i was doing front squats today and I heard out of this half gay metro sexual , with some dumb chick, telling her never to squat cause your back will bend forward and you will get hurt. I could see them watching me rep 225 on my front squats with perfect form. I turned down my ipod and heard her say , but his back looks really straight I think that would strengthen your back. he said no no i read it in a magazine.
I about died! ha ha, dumb fucking people
Anyone work out in a gym that’s the total opposite? At times at my gym there’s absolutely no talking, conversations, or even eye contact going on. It’s strange…and I don’t mean in an “uber-focused” kind of way. It’s more like they are all prisoners of the gym, each taking their turn as Sisyphus, completely miserable to be there.
It sucks. No comradarie at all.
[quote]medevac wrote:
Anyone work out in a gym that’s the total opposite? At times at my gym there’s absolutely no talking, conversations, or even eye contact going on. It’s strange…and I don’t mean in an “uber-focused” kind of way. It’s more like they are all prisoners of the gym, each taking their turn as Sisyphus, completely miserable to be there.
It sucks. No comradarie at all.[/quote]
There’s a lack of camaraderie in many gyms lately. It used to be almost like a family when the regulars were people who were more serious. I didn’t count even one person yesterday who looked like they were serious trainers. They also don’t speak to anyone else when they walk by.
Gym culture is dead considering the way it used to be. There are too many half assed trainers around.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
medevac wrote:
Anyone work out in a gym that’s the total opposite? At times at my gym there’s absolutely no talking, conversations, or even eye contact going on. It’s strange…and I don’t mean in an “uber-focused” kind of way. It’s more like they are all prisoners of the gym, each taking their turn as Sisyphus, completely miserable to be there.
It sucks. No comradarie at all.
There’s a lack of camaraderie in many gyms lately. It used to be almost like a family when the regulars were people who were more serious. I didn’t count even one person yesterday who looked like they were serious trainers. They also don’t speak to anyone else when they walk by.
Gym culture is dead considering the way it used to be. There are too many half assed trainers around.[/quote]
Do you think it’s because of the commercialization of the fitness/bodybuilding industry or rather the attempt of commercialization. I say that because in the old days…at least what I’ve seen on film…you did not set foot into a gym unless you were there to train…
[quote]Qaash wrote:
Professor X wrote:
medevac wrote:
Anyone work out in a gym that’s the total opposite? At times at my gym there’s absolutely no talking, conversations, or even eye contact going on. It’s strange…and I don’t mean in an “uber-focused” kind of way. It’s more like they are all prisoners of the gym, each taking their turn as Sisyphus, completely miserable to be there.
It sucks. No comradarie at all.
There’s a lack of camaraderie in many gyms lately. It used to be almost like a family when the regulars were people who were more serious. I didn’t count even one person yesterday who looked like they were serious trainers. They also don’t speak to anyone else when they walk by.
Gym culture is dead considering the way it used to be. There are too many half assed trainers around.
Do you think it’s because of the commercialization of the fitness/bodybuilding industry or rather the attempt of commercialization. I say that because in the old days…at least what I’ve seen on film…you did not set foot into a gym unless you were there to train… [/quote]
That’s exactly what it is. Most of the people in gyms got their concept of what training is from infomercials. These are the same people who would have never even had the guts to step into a gym that was around when I was a little kid because they were all filled with big people walking around in tank tops and tight clothing carrying water bottles. Now, they are just filled with fat or skinny people who barely break a sweat and stare at everyone bigger than them as if there is something wrong with them.
It sucks. I used to know pretty much every regular at most gyms I’ve trained at. The new gym I’m at now, I doubt the same will happen because the “regulars” are now people who think a great workout involves 30min on an elliptical trainer and 5min lifting 15lbs dumbbells.
The gyms sure do look pretty though. The new Gold’s in Florida had marble seats and tv’s in the locker-rooms. Why the fuck would you need marble seats in the bathroom?
[quote]Professor X wrote:
Qaash wrote:
Professor X wrote:
medevac wrote:
Anyone work out in a gym that’s the total opposite? At times at my gym there’s absolutely no talking, conversations, or even eye contact going on. It’s strange…and I don’t mean in an “uber-focused” kind of way. It’s more like they are all prisoners of the gym, each taking their turn as Sisyphus, completely miserable to be there.
It sucks. No comradarie at all.
There’s a lack of camaraderie in many gyms lately. It used to be almost like a family when the regulars were people who were more serious. I didn’t count even one person yesterday who looked like they were serious trainers. They also don’t speak to anyone else when they walk by.
Gym culture is dead considering the way it used to be. There are too many half assed trainers around.
Do you think it’s because of the commercialization of the fitness/bodybuilding industry or rather the attempt of commercialization. I say that because in the old days…at least what I’ve seen on film…you did not set foot into a gym unless you were there to train…
That’s exactly what it is. Most of the people in gyms got their concept of what training is from infomercials. These are the same people who would have never even had the guts to step into a gym that was around when I was a little kid because they were all filled with big people walking around in tank tops and tight clothing carrying water bottles. Now, they are just filled with fat or skinny people who barely break a sweat and stare at everyone bigger than them as if there is something wrong with them.
It sucks. I used to know pretty much every regular at most gyms I’ve trained at. The new gym I’m at now, I doubt the same will happen because the “regulars” are now people who think a great workout involves 30min on an elliptical trainer and 5min lifting 15lbs dumbbells.
The gyms sure do look pretty though. The new Gold’s in Florida had marble seats and tv’s in the locker-rooms. Why the fuck would you need marble seats in the bathroom?[/quote]
Wow…marble seats? That’s why I go for the convenience of training at home…sure I miss some of the equipment but I make do with all the old lifts with a Bb and Db with a few added extras…memberships just don’t seem worth the hassle sometimes when you think of the bullshit going on in gyms today…When I lived in Bk, I went to 5th Ave gym, the only hardcore gym I could find at the time, I think they had one treadmill and one stationary bike and I got to train with some strong people then.
There are probably still just as many serious lifters as ever, but since going to the gym became mainstream, the gyms culture has become diluted. Rather than have 20-30 serious lifters training together in a dungeon somewhere, you have maybe 2-3 serious trainers in a Golds or 24 hour fatness surrounded by 200-300 people who are just there to tone or socialize, spread out over a city with 10-20 different commercial gyms.
Also, the fat people with 15lb dumbells have always been around. Remember in Pumping Iron, when they first went to Louie’s gym, the fat guy curling 5lb dumbbells staring at the camera? I’m sure he’s still there, and probably still looks like that.
[quote]Qaash wrote:
Professor X wrote:
Qaash wrote:
Professor X wrote:
medevac wrote:
Anyone work out in a gym that’s the total opposite? At times at my gym there’s absolutely no talking, conversations, or even eye contact going on. It’s strange…and I don’t mean in an “uber-focused” kind of way. It’s more like they are all prisoners of the gym, each taking their turn as Sisyphus, completely miserable to be there.
It sucks. No comradarie at all.
There’s a lack of camaraderie in many gyms lately. It used to be almost like a family when the regulars were people who were more serious. I didn’t count even one person yesterday who looked like they were serious trainers. They also don’t speak to anyone else when they walk by.
Gym culture is dead considering the way it used to be. There are too many half assed trainers around.
Do you think it’s because of the commercialization of the fitness/bodybuilding industry or rather the attempt of commercialization. I say that because in the old days…at least what I’ve seen on film…you did not set foot into a gym unless you were there to train…
That’s exactly what it is. Most of the people in gyms got their concept of what training is from infomercials. These are the same people who would have never even had the guts to step into a gym that was around when I was a little kid because they were all filled with big people walking around in tank tops and tight clothing carrying water bottles. Now, they are just filled with fat or skinny people who barely break a sweat and stare at everyone bigger than them as if there is something wrong with them.
It sucks. I used to know pretty much every regular at most gyms I’ve trained at. The new gym I’m at now, I doubt the same will happen because the “regulars” are now people who think a great workout involves 30min on an elliptical trainer and 5min lifting 15lbs dumbbells.
The gyms sure do look pretty though. The new Gold’s in Florida had marble seats and tv’s in the locker-rooms. Why the fuck would you need marble seats in the bathroom?
Wow…marble seats? That’s why I go for the convenience of training at home…sure I miss some of the equipment but I make do with all the old lifts with a Bb and Db with a few added extras…memberships just don’t seem worth the hassle sometimes when you think of the bullshit going on in gyms today…When I lived in Bk, I went to 5th Ave gym, the only hardcore gym I could find at the time, I think they had one treadmill and one stationary bike and I got to train with some strong people then.[/quote]
It does suck. The closest I ever got to a gym with a great atmosphere was back in school when I’d train at the same time as the football team. When someone was going for a maximum lift or something like that, people would actually got pumped up and give encouragement.
OP…I don’t get it…
a. Why complain?
b. Who cares?
Why let the way others act bother you? It seems you are too into what others are doing…
Why don’t you concentrate on lifting, and your routine instead?
I’ve never had anyone interrupt me in the gym, and if they did, so fucking what?
It seems that with your talk and rhetoric, you should post up a pic so we can see how awesome you must be. After all that talk…will it be funny as hell??
[quote]Professor X wrote:
Now, they are just filled with fat or skinny people who barely break a sweat and stare at everyone bigger than them as if there is something wrong with them.
[/quote]
I state at people a lot bigger than me, but I stare in awe. Envy, maybe. Either way, you think they’re misinterpreting my stares? I try to be discreet about it… I’m working on being one of the ones people stare at…
[quote]Professor X wrote:
Gym culture is dead considering the way it used to be. [/quote]
It’s really too bad…
[quote]Qaash wrote:
Professor X wrote:
It sucks. No comradarie at all.
There’s a lack of camaraderie in many gyms lately. It used to be almost like a family when the regulars were people who were more serious. I didn’t count even one person yesterday who looked like they were serious trainers. They also don’t speak to anyone else when they walk by.
Gym culture is dead considering the way it used to be. There are too many half assed trainers around.
Do you think it’s because of the commercialization of the fitness/bodybuilding industry or rather the attempt of commercialization. I say that because in the old days…at least what I’ve seen on film…you did not set foot into a gym unless you were there to train… [/quote]
Yes,yes,yes. My first gym wasn’t a hard-core bodybuilding gym in that the guys there mainly did bench press, sometimes did squats, etc. They were big but not bodybuilders by any conventional standard.
The place was a hole in the wall, it looked JUST like that narrow gym in Pumping Iron where Lou is yelling “Arnold” and doing overhead presses. There were 4 squat cages, 4 flat benches. The only machines around was a leg extension, curl, cable crossover, lat pulldown, and a cable row.
It was great, the kind of place where when the phone rang, whoever was closest picked it up. The guy Danny that ran it usually had one of his 3 toddler kids running around, and he’d give you a key to lock up and unlock if you were a regular. I once traded 6 months of membership fees ($15 a month mind you) for painting a mural on a wall. That kind of awesome, dirty, non-BOSU, nonfunctional, metal clanging, acrid sweat heaven that you never see anymore.
Now money is into it and entrepreneurs have realized that you can charge someone $50 a month to not workout through contracts and a promise of A NEW YOU IN ONLY 6 WORKOUTS WITH ONE OF OUR PERSONAL TRAINERS! Case in point the new satellite gym of the place I go to now boasts an internet bar, open sitting area with natural light via a huge skylight, and a heated Yoga room.
Guess what, I have all the natural light I need without a huge 10,000 retractable skylight. It’s called GOING THE FUCK OUTSIDE ON A SUNNY DAY.
Now doctors and websites and magazines are prescribing (rightly so) exercise for everyone to combat the horrible sedentary lifestyles and diets of their clients. Nothing wrong with that, but not everyone is cut out for the classical gym environment. They need to take up a sport or some other form of activity (walking, biking, hiking) that they enjoy FIRST instead of trying to fit everyone into the 30 minutes of cardio and weight circuit mode. Instead they are trying to fit something that by it’s nature should be HARD and INTENSE like a weight training gym into the SOFT, EASY, PAINLESS lifestyle of the client.
The result on the person is half ass workouts, half ass results, and ZERO gains (or loses). The result on the gym is a shade of weight training homogeneous gray where you need to lift weights but not grunt, you need to do compound movements, but only while balancing on some circus ball, and you don’t belong to a gym but rather to a “fitness performance center”.
Remember when people used to say “no pain, no gain”? Guess what, not all advertising taglines are bullshit. Change does suck and it is hard and if it was easy and for everyone then EVERYONE would change.
But the “pain” is a lot easier to bear with people around who are like minded and who want to be different and not ordinary. The old school dungeon gyms seemed to exemplify those feelings and encourage them. Now most gyms encourage me to get my nails done and take a nap.
[quote]Uncle Gabby wrote:
Also, the fat people with 15lb dumbells have always been around. Remember in Pumping Iron, when they first went to Louie’s gym, the fat guy curling 5lb dumbbells staring at the camera? I’m sure he’s still there, and probably still looks like that.[/quote]
Hahahah holy shit, we both referenced the same scene in Pumping Iron. That guy cracks me up almost as much as the skinny Gary Busey kid that is eye-fucking Arnold as he chews guy and does his cable cross-overs.
While we’re on the topic of old school gyms, I might as well chime in. It is a beautiful thing to be in that type of no-nonsense atmosphere and only hope to be lucky enough to find gyms like that in the future.
The one I’m at right now is as close to a real old school gym I might ever find. Just like a gym out of the Rocky movies. Posters of bodybuilders around the walls and old machines. DB’s with no numbers on them. Some of the posters are signed because the owner knows alot of the country’s top BB-ers (I’m in Spain). He trained a top Spanish competitor in the 80’s and we talk bodybuilding and he lets me borrow his old bodybuilding cd’s ('80 Mr. Olympia anyone?) He makes up for the crappy clientele (everyone is a soccer type but then again it’s Spain).
When I leave at the end of the semester will be a sad day indeed but I will take full advantage of what I’m offered till that day comes. Will have to pick his brain on bodybuilding training one of these days.
[quote]medevac wrote:
Qaash wrote:
Professor X wrote:
It sucks. No comradarie at all.
There’s a lack of camaraderie in many gyms lately. It used to be almost like a family when the regulars were people who were more serious. I didn’t count even one person yesterday who looked like they were serious trainers. They also don’t speak to anyone else when they walk by.
Gym culture is dead considering the way it used to be. There are too many half assed trainers around.
Do you think it’s because of the commercialization of the fitness/bodybuilding industry or rather the attempt of commercialization. I say that because in the old days…at least what I’ve seen on film…you did not set foot into a gym unless you were there to train…
Yes,yes,yes. My first gym wasn’t a hard-core bodybuilding gym in that the guys there mainly did bench press, sometimes did squats, etc. They were big but not bodybuilders by any conventional standard.
The place was a hole in the wall, it looked JUST like that narrow gym in Pumping Iron where Lou is yelling “Arnold” and doing overhead presses. There were 4 squat cages, 4 flat benches. The only machines around was a leg extension, curl, cable crossover, lat pulldown, and a cable row.
It was great, the kind of place where when the phone rang, whoever was closest picked it up. The guy Danny that ran it usually had one of his 3 toddler kids running around, and he’d give you a key to lock up and unlock if you were a regular. I once traded 6 months of membership fees ($15 a month mind you) for painting a mural on a wall. That kind of awesome, dirty, non-BOSU, nonfunctional, metal clanging, acrid sweat heaven that you never see anymore.
Now money is into it and entrepreneurs have realized that you can charge someone $50 a month to not workout through contracts and a promise of A NEW YOU IN ONLY 6 WORKOUTS WITH ONE OF OUR PERSONAL TRAINERS! Case in point the new satellite gym of the place I go to now boasts an internet bar, open sitting area with natural light via a huge skylight, and a heated Yoga room.
Guess what, I have all the natural light I need without a huge 10,000 retractable skylight. It’s called GOING THE FUCK OUTSIDE ON A SUNNY DAY.
Now doctors and websites and magazines are prescribing (rightly so) exercise for everyone to combat the horrible sedentary lifestyles and diets of their clients. Nothing wrong with that, but not everyone is cut out for the classical gym environment. They need to take up a sport or some other form of activity (walking, biking, hiking) that they enjoy FIRST instead of trying to fit everyone into the 30 minutes of cardio and weight circuit mode. Instead they are trying to fit something that by it’s nature should be HARD and INTENSE like a weight training gym into the SOFT, EASY, PAINLESS lifestyle of the client.
The result on the person is half ass workouts, half ass results, and ZERO gains (or loses). The result on the gym is a shade of weight training homogeneous gray where you need to lift weights but not grunt, you need to do compound movements, but only while balancing on some circus ball, and you don’t belong to a gym but rather to a “fitness performance center”.
Remember when people used to say “no pain, no gain”? Guess what, not all advertising taglines are bullshit. Change does suck and it is hard and if it was easy and for everyone then EVERYONE would change.
But the “pain” is a lot easier to bear with people around who are like minded and who want to be different and not ordinary. The old school dungeon gyms seemed to exemplify those feelings and encourage them. Now most gyms encourage me to get my nails done and take a nap.
[/quote]
Great post.
I picture something like this:
Check out the curls starting around 1:00.
I’ve only trained in 2 commercial gyms in my life and they were both a long time ago. One was a Jack Lalanne which was essentially a nightclub with equipment and the other was a pretty decent outfit owned at the time by a guy who got it.
I trained then mid afternoon and was usually the only person there except for Saturdays which was leg day. The owner worked the desk and was really cool aside from being decently built. I worked like an unleashed psychopath and he even sent people to me a couple times. I’d see him smiling and nodding his head as I sat there gasping for breath after a set.
One guy about my age and outta shape came over and said “Glen says you’re one of the guys who comes here who has really made some progress since you’ve been around and if I asked maybe you could get me pointed in the right direction.” I spent a half hour with the guy and never heard from him again. He hung out during leg training.
The owner told me later (with one of his typical smiles) that he asked him “are you sure what that guy’s doin is even healthy?”
He told me he told him “that’s how it’s done if you want to see real changes”.
The only other really serious guy that was ever there when I was was a powerlifter named Larry who also worked there. What’s interesting looking back is that we didn’t have this completely dichotomous view between powerlifting and bodybuilding. He saw them as versions of each other.
Don’t how I got on all that, but it’s time for legs, speaking of.
[quote]medevac wrote:
Qaash wrote:
Professor X wrote:
It sucks. No comradarie at all.
There’s a lack of camaraderie in many gyms lately. It used to be almost like a family when the regulars were people who were more serious. I didn’t count even one person yesterday who looked like they were serious trainers. They also don’t speak to anyone else when they walk by.
Gym culture is dead considering the way it used to be. There are too many half assed trainers around.
Do you think it’s because of the commercialization of the fitness/bodybuilding industry or rather the attempt of commercialization. I say that because in the old days…at least what I’ve seen on film…you did not set foot into a gym unless you were there to train…
Yes,yes,yes. My first gym wasn’t a hard-core bodybuilding gym in that the guys there mainly did bench press, sometimes did squats, etc. They were big but not bodybuilders by any conventional standard.
The place was a hole in the wall, it looked JUST like that narrow gym in Pumping Iron where Lou is yelling “Arnold” and doing overhead presses. There were 4 squat cages, 4 flat benches. The only machines around was a leg extension, curl, cable crossover, lat pulldown, and a cable row.
It was great, the kind of place where when the phone rang, whoever was closest picked it up. The guy Danny that ran it usually had one of his 3 toddler kids running around, and he’d give you a key to lock up and unlock if you were a regular. I once traded 6 months of membership fees ($15 a month mind you) for painting a mural on a wall. That kind of awesome, dirty, non-BOSU, nonfunctional, metal clanging, acrid sweat heaven that you never see anymore.
Now money is into it and entrepreneurs have realized that you can charge someone $50 a month to not workout through contracts and a promise of A NEW YOU IN ONLY 6 WORKOUTS WITH ONE OF OUR PERSONAL TRAINERS! Case in point the new satellite gym of the place I go to now boasts an internet bar, open sitting area with natural light via a huge skylight, and a heated Yoga room.
Guess what, I have all the natural light I need without a huge 10,000 retractable skylight. It’s called GOING THE FUCK OUTSIDE ON A SUNNY DAY.
Now doctors and websites and magazines are prescribing (rightly so) exercise for everyone to combat the horrible sedentary lifestyles and diets of their clients. Nothing wrong with that, but not everyone is cut out for the classical gym environment. They need to take up a sport or some other form of activity (walking, biking, hiking) that they enjoy FIRST instead of trying to fit everyone into the 30 minutes of cardio and weight circuit mode. Instead they are trying to fit something that by it’s nature should be HARD and INTENSE like a weight training gym into the SOFT, EASY, PAINLESS lifestyle of the client.
The result on the person is half ass workouts, half ass results, and ZERO gains (or loses). The result on the gym is a shade of weight training homogeneous gray where you need to lift weights but not grunt, you need to do compound movements, but only while balancing on some circus ball, and you don’t belong to a gym but rather to a “fitness performance center”.
Remember when people used to say “no pain, no gain”? Guess what, not all advertising taglines are bullshit. Change does suck and it is hard and if it was easy and for everyone then EVERYONE would change.
But the “pain” is a lot easier to bear with people around who are like minded and who want to be different and not ordinary. The old school dungeon gyms seemed to exemplify those feelings and encourage them. Now most gyms encourage me to get my nails done and take a nap.
[/quote]
…sniff…(sheds tear)…