O.K, we have done the “Stupid”, “Funny” and “Make me mad” Gym stories and now that we have it all out of our systems (I thought my gym was full of weirdoes and goofballs…not anymore, seems like mines the same as everyone else’s!) Maybe we could post what it is about our respective Gyms that keeps us going there.
After we are done posting we can link arms and sing Kumbaya…and go antiquing and maybe spoon…or maybe not…
Things at my Gym that make me happy…
Women with perfect form and intensity…this is not sexual in nature (although it is sexy!) but way more than that…If there was some sort of “scale” to rate a woman (which I would never participate in as it would be objectifying and demeaning to women) if a woman is a 7 ( on the scale that I would not use…) I think killer form and high, intense execution easily brings her an extra 1.5-2.0 bonus points (on the scale that…).
This never fails to “make” my workout.
“You all look like happy campers to me. Happy campers you are, happy campers you have been, and, as far as I am concerned, happy campers you will always be”
Seeing someone with physical challenges working to overcome them. For example, at one of my gyms (I have membership with multiple gyms all over hte country), there’s a guy in a wheelchair. He ALWAYS works out. I’ve never seen him slack off. And he ALWAYS puts away his own plates and dumb bells, etc. Seeing people like that makes me happy and motivates me cuz I really have no excuse to vegetate.
There’s a female athlete who trains at my gym who does weighted chins, hanging pikes, power cleans, and stuff like that. She makes me feel happy all over, especialy in my pee-pee.
Seeing anyone squat with good form, even if they’re only using 100 pounds, makes me happy too.
There’s this one guy I don’t even know his name I think the next time I seeing him I am going to talk to him… He’s an insperation… He wheels his wheelchair in the gym and start to lift not only does it pretty intense too… and he re-racks his weights…
Well, I’m a little bit of a pessimist(so some of these might seem odd), but there are some things in the gym that make me happy…
Watching someone do 100 crunches and saying to myself, “ha, try the dreaded five and see how many times you puke.”
Racking the leg press and then asking one of the personal trainers to order a new leg press machine specifically for me.
The smell of my blood, sweat, and tears as I push myself to the limits day in and day out.
When a “buddy” of mine comes up and says, “Dude, why can’t I get any bigger?” And I think to myself, “Dude, stop blowing lines of coke and drinking every night, maybe you’d make some progress. Oh, and when you come into the gym, lift something. Don’t just stare at all of the hot women.” (Although there are quite a few, and I’m not saying don’t look, I’m simply saying look in between sets)
This little scrawny nothing coming up to me and asking me for advice on a steroid cycle. I said to him, kind of like the advice I was first given on this site two and a half long years ago, “name me one steroid.” When he couldn’t name a single one, I said, “you want my advice, read.”
It makes me happy that no matter how dark, drizzly, cold and crappy it is outside, and no matter what kind of negative, foul mood I may be in (doesn’t happen often) when I’m on my way to the gym, when I walk through the doors and hear the sounds of iron clanking, see the same old dedicated crowd striving to better themselves, my whole attitude gets a giant lift.
Then, I put as much intensity into my workout as I can, chug down the rest of my PWO drink, take a nice hot shower and damn - I feel like a new man!
If you’ve ever watched the Ronnie Coleman: The Unbelievable video you can hear all the music that they play in the gym like DMX, Ice Cube, Dr Dre, etc. Damn, if I could lift at a gym like that, I’d orgasm. And any gym that has 200 lb. DBs deserves respect.
Having a perfect training partner (Ko).
And that our gym still lets us use chalk and has a platform w/bumpers. AND is open 24-hours (not ALL 24Hour Fitness’ are open 24-hours).
Seeing the following people in the gym: Jennifer, Tommy (National level BB’er), Heidi (good friend, pro photographer), Doug (Heidi’s hubby), Sean (local competitive BB’er).
And anyone else who trains. You know, doesn’t talk much, isn’t there to read a newspaper between sets, watch the TV, isn’t a “trainer”, doesn’t perform stupid lunges, leg lifts or play with the damn fitballs; just freakin’ trains.
We’ve done “happy” too. But, anyway I like when the gym is empty and I have all the equipment to myself…I love that. I usually stay about two or three hours in gym when that happens.
Sports bras with little hotties in them…I could care less if they are just there to look good, there is nothing more motivating than catching a little cutie checking you out…
Being at the gym at 4:30am. The city’s not awake yet and it’s so peaceful and quiet as I jog there, turning the headphones up and getting the mental “groove” going. Then there’s the feeling of knowing I’m one of the few freaks who want what I want bad enough to do something about it. Get through the doors and the front-desk lady is still turning the coffee pots and TVs on. There’s 4 or 6 people in the gym. We don’t look at eachother, but neither do we avoid eachother. We just go about our business. Even so, there’s a feeling of camraderie among us, the “Hey, I see you but I won’t interrupt your set to speak. Glad you made it in. Good job.”
Seeing people who put away other people’s weight and putting the dumbbells back in the proper place when some other moron puts them out of sequence. Just because they care.
Having the squat rack for myself to do bicep curls (Ooops! did I just say that?)err, I mean squats
Having a “good” spotter around when I mean good, I mean he does not upright row the bar for me…
Seeing someone squat with full-range (ass-2-grass)…believe me, this is as rare as they come in my gym
Doing dips and chins with added WEIGHT and seeing all these guys stop working out to look in awe of me (c’mon, I know you guys like this feeling too of being one-bad mutha!)
Finally, being able to do my weird lifts (snatches, windmills, bent presses, you get the picture) without being disturbed by some know-it-all
