I just had to share this after reading some of the “gym dumbass” posts I’ve seen lately.
Last night I’m doing squats, practicing full ATG form with 205, and there’s this guy, maybe in his mid 40s, looks in good shape and strong and he’s got his kid (I’m guessing), who’s maybe 14 or 15, with him. Anyway, they’re benching. Dad started at 225 and worked up to 365. But he’s bouncing the bar off his chest like a freakin basketball with the bar tipping all over the place on the way up. AND he’s encouraging the kid to do the same thing! The kid’s doing 185 and has absolutely no control on the way down while the bar does a free-fall and just slams off his chest, and after about 4 reps Dad’s doing about 80% of the concentric work and yelling this “comeonpushitdriveituplet’sgo” kind of stuff.
So here’s the scenario I’m imagining:
Dad, at the age of 45, is still pissed that he got cut from the football team in 9th grade and now there’s NO WAY IN THE SWEET BEJEEZUS he’s gonna let the same thing happen to ANY DAMN KID OF HIS! Just a thought.
(Also, just in case this is some Westside technique I don’t know about and maybe I’M the dumbass…well, I’m sporting my finest asbestos…)
Ah yes the superbounce technique, performed by Americans all over this country, so that they say they can press 225 for sets. This form is usually backed up by the “can I get a spot” question, and turns into a deadlift for the person spotting said bouncer.
One of my best memories of lifting at the gym would be the bunch of idiots standing at the smith machine with gobs of weight doing some kind of half shrug half deadlift jerking thing. They were all bragging about their “max shrug”
Anyone run into the “do you need a spot” questions from guys who couldn’t even spot you during wrist curls? I love it when I throw 350 on and get prepared to do my set while my partner is finishing up his superset. I don’t need the spot here so he’s in no big rush. But some spandexic curlaramous will gladly offer to spot me. Kills me every time. Just once I’d like to take the offer, and proceed to fake a missed rep and watch as they try to deadlift it up off me. Only problem is I’m afraid I’d be laughing to hard to actually get the rep up in the end anway lol.
[quote]JMB wrote:
225 for sets ain’t that much[/quote]
For the average human 225 is quite a bit of weight, for the average T-Man it’s a warm up set. Every gym I go to I run into these people. I had to use a gym for a day because my gym was being cleaned, and I got all these people staring at me because I’m doing barbell hack squats, trying to tell me “I’m working out wrong, and I’ll hurt my back” while there doing half squat reverse good morning sets at a squat rack, and don’t forget the one’s who use a squat rack as a curl station
What pisses me off is you catch some guy in the gym eyeballing you like its nobody’s business and you know he’s gay. Then when repping out weight on the last couple of reps (but within total failure) of some exercise like flat flyes or dumbell presses, they run over and spot you without permission or being asked. “Come on, push it! Push it!!”
Yeah that’s when I grab them and say “Never do that again” if I need a spot I ask, and when I need a spot don’t give the take the full wieght and deadlift it spot, give me the help vvery little so my eyeballs come out my sockets spot
Here is one for you all. I was doing trap bar deads yesterday when this guy goes into the powerrack. He has small legs so I’m thinking he is going to curl.
To my surprise he begins to squat down (with no weights). After a few reps, he takes the bar and does a few with the empty bar. At this point I notice he isn’t going all the way to parallel.
Then, he puts on the 45s and does a set. Adding another 45 per side he breaks out the belt and the knee wraps. I then watch as he goes about 75% of the way down to parallel. I then move to my next excercise.
When I turn around to get some water, i see this guy moving the saftey bars up and he has 4 45s per side. I just have to watch. He moved the bar a total of 3 inches downward after he got it on his shoulders. I know the trainer at the gym and he told me that is how the guy always squats.
Here’s a good one. Last night, this guy in the gym is doing curls, on a machine, with about 25 pounds. The funny part is he was wearing a back belt strapped so tight it looked like it was cutting into his flesh, through his shirt. After that, he went over to do sit down calf raises. But I couldn’t contain the laughter anymore when I saw him, still in belt, jogging on the eliptical machine.
It never occured to me I have a story, but reading that, I guess I do. There is this guy in my gym who does tiny reps on everything.
He goes from machine to machine (yes, machines… but you still have to walk by the fool) doing about 1/8 reps. In the seated leg press he tosses on the weight and then bounces it a few inches with a slight leg and toe movement.
Wtf? He looks like absolute shit. I suspect he needs to use big weights to feel good, but never actually progresses because he doesn’t really do anything with it.
Oh, and lest I forget, whatever machine he is on he hammers out the reps like there is no tomorrow. Squeak squeak squeak squeak squeak squeak squeak squeak squeak squeak slam. Phew, better wipe the old brow and get a drink of water after that set.
When I worked in a gym, there was this guy that used to always come in on Sunday afternoons and squat, if you can call it that. He’d load up the bar with 9 45’s on EACH SIDE! and then proceed to slightly bend his knees. That would be 1 rep. He would do this 4-5 more times and that would be it. Even though I knew this was doing nothing for his legs, it was kind of impressive to see him get the bar off the rack, since he was in his early 50’s.
There was another guy that would squat, and he made sure the entire gym knew about it. First, he would take 10 minutes to put his knee wraps on. Then once he was ready, he would load up the bar (around 225-275, nothing too heavy), and do 10-12 reps.The funny part was, after each rep he would yell out “Bah!” It was hilarious, and for a while, my friends and I would randomly yell out “Bah!” when doing lateral raises, just to be silly.
Then there are the people that talk on their cellphones while lifting or doing cardio. Gotta love that.
I am the head trainer at a YMCA and will occasionally dispense unsolicited advice to people who are using “jacked up” form on an exercise that could cause them severe bodily harm. I’ve quit doing this after an altercation I had with a gym beeatch.
I had been observing this lady, that I knew pretty well, over the course of several months. She had horrendous form on her deadlifts (rounded back with ballistic ecc/concentric movement). I tried helping her out one day when I had a few minutes between clients. Her response was “I’ve got a degree in P.E. and two PT Certs” (whoop-dee-freakin-do!!) after first telling me she didn’t want to be condescending. She thought by moving the weight explosively she would recruit more muscle fibers (she wouldn’t lift more than a 45# bar). I tried to help her understand what everyone in T-nation already knows, but she didn’t want to “bulk up” with heavy weights. It’s idiots like this that made me stop dispensing free advice. I said that she can listen to me now or come back later after her injury, BEEATCH!
At the gym I go to there are a couple of “pretty” boys that are pretty well built (see also: all show no go) and always seem to be doing lower body the same day I am. Usually I’ll wait until they’re done but one day I was in kind of a pinch for time so I asked if I could work in. They said they were on their last set but sure. They proceeded to do half(maybe) squats with 315 for 4 or 5, one and then the other, then quickly strip it to 225 and do squats that started at and 75% of the way down and ended up at 25% of the way down. The entire time they are yelled at eachother and you can tell the feel like they are moving a lot of weight and really impressing people. They get done, and in between deep breaths, ask me if they should strip the weight. I tell them I am pushed for time and will skip my warm up so they can just leave it on. They then ask me about my shoes. (I wear olympic lifting shoes) “Those shoes look cool, do they help support you when you squat heavy?” I don’t have the time or the heart to explain to them so I just say “Ya”.
They stand aside and I knock out 10 ass to heels close stance olympic squats. I can’t help but notice their faces. They wander off, trying to save pride, saying something about how I know nothing and that I’m going to hurt my knees. As I finish with my 315, 365, and 405 sets they watch with hurt, discusted faces over at the leg extention machine. Sometimes I love being a little guy
There are two kids at my gym, I’d say they’re both around 20, college kids. I’ve been training there for about two years, and they’ve been there the whole time…they are in the gym just about every time I train. Like me, they begin warming up to squat with the empty bar, and like me, they squat deep. As they start loading the bar and taking turns, the depth starts to suffer. By the time they’re at 185, the squats are at best quarter squats…By the time they get to 2 wheels, their legs are shaking, sweat dripping, one screaming at the other…they are doing what I call ‘breaks’ slightly bending their knees and gingerly dipping a few inches before fighting their way back up. Needless to say, they look the same and lift the same weight as they did two years ago. All well and good, the same can be said for most guys who train there…but here’s the kicker…
I was talking to a buddy who trains there too, a wiry guy, but strong, and he’s serious, he knows what he’s doing. He tells me these two clowns are on steroids! And they have been for the last two years! They don’t even look like they fucking exercise! Now I’ve never used anything but Mag-10, and I admit I am naive, but this is just too much! The info was confirmed by another guy I know…un-fucking-believable. Just goes to show you, the most important ‘supplement’, by far, is balls…take all the shit in the world, without balls, you got nothin’!
I have a long way to go (see YES THAT IS FAT) in the picture area. But there are some guys at the gym that crack me up. I call them chicken legs. They are huge and cut on their upper body. However their legs are straight as a rod. Every day I go to the gym I see them there and I have never seen them work their legs. It is so funny to me. I want to so badly go and ask them which day they work their legs. If a strong wind comes along they might blow over, they are that top heavy.
