On The Frontline: Observations From Working In A Gym

[Hazzard]

Someone in the gym yesterday complained about my music, indicating as if it was too intense for him and he wanted some techno... To quote Eminem, "nobody listens to techno" mate (the song that was playing was of Al's choice by the way!). I know my musical choice isn't to everyone's, but we're at a gym where you're supposed to be tearing the iron apart, not pussyfooting around.

Speaking of which, I said this to him and he was all "meeeeh" and then proceeded to do 40/50kg overhead presses in the smith-machine, on a bench, wearing gloves, wearing wrist straps, wearing a bodybuilding belt... Yeah, you're a pussy mate.

[BendtheBar]

Techno reminds me of LA Fitness. Spent 2 days at an LA Fitness this year and everything sounded like this:

Techno Bass Remix - YouTube

Techno Bass Remix - YouTube

I felt like I was being programmed.

[Hazzard]

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

Techno reminds me of LA Fitness. Spent 2 days at an LA Fitness this year and everything sounded like this:

I felt like I was being programmed.

I actually rather like other "made on a computer" genres, such as drum'n'bass and dubstep, but techno just sounds like drivel from the 90s to me.

pendulum hold your colour - YouTube

pendulum hold your colour - YouTube

[Hazzard]

I wasn't working yesterday, but as you guys know I was training the bench press. John, other training guy and I had the bar loaded with 120kg and red bands, totaling approximately 140kg near lock-out. This foreign dude, I'm taking a stab at Polish, asked about the bands, which I'm always fine about - if people ask then I'm more than happy to tell them what I'm up to and why I'm doing it. But this dude... first of all he wanted a go and I was kinda hesitant because there were three of us and we were working round and it would just ruin our flow. Usually I'd be fine with this, but he just came across as rude.

Secondly, he wanted to jump straight in at 120/140 without doing any warming up. LOLWUT. He was cool with this and I asked him how much he could bench. Nonchalantly he just chucked out 160kg as if it was nothing. I can bench 160 but there's no way in hell I'd jump in at 140 because I don't want a broken/twisted/pulled/screwed up shoulder/pec/tricep. His flippant and irreverent attitude really pissed me off, but we let him have a go in the end. He busted out about five reps bringing his arms to about right angles, so three-odd inches off his chest (shush you at the back about to mention me forcing a short ROM with my arch - the bar has to touch your chest, irrelevant to where it is!) with his elbows nice and high, pretty much perpendicular to his torso.

Bet your shoulders loved that brah. Next time you want to use OUR (well Al's, but shush) equipment you can ASK politely and use it properly.

[Fazc]

Originally Posted by Hazzard

...shush you at the back about to mention me forcing a short ROM with my arch - the bar has to touch your chest, irrelevant to where it is!

Hehehe!

Yeah I've had that kind of attitude before. In his own mind he'll sleep well at night knowing he matched whatever the strong guys at the gym were doing. It does make you roll your eyes.

When I was younger I used to love messing with these guys. There were a group of older guys squatting and I knew they thought they were the balls, they would jump around, shout and generally act like big shots but I also knew they couldn't squat for shit, 140kg maybe on a good day. So I asked as innocently as possible, in my geekiest voice (tough for me, right) "can i work in please". They of course looked at me like I had just spit in their tea and banged their mothers. But they agreed, I'm sure they thought they'd show the young kid who the boss was.

Anyway, you can probably guess the rest. I went upto 180kg while they were stuck at 140kg for partials. Thanked them and went off!

I haven't got the same chip on my shoulder anymore, so I tend not to get involved in this stuff now but it's fun to remember!

[Hazzard]

Originally Posted by Fazc

Hehehe!

Yeah I've had that kind of attitude before. In his own mind he'll sleep well at night knowing he matched whatever the strong guys at the gym were doing. It does make you roll your eyes.

When I was younger I used to love messing with these guys. There were a group of older guys squatting and I knew they thought they were the balls, they would jump around, shout and generally act like big shots but I also knew they couldn't squat for shit, 140kg maybe on a good day. So I asked as innocently as possible, in my geekiest voice (tough for me, right) "can i work in please". They of course looked at me like I had just spit in their tea and banged their mothers. But they agreed, I'm sure they thought they'd show the young kid who the boss was.

Anyway, you can probably guess the rest. I went upto 180kg while they were stuck at 140kg for partials. Thanked them and went off!

I haven't got the same chip on my shoulder anymore, so I tend not to get involved in this stuff now but it's fun to remember!

Haha, that is awesome mate, nicely done! Bet they spent the rest of the day reeling. Actually, I doubt they did as they're too busy stroking their egos and Ed Hardy t-shirts to notice someone who's actually much stronger than them!

It's not so much what people do, its their attitude with which they do it. I don't really care if a bunch of kids are squatting less than 60kg to half depth, I just ignore it as long as they're nice kids. It was quite funny having them in the adjacent rack to me in awe of the 140 speed squats I was casually busting out. *Strokes ego and Ed Hardy t-shirt.*

[LtL]

That guy is a moron. What H neglected to mention is that the guy who wanted to bench has the physique of an upside down cheese wedge. He is obviously "on" and NEVER trains his legs. Thus his opinion on anything is, in my book, null and void and should be avoided like him.

LtL

[Hazzard]

Two irritants (I had three, but I seem to have forgotten the third) today:

The first Al mentioned in his log, the same douchebag who wanted techno to play the other day was CGBP-ing with the worst grip I have ever seen. Fair enough (kind of) if you want to use suicide grip (although I don't recommend it) but the bar rested at the bottom of his palms near his wrists, and his fingers were essentially pushed into the side of the bar. I was excited about the potential for it to fall on his face, but alas no.

Secondly, tidying up a hardcore gym at the end of the day is absolutely exhausting. Lugging 20kg plates and 50kg dumbbells around feels like another workout and it's killer on my back. I don't know why it's so effing difficult for people to tidy up after themselves, it's not exactly difficult. Adding to this, a dude comes in in the evening's and he and I get on pretty well. We banter a little and it's all good. He was telling me last night how he was working in with this guy on the bench and at the end of it started to tidy away. The dude he was lifting with asked him why he's bothering as it's not his gym and therefore there's no need to tidy up. I'll finish by saying one thing: What. A. Prick. Pardon my French.

[LtL]

Techno man has some of the worst attitude I've witnessed in that gym.

LtL

[BendtheBar]

The first Al mentioned in his log, the same douchebag who wanted techno to play the other day was CGBP-ing with the worst grip I have ever seen. Fair enough (kind of) if you want to use suicide grip (although I don't recommend it) but the bar rested at the bottom of his palms near his wrists, and his fingers were essentially pushed into the side of the bar.

I really don't understand where some of these people get this stuff. Somewhere, some bodybuilder stated that if you do such and such you will hit the outer whatever head and massive growth will ensue.