Gyms Without Squat Racks? WTF!?

This is why I love my home gym with my squat rack, bench, pullup bar, and my Eleiko. Problem is the university I’m going to next year has a real small shitty gym, so hopefully I can find an olympic gym or at least something good in NYC.

I’ll never forget being on vacation over the summer and doing front squats in the rack, when some asshole comes up and goes, “it’s supposed to go on your back.”

[quote]MisterAmazing wrote:
This is why I love my home gym with my squat rack, bench, pullup bar, and my Eleiko. Problem is the university I’m going to next year has a real small shitty gym, so hopefully I can find an olympic gym or at least something good in NYC.

I’ll never forget being on vacation over the summer and doing front squats in the rack, when some asshole comes up and goes, “it’s supposed to go on your back.” [/quote]

wow they said that to you too? fukin wow.

I answered after putting the bar back on the ground (cleaning it up, idea form DJ’s “ground up” W/O) “You can do a front squat with the bar on your back? That’s badass. Show me.”

Then I gesture to the bar, on the ground. He just looks at it. I stare at him and then the bar. he thinks for about 15 seconds (bar only has 195# [my piss poor clean max]) and then says that “you can start with the bar on the floor” and I say “I did.”

“How?”

So I clean it up and F Sq again. then dump it (gently mind you). He tries to clean it (his boyz are there so he can stand down now) and almost herniates is asshole. after another try he leaves and says “whatever.”

The dude in the next Sq rack and I have a small laugh and my day is made.

The moral here: At least I had a squat rack, thank god.

-chris

[quote]realpeanutbutter wrote:
MisterAmazing wrote:
This is why I love my home gym with my squat rack, bench, pullup bar, and my Eleiko. Problem is the university I’m going to next year has a real small shitty gym, so hopefully I can find an olympic gym or at least something good in NYC.

I’ll never forget being on vacation over the summer and doing front squats in the rack, when some asshole comes up and goes, “it’s supposed to go on your back.”

wow they said that to you too? fukin wow.

I answered after putting the bar back on the ground (cleaning it up, idea form DJ’s “ground up” W/O) “You can do a front squat with the bar on your back? That’s badass. Show me.”

Then I gesture to the bar, on the ground. He just looks at it. I stare at him and then the bar. he thinks for about 15 seconds (bar only has 195# [my piss poor clean max]) and then says that “you can start with the bar on the floor” and I say “I did.”

“How?”

So I clean it up and F Sq again. then dump it (gently mind you). He tries to clean it (his boyz are there so he can stand down now) and almost herniates is asshole. after another try he leaves and says “whatever.”

The dude in the next Sq rack and I have a small laugh and my day is made.

The moral here: At least I had a squat rack, thank god.

-chris[/quote]

that’s priceless…my only recent good story is i asked a guy if he was using a barbell as he was loading an ez bar…he said “yeah, but there’s one over there on that ‘thing’”…he was pointing at the power rack…

so how will the heros do their biceps curls

I just rejoined a gym 2 weeks ago - pretty cheap compared to all the other places around.

Anyway, I walk into the weight room and I’m like where the fuck are the freeweights? Sounds like the gym described above - Cybex machines and dumbells not exceeding 45lbs. No barbells, no leg machines - nothing.

I walked over to the manager and I asked him where the freeweights are cause this is ridiculous - luckily they have another branch near a running track which is just freeweights and I can use it on the same membership.

I came in ready to do a massive squat/dead session to see a middle-aged dude doing 60kg shrugs in the squat rack. He did end up being a pretty cool guy though, we had a laugh about guys who use the rack for curls and he let me work in some squats. First time I’ve seen someone squatting in the last month.

When you think about the kind of douchebags that go to these spa gyms, pay 70 bucks a month to do curls and bench press, I can see why the gyms go “fuck it, we’ll put in another pin-loaded bench machine or another smith machine.”

I dont know how you guys do it, My gym is the opposite of what you guys are talking about, all the cardio crap is shoved in the corner and all the benches and racks get all the room, I love that gym all the dumbells are homemade and welded together so in the summer they get all rusty and I dont think you can find two plates that match each other its so old school just pure lifting.

[quote]Throttle wrote:
I dont know how you guys do it, My gym is the opposite of what you guys are talking about, all the cardio crap is shoved in the corner and all the benches and racks get all the room, I love that gym all the dumbells are homemade and welded together so in the summer they get all rusty and I dont think you can find two plates that match each other its so old school just pure lifting.[/quote]

Such gyms, while good, are hard to find, as most people (not us) want machines… So gyms that want to make a lot of money, usually go the lots of machines, few free weights route.