Unwritten Rules of the Gym

[Hazzard]

Okay, so everyone knows the basic rules of the gym and gym etiquette: tidy up after yourself, take care of the equipment, support and help out others when required and so on and so forth. But what constitutes the other unwritten rules of the gym environment, ones that whilst may not make a difference to the smooth operation and running of an establishment, provide its users with the best outcomes and results and are things they most people often ignore?

Spotter communication
This works both ways. If you ask me to spot for you, it’ll help a hell of a lot if you tell me exactly how you wish for me to spot you. This is self-explanatory on certain exercises, but even for them it’s always nice to know how many reps you’re going for. On lifts such as the bench press, knowing your lift-out call beforehand is paramount to receiving a smooth load out from a spotter simultaneously with you expecting to receive the bar. Casually mumbling “yeah” does nothing but hinder your attempts at the set. In regards to being the spotter, just do as the lifter says. If they want a few extra spotted reps, by all means help them out. However, if they want to be left alone when lifting and you’re there just for safety, make sure you don’t start upright rowing the bar off my chest. Yes, I’ve had this happen. And yes, I’ve also had one half of a two-man spot team on the squat hold onto the bar as I’ve squatted down. And it wasn’t pretty.

Lift fast
Bodybuilders like to and find results using a technique known as time under tension. As for the rest of us powerlifters and general gym rats lifting a weight as fast as you possibly can is incredibly beneficial to both the amount you can lift and the development of the involved muscle groups. I often see this most pronounced when people are deadlifting. At the gym I attend the amount of people I see half-arsing a deadlift pull and subsequently wondering why they couldn’t lock out is astonishing. When lifting, irrelevant to what exercise it is, there has to be a real drive to move the bar and its accompanied weight as fast as possible.

Why all that equipment?
Belts, straps, wraps, gloves and all the other miscellaneous equipment that accompanies a great deal of gym goers are perfectly valid to use (well, apart from gloves unless you want to stand out as someone who’s never lifted a weight before). However, people should concern themselves with why they are using this equipment and whether they should or not. For example there is certainly no need to wear a belt when doing lat. pull-downs. And yes, I’ve seen it. If you’re aiming to pull a new personal best on the deadlift, however, then you’re more than welcome to belt up. I see way too many people wearing belts, wrist straps and gloves when they simply aren’t necessary. And yet, like I say, they are perfectly valid pieces of equipment when utilised properly.

Warm-up properly
This infuriates me. Some people seem to assume that because they’ve achieved a certain level of strength they can bypass warming up properly. And I don’t mean 20 minutes on a treadmill, just doing enough warm-up sets so that you’re joints, muscles and general body has warmed up and that your CNS is firing. Watching people jump straight into 60kg on the bench press, to 100kg, then straight to 140kg is like a bullet to the brain and whilst it is fairly macabre to wish ill-fait upon anyone, a simple pulled shoulder or torn pec would certainly allow them to see the error of their ways. But alas. Start by warming up with just the bar (except on the deadlift where this can be difficult and unnecessary as long as you have obtained a reasonable level of strength) and do numerous sets with low reps, building up the weight as one progresses. Simple and easy, it just takes patience to work your way up through the weights so you’re primed and ready to tackle the big numbers.

All Sets Are Work Sets
Whilst this last point isn’t strictly true in terms of strength and muscle development, its worth treating every set as if it’s a work set, meaning that your body should be set up correctly on the bench press, for example, and breathing should be done correctly for every attempt at a lift, be it easy or difficult. Repeating this movement pattern will allow you to focus on moving the weight itself, when it comes to max effort lifts, rather than worrying about tightening your scapula or breaking at the hips or suchlike.

[Shadowschmadow]

Pretty decent rant... Lol

[5kgLifter]

Nice post Hazzard...hopefully, I'll never have to deal with the spotter issue, but I guess it helps if you have a regular spotter that understands exactly what you want and how to go about spotting you.

[Gaz6682]

My brief to any spotter is help me get the bar into position and then don't touch it again until I'm either dead or celebrating

I'm joking of course but you get my point, most people come in too early and rightly you have pointed out that a degree of understanding is crucial.

[Shadowschmadow]

Only time I use a spotter is for bench. I tell them how much the weight is, how many reps I'm going for, and not to touch the bar unless I start going in reverse.

[Hazzard]

Originally Posted by Shadow

Pretty decent rant... Lol

Haha, cheers buddy.

Originally Posted by 5kgLifter

Nice post Hazzard...hopefully, I'll never have to deal with the spotter issue, but I guess it helps if you have a regular spotter that understands exactly what you want and how to go about spotting you.

Yeah, that's pretty much exactly what you need. Makes the take out on the bench of a hell of a loot smoother!

Originally Posted by Gaz6682

My brief to any spotter is help me get the bar into position and then don't touch it again until I'm either dead or celebrating

I'm joking of course but you get my point, most people come in too early and rightly you have pointed out that a degree of understanding is crucial.

Exactly, there's a difference between hard and HARD when pressing and it's only when the bar starts suffering to gravity that they need to touch it.

Originally Posted by Shadow

Only time I use a spotter is for bench. I tell them how much the weight is, how many reps I'm going for, and not to touch the bar unless I start going in reverse.

Exactly.

[Aurik]

Good stuff Hazzard. The whole bench press spotting is one of my pet peeves -- I'll tell someone "I'm going for X reps. I really only want a handoff and a rescue if I get stapled." And yet they still are there, "helping" me get those last couple of reps. Fortunately there are a couple of guys at the gym who I can trust to spot me without interfering with my reps, but those are few and far between.

[Soldier]

Funny spotting story-

My wife trains with me sometimes, and she does a great job lifting for a beginner, but she gets REALLY nervous about not knowing certain things or doing them wrong. One day I was benching, and on my last set I knew I wanted a little help getting it in position. I asked my wife to give me a lift-off. She started getting all nervous so I told her "On the count of 3 just help me get the bar over me chest, then help me just a little if the bar stops moving up."

Fairly simple instructions, or so I thought.

I got under the bar, tightened up, arched up, got my grip, then counted to three. She grabs the bar, helps me move it out, then KEEPS HOLDING THE BAR. I summon just enough breath to scream "LET GO!". When she finally does, my breath is all gone and I've got nothing left, so I just drop the bar back into the rack.

When I asked her what the hell she was thinking, she told me the bar wasn't over my chest yet, then said "I TOLD you not to have me do this."

[5kgLifter]

Originally Posted by Soldier

Funny spotting story-

My wife trains with me sometimes, and she does a great job lifting for a beginner, but she gets REALLY nervous about not knowing certain things or doing them wrong. One day I was benching, and on my last set I knew I wanted a little help getting it in position. I asked my wife to give me a lift-off. She started getting all nervous so I told her "On the count of 3 just help me get the bar over me chest, then help me just a little if the bar stops moving up."

Fairly simple instructions, or so I thought.

I got under the bar, tightened up, arched up, got my grip, then counted to three. She grabs the bar, helps me move it out, then KEEPS HOLDING THE BAR. I summon just enough breath to scream "LET GO!". When she finally does, my breath is all gone and I've got nothing left, so I just drop the bar back into the rack.

When I asked her what the hell she was thinking, she told me the bar wasn't over my chest yet, then said "I TOLD you not to have me do this."

lost in translation, huh?

[Aurik]

Originally Posted by Soldier

Funny spotting story-

My wife trains with me sometimes, and she does a great job lifting for a beginner, but she gets REALLY nervous about not knowing certain things or doing them wrong. One day I was benching, and on my last set I knew I wanted a little help getting it in position. I asked my wife to give me a lift-off. She started getting all nervous so I told her "On the count of 3 just help me get the bar over me chest, then help me just a little if the bar stops moving up."

Fairly simple instructions, or so I thought.

I got under the bar, tightened up, arched up, got my grip, then counted to three. She grabs the bar, helps me move it out, then KEEPS HOLDING THE BAR. I summon just enough breath to scream "LET GO!". When she finally does, my breath is all gone and I've got nothing left, so I just drop the bar back into the rack.

When I asked her what the hell she was thinking, she told me the bar wasn't over my chest yet, then said "I TOLD you not to have me do this."

Priceless!! So did you ever ask her to spot you again?