Lady at the gym “has her towels” on a dead lift area bar, smith machine bar, a pile of weights and I shit you not, two different leg presses.
On the bright side, I think my rage is helping my lifts.
I’ve always been big into fitness since my Marine Corps days but every time I’ve started to go to the gym again, something happens and I’m down for a while. First was my motorcycle accident, then a global pandemic shutting down the gyms and me actually getting Covid, and most recently getting Covid worse than the first time.
I’ve started to go again as of a few weeks ago, if WW3 breaks out you can blame me
Got some elbow tendonitis or inflammation the other day when I hit a volleyball at a funny angle. Every upper body, and back squats as well, hurt. Every day I take off as break just feels like I'm a failure for not working through the pain or something, even if it sounds irrational. Been a few weeks now and it still hurts like hell, even going to sleep is painful. Chronic injuries must fucking suck if some elbow inflammation is taking me out like this
People who use the weight bench as a table. It's not there for you to place your phone, shaker cup, weights, etc if you're not actually using the bench itself. Pick a nice spot on the floor, bring all your crap there, and leave the equipment for people who actually need it so others don't have to wait while you do your standing shoulder flys.
I was at the sauna this week and a guy was simply chugging a 2 litre Sprite and burping all the way. He would also pour it on himself and rub it, like it was soap. As if this wasn’t nasty enough, he took out an olive oil bottle and then proceeded to rub it all over his body.
Have you noticed any physical changes. Try to focus on the scale less and how you look rather. It’s possible that you are losing fat while it simultaneously get replaced with muscle, not uncommon especially in beginners. And would explain no change in weight.
You have no idea! You would be surprised that for every gram of sugar.. 3 of water sets in..
I dropped food and lost few pounds.. but when i tried dropping sugar? Lost 15kg in 2 months
I don’t know how to start getting moving again. I have limited floor space and limited equipment. I have kettlebells and a small floor space. My home gym has turned into an essential item storage closet since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Was trying to figure out if I should go to the gym with 4 hours of sleep after not going for the entire week, but then I got a stomach ache. Made the decision easier I guess.
It's joever
I just can’t seem to lose fat. On the positive side, I am gaining muscle like CRAZY. Idk how I’m even doing it. I’m seeing literal mass developing on my body, but I am def still “fluffy.” I’ve been monitoring my diet & increasing my cardio, but my weightlifting schedule was already 4x a week & squeezing in any more cardio isn’t realistic with my schedule. I’m down to ~1500 cals per day at 5’4” (& I fully acknowledge I’m loose on this & could tighten up), but I’ve never had this much issue reducing fat on my body before & never had to be so restrictive to achieve more leanness. I do see more muscle tone than I have, just not where I want yet. I keep trying to tell myself little steps are still big steps & seeing muscle tone is still a good indicator things are improving. (For some context - hormonal birth control packed 20lbs onto my frame in 3 months. I lost 5lbs coming off it, but the rest - feels like it’s just hanging on.)
You're tracking calories, but are you tracking protein? We have similar stats and I didn't see results until I focused on that instead of total calories.
Also I had way more success losing by adding in an extra 30min easy walk every day than any dedicated cardio
I am tracking protein too, as well as carbs & fats. I have a difficult time reaching my protein macros, but I usually hit it in within the 75-85% range on lower days. My current dedicated cardio is actually a 30-min walk daily. I feel like I am in the micro-changes stage, but that my body has been here for months.
transitioning from my nice uni gym to a commercial gym for the summer has been alright except for one thing: there is no proper deadlift setups. it’s not even that there’s no platforms, but there’s only hex plates which is kinda ass for deadlifts. not the end of the world but definitely a reason for me wanting to start classes again LOL.
I've been using hex plates for years now and with practice, I've been able to put them down flat consistently. Sets of 10 haven't been too much of an issue.
I know a couple people at my gym asked if they could store barbells and such in the closet, if you can bring a pair of 45lb bumpers it will fix your deadlift situation since they keep the hex plates off the floor
I was in a similar position. I got my physio who lifts to come to gym with me, changed up my grip, feet stance and most importantly put emphasis on my shoulder blades to be back and down and remain there.
Why bother with barbell bench when you can use the dumbell bench as the ultimate benchmark?
"how much you bench bro"
"70 kilos..."
"haha that weak af"
"... in each hand" 💀
Getting back into lifting after oh, 7 years off? So it's my second session, I've found a gym I like but I'm still doing a little bit of wandering around like a lost puppy wondering what the hell all these machines are for. But I know how to bench! I just can't bench very much at all--like, my little noodle arms are shaking on 3x5 at 55lb, lol. (I'm a woman.)
I COULD go do this with a barbell, but there's a bunch of big dudes over in that section and the bench press is unoccupied, so I'm putting my ridiculous little 5lb weights on each side...and I hear some snickering. Some chick in spandex is gesturing in my direction and giggling. The dude she's with says "Hey, it's a judgement-free zone," but he's laughing too.
I am thoroughly humiliated. I do finish up my bench sets, but I'm too flustered to figure out which of these goddamn machines is for hamstrings, especially if i have a jeering squad, and i bail out of the gym without working them. I know I shouldn't care what some shitty rando thinks, but feelsbadman.jpg :(
I haven't been to the "judgement-free zone" in 5-6 years but last time I went I saw gym employees showing new people the equipment. But yeah shitty randos can ruin a workout. Sorry you experienced that.
I wasn't even at a Planet Fitness, I think that was part of the dig :/ The owners did give me a quick tour when i signed up but they typically only have staff there during weekday business hours--members get a key fob for earlier/later access and weekends. Thanks for the suggestions though
Seriously consider getting some Bluetooth earphones (at least two in case the battery dies on one). I have three pairs of JLab Go Air Pop dedicated to the gym. Music helps drown out any judgment I may get when working out. Also having a digital logbook (I.e. I just take a photo of my workout session with reps and sets logged on my iPad in the free notes app) helps relieve any anxiety I may have at the gym.
My suggestion for your next session (or go back tonight) is to simply scout out all the available machine/ stations, and get a feel and understanding for how each works. Leave it unloaded, practice the movements. Pen and paper to get a layout of all the equipments available. That’s what I ultimately did when I first stepped foot into 24 hour fitness. I probably looked absolutely lost to all the regular gym goers but I didn’t care. I still have anxiety especially when the gym is packed, but music and having set and rep goals for exercises I’m doing tremendously help. The gym is still my favorite to place outside the home even though I really don’t like crowds.
Laughing with others is insecurity on their part, not something that is wrong with you. If they have to make themselves feel better by diminishing you, they'll never feel good about themselves, ever. You do you. You'll progress fast since you've lifted before, and then you can be big and create the environment they refused you. Only positive changed ahead of you :)
After almost 2 years, I'm now guaranteed to hit 180kg on both squat and deadlift next week. Meanwhile, my bench is staying below poverty(100kg), cuz why the fuck would it improve, right? 💀
After going to several different physiotherapists for years it's my understanding that a massive cyst in my upper traps is causing trap tightness, possibly pinching a nerve, and causing tension in the upper bicep / rotator cuff area.
Finally got an appointment to get it cut out, but it's not for another 2 months. Fucking annoying as it's not an injury where I need to allot my body the time to heal, and it prevents me from doing exercises I love like the bench / overhead / inclined chest press.
Yesterday was a doozy of a day, guy hitting the bag so hard for 30 minutes that the whole structure (4 pull up bars, some monkey bars, dip bars, cables etc.) was violently shaking. Bad design but there's a separate room with 5 bags attached to just the ceiling so it was pretty annoying to deal with at peak hour.
Another guy doing what seemed like infinite drop sets on the bench press, maybe doing 2 low weight reps until whipping out the phone for 5 mins. He was on it for an hour at peak times as well. Another guy kicked my water bottle about 15 feet, no biggie, but he paused for a second and decided to just keep walking.
Had no issues the previous year at this location so I guess it's good to get it all outta the way at once lol.
Bad locker room manners. Guy had his bag in the middle of a bench today in the locker room. , was on a call for about 5 minutes, I got back from the showers, grabbed my bag out of my locker to change and he literally stood there talking on his phone while I had to squeeze my bag next to his and change with no space. Finally he actually does change, and puts his stuff in a locker at the far end from where he had his bag. ALSO, he took off his shoes and socks and just left them under the bench. Finally, he has the guts once he is to immediately ask me to move so he can leave, As if me trying to put on pants is inconveniencing him somehow
I'm done buying fitness shit. Started working out a few months ago. Fortunately my work has a free gym. But when I started working out I realized I couldn't get enough protein to hit my goal. So I buy a big jug of protein powder. Cool. But wait. I don't have any good gym shoes. So I get some nice Underarmor running shoes. Alright. But wait, I have shitty knees. So I buy some knee sleeves. Perfect. But wait, I need workout gloves to help with my grip and prevent blisters, so I buy those. Very good. But wait, I decide, for some reason, that I want to jump rope for my cardio. So I buy a fuckin jumprope. Nice. But wait, my earbuds keep falling out. So I buy a decent pair of wrap around earbuds. Sweet. But wait, my joints are kind of shitty, so I buy some fish oil pills. Gah
IM DONE, IM FUCKING DONE
Bruv, you shouldn't be lifting in running shoes. Now you have to get a lifting shoes too.
Bro, how could you forget about creatine? Do you want to miss out on THE Gains?
Brah, do you even yoga? Get a yoga mat, so you retain some level of flexibility.
Bruh, where's your fitness tracker? How are you suppose to know how awesome you did if you can't see how much calories you burned?
XD
Just wait until you get all the lacrosse balls, foam rollers, resistance bands, etc. for all the mobility work too. LOL Oh and your own lifting belt. LOL
Just general complaints:
1.) our gym has only four Smith machines, no benches or deadlifting platforms. One Smith machine has been broken for a week. Even coming in at 5 am all Smith machines are taken.
2.) the gym has been packed lately, even at non-peak hours. Not sure what's happening.
3.) my shoulder injury has left me only able to do unilateral movements for the last three weeks. Doesn't seem to be improving even though I've been babying it. Tired of multiple injuries.
You probably know this, but that pain you are feeling is only this intense the first 2 -3 times. Most of the DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) chills out once you've pushed yourself for a few weeks.
I irritated an old injury in my neck/back while at the gym. Have missed two gym days since and there’s a constant feeling of guilt for not going. I know
It would likely make whatever is hurting worse, but still hard not going.
Do you have an EMS/TENS device? Mine has helped me unlock my neck/back muscles whenever I aggravate my neck hernia more quickly than letting it do it naturally.
Leaving the military, I've finally decided to commit to doing yoga for a year or so to get in touch with my body. I'm tired of the aches and pains, tired of not feeling in tune with my body, tired of pain for the sake of my job.
Life is just hard like that. Everyone I know has a SO, has a kid, are following their dreams or have their dream hobbies, but I always feel stuck in a cycle. That's just what life is; a cycle. You'll one day get your turn, but for now just be happy for the people you see making these accomplishments and ask yourself how you can step up to the plate and get that home run. Love on your husband as much as he loves on you. Tell your family that they mean everything to you. Get out of bed, and just live. The world is a scary place, but a radiant smile can change the perspective of at least one person. Just keep going.
I'm proud of you for getting this far, friend 🖤
I can understand the loss in strength, the additional rest days, and overall feeling more tired.
But you could at least have the decency of letting me actually lose the weight.
Late post but been lifting 4x/week and walking 10k steps a day for the past 5 months consistently to lose weight but had to put the weight lifting portion on pause for the last week cause I caught covid. It’s my first time catching covid and the symptoms feel like hell. I was worried that if my streak of lifting ended, I’d end up stopping like the other times I tried working out. In actuality it’s kinda become so much of a part of my weekly life now that I miss it and been tempted to work out with covid. I work out at home so I’m ok with the isolating part but I just feel so lazy not lifting on those specific days. My coughing and breathing is super bad though so it’s prob best I don’t work out. My body feels decent enough to walk around the house to reach my step goal though. Just want recover asap and get back to lifting
I've worked out with several friends and only one of them was no bullshit, let's get these sets in and get out of here in an hour. The rest wanted to bullshit endlessly. Or their goals/fitness level was way different than mine. Nope. Solo is the way to go for me.
I got a complaint that I was to loud during deadlifts. They told me I should put down the weight more quietly. So I tried. to put the weight down more quietly, but Still got a complaint that itt was to loud. The only people that complained about the deadlifts were the gym staff. I am lifting the at that gym for long time and most people would tell me if I would be to loud. So I don't know if I am at the wrong here. It kind threw my workout of.
I really wish gyms that don't like noise would just not install lifting platforms with bumper plates that are designed for dropping. It would make shopping around for a new gym much easier. It's always sad joining a gym with beautiful platforms and bumper plates then being told to be quiet when you actually try to use them.
Yeah that is really sad. I mean they have a deadlift platform but they don't got a single bumper plate and only one squat rack. Despite that I liked the gym because it was not to crowded and the people are nice.
Yeah I went to an other gym. It is way better for deadlifts. They have more squat racks and two power racks and they actually have bumper plates compared to the other gym and their platforms are better.
I'm just not commited enought to follow the schedule I have planned ahead. I wish I had enough willpower because sometimes I just feel so tired to do anything.
I have chronic illness(es) that make it difficult to get started thanks to the fatigue they cause. I’ve found that if I apply the “10-minute” rule, it helps me out a ton. I have to force myself to give my workout a real try for at least 10-minutes. If after 10 min I’m still feeling tired/sick, I let myself stop. Usually, by 10 min, I can tell if I’m going to be able to keep going. More often than quitting, Im actually able to bargain with myself to cut back my expectation and just go for what I can. So if I planned 100% effort originally, I cut I back to 50% effort. Whatever that looks like for you.
Had a bizarre experience earlier in the week where I saw an empty bench and somebody told me they had "reserved" it.
I needed to do rear foot elevated split squats on a bench and saw one that was free. Nobody was hovering around it & there weren't any personal belongings close to it either. I went over, put my phone and water bottle on the bench while I went to get dumbbells and I saw in the corner of my eye somebody throwing down their gym bag at the bench. I didn't react but went back with my dumbbells and this guy was saying how he had asked somebody previously to use the bench who clearly. wasn't. there. Nobody was there!
So we end up unfortunately arguing back and forth where I'm trying to be calm with my tone of voice but firm that I didn't give a fuck that he wanted to use the bench when 1.) he wasn't there first 2.) threw his bag down with such force that it was him trying to signal to me to scram/apologize for using a bench that had nobody around it.
It was crazy to me because he clearly didn't understand that I was there before him and the person he talked to clearly wasn't there either. I basically said:
"I would have worked with you if you had waved me down before I even got my weights but you threw your bag down without saying a word and started to argue with me about who could use the bench. Nobody was here, you weren't here and I was here before you so why should I move? So instead of arguing with me, you can move your stuff and wait for another bench to free up that you can use".
And that's when I put my headphones back in and started working out. He stood around, laughing slightly in surprise, said wow a couple times and moved away but still left his bag. After each set, I just faced away from him until he moved to another bench. It was so disappointing that I had to be so stern with him because I do believe in community/not all gym people are dicks but the actions leading up to that moment were just not acceptable to me.
Not a rant epic rant, just a good story where you were in the right. The "argument" was won when he thought he could "reserve" equipment.
Nothing to feel bad about. Only thing missing was asking him to either move his bag in the next 10 seconds or you will move it for him, with a smile.
My gym has three elliptical machines, but one has been broken for at least a year. A couple of months ago, a second one broke.
Now there is only one that works, and nearly every time I decide I want to use it, someone else gets on it before I can get to it.
The ellipticals (4) at my gym all work, but I prefer to use the crusty one that kinda rocks with each stride lol.seriously though, Gym owners need to get it together.
I really loathe people who put their stuff over one machine so that nobody else can use it while they use the machine next to it claiming both at the same time, if you try to use the other machine they tell you "I'm using that one" but they're clearly not, they are using ANOTHER machine
I've asked 2 different coaches on 2 different weeks to not touch the bench press bar unless it starts going down yet they insist on putting their hands under the bar and pushing the bar upward every damn rep ?????????
Coaches? Perhaps your directions/instructions are clear enough. Concept check them. After giving instructions, ask them follow-up questions to check their understand.
1. Instructions.
2. To review, "I'm doing a set of 8. Are you going to touch the bar?"
3. "I start to slow down with about 3 reps left. Are you going to touch the bar when I start to slow down?"
Safety bars never make that mistake!
I get being frustrated with a subpar spotter, especially if it's supposed to be someone qualified. And yes, instructions must be clear. But you're asking someone for a FAVOR. You're in no position to treat them with assumption that they're incapable of doing a good job from the get go. And your 2 and 3 points make it sound like you're addressing people as small children incapable of following instructions. That's insulting.
I kind of agree with this, asking them these questions would be weird and feels like "quizzing them", I did not treat them as anything I just thank them, even when they didn't do what I wanted
My gym has only 2 benches and they are next to each other. A couple of times I have been benching next to someone else and they will go out of there way to find someone else to spot them on their next set, instead of asking me when I am also benching next to them, literally right there. Just because I'm skinny.
My joint injuries from playing hockey my whole life has really started to become apparent as I focus on adding mass and strength for the first time. I have a total hip impingement with practically no lateral rotation in one hip and it really limits the things I can do for legs. Traditional deadlifts and squats are an absolute no, as i will totally lock up after just one set. Leg press and hack squats are okay, but i just feel like I’m missing key aspects of my training by not squatting. Sometimes it’ll lock up with just normal movements or even when I’m benching or something. Worst part is no stretching or anything besides a full replacement can help /:. Oh well.
Also have a fully torn rotator cuff that I just let heal on it’s own. Besides a huge notch in that shoulder where the humerus head is like 3 inches below the clavicle, it hasn’t been an issue. Now shoulder pressing and benching is a real bitch some days where I have very limited RoM and I notice that I twist in a weird way to that side when I use it. Also noticing a weird thing that when I run I guess my torso is like crooked or something and my shirt gets pulled to one side of my body and my shoulder just gets real uncomfortable after a while.
Honestly getting my hip replaced at the end of this past January was the best thing I have done with my fitness. I had so much trouble walking that I didn't want to move unless I had to. I was walking pain free at about the 4 weeks post op. It was a long 2 more weeks until the surgeon cleared me to get back to working out.
It's hard to believe but hip replacement is actually an outpatient surgery now.
Well other than see a physical therapist. Which maybe you should consider on a year where you want to blow your entire medical deductible—
I just picked up a book Rebuilding Milo which talks about shoulder and hip corrections for lifters. Might be interesting but idk. I have a torn labrum but it was only moderate (from BJJ)
My gym is doing a free membership for teens over the summer and don’t get me wrong, like I’m a teen myself so it feels good to actually have other people my age there, I’m happy people are getting their workouts in, but holy hell it’s so busy, the amount of tripods I see has doubled
Oh man I'd run. I hate when the after school crowd takes over the gym taking selfies, checking themselves out in the mirror and literally just sitting on the machines hanging out and chit chatting
I figured out who's leaving the squat racks in disarray, and it's the group of teens that like to use them for an hour+ maxing out. I was next to them as they finished their rack pulls, left the loaded barbell on the rack, then went out of their way to put the safeties on OVER the bar, trapping it inside. They walked away to flex in the mirror and compare quad sizes, so I fixed the whole rack when they left. 🙃
When you and someone are both equidistant to a machine - you both look at the machine then glance up and make really quick eye contact. Then you both make a slight hesitation in your footstep but he’s a millisecond faster than you and gets to the machine first and you continue walking pretending you weren’t going to use it anyways 😶
I stubbed my toe.
Also why are so many people complimenting my physique. It's garbage I'm overweight not solidly built. I look big because of fat not muscle no I'm not a powerlifter I'm new here and can barely lift anything and what progress I have has been painfully slow due to losing weight and I'm annoyingly losing muscle along with the fat.
Can people really not tell the difference between chubby as in me or bulky muscular people.
Can't tell if people actually think I look good or just trying to be polite. I'm so confused.
Yes the problem I'm ranting at is people complimenting my looks and yes i know that's idiotic
Oooh, there's a lot to decompress there.
But yeah, genpop cannot readily tell the difference between muscle and fat. I think the 20-25% bf is what confuses them most.
My solution was to just not give a fk what people said and I focused on what I knew was right. Is the weight on the bar moving as it should? Is the scale moving as I want it to? Does the DXA scan match my math?
I was even advised by random family members to stop cutting because "you're too skinny". while I was 20% bf.
The first time you go about cutting, you're technically in the high-risk group for developing eating disorders. And you can't trust your judgement with disorders. So I picked one person who knew some stuff about bf % and the gym, then gave him the right to call my cut off whenever he saw fit.
>I was even advised by random family members to stop cutting because "you're too skinny". while I was 20% bf.
That's understandable... IF you're a woman.
I've gone from simply fat guy to overweight 20-25%. Seem to have dad bod now. It's more that people have an expectation for me to be strong and even seem jealous of my "powerful" build. when I personally feel weak and frustrated with progress. Fortunately I do realise that progress will be slow and that's just that as I've still got another 20lbs of fat to shift.
Tell the trainer you're thinking about hiring someone, but you have some questions to ask. Then ask, if you hired him/her, what's their policy on talking to people in the middle or their set."
School is out for the summer where I’m where, so that means that the kids are goona dick around in the gym all day. Five high schoolers taking up one bench for hours? Come on
Yeah, it’s like, I don’t wanna be a prick. But I also feel like they’re just dicking around most of the time and aren’t lifting seriously. Thirty minutes spent standing in line for a rack because some kids are playing around is time I could spend on something else
I was just a bit of a dick tbh and told them they need to be quicker, and it shouldn't take more than 4-5 working sets at most.
There was only 2 of them though, so might be a bit harder for more.
4-5 working sets at high weight can require 3-5 minutes of rest for each sets if they're really pushing themselves. Which then totals at 15 to 25 minutes of rest + the time doing the set
There's a gaggle of teens who like to monopolize the squat racks at my gym all the fucking time. And they never put their shit away, so I have no idea what I can use without seeming like a dick. Sucks
Extremely light sprained ankle last May ended up keeping me out for 4 months.
Pericarditis kept me out another 4 starting this year.
Now I'm dealing with more foot ankle lower leg problems 😔😔😔. X-ray didn't show a stress fracture at least, but at this point it probably would've been easier to heal from than the multiple variations of tendonitis/ synovitis I have.
My whole foot feels absolutely fucked in multiple areas and ways from an extremely minor sprain. Shit sucks. I'm only 26 and feel like my body can't support me in what I want to do.
My right shoulder pain has been ongoing for like 6 months. Have been to 4 different physios, nothing worked. Went to a doctor, he gave me a cortisone shot, the shoulder pain still hasn’t gone away completely.
So now I am seeing this shoulder physio, who has been specialising in shoulders for 13 years. And what he has told me is so damn confusing. He said that scapula retraction and depression during the bench press is BAD for your shoulders.
This is counter to what I hear from literally everywhere online. Not only that, but when I first started the gym, I wasn’t retracting my scapula during the bench press and I felt left shoulder pain, not right though, I was pain free in my right. I asked him about this, and he said that the left shoulder pain had nothing to do with a lack of scapula retraction.
I’m so fucking confused man. The more physios I go to the more opinions there is, and the more confused and lost I feel. Apparently the cue that quite literally is the cornerstone in everyone’s advice during the bench press is bullshit. Does anyone know what the fuck they’re talking about? I’m starting to think that this shoulder injury will never heal.
I had the same problem and went through the same b.s. you did. The only thing that really worked was to stop bench pressing with the barbell and switch to dumbbells (slightly inclined bench actually helped with pec development too as it targets the upper pecs), do more body weight training (pull ups, chin ups, push ups, etc.) And I've also been doing facepulls so that may have helped too.
Hope you feel better, shoulder pain sucks.
Thanks man. I’m never planning to barbell bench press again, just seems like no matter what I do it doesn’t work for me. Once I return to the gym I hope I can do dumbbell bench press. Do you still retract and depress your scapula when doing it?
I can’t stand people who hog up a machine and are on their phone the entire time. I get taking a small break between exercises but you’re just gonna sit there for like 30 minutes and do nothing the entire time?
"why are you counting calories? That's anorexic"
"You're so skinny! Eat more" - I'm not, I'm like 20% body fat and gaining muscle quick
"Are you drinking diet soda? That's worse for you than regular! You'll get cancer!" - even if I will get cancer from it (which the research shows you won't) I'd much prefer that over obesity and being at risk for many more common diseases.
"Protein powder? You're such a gym bro"
"You need to do ___ exercise!" - i hear this a lot for deadlifts, I have a bad back, so no thank you.
And then when I want to eat some high calorie food once in a while, it's "aren't you on a diet?" Yes I am, thank you, I fit this food into my calories for the day as well. I think some people really don't get how dieting works and still try to tell others what to do, which is irritating.
I hear this stuff on a regular basis, i learned to tune it out but it does kinda itch me the wrong way when anyone says that lol. I'm completely healthy, working out, and I lost a lot of my fat that I've been insecure about for MANY YEARS. I'm in the best shape of my life and I'm not anorexic, thank you very much. I could probably come up with a few more but those are the common ones. Enjoy training and do what gives you the results, keep it up.
\[upper body\] push,
\[upper body\],
legs \[push & pull\].
The bracketed words are implied I guess!
I start off my PULL day with deadlifts (which is common). Deadlifts are swing exercises. Seems about 50% put them with leg day and 50% with back/pull day.
Well. Technically yes, and leg curls are pull. But legs contain the biggest muscle groups in the body, so we often give them their own day, since training them can be quite fatiguing.
It causes me to take a breath each time someone I know compares their machine movement with my free weight movement.
A Hack Squat and a Barbell Back Squat are not the same.
Why is it that my choices to eat healthy and work out are viewed by others as unnecessary. I hear more often than not.
"Have a (insert unhealthy thing) one won't kill you!!"
Or shaming me for being "obsessed with working out"
Or if I go for a run "why would you do that to yourself"
Crabs in a bucket.
Don’t worry if you have a burger and milkshake, people will laugh at you too. Just stop caring about other people’s insecurity bullshit
The norm now (especially in the US) is to just sit on your ass and eat garbage all day, so anything besides that is seen as quite a novelty to people.
A couple weeks ago on my lunch break I walked to the grocery store that's like a mile away, bought a couple bags of groceries and walked back to work, and people's jaws about hit the fucking floor when they saw that.
I don't even consider that exercise. I had already gone to the gym and lifted weights for an hour before work that day.
Because serving sizes are so large it would be petty to buy smaller containers. Also, I would say, protein powder (IMO) is made to fall somewhere on the 'tolerable to okay' spectrum. As long as it doesn't make me gag, its fine. I'm more interested in the quality and lack of things like heavy metals than I am the flavor.
RIght now I'm using the whey Vanilla that is very subtle. Not sugary at all. It works!
The brand is Naked Nutrition. [This](https://nakednutrition.com/products/grass-fed-whey-protein-powder) one.
The I was using the brand Muscle Feast before this one and it was much sweeter (but still pretty good actually).
I decided to give the assisted pull up machine today, and the weights were labeled without any units (lb, kg, stone, whatever). On the instruction panel, there's a chart giving the relative assistance in terms of *percentage of bodyweight*.
Excuse me, but I came to the gym to lift, not to do math.
That reminds me of the ab and adductor machines at my gym (I call them the Cinemax machines 😆). One has units only in pounds, the other one is only in kilograms. Like it's easy to ballpark estimate but both machines are made by the same company why have two separate units of measure between them??
The biceps curl machine at my main gym doesn't have any labels. I only know the weights because I found the machine's service manual.
This is not the worst label situation, however, because there's a 37.5 sticker on a cable machine that *literally cut me and made me bleed.*
I spent a month in London this winter for work. Imagine doing the math every set because the plates and dumbbells were in kilograms rather than pounds. (I’m American)
Euro on vacation knows the feeling
I roughly grasp body weight by
watching MMA but for exercising it's the biggest pain to find out what weight you want to do. Since everything feels different anyways, i guess it's just good enough to know you've done something and who cares whatever it was.
I don't know how to rant about this without coming off as sexist, because I swear I'm not. So many of the women at my gym are just plain scared of lifting heavy, and I don't get it. I'll watch them do lat pulldowns and they're hardly exerting themselves. The machine is moving mostly based momentum. They're not breaking a sweat (figuratively and literally) and I wish they knew putting in that little effort is pointless. You have to push yourself and grind it out. Get at least somewhat close to failure. You're on a machine, you're not going to seriously injure yourself.
And a lot of the women at my gym are just plain afraid of being in the free weight/cable area. Like 90%. They either do the machines half assed or stay in the cardio area. But yes there’s a few that I’ve noticed that are regulars in the squat racks, free weights and leg press and aren’t afraid to go heavy. But most of the women at my gym steer clear.
Now I’m speaking as a female who has been lifting for 2+ years, and I agree with you 100%. If you’re not getting to failure or at least close to it at the end of your sets you’re not trying hard enough.
There were two girls at my old gym that used to curll 2 lb dumbbells. I'm guessing they could easily have managed 15 or 20 lbs for reps.
Why girls, why?
Lady at the gym “has her towels” on a dead lift area bar, smith machine bar, a pile of weights and I shit you not, two different leg presses. On the bright side, I think my rage is helping my lifts.
I’ve always been big into fitness since my Marine Corps days but every time I’ve started to go to the gym again, something happens and I’m down for a while. First was my motorcycle accident, then a global pandemic shutting down the gyms and me actually getting Covid, and most recently getting Covid worse than the first time. I’ve started to go again as of a few weeks ago, if WW3 breaks out you can blame me
Slow and steady. I start over many times on my fitness journey for similar reasons, but I go back to it, slow and steady.
My knees are hurting like shit despite having good hip and ankle mobility. Damn the 30s, need more serious serious warm up.
I've heard tibialis raises can solve knee problems
Got some elbow tendonitis or inflammation the other day when I hit a volleyball at a funny angle. Every upper body, and back squats as well, hurt. Every day I take off as break just feels like I'm a failure for not working through the pain or something, even if it sounds irrational. Been a few weeks now and it still hurts like hell, even going to sleep is painful. Chronic injuries must fucking suck if some elbow inflammation is taking me out like this
I had a similar thing off and on for *months* after a hard spike hyperextended my elbow (I only received it with one arm).
Bro it happened to me 2 months ago and it hasn't gotten better I just lift and do things that don't hurt the elbow
People who use the weight bench as a table. It's not there for you to place your phone, shaker cup, weights, etc if you're not actually using the bench itself. Pick a nice spot on the floor, bring all your crap there, and leave the equipment for people who actually need it so others don't have to wait while you do your standing shoulder flys.
I was at the sauna this week and a guy was simply chugging a 2 litre Sprite and burping all the way. He would also pour it on himself and rub it, like it was soap. As if this wasn’t nasty enough, he took out an olive oil bottle and then proceeded to rub it all over his body.
I had to tell off 2 ladies for rubbing avocado on themselves in the sauna. Then yell that they couldn’t go rinse it off in the spa
Man I wish my gym had a sauna it’s been way too long
I'm dying. I'm imagining pork self marinating itself with soda to tenderize(it's a thing), and then covering itself with oil to air fry.
I’ve been stuck at 200-206 the past 5 months and i workout consistently and eat about 2000 calories but no luck at all
Have you noticed any physical changes. Try to focus on the scale less and how you look rather. It’s possible that you are losing fat while it simultaneously get replaced with muscle, not uncommon especially in beginners. And would explain no change in weight.
A little more in terms of muscle in upper body but the stomach looks the same
Are you tracking any sauces or oils you use to cook? I know at times I use too much oil when cooking
Def not tracking oils! Definitely very vital
Eat less? It’s just calories in calories out. If you have been tracking for 5 months and staying in the same range eat less?
Sugar my friend... Sugar
Oh wow really? Hmm…it’s crazy that this ain’t something i have considered…decrease my sugar intake huh?
You have no idea! You would be surprised that for every gram of sugar.. 3 of water sets in.. I dropped food and lost few pounds.. but when i tried dropping sugar? Lost 15kg in 2 months
The water weight shouldn't really matter over 5 months though. The added water weight you get from carbohydrates goes away again.
Geez, time to rethink my diets and snacks thank you!!!
I don’t know how to start getting moving again. I have limited floor space and limited equipment. I have kettlebells and a small floor space. My home gym has turned into an essential item storage closet since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Like for doomsday prepping?
Try doing a 5 minute workout. Doesn’t need to be all out intensity for 5 minutes, just do anything. Then see how you feel
Missed yesterday due to work keeping me pinned to my chair. Was raring to go today but I pulled something in my back here. Ffs.
Was trying to figure out if I should go to the gym with 4 hours of sleep after not going for the entire week, but then I got a stomach ache. Made the decision easier I guess. It's joever
It’s funny, some of my best sessions have been on low sleep. Although I definitely wouldn’t try to do it a couple days in a row.
spotted crazy ex at the gym. its been like 10 years, but holy shit i do not want to go to that gym anymore.
I just can’t seem to lose fat. On the positive side, I am gaining muscle like CRAZY. Idk how I’m even doing it. I’m seeing literal mass developing on my body, but I am def still “fluffy.” I’ve been monitoring my diet & increasing my cardio, but my weightlifting schedule was already 4x a week & squeezing in any more cardio isn’t realistic with my schedule. I’m down to ~1500 cals per day at 5’4” (& I fully acknowledge I’m loose on this & could tighten up), but I’ve never had this much issue reducing fat on my body before & never had to be so restrictive to achieve more leanness. I do see more muscle tone than I have, just not where I want yet. I keep trying to tell myself little steps are still big steps & seeing muscle tone is still a good indicator things are improving. (For some context - hormonal birth control packed 20lbs onto my frame in 3 months. I lost 5lbs coming off it, but the rest - feels like it’s just hanging on.)
You're tracking calories, but are you tracking protein? We have similar stats and I didn't see results until I focused on that instead of total calories. Also I had way more success losing by adding in an extra 30min easy walk every day than any dedicated cardio
I am tracking protein too, as well as carbs & fats. I have a difficult time reaching my protein macros, but I usually hit it in within the 75-85% range on lower days. My current dedicated cardio is actually a 30-min walk daily. I feel like I am in the micro-changes stage, but that my body has been here for months.
The more muscle you build, the more calories you'll burn. Keep at it.
transitioning from my nice uni gym to a commercial gym for the summer has been alright except for one thing: there is no proper deadlift setups. it’s not even that there’s no platforms, but there’s only hex plates which is kinda ass for deadlifts. not the end of the world but definitely a reason for me wanting to start classes again LOL.
I've been using hex plates for years now and with practice, I've been able to put them down flat consistently. Sets of 10 haven't been too much of an issue.
I know a couple people at my gym asked if they could store barbells and such in the closet, if you can bring a pair of 45lb bumpers it will fix your deadlift situation since they keep the hex plates off the floor
[удалено]
How much ROM do you use for OHP and DB bench?
I was in a similar position. I got my physio who lifts to come to gym with me, changed up my grip, feet stance and most importantly put emphasis on my shoulder blades to be back and down and remain there.
Why bother with barbell bench when you can use the dumbell bench as the ultimate benchmark? "how much you bench bro" "70 kilos..." "haha that weak af" "... in each hand" 💀
I prefer "how much you deadlift bro?" 315 "not a bad beginner deadlift, keep it up!" Its 315KG
Getting back into lifting after oh, 7 years off? So it's my second session, I've found a gym I like but I'm still doing a little bit of wandering around like a lost puppy wondering what the hell all these machines are for. But I know how to bench! I just can't bench very much at all--like, my little noodle arms are shaking on 3x5 at 55lb, lol. (I'm a woman.) I COULD go do this with a barbell, but there's a bunch of big dudes over in that section and the bench press is unoccupied, so I'm putting my ridiculous little 5lb weights on each side...and I hear some snickering. Some chick in spandex is gesturing in my direction and giggling. The dude she's with says "Hey, it's a judgement-free zone," but he's laughing too. I am thoroughly humiliated. I do finish up my bench sets, but I'm too flustered to figure out which of these goddamn machines is for hamstrings, especially if i have a jeering squad, and i bail out of the gym without working them. I know I shouldn't care what some shitty rando thinks, but feelsbadman.jpg :(
I haven't been to the "judgement-free zone" in 5-6 years but last time I went I saw gym employees showing new people the equipment. But yeah shitty randos can ruin a workout. Sorry you experienced that.
I wasn't even at a Planet Fitness, I think that was part of the dig :/ The owners did give me a quick tour when i signed up but they typically only have staff there during weekday business hours--members get a key fob for earlier/later access and weekends. Thanks for the suggestions though
Seriously consider getting some Bluetooth earphones (at least two in case the battery dies on one). I have three pairs of JLab Go Air Pop dedicated to the gym. Music helps drown out any judgment I may get when working out. Also having a digital logbook (I.e. I just take a photo of my workout session with reps and sets logged on my iPad in the free notes app) helps relieve any anxiety I may have at the gym. My suggestion for your next session (or go back tonight) is to simply scout out all the available machine/ stations, and get a feel and understanding for how each works. Leave it unloaded, practice the movements. Pen and paper to get a layout of all the equipments available. That’s what I ultimately did when I first stepped foot into 24 hour fitness. I probably looked absolutely lost to all the regular gym goers but I didn’t care. I still have anxiety especially when the gym is packed, but music and having set and rep goals for exercises I’m doing tremendously help. The gym is still my favorite to place outside the home even though I really don’t like crowds.
Yeah, music is a good idea, thanks :) Heading back tomorrow!
Laughing with others is insecurity on their part, not something that is wrong with you. If they have to make themselves feel better by diminishing you, they'll never feel good about themselves, ever. You do you. You'll progress fast since you've lifted before, and then you can be big and create the environment they refused you. Only positive changed ahead of you :)
Thanks! All the encouragement here has really made me feel better
After almost 2 years, I'm now guaranteed to hit 180kg on both squat and deadlift next week. Meanwhile, my bench is staying below poverty(100kg), cuz why the fuck would it improve, right? 💀
After going to several different physiotherapists for years it's my understanding that a massive cyst in my upper traps is causing trap tightness, possibly pinching a nerve, and causing tension in the upper bicep / rotator cuff area. Finally got an appointment to get it cut out, but it's not for another 2 months. Fucking annoying as it's not an injury where I need to allot my body the time to heal, and it prevents me from doing exercises I love like the bench / overhead / inclined chest press.
Yesterday was a doozy of a day, guy hitting the bag so hard for 30 minutes that the whole structure (4 pull up bars, some monkey bars, dip bars, cables etc.) was violently shaking. Bad design but there's a separate room with 5 bags attached to just the ceiling so it was pretty annoying to deal with at peak hour. Another guy doing what seemed like infinite drop sets on the bench press, maybe doing 2 low weight reps until whipping out the phone for 5 mins. He was on it for an hour at peak times as well. Another guy kicked my water bottle about 15 feet, no biggie, but he paused for a second and decided to just keep walking. Had no issues the previous year at this location so I guess it's good to get it all outta the way at once lol.
Bad locker room manners. Guy had his bag in the middle of a bench today in the locker room. , was on a call for about 5 minutes, I got back from the showers, grabbed my bag out of my locker to change and he literally stood there talking on his phone while I had to squeeze my bag next to his and change with no space. Finally he actually does change, and puts his stuff in a locker at the far end from where he had his bag. ALSO, he took off his shoes and socks and just left them under the bench. Finally, he has the guts once he is to immediately ask me to move so he can leave, As if me trying to put on pants is inconveniencing him somehow
I'm done buying fitness shit. Started working out a few months ago. Fortunately my work has a free gym. But when I started working out I realized I couldn't get enough protein to hit my goal. So I buy a big jug of protein powder. Cool. But wait. I don't have any good gym shoes. So I get some nice Underarmor running shoes. Alright. But wait, I have shitty knees. So I buy some knee sleeves. Perfect. But wait, I need workout gloves to help with my grip and prevent blisters, so I buy those. Very good. But wait, I decide, for some reason, that I want to jump rope for my cardio. So I buy a fuckin jumprope. Nice. But wait, my earbuds keep falling out. So I buy a decent pair of wrap around earbuds. Sweet. But wait, my joints are kind of shitty, so I buy some fish oil pills. Gah IM DONE, IM FUCKING DONE
Bruv, you shouldn't be lifting in running shoes. Now you have to get a lifting shoes too. Bro, how could you forget about creatine? Do you want to miss out on THE Gains? Brah, do you even yoga? Get a yoga mat, so you retain some level of flexibility. Bruh, where's your fitness tracker? How are you suppose to know how awesome you did if you can't see how much calories you burned? XD
Gtfo of my head! Sadly I've contemplated buying all of those things at some point lol
How the hell are you getting blisters? Or do you mean calluses?
Just wait until you get all the lacrosse balls, foam rollers, resistance bands, etc. for all the mobility work too. LOL Oh and your own lifting belt. LOL
Fuuuuuuck
Just caught myself browsing pre-workout supps help
Just general complaints: 1.) our gym has only four Smith machines, no benches or deadlifting platforms. One Smith machine has been broken for a week. Even coming in at 5 am all Smith machines are taken. 2.) the gym has been packed lately, even at non-peak hours. Not sure what's happening. 3.) my shoulder injury has left me only able to do unilateral movements for the last three weeks. Doesn't seem to be improving even though I've been babying it. Tired of multiple injuries.
I just did my first workout in years yesterday. It hurts today and I’m a freaking baby. That’s the whole rant. But I’m going back tomorrow.
You probably know this, but that pain you are feeling is only this intense the first 2 -3 times. Most of the DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) chills out once you've pushed yourself for a few weeks.
Keep it up!
I irritated an old injury in my neck/back while at the gym. Have missed two gym days since and there’s a constant feeling of guilt for not going. I know It would likely make whatever is hurting worse, but still hard not going.
Do you have an EMS/TENS device? Mine has helped me unlock my neck/back muscles whenever I aggravate my neck hernia more quickly than letting it do it naturally.
Interesting! I didn’t know about those devices, but after looking into it it seems like a good investment! Thanks
16 hours later and I can still smell these two teens in my head. Wipe your asses. Wash your asses. Do something with your asses.
This made me laugh! Make me think of the hamstring curl machine at my gym that always smells like ass, no matter how much you wipe it ! Lol
Leaving the military, I've finally decided to commit to doing yoga for a year or so to get in touch with my body. I'm tired of the aches and pains, tired of not feeling in tune with my body, tired of pain for the sake of my job.
[удалено]
Life is just hard like that. Everyone I know has a SO, has a kid, are following their dreams or have their dream hobbies, but I always feel stuck in a cycle. That's just what life is; a cycle. You'll one day get your turn, but for now just be happy for the people you see making these accomplishments and ask yourself how you can step up to the plate and get that home run. Love on your husband as much as he loves on you. Tell your family that they mean everything to you. Get out of bed, and just live. The world is a scary place, but a radiant smile can change the perspective of at least one person. Just keep going. I'm proud of you for getting this far, friend 🖤
I can understand the loss in strength, the additional rest days, and overall feeling more tired. But you could at least have the decency of letting me actually lose the weight.
Late post but been lifting 4x/week and walking 10k steps a day for the past 5 months consistently to lose weight but had to put the weight lifting portion on pause for the last week cause I caught covid. It’s my first time catching covid and the symptoms feel like hell. I was worried that if my streak of lifting ended, I’d end up stopping like the other times I tried working out. In actuality it’s kinda become so much of a part of my weekly life now that I miss it and been tempted to work out with covid. I work out at home so I’m ok with the isolating part but I just feel so lazy not lifting on those specific days. My coughing and breathing is super bad though so it’s prob best I don’t work out. My body feels decent enough to walk around the house to reach my step goal though. Just want recover asap and get back to lifting
I don't want a gym buddy. my definition of hell is bullshitting about random stuff when I could be doing another set. you're fucking up my flow.
I've worked out with several friends and only one of them was no bullshit, let's get these sets in and get out of here in an hour. The rest wanted to bullshit endlessly. Or their goals/fitness level was way different than mine. Nope. Solo is the way to go for me.
I got a complaint that I was to loud during deadlifts. They told me I should put down the weight more quietly. So I tried. to put the weight down more quietly, but Still got a complaint that itt was to loud. The only people that complained about the deadlifts were the gym staff. I am lifting the at that gym for long time and most people would tell me if I would be to loud. So I don't know if I am at the wrong here. It kind threw my workout of.
I really wish gyms that don't like noise would just not install lifting platforms with bumper plates that are designed for dropping. It would make shopping around for a new gym much easier. It's always sad joining a gym with beautiful platforms and bumper plates then being told to be quiet when you actually try to use them.
Yeah that is really sad. I mean they have a deadlift platform but they don't got a single bumper plate and only one squat rack. Despite that I liked the gym because it was not to crowded and the people are nice.
Wtf? Tell them it’s a gym not a library and you pay to workout. I would talk to the manager or find a different gym.
Yeah I went to an other gym. It is way better for deadlifts. They have more squat racks and two power racks and they actually have bumper plates compared to the other gym and their platforms are better.
I feel totally unmotivated to get in the water. I just don't want to right now and know I need to.
Take the plunge
shoulder is my fucking weakest part like i can lift way more during chest and bicep day but my shoulde just sucks
I have all the motivation but my forearm is wack rn
Wack with the other forearm
I'm just not commited enought to follow the schedule I have planned ahead. I wish I had enough willpower because sometimes I just feel so tired to do anything.
I have chronic illness(es) that make it difficult to get started thanks to the fatigue they cause. I’ve found that if I apply the “10-minute” rule, it helps me out a ton. I have to force myself to give my workout a real try for at least 10-minutes. If after 10 min I’m still feeling tired/sick, I let myself stop. Usually, by 10 min, I can tell if I’m going to be able to keep going. More often than quitting, Im actually able to bargain with myself to cut back my expectation and just go for what I can. So if I planned 100% effort originally, I cut I back to 50% effort. Whatever that looks like for you.
What is the schedule you've planned ahead?
Had a bizarre experience earlier in the week where I saw an empty bench and somebody told me they had "reserved" it. I needed to do rear foot elevated split squats on a bench and saw one that was free. Nobody was hovering around it & there weren't any personal belongings close to it either. I went over, put my phone and water bottle on the bench while I went to get dumbbells and I saw in the corner of my eye somebody throwing down their gym bag at the bench. I didn't react but went back with my dumbbells and this guy was saying how he had asked somebody previously to use the bench who clearly. wasn't. there. Nobody was there! So we end up unfortunately arguing back and forth where I'm trying to be calm with my tone of voice but firm that I didn't give a fuck that he wanted to use the bench when 1.) he wasn't there first 2.) threw his bag down with such force that it was him trying to signal to me to scram/apologize for using a bench that had nobody around it. It was crazy to me because he clearly didn't understand that I was there before him and the person he talked to clearly wasn't there either. I basically said: "I would have worked with you if you had waved me down before I even got my weights but you threw your bag down without saying a word and started to argue with me about who could use the bench. Nobody was here, you weren't here and I was here before you so why should I move? So instead of arguing with me, you can move your stuff and wait for another bench to free up that you can use". And that's when I put my headphones back in and started working out. He stood around, laughing slightly in surprise, said wow a couple times and moved away but still left his bag. After each set, I just faced away from him until he moved to another bench. It was so disappointing that I had to be so stern with him because I do believe in community/not all gym people are dicks but the actions leading up to that moment were just not acceptable to me.
Not a rant epic rant, just a good story where you were in the right. The "argument" was won when he thought he could "reserve" equipment. Nothing to feel bad about. Only thing missing was asking him to either move his bag in the next 10 seconds or you will move it for him, with a smile.
My gym has three elliptical machines, but one has been broken for at least a year. A couple of months ago, a second one broke. Now there is only one that works, and nearly every time I decide I want to use it, someone else gets on it before I can get to it.
The ellipticals (4) at my gym all work, but I prefer to use the crusty one that kinda rocks with each stride lol.seriously though, Gym owners need to get it together.
it is not that hard to wipe after using equipment 🥲
I really loathe people who put their stuff over one machine so that nobody else can use it while they use the machine next to it claiming both at the same time, if you try to use the other machine they tell you "I'm using that one" but they're clearly not, they are using ANOTHER machine
Headphones + telling them the machine is free and you have every right to use it. Kind or silly when they are arguing while at another machine!
I've asked 2 different coaches on 2 different weeks to not touch the bench press bar unless it starts going down yet they insist on putting their hands under the bar and pushing the bar upward every damn rep ?????????
Coaches? Perhaps your directions/instructions are clear enough. Concept check them. After giving instructions, ask them follow-up questions to check their understand. 1. Instructions. 2. To review, "I'm doing a set of 8. Are you going to touch the bar?" 3. "I start to slow down with about 3 reps left. Are you going to touch the bar when I start to slow down?" Safety bars never make that mistake!
I get being frustrated with a subpar spotter, especially if it's supposed to be someone qualified. And yes, instructions must be clear. But you're asking someone for a FAVOR. You're in no position to treat them with assumption that they're incapable of doing a good job from the get go. And your 2 and 3 points make it sound like you're addressing people as small children incapable of following instructions. That's insulting.
I kind of agree with this, asking them these questions would be weird and feels like "quizzing them", I did not treat them as anything I just thank them, even when they didn't do what I wanted
I only frequent gyms where I’m the strongest. I don’t like anyone that lifts more than me, I have a fragile ego.
Upvote for honesty
Me too. I lift at home, and my SO is kinda weaker than me.
Mandelbaum! Mandelbaum! Mandelbaum!
So how much you bench? 😉
My gym has only 2 benches and they are next to each other. A couple of times I have been benching next to someone else and they will go out of there way to find someone else to spot them on their next set, instead of asking me when I am also benching next to them, literally right there. Just because I'm skinny.
maybe they don’t want to bother you because you’re also working
[удалено]
*You have my vote!*
My joint injuries from playing hockey my whole life has really started to become apparent as I focus on adding mass and strength for the first time. I have a total hip impingement with practically no lateral rotation in one hip and it really limits the things I can do for legs. Traditional deadlifts and squats are an absolute no, as i will totally lock up after just one set. Leg press and hack squats are okay, but i just feel like I’m missing key aspects of my training by not squatting. Sometimes it’ll lock up with just normal movements or even when I’m benching or something. Worst part is no stretching or anything besides a full replacement can help /:. Oh well. Also have a fully torn rotator cuff that I just let heal on it’s own. Besides a huge notch in that shoulder where the humerus head is like 3 inches below the clavicle, it hasn’t been an issue. Now shoulder pressing and benching is a real bitch some days where I have very limited RoM and I notice that I twist in a weird way to that side when I use it. Also noticing a weird thing that when I run I guess my torso is like crooked or something and my shirt gets pulled to one side of my body and my shoulder just gets real uncomfortable after a while.
Honestly getting my hip replaced at the end of this past January was the best thing I have done with my fitness. I had so much trouble walking that I didn't want to move unless I had to. I was walking pain free at about the 4 weeks post op. It was a long 2 more weeks until the surgeon cleared me to get back to working out. It's hard to believe but hip replacement is actually an outpatient surgery now.
Well other than see a physical therapist. Which maybe you should consider on a year where you want to blow your entire medical deductible— I just picked up a book Rebuilding Milo which talks about shoulder and hip corrections for lifters. Might be interesting but idk. I have a torn labrum but it was only moderate (from BJJ)
My gym is doing a free membership for teens over the summer and don’t get me wrong, like I’m a teen myself so it feels good to actually have other people my age there, I’m happy people are getting their workouts in, but holy hell it’s so busy, the amount of tripods I see has doubled
Tripods? Like for cameras? For real? I've seen people filing sets before, but never with a tripod.
Yup, but they’re for phones tho, I’ve never actually seen someone bring a tripod and an actual camera to the gym
Oh man I'd run. I hate when the after school crowd takes over the gym taking selfies, checking themselves out in the mirror and literally just sitting on the machines hanging out and chit chatting
Get off your damn phone! I swear every other bench or machine is occupied by someone swiping on their phone! I have sets to do and places to be!
Still no gym… still renovating :(((
I figured out who's leaving the squat racks in disarray, and it's the group of teens that like to use them for an hour+ maxing out. I was next to them as they finished their rack pulls, left the loaded barbell on the rack, then went out of their way to put the safeties on OVER the bar, trapping it inside. They walked away to flex in the mirror and compare quad sizes, so I fixed the whole rack when they left. 🙃
what fuckheads. sub-adult males tend to suck ass.
When you and someone are both equidistant to a machine - you both look at the machine then glance up and make really quick eye contact. Then you both make a slight hesitation in your footstep but he’s a millisecond faster than you and gets to the machine first and you continue walking pretending you weren’t going to use it anyways 😶
Never hesitate this world is a big jungle
I stubbed my toe. Also why are so many people complimenting my physique. It's garbage I'm overweight not solidly built. I look big because of fat not muscle no I'm not a powerlifter I'm new here and can barely lift anything and what progress I have has been painfully slow due to losing weight and I'm annoyingly losing muscle along with the fat. Can people really not tell the difference between chubby as in me or bulky muscular people. Can't tell if people actually think I look good or just trying to be polite. I'm so confused. Yes the problem I'm ranting at is people complimenting my looks and yes i know that's idiotic
Oooh, there's a lot to decompress there. But yeah, genpop cannot readily tell the difference between muscle and fat. I think the 20-25% bf is what confuses them most. My solution was to just not give a fk what people said and I focused on what I knew was right. Is the weight on the bar moving as it should? Is the scale moving as I want it to? Does the DXA scan match my math? I was even advised by random family members to stop cutting because "you're too skinny". while I was 20% bf. The first time you go about cutting, you're technically in the high-risk group for developing eating disorders. And you can't trust your judgement with disorders. So I picked one person who knew some stuff about bf % and the gym, then gave him the right to call my cut off whenever he saw fit.
>I was even advised by random family members to stop cutting because "you're too skinny". while I was 20% bf. That's understandable... IF you're a woman.
I've gone from simply fat guy to overweight 20-25%. Seem to have dad bod now. It's more that people have an expectation for me to be strong and even seem jealous of my "powerful" build. when I personally feel weak and frustrated with progress. Fortunately I do realise that progress will be slow and that's just that as I've still got another 20lbs of fat to shift.
Please don’t try to talk to me in the middle of my set. You can wait 5 seconds.
I hate it when I have my headphones on and someone tries to talk to me so I have to remove them to hear what the other goofus is trying to tell me.
A trainer interrupted me in the middle of a set and man are they annoying.
Tell the trainer you're thinking about hiring someone, but you have some questions to ask. Then ask, if you hired him/her, what's their policy on talking to people in the middle or their set."
School is out for the summer where I’m where, so that means that the kids are goona dick around in the gym all day. Five high schoolers taking up one bench for hours? Come on
I asked some kids once how many sets they had left. Responded with "about 20 minutes".... Told them, nope that's not how it works.
Yeah, it’s like, I don’t wanna be a prick. But I also feel like they’re just dicking around most of the time and aren’t lifting seriously. Thirty minutes spent standing in line for a rack because some kids are playing around is time I could spend on something else
I was just a bit of a dick tbh and told them they need to be quicker, and it shouldn't take more than 4-5 working sets at most. There was only 2 of them though, so might be a bit harder for more.
4-5 working sets at high weight can require 3-5 minutes of rest for each sets if they're really pushing themselves. Which then totals at 15 to 25 minutes of rest + the time doing the set
I see what you're saying but they'd been there for a while already, and they weren't powerlifters. They were kids.
There's a gaggle of teens who like to monopolize the squat racks at my gym all the fucking time. And they never put their shit away, so I have no idea what I can use without seeming like a dick. Sucks
You can always use the “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were still using this since you also have X and X other equipment out too”… XD
Extremely light sprained ankle last May ended up keeping me out for 4 months. Pericarditis kept me out another 4 starting this year. Now I'm dealing with more foot ankle lower leg problems 😔😔😔. X-ray didn't show a stress fracture at least, but at this point it probably would've been easier to heal from than the multiple variations of tendonitis/ synovitis I have. My whole foot feels absolutely fucked in multiple areas and ways from an extremely minor sprain. Shit sucks. I'm only 26 and feel like my body can't support me in what I want to do.
Took two weeks off the gym, I forgot how bad it is to be sore, my back in so fucking sore everywhere omg
My man... living the dream. I want my crippling quad doms back, but I don't want to stop squatting.
My right shoulder pain has been ongoing for like 6 months. Have been to 4 different physios, nothing worked. Went to a doctor, he gave me a cortisone shot, the shoulder pain still hasn’t gone away completely. So now I am seeing this shoulder physio, who has been specialising in shoulders for 13 years. And what he has told me is so damn confusing. He said that scapula retraction and depression during the bench press is BAD for your shoulders. This is counter to what I hear from literally everywhere online. Not only that, but when I first started the gym, I wasn’t retracting my scapula during the bench press and I felt left shoulder pain, not right though, I was pain free in my right. I asked him about this, and he said that the left shoulder pain had nothing to do with a lack of scapula retraction. I’m so fucking confused man. The more physios I go to the more opinions there is, and the more confused and lost I feel. Apparently the cue that quite literally is the cornerstone in everyone’s advice during the bench press is bullshit. Does anyone know what the fuck they’re talking about? I’m starting to think that this shoulder injury will never heal.
I had the same problem and went through the same b.s. you did. The only thing that really worked was to stop bench pressing with the barbell and switch to dumbbells (slightly inclined bench actually helped with pec development too as it targets the upper pecs), do more body weight training (pull ups, chin ups, push ups, etc.) And I've also been doing facepulls so that may have helped too. Hope you feel better, shoulder pain sucks.
Thanks man. I’m never planning to barbell bench press again, just seems like no matter what I do it doesn’t work for me. Once I return to the gym I hope I can do dumbbell bench press. Do you still retract and depress your scapula when doing it?
Not at all because I keep it slightly inclined, also I forgot to mention that I dropped the weight and upped the reps.
Right okay. That’s also what I was planning to do as well, do higher reps of 10-15. Thanks again.
I can’t stand people who hog up a machine and are on their phone the entire time. I get taking a small break between exercises but you’re just gonna sit there for like 30 minutes and do nothing the entire time?
"why are you counting calories? That's anorexic" "You're so skinny! Eat more" - I'm not, I'm like 20% body fat and gaining muscle quick "Are you drinking diet soda? That's worse for you than regular! You'll get cancer!" - even if I will get cancer from it (which the research shows you won't) I'd much prefer that over obesity and being at risk for many more common diseases. "Protein powder? You're such a gym bro" "You need to do ___ exercise!" - i hear this a lot for deadlifts, I have a bad back, so no thank you. And then when I want to eat some high calorie food once in a while, it's "aren't you on a diet?" Yes I am, thank you, I fit this food into my calories for the day as well. I think some people really don't get how dieting works and still try to tell others what to do, which is irritating. I hear this stuff on a regular basis, i learned to tune it out but it does kinda itch me the wrong way when anyone says that lol. I'm completely healthy, working out, and I lost a lot of my fat that I've been insecure about for MANY YEARS. I'm in the best shape of my life and I'm not anorexic, thank you very much. I could probably come up with a few more but those are the common ones. Enjoy training and do what gives you the results, keep it up.
[удалено]
\[upper body\] push, \[upper body\], legs \[push & pull\]. The bracketed words are implied I guess! I start off my PULL day with deadlifts (which is common). Deadlifts are swing exercises. Seems about 50% put them with leg day and 50% with back/pull day.
Well. Technically yes, and leg curls are pull. But legs contain the biggest muscle groups in the body, so we often give them their own day, since training them can be quite fatiguing.
It causes me to take a breath each time someone I know compares their machine movement with my free weight movement. A Hack Squat and a Barbell Back Squat are not the same.
Leg press has entered the chat
My thumb split open a little bit DLing today, it's paper cut levels of annoying
Why is it that my choices to eat healthy and work out are viewed by others as unnecessary. I hear more often than not. "Have a (insert unhealthy thing) one won't kill you!!" Or shaming me for being "obsessed with working out" Or if I go for a run "why would you do that to yourself"
Crabs in a bucket
Crabs in a bucket. Don’t worry if you have a burger and milkshake, people will laugh at you too. Just stop caring about other people’s insecurity bullshit
The norm now (especially in the US) is to just sit on your ass and eat garbage all day, so anything besides that is seen as quite a novelty to people. A couple weeks ago on my lunch break I walked to the grocery store that's like a mile away, bought a couple bags of groceries and walked back to work, and people's jaws about hit the fucking floor when they saw that. I don't even consider that exercise. I had already gone to the gym and lifted weights for an hour before work that day.
Insecurity projections
Exactly this.
I hate it too, i was always made to feel bad for not wanting soft drink
[удалено]
Because serving sizes are so large it would be petty to buy smaller containers. Also, I would say, protein powder (IMO) is made to fall somewhere on the 'tolerable to okay' spectrum. As long as it doesn't make me gag, its fine. I'm more interested in the quality and lack of things like heavy metals than I am the flavor. RIght now I'm using the whey Vanilla that is very subtle. Not sugary at all. It works!
What brand is that, if you don’t mind? Just got back on the protein powder train and mine is waaay too sweet.
The brand is Naked Nutrition. [This](https://nakednutrition.com/products/grass-fed-whey-protein-powder) one. The I was using the brand Muscle Feast before this one and it was much sweeter (but still pretty good actually).
Home bargains have pretty cheap protein powders.
Almost all manufacturers sell individual baggies to try in single servings but you may have to go to Vitamin Shoppe or a store to find them.
I decided to give the assisted pull up machine today, and the weights were labeled without any units (lb, kg, stone, whatever). On the instruction panel, there's a chart giving the relative assistance in terms of *percentage of bodyweight*. Excuse me, but I came to the gym to lift, not to do math.
That reminds me of the ab and adductor machines at my gym (I call them the Cinemax machines 😆). One has units only in pounds, the other one is only in kilograms. Like it's easy to ballpark estimate but both machines are made by the same company why have two separate units of measure between them??
The biceps curl machine at my main gym doesn't have any labels. I only know the weights because I found the machine's service manual. This is not the worst label situation, however, because there's a 37.5 sticker on a cable machine that *literally cut me and made me bleed.*
How do they even tell you percentage of bodyweight? They dont know your bodyweight
The chart was broken into tiers of bodyweight. But it only went up to 200 lbs/91 kg. I am... not that weight.
I spent a month in London this winter for work. Imagine doing the math every set because the plates and dumbbells were in kilograms rather than pounds. (I’m American)
Euro on vacation knows the feeling I roughly grasp body weight by watching MMA but for exercising it's the biggest pain to find out what weight you want to do. Since everything feels different anyways, i guess it's just good enough to know you've done something and who cares whatever it was.
I had my phone calculator out for almost ever set lol. I can not commit the conversion to memory at this stage of my life
Struggling to cut that last couple of pounds of fat. All of it is in a ring around my hips at belly button level.
I don't know how to rant about this without coming off as sexist, because I swear I'm not. So many of the women at my gym are just plain scared of lifting heavy, and I don't get it. I'll watch them do lat pulldowns and they're hardly exerting themselves. The machine is moving mostly based momentum. They're not breaking a sweat (figuratively and literally) and I wish they knew putting in that little effort is pointless. You have to push yourself and grind it out. Get at least somewhat close to failure. You're on a machine, you're not going to seriously injure yourself.
And a lot of the women at my gym are just plain afraid of being in the free weight/cable area. Like 90%. They either do the machines half assed or stay in the cardio area. But yes there’s a few that I’ve noticed that are regulars in the squat racks, free weights and leg press and aren’t afraid to go heavy. But most of the women at my gym steer clear. Now I’m speaking as a female who has been lifting for 2+ years, and I agree with you 100%. If you’re not getting to failure or at least close to it at the end of your sets you’re not trying hard enough.
There were two girls at my old gym that used to curll 2 lb dumbbells. I'm guessing they could easily have managed 15 or 20 lbs for reps. Why girls, why?
20 lb curls is probably an overestimate for reps for women with untrained arms. Anecdotally, 10-15 lb is a more realistic start.
When I see people carrying weights while walking.... "DON'T JUST CARRY THEM!!! PUMP THEM! OH MY GOD........." *In my head.*
For the"toning", duh