Madness, sheer madness, all of it. Root and branch. Yet Paul Chek would be proud to see his legacy being carried forward.
Printable View
So my gym, Crunch Fitness, has this "show us how you Crunch" program where people submit clips of themselves working out and then crunch plays them on the TVs. Saw a clip just now of a dude putting a bar with 135 lbs on his back in the high bar position, bend over to grab a bar on the floor with 95 lbs, and then proceed to deadlift the 95 lb bar for a couple reps while balancing the 135 lb bar on his back with now hands.
*with no hands
Another gem: Middle aged man wearing an altitude mask stands up a pair of dumbbells in front of a flat bench. He then stacks a second pair of dumbbells on top of the first pair of dumbbells, places his hands on the two stacks of dumbbells, spreads his legs so the flat bench he's in front of pentrates between his thighs, and then basically starts clapping his feet together over the flat bench while balancing on his hands which again are balanced on a small tower of dumbbells.
I've never seen anything so functional before.
Wouldn't normally post but, saw this last night. Picture the smith machine. Picture a flat bench under the bar, but running parallel, not perpendicular. Picture someone laying on the bench under 135 lbs or so. picture a triangular close grip seated row attachment in their hands, and them pressing this up against the bar, and them doing close grip presses this way. It was so odd I can barely accurately describe it. Just kept waiting for it to slip out and the weight crash onto their face.
A woman was doing kipping pull ups in the gym the other day... on an assisted pull up/dip machine. On the 2nd rep she lost her knee placement and nearly bit it. She somehow managed to not fall and decided further attempts weren't in the cards for the day.
KangaJoo: this is a classic line right here. Why couldn’t I have thought of it?
I am now adopting this phrase into my regular pattern of speech.
I've never seen anything so functional before.[/QUOTE]
Spotted yesterday: Sumo Power Cleans, supersetted with Swiss Ball Slams.
This is about equipment, rather than silly things other people do. My gym has a single, crappy squat rack that the gym owner probably paid way too much for. It's shiny and new, but the holes are three inches apart, and I can't bench in it because the safeties don't go low enough. But it's still the best gym I have access to, and the only one that isn't actively going out of their way to scam people every which way, so it will have to do.
Anyway, I'm resting between sets, and I notice a small, ominous looking warning sign on the side of the rack. It says, "WARNING: TO REDUCE THE RISK OF SERIOUS SPINAL INJURY, DO NOT PLACE STOP CATCHES BELOW THIS LEVEL WHEN DOING SQUAT EXERCISES. <-----> STOP CATCHES MUST BE USED AT ALL TIMES WHEN USING THIS MACHINE"
There's a big line indicating a level at about where my waistband is. I don't know if "stop catches" are the safeties or the hooks that you rack the bar into, but I'm assuming safeties. Either way, I don't want them at waist level.
So now, when I do my squats, I feel like a real bad-ass rebel. I go way down past that level on the sign, knowing that my spine could snap at any moment! I'm a risk-taker and I live on the edge! Carpe Diem, motherfuckers! :)
At first I thought the sign was silly and shouldn't be there. But then I realized that it ensures that most other people will be afraid to use the rack, which frees it up for me. I get to get stronger, and they get to avoid snapping their spines in half! Win-win!