[quote]DBCooper wrote:
[quote]polo77j wrote:
[quote]DBCooper wrote:
Wouldn’t you fucking know it! I go to Chico State’s on-campus gym for some power cleans, heavy deadlifts (3x3 day for the 5/3/1 program), assistance work and some farmer’s walks with 120lb dumbbells and some dude on the Oly platform next to me is deadlifting with straps, gloves and a belt and is struggling to finish sets of 5 with my warmup and he looks over at me as I’m pulling 435 for 4 reps with no belt, glove or straps and he actually has the fucking bottle to tell me that the gym doesn’t allow barefoot lifting (I took off my shoes for the last set) and that I shouldn’t drop the weight!
I looked at him, looked down disparagingly at the weight he was struggling to pull (2 plates and a couple 10’s), snickered and proceeded to ignore him. One of the employees comes up and tells me I can’t lift without shoes right after that. But he was understanding and explained that he’s been trying unsuccessfully for weeks to get his boss to allow dropping of the weight from overhead on the Oly platform and to allow barefoot lifting.
Then he asked me if I wanted to compete in the strongman competition they’re holding in October and commented that I’m the only person he’s seen in there doing any sort of dynamic work whatsoever. I have never been approached by anyone in that gym, EVER, for any reason other than to ask how many sets I have left. And after my mini-rant on here it happens twice in 30 seconds. Go figure.[/quote]
Get vibrams…
I had a trainer at my gym (just employee) approach me with that “you need to wear shoes” bullshit when I was lifting barefoot. I had logical rebuttals to all of her arguments then she got all flustered and said “it’s gym policy and management will say something” so I told her well then that’s between me and management and proceeded to finish my workout.
A couple weeks later the manager approaches me and we have a conversation about me having to wear shoes while in the gym. She gave me the same arguments and I gave her all the same rebuttals. To which she said it’s a liability issue with the insurance company. So, I bought a pair of vibrams and now she talks to me about how comfortable they are. To her credit she agreed with me on every point (the manager) and said she had never really thought about it that way, but there’s no problem with the vibrams and they serve the same purpose as the barefoot lifting.
I was wearing them one day and this jabronie in sneakers says to me “man it’d hurt a lot if you dropped a weight on your foot wearing those huh.” To which I replied, “Yea, probably just as much as you dropping a weight on your foot.” A few weeks later he asks me where I got my vibrams and that he’s been thinking about getting a pair.[/quote]
Yeah, I need to get me some of those. I work out barefoot-only at my house, but in the summer it’s too fucking hot here (avg temp is about 97) to lift in my garage so I go to the gym. My Etnies aren’t cutting it anymore and I refuse to wear Chuck Taylor’s.[/quote]
Converse sells a non-Hightop version.