Wow only a month after starting to really get into lifting and it happened to me already. I was waiting for the squat rack and so was this other guy next to me. This guy is shaped like a light bulb and kind of gets a pissed look on his face when I get to the rack first. After I finish up my front squats he gives up his spot at the deadlift platform (he was doing barbell shrugs there while waiting for me to finish) and we basically trade places . He goes straight to the squat rack and what does he do? Curls of course. Not long after one of his friends joined him and they worked in together.
Now I’m sitting there thinking to myself, “why would they be pissed that I’m using the squat rack for squats? Furthermore, why in the world do they do they even want to do squats there? Is it really worth waiting 15 minutes for?”
I started looking around the gym taking note of my surroundings. I noticed a familiar trend. Every bench was full from incline to decline. The only places in the gym to find an olympic bar are on a bench and in the squat rack. These topheavy guys want to add in olympic bar curls to their already demanding curl regimen to maximize their gains, but how dare they take away a bar from somebody else that needs it for their all so demanding 2 hour flatbench workout. Aha, but there is an answer. Nobody ever uses that dusty old squat rack over there for anything so nobody will care if I use that bar for my curls
And there it is. I think I finally figured it out
Good point, i understand the whole delema of using olympia bars for curls, but i try to stay away from squat racks. now the gym i lift at, is some what limited in areas to lift free weights, so sometimes i don’t have a choice. but you commented on everyone being top-heavy in the gym, i hate that. it’s a disgrace to strength training, body building, and just fitness in general. just today, i was lifting weights when a fella walked in the weightroom, and he was very top heavy, and from what i could tell, was fairly well defined (he had on a thick long sleeve shirt) but then i got a better look at him, and his legs could not have been bigger than my arms. now i’m a very stout 17 year old, 6’2" 190 lbs with very little body fat, and i’m thicker than the average grown man, and this guy’s upper body was probably three times as big as mine, yet my lower body was quite possibly three times bigger than his. it’s just digusting to look at, and what insipres me to continue squating and lifting lower body.
I’m in the same boat as you. I’m 6’2" and 200lbs. These guys have arms the size of my legs while I have arms the size of their legs if you know what I mean. I even train with a guy who is always commenting on being jealous of my calves and thighs, but refuses to do anything about it. He spends of minimum of 5 days a week in the gym and his upperbody is huge. In the two years I’ve known him, his physique hasn’t changed a bit.
Troy McClure…I remember you from such threads as, “Thank You T-Nation” and “The Gear.”
Ok, sometimes I curl in the squat rack, but it is only for 2 or 3 sets of 135 pounds plus at 3-4 reps each. My gym has preset barbells going up to only 100 pounds, so either I curl in the squat rack or take the olympic bar from some other rack. Besides, most of the time the squat racks aren’t even in use in my gym anyway.
if I ever find myself using the squat rack for anything other than squats I will always ask anyone waiting for the rack if they plan on squatting and if so will give way and let them have at it.
It is laughable when you see the ‘big guys’ still wearing there tracksuit bottoms in the heat of summer as the old chicken legs dont quite match with the top half. When you build a house you dont neglect ensuring you have a solid foundation, the same should apply to your lower half.
[quote]bomberlow wrote:
It is laughable when you see the ‘big guys’ still wearing there tracksuit bottoms in the heat of summer as the old chicken legs dont quite match with the top half. When you build a house you dont neglect ensuring you have a solid foundation, the same should apply to your lower half.[/quote]
I wear “track pants” in the gym and it isn’t because I don’t train my legs. I know some pretty big guys who wear full tee-shirts to train in. It doesn’t mean they don’t train their upper bodies.