Curling in the power cage is OK by me as long as the culprits vacate upon the arrival of squatters.
In my company gym I’m the only one who ever squats, so might as well use it for other stuff. AS LONG AS I DON’T WANT TO USE IT FOR SQUATTIN’.
Most problems are in the summer when the jerkoff college interns show up and curl in the rack and leave the barbells loaded when they’re done (if you can call putting a ten pound plate on either end of the bar “loading”). I can intimidate them on first encounter enough to reinforce proper gym etiquette–which is a whole other topic: metrosexual college mama’s boys without gym manners.
[quote]Mack wrote:
I do reverse curls in the squat rack, in a commercial gym. Granted its with 95-115 lbs, but then again who gives a shit! Know why? Because I can count on one hand how many people use the squat rack for anything and half of the ones that use it can’t even squat their bodyweight.
I think it would be funny if everyone started using the flat bench for barbell curls. Then again you get immune to seeing the same people year after year staying the same size, curling and benching the same weight. Good thing my membership is damn cheap![/quote]
ive seen this…using the bench pins to do curls…they are curling STRADDLING the bench…its painful to watch.
[quote]TheSicilian wrote:
I saw someone doing swiss ball knee ups while holding on to the safety bars in a squat rack. Needless to say, when the guy got off the ball to get a drink, a powerlifter kicked the ball out of his way and set up for some heavy squats.[/quote]
I love how far those balls fly after I kick them out of my way. Really brighten up my mornings. Even more so when I see the former owner decide to just do something else rather than demand his/her spot back.
[quote]pushharder wrote:
arnethorvald wrote:
So… How would you suggest doing barbell curls if the only barbells in the room are either in the squat-rack or on the bench?
I know many may find me absolutely brilliant for my answer but here we go…“If the only barbells in the room are either in the squat-rack or on the bench” how 'bout…taking…the…barbells…out of…the squat rack …or … off…the…bench?
[/quote]
I see the same thing everytime at the gym. I don’t like it not just because it uses the only available squat rack, but because I think that is a poor way tho preform the excercise. Why the hell do you want to make the excercise easier? Set the bar on the floor and pick it up again for your next set. You’re here to workout! A little extra movement for ya. Just my two cents.
Not that I even do barbell curls; I’m a weighted chin-up man myself.
[quote]pushharder wrote:
To be perfectly honest, a lot of these horror stories could be avoided if gym owners/managers would post and insist on proper gym etiquette and manners.
Another thing is most gyms (and I travel a lot - work out in a lot of gyms nationwide) are so clogged with so much fuckin’ equipment including useless machines that I can almost understand why some guys perform non-squat exercises in the squat rack. I have a hard time finding space to deadlift, bent over row, clean etc. I just want a bar, some plates and some space for many of my training sessions but it’s like looking for a place to pee in a crowded sports stadium when the restrooms are too full.
What is with the “We’ve got to cram as much equipment as possible in every nook and cranny of this gym!” philosophy? “We’ve got to have people bumping into each other at every possible opportunity. Let’s keep the racks and machines so close to each other that our customers can’t put a plate on their bar without screwing up the poor sucker next to him”.
I guess I’m an “open space” advocate?[/quote]
I totally agree about open space. I have been sneeking (well, just walking really) into the gym at my GFs college for that past few months because I didn’t know I could buy a membership. Before I bite the bullet and buy a year membership (awsome deal and awsome gym, except for all the college kids) I wanted to check out the other two gyms in my town.
The first is large and has lots of mirrors and windows and new machines and fat people on them. I didn’t even walk in the door. On account of the windows I could see everything without getting out of my car.
The second seemed really cool at first. The space was small and part of a big warehouse that had been divided up for smaller businesses. Concrete walls, high indistrial cellings guys working bags in the back, and even a little second floor office in the back corner like boxing gyms have in movies. All the dudes there were between 20 and 50ish and all of them were pretty big…lots of visible tatoos.
Problem is, it seems the gym owner filled the place with every used piece of cybex and hammer strength equipment he could get a deal on. As a result there was only a tiny space in front of the only power rack to do cleans. I bet most of that stuff doesn’t even get used.
That sucks because the owner was super nice when I talked to him and it seems like he personally knew everyone there. That is the kind of environment I have always wanted to train in and I would rather support that place than some globo-gym or a university gym that is filled with curling teens. In fact I would pay twice as much to train at a place like that if they just got rid of half their selectorized stuff so they could have more floor space and maybe another rack. Too bad.
My gym has 1 squat rack and one rack like piece of equipment you can use to do squats if the actual rack is being curled in (side note: any one know the name of this, if you “walk into it” 1st is an area below waist high with safety bars, that I use to do rack pulls because the bars go lower than the bars on the squat rack, then there is an area that inclines to head hight with preset positions you can squat from…a little too low)
Well, behind the back wrist curler was using this piece of equipment and in the squat rack was a man doing this…Standing on a wobble board - 1 set of curls with the bar, then immediately into lateral raises with dumbells, then place your towel on the rack to hold your place while you go get a drink, talk to friends, and do a set of assisted pullups. Repeat for 5 sets, dominating the rack for 1/2 an hour.
Why do you need to be in the squat rack to do lateral raises with dumbells on a wobble board?
Anyone remember the video posted on T-mag of a guy doing curls in the squat rack, when drowing pool’s “Bodys” come on and a powerlifter smacks him with a 2X4…Thats exactly what I wanted to do (since I listen to that song when I squat)
My new pet peeve, stretching in the squat rack. Yep, even with a room with a ballet bar and mirrors, the mullets still gravitate toward the squat rack. i do not ask them to leave anymore, i just tell them i will be squatting there in a few minutes. They shy away from anything over 315 on the bar so we are good.
Just saw a bunch of middle age women with their trainer, doing plyos for an hour. i need to get on this gig…
[quote]Klink wrote:
He began doing behind-the-back wrist curls - IN THE SQUAT RACK!
[/quote]
didnt read the whole set of replies,as it sounds funny enough in itself, yet im shure id find it funnier if i knewwat the Hell behind the back wrist curls are?! i mean yeah i no wat a wrist curl is,but how the hell do you dem behind you?!
lolol arr well…live and learn I guess.Whats worse is im guna have to start goin to a gym n ex year and im frankly half scared by allthese ridiculous stories :\ where do people find these exercises lol?!
[quote]millasur wrote:
Klink wrote:
He began doing behind-the-back wrist curls - IN THE SQUAT RACK!
didnt read the whole set of replies,as it sounds funny enough in itself, yet im shure id find it funnier if i knewwat the Hell behind the back wrist curls are?! i mean yeah i no wat a wrist curl is,but how the hell do you dem behind you?!
lolol arr well…live and learn I guess.Whats worse is im guna have to start goin to a gym n ex year and im frankly half scared by allthese ridiculous stories :\ where do people find these exercises lol?!
[/quote]
I don’t want to sound harsh but maybe you should develop your writing and grammar abilities before you start focusing on developing your body.
I go to a gym currently (I forsee another gym in my near future) where there are two levels, the upper level aerobic and the lower level machines and free weights. The dumbell rack seperates the dumbell free weight section from a useless machine section, making the dumbell section pretty cramped. The barbell free weight section is relatively spacious, but all in all I’d say two thirds of the lower section is taking up with relatively useless machines.
My old gym (these were both university gyms, mind you) had a nice free weight section all by itself, with most of the machines tucked into a huge aerobics section. It had two squat racks, two cable machines, and a relatively roomy dumbbell and barbell section. All in all, about the same amount of stuff, but more sensible about what machines to get, and where to put them.
Last night, I went to do bench. I have no partner at the moment (I’m new in Lansing, Michigan) so in deciding to build my barbell strength to my dumbell strength (I did 100’s x 7 on Monday, but my barbell was, and still is, relatively week) I alternate one barbell and one dumbell bench a week. This means I get by on the generosity of strangers, and occasionally, paid gym personnel. On my third set (230), I asked a girl with a fitness center personnel sweatshirt for a spot, and she responded with “A spot? What do you mean?”
The guy she was talking to ended up spoting me.
I sometimes feel as if asking lifters to spot me is inappropriate, but I’m always understanding and courteous about it. However, the fact that I pay (for a university gym) where there are always at least six people on staff, yet none of them every visible on the floor, is discouraging. Am I wrong here?
Today one of the trainers at my gym was doing curls in the squat rack [when he wasn’t on duty]. Same guy who recommended I take BCAAs and not creatine [apples and oranges I know] and often says “you been reading the internet again, eh?” everytime he sees me. Though he is probably stronger than me.
[quote]pushharder wrote:
I’m serious about wanting to hear why gym owners/managers feel the need to cram equipment everywhere. Are there ANY of you out there who read T-Nation? Please reply.
(If there aren’t any gym owners/managers who read the Nation then that explains a lot)
Wonder if I should start a new thread on this? …Looking for explanations from gym owners as to why they do the things they do?[/quote]
Second. Good idea.
While we’re giving the owners the third degree, they must be held accountable for the music.
I recently switched gyms and found out the answer to the question, “What could be worse than working out to Ashlee Simpson?”
Answer: working out to house music.
God bless the USA for educating the men and women who invented the iPod.