T Nation

Dislikes in the gym

Bodybuilding
#1

Fellow T-men/vixens: I have something I was wondering. I know we all love training and learning new routines, etc., but sometimes I get so irked in the gym that I wonder if any of the following things bother any of you:


1)Public displays of affection IN the gym, whether it man hetero or homosexual-it don’t belong!
2)People who have shitty form, but stare at themselves in the mirror constantly throughout their workout.
3)People who do not rack the weights (clean up after yourself!) when they are done, like their shit don’t stink or something.
4) Pro bodybuilders who train in the gym and give no time to those around them after (not during) their workout.
5) Anorexics in the gym.

Well that's all I can think of for now, but if anyone has anything to add, please do so!

#2

I agree with the whole not picking up after yourself thread. I worked at our gym at school as a trainer/supervisor and would always get so pissed at the newbies, fratboys, and spring breakers who would leave my gym looking like shit. On a side note, the thing that cracks me up involves the guys that use terrible form. You know the type that puts 5 or 6 plates on a T-Bar, then proceed to stand straight up and move the bar maybe two inches. Then they slam the loaded T-bar down, and walk around the gym with their arms/lats flared out. A group of me and my fellow T-Bros gave them the name “The Gunslingers”, because they looked as if they were looking for a gunfight. I better stop here, cause I could possibly go on for days on things that annoy me at gyms-SCREEL

#3

One thing I don’t get is way out of shape personal trainers training everday fols who look and are in better shape then they are.

I have just seen too many fulltime fatasses training people but never training themselves.
Oh and I am not talking about people on a bulk up cycle either.

#4

what really pisses me off, is people who come to the gym about 3 weeks before spring break and make the place busier than it already is. these people think 3 weeks will really make them look better on the beach? first of all, they are wrong. second, they are training wrong, and third, they are probably eating wrong. I’m at the gym year round, I think i should have priority to any machine/weights that i want, espcially since i know what the fuck i’m doing.

#5

I agree, anorexics in the gym really bother me. I see one there running on the treadmill EVERY TIME I’m there. She’s running full gait when I get there, and she’s still running full gait when I leave about an hour later. She’s got the big, ultra-knobby joints and probably weighs 90 pounds, if that. There should be a law against those types doing ANY cardio.

Another peeve....at 5:15 am, when all the machines are empty, I get a guy coming over to me wanting to know how long I'm gonna be on the machine I'm on because he wants to use it. Geez. There are only 42 other machines in the room that are empty. I wanted to sock him.

There…I feel better now.

#6

the “strutters”, and you know who i mean. young, or old but usually not very well built. some puffy from a cycle (before they are ready) but always strut. arms out,mini lats flared, cocky smirk on their faces. there is always someone bigger and badder. remember that

#7

Screel, seems there are plenty of “gunslingers” 'round these parts, too…that is hilarious! One of these days I’m going to stand in front of a gunslinger and yell, “DRAW!” I also love the guys who are strapped to hilt with equipment (belt, gloves, straps, wraps, sunglasses, etc) to “support” them through a half-assed set of curls…in the squat rack no less. Of course they might need some extra support since their curls often resemble “reverse-grip hang cleans.” Another thing that gets me is the guys whose entire workouts consist of forced reps. Are these guys on the bench doing assisted bench press or assisted upright rows! Criminy, they work harder during their rest period than in their work set!

#8

Man…i know what you mean when you say out of shape personal trainers. There is a pt at the gym i got to that has gotta be pushing 4 bills. i can’t see how anyone could be stupid enough to spend there hard earned money on this guy, in hope of shedding a few pounds.
Something else that bothers me are those guys that sit around and BS…whats the point of going to the gym if your gonna BS. Sure i say my hellos, but then when i’m tring to get into the zone i got this numbnutz exspecting me to answer him in the middle of a set…

#9

It’s the talkers that get to me. Some are big, but they lift small. And they talk…and talk…and talk. I do more work in ten minutes than they do in an hour, but that doesn’t stop them from struttin’…and hogging the equipment.

#10
  1. Agree about the benchers doing only forced reps - they cant even get the first rep, flap around while the spotter upright rows the weight, and then ask “did you help much”. GRRR 2) A new one, NOT ENOUGH WEIGHT - that would be my number one peev. The majority of people are lifting half of what would be a sensible weight to stimulate the muscle day in day out. Go heavy or go home cause you are wasting gym space on something you could do at home with $20 worth of pink fluffy weights. 3) Another new one - STAREING. Im in my own world of pain but sometimes notice the stare trolls around the gym. It may seem strange, but I really want to clothesline these guys. And the word for all these people - “Gymbacils”.
#11

Dre, I agree with the whole staring issue. At first I thought these guys were just in awe of some of the weight I was moving, but after awhile it just got damn annoying. I’ve noticed it at both my hometown gym and the rec center at school. I’ve also noticed that it tends to be the guys who act bigger than they are. For instance, at school there were these two little men who always stared at me. I was getting ready to do my ass to floor squats when these two fools started glancing my way. As I got under the bar, I looked in the mirror and saw the two of them throwing up their 13" guns into my mirror, thinking I wouldn’t notice. It amuses me, but it gets friggin annoying.

#12

So all my pet peeves have already been covered, but there’s one thats missing. I’m refering to one guy in particular, but I’m sure there is a large sub-species out there. I’m talking about the grunters. Don’t get me wrong, a little “UUGNH” during a set is fine, but you should hear this fucking guy! I can be in the locker room and know that its his chest day (only bellows on chest day)…“UUUURRRRNNNNGHGGGHGHUUUURGGGHHHHHHNNNNNNGGGHHHH”…great buddy, you’re lifting heavy, congrats.

#13

great points so far…LOL. Gunslingers and Gymbacils…HAhahahaha. I figure there ought to be a law about using a squat rack…if you’re not using more than a plate a side (even 25 a side!!!) what the hell do you need a squat rack for? plus all those people whose entire routines consist of 10 different types of curls and chest exercises…i could go on forever!
jonah

#14

LOL rubberman. Impressive looking post too. Ive been known to make the odd grunt on the last rep or so in an empty gym but its definitely habit forming. Seriously, on a “grunting chest day” the grunts become more and more frequent until Im carrying on like louie in pumping iron when I lift and, no joke, end up grunting when I lift my gym bag or open the gym door to leave. Thats when you know its time to quit the habit. Should get louie to do public service announcements “Whadeva you do, dont grunt”.

#15
  1. The dude who always wears a lifting belt even when they are training chest or triceps. What the fuck guy! I think its to hold in the fat belly they’ve built up over the years.
  2. Any clown who wears ‘runners’ shorts. You know those fucking joggong shorts that ride up so everyone can see their nuts.
  3. Any man that wears spandex. Go home pussy!
  4. Chicks that wear lifting belts. I have never seen a woman move enough weight to justify using a belt, period.
  5. Bad music. As I’m busting my ass I never need to hear WHAM or Micheal Jackson.
  6. Anyone doing half-rep pullups or chinups. They never come all the way down and flop around like epileptics.

Thats all for now

#16

For me it’s the music… there’s a station here that has about 5 records in it’s collection… Ricky Martin, Cher kinda shit!
Back to back same sucky songs day in day out.
Two depts. at work are tuned in.I broke down and got my Daughter a new blaster so I could take her old one to work and have it in my lab, tuned to rock. It’s a very sick form of mind control… One day I’m gonna snap! … and drop a few plates on the gym’s system.

#17

OK I agree with the starers…they are a pain in the ass…another category tho is the small dudes who make snide little comments when you use the light weights and slow tempo. Once in a blue moon I will use 135 on bench and just do sets of 20 as SLOW as I can…burns like hell, and a great pump (Dont lock out at the top and dont let the bar touch your chest…just slow and steady) Invariably, you get 2 or 3 of the small ones talking amongst themselves…looking over and making comments…makes ya want to go over and do the choke slam on each of them!

#18

Hey Dre, you’re gonna have a grunt here and there when you’re really taking it to the limit. But the guys who scream with each and every rep drive me nuts. Sometimes I wear earplugs in the gym so I don’t have to listen to them or the nauseating gym music. And another thing…the other day I had a gym “trainer” ask me not to use my chalk because “it gets the equipment all dirty”…AAAAAAARGH!

#19

I think mine would have to be when someone comes up to me when I am ready to unrack a heavy squat. Something like “How muchya got on that bar anyway?” or “Man, doesn’t that hurt your back?”. Arrgghhhh! Don’t they know anything about concentration??

#20

Want to talk about great music? I stepped under the bar for a set of squats last week…just as I was about to lift the bar, what came on? Barbara Streisand(?) singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”…Oh fuck! All I could do was rack it, plug my ears, and run out of the gym sobbing…(actually, I gave the girl at the front desk a few choice words on my way out)