap Branigan wrote:
It is certainly not as goofy as a “fitness center” but it is full of old people.
Yeah. You’re one of them.[/quote]
One that squats, deads, does pull ups etc. It is no wonder why so many people ask me for advise.
[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
rrjc5488 wrote:
Zap Branigan wrote:
It is certainly not as goofy as a “fitness center” but it is full of old people.
Yeah. You’re one of them.
One that squats, deads, does pull ups etc. It is no wonder why so many people ask me for advise. [/quote]
Advice on working out, or on spelling?
Look guys work with what you got and shut the fuck up, myself included.
[quote]rrjc5488 wrote:
Zap Branigan wrote:
rrjc5488 wrote:
Zap Branigan wrote:
It is certainly not as goofy as a “fitness center” but it is full of old people.
Yeah. You’re one of them.
One that squats, deads, does pull ups etc. It is no wonder why so many people ask me for advise.
Advice on working out, or on spelling? ;)[/quote]
I advise you to ignore my typos. How is your hunt for Thai trannys?
[quote]Sentoguy wrote:
We had one guy who trained at the gym for a little while who was one of those “functional strength” bozos. I used to see him training the same people (one older gentleman in particular) with the same overcomplicated, crap for results type exercises. All the while trying to convince them that it was strengthening their “core” and that this would allow them better carryover to everyday activities.
[/quote]
I’ve seen that a lot in my 10 years of working out in various big commercial mass-market gyms. Out here in California, it also seems to be a stepping stone job at these types of gyms. The turnover appears to be very high.
I was fortunate to find an exceptional trainer at a commercial “fitness center”. You’ll see his female clients doing variations of deadlifts with more weight better form than most of the guys in the gym. For his guy clients, you’ll see them doing external rotator work (how often do you see that?) and growing some serious shoulders. With his depth of knowledge and quality of training, I feel like I’m getting one heck of a deal. Of course, someone of that caliber won’t be working there forever. It just happens to be convenient and enjoyable work environment for him while he’s working on finishing up a degree in kinesiology.
Never been threatened to be kicked out or have a membership revoked, but I have been asked to quiet down. It happened at the school rec, and I was probably bouncing a little at the time (curse my past ways), but they are still deadlifts and they are still gonna be loud any way you look at it. I still make quite a bit of noise, not bouncing, not dropping the weight, etc.
omg my gym is one those gyms lol and the funny thing is someone told me onetime yo that slammed hard and i said i dont give a fuck! just because the fact i dont see anyone else deadlifting 225 all i see is freaking guys curling away at the 40 and 50 pound dumbells i do hate gyms like this. keep in mind i learned my lifts from a football team gym which is in the basement of a damn school.
i do wish to leave my gym i think it sucks due to the fact there are allot people that go there to bullshit and socialize rather then do there workout. they prolly look at us as nuts the same way we look at them as fucking lazy fat fucks dont mean to offend neone whoz fat.
sorry im venting