I was working out in a rec center gym yesterday (school was closed and we are renovating our basement right now and my friend was at lacrosse practice so that was the only option). The gym isnt that bad, but there is only one power rack, 3 flat benches, one decline, one incline, two seats for seated presses, 1 adjustable free bench, one free bench, and one flat one. Also, there was the whole cable set-up and dip station, still not that bad.
But once I was benching (the bench was facing away from the the TVs and toward all the cardio machines), I just realized how many cardio machines there actually are there (at least 70). And 95% of them were filled, all of the people just staring ahead at the TVs. But this was the kind of rec center that was surronded by a neighborhood, and most of the customers are the people who live there. Why go to the gym when you can run outside I will never understand.
On the dip machine, everyone (i mean everyone no matter how strong they were) used the assistance thing for dips. Why use the assistance weight when you can do the same reps without it? How do I know they could do the same reps, well, all of them were doing 10 or less reps. Then I wanted to dips to finish off my workout, so I go over there and I see someone just standing on it. I ask if I can work in, and of course he says, I got one more set. 1.5 min later, he finally starts his first rep of his last set. Maybe since I am younger, people believe that they have more right to any machine than me.
I was doing deadlifts, in what I assumed was a overhead press platform because the pins were at my head. I used this because with the safety catches taken off, the bar was almost at the floor. Nowhere else and power rack was being used. Then of course, the college kid always comes over and trys to tell me that deadlifts are too dangerous. I tell him in the nicest way I could, "I am sorry, but I know what I am doing and I need to finish all my sets anyways since I started." Then he says that I should listen to him since he is older and stronger. I ignore this and just start by set. So he goes back to his curling with 10s on each side and over head pressing with the same weight. The whole time I was there, he was doing the exact same thing.
My final, but good interaction, at the gym. I was going to bench first in my workout since I feel my bench could be better, so I want to save all my strenght for it, but I can't so I just do squats. After my second working set, an older guy comes up to me and says "You know, you are the first person your age that I have seen come in hear and do squats all the way down.'
You may be wondering why I am posting this. Well after this endeavour to a rec center gym for the first time in months, and reading Yahoo! Answers also for the first time in months (I just wanted to see what was still being asked after I stopped answering the same exact questions 6 times per week in the Diet & Fitness section. I use the information acquire on this site), I finally realized how misinformed or, more accurately, uninformed people actually are and how the few principles that provide the best gains are ignored. I mean I read the other stories, but now I really understand what is going on.
This posed a serious quesition, is it possible to actually teach the masses or is it too late? No matter what, the current population that actually know how to work out is still going to be a very miniscule amount. Should we just give up on spreading our message to those already hypnotized by the commercial work out plans and principles? Or should we still try and convert as many people as we can to prevent from falling into the ineffective programs and doomed lifes of monotonous exercises providing absolutely no results?