Things Overheard at the Gym

Off Topic
141

[quote]jasoncox wrote:
One of our university gyms (the Colvin) has a limited selection of weights, only goes up to 130#. So I normally train with 120 just so I have something to look forward to when I want to go up in weight. I’m DB pressing the 120s and when I’m finished I put the weights down.

This employee walks up to me and tells me to not to slam the weights on the ground. I told him they always make a loud noise, regardless of how softly you put them down. He told me to stop doing it because it scuffs up the floors. I told him that’s what janitors are for. He watched me like a hawk after that. Other guys would set down the heavier weights and he would bark out the same crap to them.

The following week this East Indian employee dude was advising lifters of the same thing. I’ve got nothing against Indians, they got great food. But the guy was trying to sound authoritative. He was hard to take seriously being skin and bone, with that thick accent. He was a bit worse than the first dude, asking people if they were “finished using that” then tell them they needed to put away the weight when they were done using it. He’d also immediately unload bars or machines of people who got up to get water.

Gym Nazis. It’s hard to have some level of respect for these guys when they can’t perform the same lifts you’re doing.
[/quote]

Wow i have one just like that at my gym. He says the same exact damn thing!! amazing, maybe they’re all in one big club or something where they exchange ideas on how to mess with people actually working out.

142

Oooh! Oooh! I got one!

It wasn’t “overheard” as much as said to me at my University’s (Stony Brook) gym.

This guy just finished a set of squats with 225, and I figured it was the end of the day, so I figured I try to do as many reps as I can with it (5). I went ATG on the first and last reps, and below parallel in between. When I finally racked it, the partner of the guy who just finished said:

“Extreme squatting! I’ve never seen anyone go that low!” (BTW, I’ve heard this a number of times, twice today)

I responded “aren’t you supposed to”

“No, it messes up your spine”

“…If you don’t do it right”

I’m probably one of the 5 people who ever set foot in that gym and have squatted ATG (if at all).

Every other guy is doing Bench Presses, Arnold Presses and Curls, with maybe a FEW doing laterals.

143

[quote]OneEye wrote:
Let’s see…Massachusetts, that poster…is it possible you go to the Gold’s on Lansdowne in Boston? I went there for about a year and they had that poster. Decent gym, some guys actually know what they’re doing. Management is really friendly too, and allow chains and such.[/quote]

Close. I go to the one in Arlington. It’s part of the same chain. I know the owners and the management. I’ve been working there for a couple of years. I’ve heard good things about the Fenway location. The one in Arlington is so-so. They’re about to open another in Medford. Will be one of the largest facilities in the Greater Boston area.

144

I didn’t over hear this but I saw this at my gym and it was one of the funniest things I’ve seen. This older woman probably in her 60’s starts of by doing some form of lunge. She has a weight in each hand and steps forward literally half a foot and maybe goes down and inch.

So I got back to lifting and then I look in the mirror and she’s doing the weirdest lookin thing I’ve ever seen in the gym. She was sitting on a bench with two db’s overhead and then she started swaying her arms back and forth like she was at some concert.

145

Actually, that’s where I’m training nowadays. But I’ve seen those “motivational” posters fucking everywhere, even at my gyms in NYC.

There are some really odd people there. Like the man who is 6’6 and not all that big, yet carries around a beach towel, a gallon waterjug, and wears one of those great shirts that is so lose that the nipples are constantly exposed. This can be pulled off if one has decent size…he doesn’t. What he DOES have is the worst bacne I’ve ever seen, and he enjoys popping those pimples during the workout.

I’ve seen some strange shit in my day, but the stuff there is just…strange.

-MAtt

[quote]OneEye wrote:
Nominal Prospect wrote:
Yeah, I have that poster in my gym as well. I laughed at it too. But, you may want to take a closer look at the guy in it. He isn’t “skinny”. He’s muscular, and has a low BF%. That would make him something called “lean”.

Let’s see…Massachusetts, that poster…is it possible you go to the Gold’s on Lansdowne in Boston? I went there for about a year and they had that poster. Decent gym, some guys actually know what they’re doing. Management is really friendly too, and allow chains and such.[/quote]

146

[quote]FitRugbyDude wrote:
…
He says, “I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but, you can’t abuse Army property that way…”

No sh!t.[/quote]

I should have known better than drinking soup and reading this tread.

It’s all over the screen and keyboard man ! ! !

Anyway, did he outrank you or did he get an ear full?

147

[quote]Digital Chainsaw wrote:
Just remembered this one from last week.

I was going for a max attempt at barbell bench to establish a 1 RM baseline. Since there are rarely people in the free weight section of the gym, and then rarely anyone under 65, I had to go get a relatively young (still older than me) guy who was doing chest-supported rows to spot me.

Anyway, the weight I was using went up surprisingly quickly and smooth, but not without a good bit of effort on my part. I racked it and sat up, breathing heavy, my face kind of red and thanked the guy.

Apparently this guy hadn’t seen what effort looks like, as he kept asking me if I was alright, which got annoying after the 3rd time.

Then he says, “you put that up really fast! You need to slow it down so you don’t hurt yourself!” I just said “yeah, yeah, thanks” as I wasn’t in any condition to tactfully tell a guy that just did me a favor that he was full of shit.[/quote]

He wouldn’t have been able to help you had you gotten into trouble you know.

148

Ok, I got one.

This gym I go sometimes invites schools. The kids are 14-16 years old I guess, and most of the teachers sit at the bar all the time, with the kids running loose and management trying to keep them safe.

Anyway, I had the misfortune of being at the gym when the levees broke and the place was flooded with brats.

One of them seemed impressed by my 100kg deadlift (I was warming up) and decided he needed a closer look. Naah, a bit closer still. Eventually he was leaning on the bar. I had to tell him to take a step back.

Another one bumped into me when I was warming up with an almost empty bar, so I was warned.

But not for this. They saw the assisted pull up machine. One of the kids pulled up with about 30kg on the stack (assisting). And a much skinnier kid was outperforming him, using 40 kg.
Ok, they’re 14-16 year old and nobody has told them that anything they learn in physics class can be applied in real life also. I was about to explain it to them when a teacher steps up to the plate and insisted that the weight is upped to 60kg.

Piece of cake.

The teacher was proud of his performance and indeed his lats demanded room to grow. And the kids were in awe so everybody was happy.

I decided to retreat to the relative safety of the powerrack and used only medium weights during the remainder of that workout.

149

Once had a woman complain that me jumping rope was putting her off her swiss ball db curls.

Sorry love but this is the only part of the gym with enough ceiling clearance…

150

My wife is an aerobics instructor. One of the classes she teaches is Body Pump, which is aerobics with weight. It ain’t easy. Anyway, I convinced her to start encouraging her class to increase their weights (progressive resistance and all that). She started doing that with great results.

One day her supervisor (an older lady who also teaches aerobics) came up to her and said, and I quote:

“women shouldn’t lift heavy weight”.

She told my wife that her class was lifting too heavy and that she should stop. Sad. This is a lady who is a supervisor at a gym with a 1950’s mentality.

151

I have concluded I just don’t like most people. And I am fine with that. I encounter people everywhere that aggravate me with their stupidity, or blatant disregard for others.

Anyhow not to jump subjects, I had an encounter in the gym the other day that left me speechless.

I was doing front raises alternating arms and fatigued after about 12 reps (about 6 reps per arm), unable to lift the weight I cheated the weight up and lowered it as slow as I could 2-3 times. Some guy comes over and asks if I am working shoulders, I answer yes. He says “you should lower the weight so you can slow the movement and control it.” Thinking he missed the first 12 reps, I tell him it is a technique called forced reps I was doing for the negative movement. He scoffs and says he has been a personal trainer for 20 years and never heard of negatives. I say “really?” and go about my business. Five minutes later he comes back and says “yea, 20 years as a personal trainer, never heard of that technique. Never” I just noded at him.

It’s like he went away to think about it and came back.

152

[quote]SdotCarter wrote:
I didn’t over hear this but I saw this at my gym and it was one of the funniest things I’ve seen. This older woman probably in her 60’s starts of by doing some form of lunge. She has a weight in each hand and steps forward literally half a foot and maybe goes down and inch.

So I got back to lifting and then I look in the mirror and she’s doing the weirdest lookin thing I’ve ever seen in the gym. She was sitting on a bench with two db’s overhead and then she started swaying her arms back and forth like she was at some concert.[/quote]

Could have been saxon side bends.

153

[quote]jasoncox wrote:

This employee walks up to me and tells me to not to slam the weights on the ground. I told him they always make a loud noise, regardless of how softly you put them down. He told me to stop doing it because it scuffs up the floors. I told him that’s what janitors are for. He watched me like a hawk after that. Other guys would set down the heavier weights and he would bark out the same crap to them.

Gym Nazis. It’s hard to have some level of respect for these guys when they can’t perform the same lifts you’re doing.
[/quote]

Sounds to me like you might be the asshole here. There is nothing that pisses me off more than dumbasses who drop dumbells after they are done. The fucking things are not indestructible, and they bend and break from this treatment. If you are strong enough to pick it up and get it into position you should be strong enough to set it down properly, not drop it.

154

[quote]apayne wrote:
jasoncox wrote:

This employee walks up to me and tells me to not to slam the weights on the ground. I told him they always make a loud noise, regardless of how softly you put them down. He told me to stop doing it because it scuffs up the floors. I told him that’s what janitors are for. He watched me like a hawk after that. Other guys would set down the heavier weights and he would bark out the same crap to them.

Gym Nazis. It’s hard to have some level of respect for these guys when they can’t perform the same lifts you’re doing.

Sounds to me like you might be the asshole here. There is nothing that pisses me off more than dumbasses who drop dumbells after they are done. The fucking things are not indestructible, and they bend and break from this treatment. If you are strong enough to pick it up and get it into position you should be strong enough to set it down properly, not drop it.[/quote]

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

155

[quote]mikren wrote:
In the locker room at my gym, there are two “motivational” posters.

The first one is captioned “Power” and is of a skinny guy with his shirt off using the EZ Curl bar with one 10 lb plate on each side! He also is looking towards the sky with his lips pursed like he is sooooooo impressed with himself.

The second one is captioned “Strength” and is a lady doing tricep kickbacks with a very small db. She has the same look on her face the guy does.

[/quote]

24 Hour Fitness owned by Shaq? S. Florida?

156

Happened a couple of months ago.

There’s a pool at my Gym and they have water aerobics. It’s usually attended by +60’s and those with cronic injuries or arthritis. As I was walking out of the Gym one morning, stopping to fill up my water bottle at the bubbler I noticed a class had just finished. There was this 250 pound, 40 something, what I only could assume to be a woman standing there with one of those extra large beach towels wrapped around her talking to the oldies and the instructor.

After talking briefly about the intensity of the wrokout just passed, Someone asked her “Where’s Judy this morning?”. (From memory Judy was her equally obese friend that usually attended the classes with her). Anyway, she snorted “I dunno, this is the third workout shes missed. Oh well, she’s going to be the jealous one when I’m the lying in the sun, looking good in my bikini during the cruise”.

Just at that moment her obese 16-18 year old son walks in and hands her a hot dog and can of coke. She gave him a look of disgust and grunted “I thought I said I wanted bacon and cheese topping”. After a moments silence and an intense look of concentration from the instructer, who I thought was going to give her dressing down about habits not matching goals or something. He replies “Ooohhh, did you get that from across the road? Have you tried their sundees?”.

The fat womens eyes lit up as I continued my walk past them to the car not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

157

A friend of mine was asked the other day if his chalk bucket was full of creatine… Right after he used some for a set. I didn’t know creatine was absorbed through the skin! WOWSA! Maybe all that those metrosexuals need is some “creatine” hand-lotion =)

158

[quote]Huh? wrote:
Happened a couple of months ago.

There’s a pool at my Gym and they have water aerobics. It’s usually attended by +60’s and those with cronic injuries or arthritis. As I was walking out of the Gym one morning, stopping to fill up my water bottle at the bubbler I noticed a class had just finished. There was this 250 pound, 40 something, what I only could assume to be a woman standing there with one of those extra large beach towels wrapped around her talking to the oldies and the instructor.

After talking briefly about the intensity of the wrokout just passed, Someone asked her “Where’s Judy this morning?”. (From memory Judy was her equally obese friend that usually attended the classes with her). Anyway, she snorted “I dunno, this is the third workout shes missed. Oh well, she’s going to be the jealous one when I’m the lying in the sun, looking good in my bikini during the cruise”.

Just at that moment her obese 16-18 year old son walks in and hands her a hot dog and can of coke. She gave him a look of disgust and grunted “I thought I said I wanted bacon and cheese topping”. After a moments silence and an intense look of concentration from the instructer, who I thought was going to give her dressing down about habits not matching goals or something. He replies “Ooohhh, did you get that from across the road? Have you tried their sundees?”.

The fat womens eyes lit up as I continued my walk past them to the car not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
[/quote]

That is the saddest thing I have ever read.
I train at a Nautilus Plus. Not ideal, in more than one respect.

I was getting changed in the locker room when I overheard the following exchange between two personal trainers and middle aged female client:

One of the trainers is eating an orange, and the other has a huge economy pack of sugar-coated gummy bears, that she is wolfing back.

So the client joking asks her if she just got off a diet, and enjoying her return to candy.
The trainer, looks affronted, and explains in a very indignant tone that post workout, it is very important to replenish your energy! [scarfs down another 15 gummie bears or so] and that simple sugars like the ones in her candy were considered IDEAL.
The client looks surprised, but happy.
The second trainer just stood there, finishing her orange, and nodding encouragement to her trainer-friend’s lecture.

I felt lightheaded.

159

[quote]vagrant wrote:
It doesn’t count as overheard really if it’s said to you, but I’m going to post it anyway.

I’m just a little guy - up to 203lbs now. I workout at home so I don’t get to see and hear the funny stuff you guys talk about much. I did visit a gym in another town last week though.

I was doing olympic squats while waiting on the manager to bring over the mats for deadlifting. Yeah, it’s one of those fancy places but at least they do allow deadlifting.

The little 100 pound trainer girl came over and told me what I was doing was too dangerous and I was going to get hurt. Then she kindly offered to show me how to use the leg extension and leg curl machines.

This is when the manager arrived with the mats and the part I overheard was said. “go over to the machines and leave him alone. Can’t you see he knows what he’s doing?”

Hell, I’m still small and weak and only had 185 on the bar at the time, but it still made me feel good as if there is still some hope and goodness in the world.

[/quote]

I cryed when I read this what a beautiful story

160

[quote]sweetlovin wrote:
Huh? wrote:
Happened a couple of months ago.

There’s a pool at my Gym and they have water aerobics. It’s usually attended by +60’s and those with cronic injuries or arthritis. As I was walking out of the Gym one morning, stopping to fill up my water bottle at the bubbler I noticed a class had just finished. There was this 250 pound, 40 something, what I only could assume to be a woman standing there with one of those extra large beach towels wrapped around her talking to the oldies and the instructor.

After talking briefly about the intensity of the wrokout just passed, Someone asked her “Where’s Judy this morning?”. (From memory Judy was her equally obese friend that usually attended the classes with her). Anyway, she snorted “I dunno, this is the third workout shes missed. Oh well, she’s going to be the jealous one when I’m the lying in the sun, looking good in my bikini during the cruise”.

Just at that moment her obese 16-18 year old son walks in and hands her a hot dog and can of coke. She gave him a look of disgust and grunted “I thought I said I wanted bacon and cheese topping”. After a moments silence and an intense look of concentration from the instructer, who I thought was going to give her dressing down about habits not matching goals or something. He replies “Ooohhh, did you get that from across the road? Have you tried their sundees?”.

The fat womens eyes lit up as I continued my walk past them to the car not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

That is the saddest thing I have ever read.
I train at a Nautilus Plus. Not ideal, in more than one respect.

I was getting changed in the locker room when I overheard the following exchange between two personal trainers and middle aged female client:

One of the trainers is eating an orange, and the other has a huge economy pack of sugar-coated gummy bears, that she is wolfing back.

So the client joking asks her if she just got off a diet, and enjoying her return to candy.
The trainer, looks affronted, and explains in a very indignant tone that post workout, it is very important to replenish your energy! [scarfs down another 15 gummie bears or so] and that simple sugars like the ones in her candy were considered IDEAL.
The client looks surprised, but happy.
The second trainer just stood there, finishing her orange, and nodding encouragement to her trainer-friend’s lecture.

I felt lightheaded.[/quote]

Well not everyone can afford Surge.