Joined a new gym last night. Hilarious

[elVarouza]

Enjoy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of4T...sGcMnswP04TbhQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6NL...sGcMnswP04TbhQ

Lolled at the huge exercise ball rack.

Today a girl benching slapped her spotter in the crotch for standing too close right before giving her a lift-off.

If someone did that to me they'd get a serious tongue lashing and could find another spotter. Sorry, but you have to get pretty close to spot someone on bench.

[brettd]

Sometimes ridicule is definitely warranted though: when I was learning to snatch, I was convinced that I would drop the bar on my head and spent a few shameful days doing it with a ski helmet on. Finally the gym owner saw, asked me what the fuck I was doing, and thankfully put an end to that.

holy shit. now THAT should be in this thread lol

[NigelB]

Yup. The first gym I joined had that exact squat rack/cage and I can tell you those hooks are the worst design ever. Clearing the lower lip without getting knocked backward from the bottom of the upper hook was a nice challenge to start a work set. I would watch in amazement as people would unrack backwards, just like the champ in the video. Never did figure out how they did it or even why. Life will always be full of mysteries.

Edit: Actually the next-to-last sentence is a lie. How: I never saw anyone (else) squat over 185 lb. Why: The mirror was on the other side of the room.

Same rack in the gym I go to and your right, awful design and brutal on the bar knurling also. Hooks are too far apart - nearly six inches, so either too high or too low for just about everybody - but you still hit the one above when you un-rack the bar.

The gym has just spent a lot of money on new equipment - including adding another smith machine and a climbing frame contraption with various things hanging from it - one of which is a trampoline/bouncer thing to lob medicine balls at - it has a warning about them being returned at pace but even so there have been a few injuries already - sadly the rack was not upgraded.

[Savs]

Same rack in the gym I go to and your right, awful design and brutal on the bar knurling also. Hooks are too far apart - nearly six inches, so either too high or too low for just about everybody - but you still hit the one above when you un-rack the bar.

I feel your pain. Yes, those hooks absolutely chewed up the bars. And yes, the hook spacing really, really sucked. My old gym also had adjustable benches (no fixed flat ones) made by the same company. Total crap. Too high, too narrow, and wobbly. I can't believe I stuck it out for a year in that gym.

[idlehands]

Lolled at the huge exercise ball rack.



If someone did that to me they'd get a serious tongue lashing and could find another spotter. Sorry, but you have to get pretty close to spot someone on bench.

Give her a tongue lashing !

[hreed]

Yup. The first gym I joined had that exact squat rack/cage and I can tell you those hooks are the worst design ever. Clearing the lower lip without getting knocked backward from the bottom of the upper hook was a nice challenge to start a work set. I would watch in amazement as people would unrack backwards, just like the champ in the video. Never did figure out how they did it or even why. Life will always be full of mysteries.

Edit: Actually the next-to-last sentence is a lie. How: I never saw anyone (else) squat over 185 lb. Why: The mirror was on the other side of the room.

I'll be in a Pure gym in two weeks when I travel to England. They have this rack in the corner, similar to the video, so I'll keep the unrack conundrum in mind.

[tan125]

Saw a guy "squatting" last night with his grip so wide that his hands were actually grasping the outside of the plates. Thought about saying something to him about this, but when I got closer, I also noticed that (1) he was doing single-legged squats; his left leg was resting on a bench behind him, and (2) he had all of 95 lb. on the bar.

[hagrid's dad]

Saw a guy "squatting" last night with his grip so wide that his hands were actually grasping the outside of the plates. Thought about saying something to him about this, but when I got closer, I also noticed that (1) he was doing single-legged squats; his left leg was resting on a bench behind him, and (2) he had all of 95 lb. on the bar.

Bulgarian Split Squats. Have never tried these, but apparently a legitimate exercise.

[Kazzin]

Trendy exercise, sure. Legitimate? Not so much.

[sael]

Got a recent story from myself:
Went to check out a new gym, all powerracks were occupied. Wandered around a bit and began warming up my squats without a rack. Rack became free, got in. First time squatting in a rack, felt like the pins were too low (in hindsight, the guy squatting before me was around as tall as I am). Set them one higher, still felt they were too low. Set them higher again. Put the bar back on the pins, and began loading plates for further warmups. Got under the bar - or tried to - as I realized the bar was like 2 inches above my shoulders when standing straight.
Looked around, saw one big dude smirking at me, began deloading the damn plates and set the pins back to where I had found them 8[