Joined a new gym last night. Hilarious

[WildPegasus]

I have to wonder if some people just don't purposely troll gyms for fun, lol.

I think people are more likely to be clueless than clever.

[gummi_hulk]

I think another thing too is that a lot of us lift alone and not with a "crew". So there is no one to talk to about this stuff who have any clue of anything beyond "I hear P90X is good".

I tell my wife "feel my shoulders"

[JC]

I have to wonder if some people just don't purposely troll gyms for fun, lol.

One has to wonder if men's fitness magazines are just trolling the readership too.

[Callador]

Callador, the guy was benching 80kg with his thighs perpedicular to the bench, feet in the air, and his pelvis tilted back. When asked why he did it, he said it was because he wanted to make it less stable. He wants to be unstable with roughly his bodyweight over his face and neck. Go try that in WFAC and see what happens.

The law is that we have a duty of care towards the people in our gym. That means that our offering instruction is mandatory for us if we believe the person is placing themselves or others in danger. It also means that if they refuse that instruction, we are required to kick them out. Because if we don't, then when they do injure themselves and sue us, we'll lose. Remember also that 2/3 of new gym members don't seek instruction before starting out, but they do copy what they see others doing in the gym. So the stupidity of one fuckstick spreads, and I have to spend half my shift dealing with people doing stupid shit. Because if I don't, when they get injured and sue us, they'll say, "Well, I saw this other guy doing it, the PT talked to him and the guy kept doing it, so I thought it was alright, and the PT never talked to me, I thought it was alright... and now I'm crippled, give me $2 million please."

This may offend the libertarian sensibilities of those here on this forum, but that's the law, at least in practice. If we don't follow it, we risk losing our jobs and the company the contract to run the gym, or the gym itself closes down. All because some dickhead wanted to bench with his feet flapping in the fucking air. I'm sorry, but your right to be a stupid fuck and injure yourself does not trump my need to put bread on my family's table. Go do it someplace else.

Any exercise should be both safe and effective. But the main thing is safety. When I see people half-squatting and they ignore my coaching, well fair enough - it's not effective, but it's safe, so it's up to them. But benching with your feet in the air or round-backed deadlifting is not safe. So we have to stop them. If it were up to me I'd just let them injure and kill themselves, it improves the gene pool. But I want to keep my job and the gym open.

You may not want some random trainer telling you what to do, but when you pay for a gym membership that's actually what you're paying for. My gym has 5,000 people paying around $20 a week each. That's $100,000 a week. That's sure as shit not all going on equipment and lighting - it's wages. If you wish to avoid the risk of being told what to do, train at home. By going into a gym, you accept the possibility that someone will try to tell you what to do. You can ignore it if you want - provided it's still safe.

Safe and effective. If you want to do exercises which are ineffective, go for it. Most gym members do that. But if you want to do exercises which are unsafe, you'll have to train at home.

Again, try benching with your feet in the air at WFAC and see what Rip and Stef have to say to you. When they argue and don't back down, try insulting one of the other gym members and telling them not to listen to Rip. "I've got the right to train here without some random coach telling me how to lift." See what happens.

Or I can just train at my current gym. If something was REALLY unsafe (like the bosu ball bench with a lot of weight), I'm sure they would say something. I see guys benching with their legs up all the time. I don't do it because you can't lift a lot of weight that way. Once these people see someone bench properly, they usually change their form up just so they can lift more weight. I am not a PT, but I have helped a couple of guys out with their bench form. 80kg isn't a lot of weight on the bench anyways, so again, I highly doubt it was all that dangerous.

I take advice from the people I work out with all the time. I trust what they are saying, especially since they have a background in lifting. If some random PT came up to me and said that I had to bench with a flat back and feet on the floor. I would just say thanks but no thanks, unless he can show me how I can lift more doing it that way. If that gets me kicked out of a gym, well that is a gym I don't want to work out at.

[skipbeat]

Forgot to mention: some dude told me my spinal erectors are getting big.

Should I have given him my number or something? I feel like I let him down too hard.

[Dastardly]

that could've been misheard as "your erections are getting big" - lol.

[Kyle Aaron]

If some random PT came up to me and said that I had to bench with a flat back and feet on the floor. I would just say thanks but no thanks, unless he can show me how I can lift more doing it that way.

I did. He benched 80kg with his feet in the air, 90kg with them on the floor.

He said he wanted to be unstable.

80kg isn't a lot of weight on the bench anyways, so again, I highly doubt it was all that dangerous.

Net time you're in the gym, load the barbell to 80kg, press it out, put your feet in the air and then fall off the bench. See what happens.

[Corrie]

I think another thing too is that a lot of us lift alone and not with a "crew". So there is no one to talk to about this stuff who have any clue of anything beyond "I hear P90X is good".

I tell my wife "feel my shoulders"

You can video every set but it's not the same as having someone be able to verbally cue you through the lift.

Also, it's pretty hard to match the motivation that you get from lifting with friends. It's a lot harder to push yourself when you've got no one there to call you a pussy or do one more set than you.

[toonttm]

lol, I haven't read this thread in a few days, what fun I have missed...and that's what I see this thread as....a bit of fun, like minded people taking the piss out of other people, happens everywhere.

I only squat 100kg and bench 80kg but I am working on it...but I have been to probably 30 gyms across 6 cities in 2 countries over 20 years and I have seen (and done) some stupid shit.

So my 0.02 on the 2 topics here is that I put Tom and Kyle at the same level. They both seem to be on a high-horse.

Kyle reminds me of a guy i once knew who bought a thriving bar, 2 years later it was an empty dump...he too had the attitude that he knew everything and could throw people out of his bar at will for any slight indiscretion. He sold the bar at a huge loss and another guy turned into a thriving business within 3 months.

Tom's claim of 400lb (reset to 335 x 3 x 5) in 6 (3) months is just ludicrous . For the first time in my life I seen a guy squat 200kg (440lb) only 4 weeks ago. Prior to that I have never seen anyone go over 3 plates each side (140kg/308lb), never...not even attempted 1/4 squats. If someone wants to squat 400lb they are going to need to ignore everything in their life and live-and-breath lifting, and that is if they are lucky enough to be blessed with the genetics to do so.

Personally i don't rate people on what they lift but how much effort they put in. Some dudes are genetically blessed and can lift big weights. Other dudes don't have such a head-start and have to work incredibly hard to lift average weights.

I remember reading a forum a while back where the advice given was: If you are in a gym and want to ask someone for advice, don't ask the huge dude blasting out massive weights, he is genetically (and probably drugged) gifted and doesn't understand anything about lifting. Ask the little guy with skinny wrists/ankles who is doing decent weights, this guy will be like a text book.

Personally, at 16 I was 47kg (100lb) and 5'4". Ate like a horse, had the energy that only a teenager can have, trained with some older guys for a year and made good/great gains but there was no way my squat was ever going to be more than 200lb or so, or my bench over 120lb. (i remember the gym. they had 50lb plates and skinny bars. It was always my goal to put a 50lb each side so about 120lb all up), never did manage it =( [wish someone had introduced me to GOMAD and something like SS when I was a 100lb teenager]

[melody]

Tom's claim of 400lb (reset to 335 x 3 x 5) in 6 (3) months is just ludicrous . For the first time in my life I seen a guy squat 200kg (440lb) only 4 weeks ago. Prior to that I have never seen anyone go over 3 plates each side (140kg/308lb), nPever...not even attempted 1/4 squats. If someone wants to squat 400lb they are going to need to ignore everything in their life and live-and-breath lifting, and that is if they are lucky enough to be blessed with the genetics to do so.



]

You are going to the wrong gyms. There are lots of people at the gym I go to who routinely squat 4+ plates to depth. The equipped lifters even more. Pretty sure you don't need amazing genetics or lifting obsession to squat 400. Just be willing to put in the work and the knowledge that it is attainable.