Things Overheard at the Gym

Off Topic
241

[quote]gojira wrote:
I recently started training in the morning again due to a full work schedule.

Well, there’s a guy who is a morning regular and lifts relatively heavy (but not particularly well). He would occasionally ask me to spot him or joke about some of the crazy things we see the “trainers” doing.

Thursday morning I was box squatting and feeling pretty good as it was the first time I have been able to squat in a couple of weeks due to my neck issues. I had just finished and was logging my last set.

He was setting up in the power rack next to me and made a comment about how high someone had placed the cross bars in his rack. I made a joke about the meaning of parallel and put another box on top of the low box I was using and joked that maybe I should be “using this”. We then had this brief conversation:

Him - I can’t believe trainers here teach their clients to squat on a box.

Me (in a rather surprised tone) - I box squat all the time.

Him - You don’t SIT down on the box do you?

Me - Uhh, yeah, that’s the point.

Him - (laughing and shaking his head) thats really bad.

Fortunately I was done with my rack and decided to just walk away instead of burning anymore of my time trying to explain the technical aspects and benefits of box squatting to this guy.

However, as I was setting up to do some RDL’s, I’m watching this same guy load the bar up with 325, wrap his knees and go maybe halfway down. Even during his warm-ups he never came close to parallel.

He’s a nice enough guy, but he’s one of those guys that never takes off his lifting belt, wraps his knees for all his leg work (using really shitty wraps) including the leg press.

I have a policy where I do not give out unsolicited advice or comments (unless they are complementary). But sometimes I really have to restrain myself from laughing out loud and pointing.

[/quote]

Too many people are too sure they’re too right all too often.

243

[quote]pushharder wrote:
Z-Man wrote:
pushharder wrote:
Z-Man wrote:
pushharder wrote:
Z-Man wrote:
apayne wrote:
daniel d wrote:
apayne wrote:

I drop them all the time when I’m doing DB presses, I train to failure though so it’s not like I have a choice to drop it down “nicely”. Sometimes you just have to do it

Is it your hands that are failing? You managed to get into the pressing position, get out of it the same way.

It’s a little hard sitting back up with DB’s > 100.

Looks like we’ll need extra mustard and relish.

I don’t follow?

Read the post above the one you quoted.

Ah I see, you don’t DB press >100. Gotcha.

No, Bullwinkle, (aka Z-I-can’t comprehend-simple-stuff-Man) you don’t “gotcha”. Lemme lay it out in simple Canadian English, eh? When you’re out and about in the gym and you have to drop your dumbbells because “It’s a little hard sitting back up with DB’s > 100” then that makes you a weiner, or believe it or not and as bizarre as it may sound, in this context that also makes you a discourteous vaginal yeast infection.

If you can lay down on the bench with >100 lbs. db’s and then press >100 lbs. db’s then you ought to be able to sit back up with >100 lbs. db’s. Savvy, eh?[/quote]

Good thing some of us don’t go to the gym for what other people think, eh? drops dumbbells

244

[quote]pushharder wrote:
When you’re out and about in the gym and you have to drop your dumbbells because “It’s a little hard sitting back up with DB’s > 100” then that makes you a weiner[/quote]

OHHHHH now I get it, you are calling him a weiner. I didn’t know what the fuck you were talking about (mainly because we don’t call them weiner in Oz).

245

[quote]pushharder wrote:

If you can lay down on the bench with >100 lbs. db’s and then press >100 lbs. db’s then you ought to be able to sit back up with >100 lbs. db’s. Savvy, eh?[/quote]

Gravity must work differently where you live.

246

[quote]Digital Chainsaw wrote:
pushharder wrote:

If you can lay down on the bench with >100 lbs. db’s and then press >100 lbs. db’s then you ought to be able to sit back up with >100 lbs. db’s. Savvy, eh?

Gravity must work differently where you live.[/quote]

Actually gravity is what lets you sit back up. You stop at the top of the movement (or close to), put your legs up so the db’s touch your thigh as they would if you were sitting and they are resting on your legs. You then slightly move the db’s forward and you will naturally sit up as the db’s weight causes your body to rotate back up. It’s basically the same movement as rolling back with the db’s but in reverse.

Alex.

247

[quote]vendall wrote:
Digital Chainsaw wrote:
pushharder wrote:

If you can lay down on the bench with >100 lbs. db’s and then press >100 lbs. db’s then you ought to be able to sit back up with >100 lbs. db’s. Savvy, eh?

Gravity must work differently where you live.

Actually gravity is what lets you sit back up. You stop at the top of the movement (or close to), put your legs up so the db’s touch your thigh as they would if you were sitting and they are resting on your legs. You then slightly move the db’s forward and you will naturally sit up as the db’s weight causes your body to rotate back up. It’s basically the same movement as rolling back with the db’s but in reverse.

Alex.
[/quote]
That’s how I do it, or sometimes I can rest it on my chest and sit up as they go to the floor (our benches are unusally close to the floor). Of course, not with 100’s, which would snap my wrists off.

248

[quote]vendall wrote:
Digital Chainsaw wrote:
pushharder wrote:

If you can lay down on the bench with >100 lbs. db’s and then press >100 lbs. db’s then you ought to be able to sit back up with >100 lbs. db’s. Savvy, eh?

Gravity must work differently where you live.

Actually gravity is what lets you sit back up. You stop at the top of the movement (or close to), put your legs up so the db’s touch your thigh as they would if you were sitting and they are resting on your legs. You then slightly move the db’s forward and you will naturally sit up as the db’s weight causes your body to rotate back up. It’s basically the same movement as rolling back with the db’s but in reverse.

Alex.
[/quote]

Yes, I know this, but that is not what is being discussed:

[i]apayne wrote:

I drop them all the time when I’m doing DB presses, I train to failure though so it’s not like I have a choice to drop it down “nicely”. Sometimes you just have to do it [/i]

One can hardly argue that ending the set at the top of the movement is training to failure. However, I’ve come to a point where I can pretty much tell when I’ve had my last full range rep, do 2-3 half reps with squeezed lockouts to recruit as many fibers as possible, and then sit up as you described. It’s imperfect, but as close as I can get for safety’s (and lifting decorum’s) sake.

Once in a great while, though, I get it wrong and end up with 200+ lbs on my chest that I cannot lift off, and since my feet aren’t hooked into anything, I lack the leverage (i.e.; lower body cannot generate enough momentum by rocking to overcome upper body + 200+ lbs.) to sit up with both DBs so one of them has to go. The floor being made of rubber, I don’t see what the big whoop-de-doo is.

252

[quote]pushharder wrote:

At a height and weight of 5’8" & 190 I have flat-pressed with 115 lbs. bells and have almost always been able to use the above method to set them back down.[/quote]

Right, me too, see my last post?

However, if it is one of those “almost” times where you can’t, what do you do?

You paint with much too large a brush, my friend.

I agree that dropping dumbells unnecessarily is retarded, but I also acknowledge when it is prudent to do so. Hell, I even started a thread on this very thing:

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1293338&pageNo=0#1293485

Still think I’m wrong? If so, please explain why.

253

[quote]pushharder wrote:
Digital Chainsaw wrote:
Once in a great while, though, I get it wrong and end up with 200+ lbs on my chest that I cannot lift off, and since my feet aren’t hooked into anything, I lack the leverage (i.e.; lower body cannot generate enough momentum by rocking to overcome upper body + 200+ lbs.) to sit up with both DBs so one of them has to go. The floor being made of rubber, I don’t see what the big whoop-de-doo is.

This is a whole different scenario than what I was referring to. “Once in a great while” being the caveat.

I’m talking the repeat offenders. You, I and they know who they are.

If I were a gym owner I wouldn’t allow it. I have seen db’s ruined as a result of dropping them and yes, I have dropped them but only in an “emergency”. It’s just flat out unnecessary the rest of the time.[/quote]

Shit, we’re posting on top of each other!

Having read the above, we are clearly on the same page.

254

Whaddya think?

This happened to me today at the gym.

I was doing EDT in the safety rack, as I was doing Good Mornings, and used the safety pins for, well… safety. It takes 15 minutes.

Anyway, this guy sitting on a bench is watching. Eventually he comes over and with an irritated, somewhat aggressive tone asks “Are you done with the rack??” To which I looked him in the eye and told him no, I had 3 more minutes, which was true.

So after I finish I was curious as to what he was going to do that required such urgent use of the rack. Turns out he was doing partial bench presses.

THere were 4 bench presses open, plus a smith machine and 2 or 3 squat racks. Could he not have used those? I have never done partials, but there are alternatives to the safety rack, no?

255

[quote]apayne wrote:

makes you a discourteous vaginal yeast infection.
[/quote]

That was one of my favorite things I’ve ever seen in a gym was at my high school weight room, which was quite the fun place for gym mishaps and unsafe hijinx.

Two of the other wrestlers are benching and this kid spotting him (they were best friends) shouts out, “Yeah! Come on man! You can’t get that? You are the top fucking vaginal yeast infection!!” which causes the guy benching to laugh HARD and drop the 185 lbs barbell across his face. The whole time he’s yelling, very distorted, “C’mon cocksucker, get this thing off me!” he’s STILL laughing, with the 185 lbs layed across his jaw, as his head is turned sideways, and his spotter is on the ground laughing. Ahhhh, friends…

The other was this dude who was a senior at the time. Football player, 5’10", 250 lbs low bodyfat. Yeah, big guy, especially for high school, and mean and strong. He’d fly off into huge rages at the smallest thing. Must’ve been that creatine, hehe. It’s worse for you than alcohol you know. :slight_smile:

Anyway, jacked angry guy is squatting ATG 415. On like his 12th rep or something, and this tiny (but VERY fast) kid that was on the track team runs up while hes right in the bottom position and bam, kicks him in the balls as hard as he can from behind.This fucking guy screams, FINISHES THE LIFT and racks the weight.

He turns around looking slightly like something out of Exorcist on Steroids (they’re working on selling the rights I hear) and makes a beeline for that kid. Threw some punches that literally wouldve killed the guy if he hit em, but the kid was Matrix style fast, dodged and left school for the day.

And to the guy who posted about training the female client earlier, I think that dude would’ve agreed. Apparently there IS no excuse for falling over in the squat. Strong sunuvabitch, mmmmm hmmmm.

Kubo

257

Looks like this guy has no problem dropping the weight instead of trying to set up with it and he has >100.

258

Sorry Chainsaw, I realise that sometimes it is necessary to drop db’s. I wasn’t directly targeting you and referring more to kids that constantly drop 40 pound db’s.

A lot of the db’s at my gym have loose plates and are falling apart because of it. So I’m on the same page as yourself and push.

[quote]Petedacook wrote:
Looks like this guy has no problem dropping the weight instead of trying to set up with it and he has >100.

[/quote]

Well, for one, just because he does it, doesn’t make it right, but I guess as ex Mr. Olympia he’s got some special status =P. Again, this is referring more to general gym folk.

Alex.

259

[quote]Digital Chainsaw wrote:
OOOO, OOOOO!!! New one!

Day before yesterday a group of 5 teenage boys are lifting together, doing whatever the biggest among them does first. Anyway, the squat cage is around the corner from where I’m lifting, so I can’t see the person in it, but I can see the other 4 guys sitting around watching the one guy do what I’m assuming are squats.

I came to the conclusion that the guy in the cage was squatting due to the following instructions he received from his comrades:

Douche #1: Hey, man, don’t fart!

Douche #2: Yeah, dude, seriously! Because one time? I farted? And it totally threw me off!

I went back to my workout, and a few minutes later saw them doing DB 1-arm preacher curls while yelling, “yeah! Go heavy or go home!”

Could I make this shit up?[/quote]

Was it our very own GO HEAVY FOOL??

260

[quote]pushharder wrote:
vendall wrote:
Digital Chainsaw wrote:
pushharder wrote:

If you can lay down on the bench with >100 lbs. db’s and then press >100 lbs. db’s then you ought to be able to sit back up with >100 lbs. db’s. Savvy, eh?

Gravity must work differently where you live.

Actually gravity is what lets you sit back up. You stop at the top of the movement (or close to), put your legs up so the db’s touch your thigh as they would if you were sitting and they are resting on your legs. You then slightly move the db’s forward and you will naturally sit up as the db’s weight causes your body to rotate back up. It’s basically the same movement as rolling back with the db’s but in reverse.

Alex.

Thanks, Alex.

At a height and weight of 5’8" & 190 I have flat-pressed with 115 lbs. bells and have almost always been able to use the above method to set them back down. Discourteous vaginal yeast infections that insist on dropping their bells are just much more interested in having others look their way in the gym. To them it’s all about putting on a show.[/quote]

I’m using the kick method to bring the weights up, and I do 110x10 for 4 to 5 sets so if me doing that makes me a weiner, what does boasting about doing 115’s make you? The weight is no where near my waist when I’m done my set, and I’m not dropping them really, just putting them down on the floor rather than sitting up with them. This is not done silently. There are guys in the gym that literally throw the dumbells, those guys piss me off too.