Like this?
Like this?
maybe he was trying to remain mysterious, like people who workout with hoods on.
personally it would give me the shits.
Even though my local gym (a YMCA) only has one squat rack, I typically never have to wait more than a few minutes to get in there because virtually noone squats (or does much of anything else requiring the rack). Yesterday a group of 4 moderately built guys wearing athletic wear suggesting they play football for a nearby university jumped in there just before I could. Seeing them drop the bar down onto the supports, I hoped (against all odds) that they were at least setting up to do rack pulls or something legitimate.
Nope. Incoming 4 sets of 225 lbs shrugs superset with mirror flexing for each of them. They took nearly 45 minutes to complete their rigorous "trap day" before leaving the gym with no other lifts performed. If only they knew that they could just use the large open floor space to pick that weight up from the ground and shrug. Then again, I'm sure they wanted to avoid accidentally deadlifting 225 lbs to protect their backs for football season.
shit like that gets me mad.
...but isn't deadlifting dangerous?
Right before my first work set on bench I look around the room in search of spotter. The YMCA was filled with the usual schmoes. With no one looking particularly competent I asked the nearest guy for a spot. He agreed and I started setting up. Arch, legs, lats... everything was perfectly locked in as I unracked the weight. Deep Breath. Hold It. Lower the weight. Explode of the chest. ... and then this guy starts yelling at me to breath LOL, right when I need to be tightest. He continues this the entire set, even though I was clearly exhaling at the top of the rep. Anyway, I block him out and finish the set.
He decides we are now brothers in iron and starts chatting me up as I am resting. "I see all these guys coming in here and resting like 5-10 minutes between sets. If it's that heavy that you need that much rest then you should just lower the weight." I just stare at him as he sets up on the bench next to me to do 3" ROM, "bench lockouts" with 140lbs.
He finishes up and continues: "Bench isn't the only thing you do is it?" "No," I say, "I just got done squatting." "Oh yeah, squatting!" he interrupts, "I hear its the best exercise for you, but it hurts my back so I don't do it."
I ask him if he has ever had coaching or uses a belt. "Nah, I don't need a belt. Turns out all these years the science was wrong, belts don't actually do anything." "That's interesting," I say, "I used to have back pain until I cleaned up my form and started wearing a belt for my heavy sets." He replies "Well we aren't Turkish weightlifters trying to squat 500kg so I don't really see the point."
-_-
I go in for my final work set and finish strong. "How much was that?" he asks. "It was 220lbs. Not much, but its slowly rising," I reply. He proceeds to tell me "You know know there is a guy here, Jean Luc, who benches over 315lbs!" [Jean Luc is jacked as hell, but I have never seen this guy do anything but bench and rowing]. "Oh yeah!" I say. "I've seen him. I'm hoping to get my bench up that high and even higher one day." "No, no no," he says, "Genetic limits. Genetic Limits"
What a crock of shit.
When I walk in to the gym, people scatter in fear. Only 1 squat rack necessary, because it's all mine.