Training in a Busy Gym

Bigger Stronger Leaner
21

I’ve had similar problems in the past and when I was young I thought if I deviated from my set program than everything would turn to shit and for some unknown reason I wouldn’t make any gains lol.
Over the years I found it really didn’t make that much difference changing an exercise from time to time as long as it was along the same lines. eg; Barbell Bench - Dumbbell Bench. Barbell Bent Over Row - Dumbbell Bent Over Row. Military Press- Seated Dumbbell Press.
Actually some of the so called “inferior exercises” you may find you respond to even better.

Hell now I even use machines which years ago I thought were totally out of bounds lol.

If you are training for powerlifting then you have a problem but if you just "wanna look good naked, " then forget this crazy notion that you have to use a barbell.

22

I was in a similar situation for a while. The gym had ONE flat bench, and lots of groups of 2-3 guys training together, so it was almost impossible to bench. After getting frustrated for about a month, I decided dumbbell benching would work just fine for my purposes. I also did dumbbell presses and even used the fixed weight EZ Curl bars once or twice for standing press. Strangely, I could pretty much always get access to the squat rack when I wanted it…

23

One more thing deserves highlighting that, aside from Th3Pwnisher, has barely been mentioned.

Be cool. Remind the guys that the squat rack is the only place for squatting and they can do their shit anywhere. Be polite, firm and respectful. Talk to them.

Now that I’ve been at the same gym for well over a year I could never see something like this ever being a problem. Once you become a regular, earn some respect and develop a rapport with the people who share your space, stuff this will be a non-issue. Even if I switched to benching on Mondays with the young bench bros I’m sure we’d get the situation sorted without anyone being denied access to the getting jacked equipment.

The squat rack, fortunately, collects a lot of dust at my gym.

24

Man, an option to consider is to adjust your routine and train mainly with dumbbells for the time being. It may not always be optimal, but some Bulgarian Split Squats, DB Presses, Deep DB Benches, Single-Leg Deads, & DB rows can work wonders for quite a while. Doing many of these movements w/ 100+ lbs in each hand for higher reps is plenty for most, at least for a while.

25

[quote]TX iron wrote:
Man, an option to consider is to adjust your routine and train mainly with dumbbells for the time being. It may not always be optimal, but some Bulgarian Split Squats, DB Presses, Deep DB Benches, Single-Leg Deads, & DB rows can work wonders for quite a while. Doing many of these movements w/ 100+ lbs in each hand for higher reps is plenty for most, at least for a while.[/quote]

My guess would be that if there’s only one squat rack, they probably don’t have 100lb dumbbells.

26

[quote]twojarslave wrote:
One more thing deserves highlighting that, aside from Th3Pwnisher, has barely been mentioned.

Be cool. Remind the guys that the squat rack is the only place for squatting and they can do their shit anywhere. Be polite, firm and respectful. Talk to them.

Now that I’ve been at the same gym for well over a year I could never see something like this ever being a problem. Once you become a regular, earn some respect and develop a rapport with the people who share your space, stuff this will be a non-issue. Even if I switched to benching on Mondays with the young bench bros I’m sure we’d get the situation sorted without anyone being denied access to the getting jacked equipment.

The squat rack, fortunately, collects a lot of dust at my gym.[/quote]

Thank you for this. This thread is honestly blowing my mind. I would never consider changing my workout to be an option in this situation. It’s sharing, something we learned as children but seem to completely forget as adults.

I train at home these days, but whenever I train in a commercial gym on the road, I never need to wait on equipment, because I am one of the few people that will risk human contact in order to work in with someone. I’ve never been told no, and in most cases got to have a pleasent exchange with the people I worked in on.

27

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
Thank you for this. This thread is honestly blowing my mind. I would never consider changing my workout to be an option in this situation. It’s sharing, something we learned as children but seem to completely forget as adults.

I train at home these days, but whenever I train in a commercial gym on the road, I never need to wait on equipment, because I am one of the few people that will risk human contact in order to work in with someone. I’ve never been told no, and in most cases got to have a pleasant exchange with the people I worked in on.[/quote]
Since I’ve only worked out in a commercial gym a few times, I really don’t know how this works.

If you’re squatting/benching a significantly different amount than the other person, is it normal to adjust the plates between sets? So, say, they go; then you add plates, lift, remove plates; repeat?

It just seems like the logistics are a lot easier if you wait until they’re done, or if they’re lifting very close/the same as you are.

Yes, I realize I’m asking on the internet instead of just doing it. But I lift at home, so it’s pretty much irrelevant.

28

[quote]LoRez wrote:

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
Thank you for this. This thread is honestly blowing my mind. I would never consider changing my workout to be an option in this situation. It’s sharing, something we learned as children but seem to completely forget as adults.

I train at home these days, but whenever I train in a commercial gym on the road, I never need to wait on equipment, because I am one of the few people that will risk human contact in order to work in with someone. I’ve never been told no, and in most cases got to have a pleasant exchange with the people I worked in on.[/quote]
Since I’ve only worked out in a commercial gym a few times, I really don’t know how this works.

If you’re squatting/benching a significantly different amount than the other person, is it normal to adjust the plates between sets? So, say, they go; then you add plates, lift, remove plates; repeat?

It just seems like the logistics are a lot easier if you wait until they’re done, or if they’re lifting very close/the same as you are.

Yes, I realize I’m asking on the internet instead of just doing it. But I lift at home, so it’s pretty much irrelevant.[/quote]

I imagine it would work more or less like you said. Stripping and adding plates doesn’t take too long, and in the case of a heavy squat workout, there is plenty of time between my sets for someone to work in. No 90 second rests for this lifter.

Every exchange I’ve had along these lines just boils down to “how many more sets you got?”. “Okay, cool”. Then you either wait around or go do something else.

Verbal communication is still a surprisingly effective means of human interaction.

29

[quote]LoRez wrote:
If you’re squatting/benching a significantly different amount than the other person, is it normal to adjust the plates between sets? So, say, they go; then you add plates, lift, remove plates; repeat?

It just seems like the logistics are a lot easier if you wait until they’re done, or if they’re lifting very close/the same as you are.

Yes, I realize I’m asking on the internet instead of just doing it. But I lift at home, so it’s pretty much irrelevant.[/quote]

Yup. I once was sharing the power rack with a guy that was doing shrugs with the bar fully loaded with 45lb plates. When he was done with his set, we’d strip the plates off the bar, I’d do my squats, he’d load the plates up, do his shrugs, repeat.

Given that normally people rest between sets, it worked out just fine. His rest periods were when I was squatting, my rest periods were when he was shrugging.

Since we were both at the gym, it seemed only fitting that we would be lifting weights in between sets.

30

In his first post he said his gym has dumbbells up to 110 lbs.

31

[quote]dagill2 wrote:

[quote]TX iron wrote:
Man, an option to consider is to adjust your routine and train mainly with dumbbells for the time being. It may not always be optimal, but some Bulgarian Split Squats, DB Presses, Deep DB Benches, Single-Leg Deads, & DB rows can work wonders for quite a while. Doing many of these movements w/ 100+ lbs in each hand for higher reps is plenty for most, at least for a while.[/quote]

My guess would be that if there’s only one squat rack, they probably don’t have 100lb dumbbells.[/quote]

He mentions in his first post that his gym has up to 110s. Sorry for the double post, I’m not tech-savvy.

32

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:

[quote]Canuck88 wrote:

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
What do people tell you when you ask to work in with them on the rack?[/quote]

Most of the time their are happy too, however 90% of the time we use different weights, the rack isn’t adjusted to my height or we are doing different exercises [/quote]

You have 2 accounts?

The adjusting is a good way to stay active during rest periods.[/quote]

Use one for questions my dad has (he doesn’t have an account) I apologize for the confusion.

33

[quote]Angus1 wrote:
I’ve had similar problems in the past and when I was young I thought if I deviated from my set program than everything would turn to shit and for some unknown reason I wouldn’t make any gains lol.
Over the years I found it really didn’t make that much difference changing an exercise from time to time as long as it was along the same lines. eg; Barbell Bench - Dumbbell Bench. Barbell Bent Over Row - Dumbbell Bent Over Row. Military Press- Seated Dumbbell Press.
Actually some of the so called “inferior exercises” you may find you respond to even better.

Hell now I even use machines which years ago I thought were totally out of bounds lol.

If you are training for powerlifting then you have a problem but if you just "wanna look good naked, " then forget this crazy notion that you have to use a barbell.[/quote]

Thanks for your help, I will give different variations a shot, Im just training to become a better athlete.

34

[quote]twojarslave wrote:
One more thing deserves highlighting that, aside from Th3Pwnisher, has barely been mentioned.

Be cool. Remind the guys that the squat rack is the only place for squatting and they can do their shit anywhere. Be polite, firm and respectful. Talk to them.

I will ask nicely, I just don’t get these people. I try to but I don’t think they understand.

Now that I’ve been at the same gym for well over a year I could never see something like this ever being a problem. Once you become a regular, earn some respect and develop a rapport with the people who share your space, stuff this will be a non-issue. Even if I switched to benching on Mondays with the young bench bros I’m sure we’d get the situation sorted without anyone being denied access to the getting jacked equipment.

The squat rack, fortunately, collects a lot of dust at my gym.[/quote]

Hahaha my gym is the opposite, the squat rack gets used for everything but squatting!

35

[quote]LoRez wrote:

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
Thank you for this. This thread is honestly blowing my mind. I would never consider changing my workout to be an option in this situation. It’s sharing, something we learned as children but seem to completely forget as adults.

I train at home these days, but whenever I train in a commercial gym on the road, I never need to wait on equipment, because I am one of the few people that will risk human contact in order to work in with someone. I’ve never been told no, and in most cases got to have a pleasant exchange with the people I worked in on.[/quote]
Since I’ve only worked out in a commercial gym a few times, I really don’t know how this works.

If you’re squatting/benching a significantly different amount than the other person, is it normal to adjust the plates between sets? So, say, they go; then you add plates, lift, remove plates; repeat?

It just seems like the logistics are a lot easier if you wait until they’re done, or if they’re lifting very close/the same as you are.

Yes, I realize I’m asking on the internet instead of just doing it. But I lift at home, so it’s pretty much irrelevant.[/quote]

Working in is a pain in the a$$ especially if their doing a different exercise with a barbell (Deads and cleans)

36

i also believe that making workouts short it beneficial

37

It sounds like you have a lot of barriers in place that will prevent you from getting access to the rack. I will
ish you luck in your training.

38

[quote]TX iron wrote:

[quote]dagill2 wrote:

[quote]TX iron wrote:
Man, an option to consider is to adjust your routine and train mainly with dumbbells for the time being. It may not always be optimal, but some Bulgarian Split Squats, DB Presses, Deep DB Benches, Single-Leg Deads, & DB rows can work wonders for quite a while. Doing many of these movements w/ 100+ lbs in each hand for higher reps is plenty for most, at least for a while.[/quote]

My guess would be that if there’s only one squat rack, they probably don’t have 100lb dumbbells.[/quote]

He mentions in his first post that his gym has up to 110s. Sorry for the double post, I’m not tech-savvy.
[/quote]
At least you can read properly, clearly something I’ve forgotten.

39

[quote]jake_richardson wrote:

[quote]LoRez wrote:

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
Thank you for this. This thread is honestly blowing my mind. I would never consider changing my workout to be an option in this situation. It’s sharing, something we learned as children but seem to completely forget as adults.

I train at home these days, but whenever I train in a commercial gym on the road, I never need to wait on equipment, because I am one of the few people that will risk human contact in order to work in with someone. I’ve never been told no, and in most cases got to have a pleasant exchange with the people I worked in on.[/quote]
Since I’ve only worked out in a commercial gym a few times, I really don’t know how this works.

If you’re squatting/benching a significantly different amount than the other person, is it normal to adjust the plates between sets? So, say, they go; then you add plates, lift, remove plates; repeat?

It just seems like the logistics are a lot easier if you wait until they’re done, or if they’re lifting very close/the same as you are.

Yes, I realize I’m asking on the internet instead of just doing it. But I lift at home, so it’s pretty much irrelevant.[/quote]

Working in is a pain in the a$$ especially if their doing a different exercise with a barbell (Deads and cleans)

[/quote]

I remember training in commercial gyms, and I don’t remember ever having a good experience of working in. It’s always been more hassle logistically than just waiting for me.

40

[quote]dagill2 wrote:

[quote]jake_richardson wrote:

[quote]LoRez wrote:

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
Thank you for this. This thread is honestly blowing my mind. I would never consider changing my workout to be an option in this situation. It’s sharing, something we learned as children but seem to completely forget as adults.

I train at home these days, but whenever I train in a commercial gym on the road, I never need to wait on equipment, because I am one of the few people that will risk human contact in order to work in with someone. I’ve never been told no, and in most cases got to have a pleasant exchange with the people I worked in on.[/quote]
Since I’ve only worked out in a commercial gym a few times, I really don’t know how this works.

If you’re squatting/benching a significantly different amount than the other person, is it normal to adjust the plates between sets? So, say, they go; then you add plates, lift, remove plates; repeat?

It just seems like the logistics are a lot easier if you wait until they’re done, or if they’re lifting very close/the same as you are.

Yes, I realize I’m asking on the internet instead of just doing it. But I lift at home, so it’s pretty much irrelevant.[/quote]

Working in is a pain in the a$$ especially if their doing a different exercise with a barbell (Deads and cleans)

[/quote]

I remember training in commercial gyms, and I don’t remember ever having a good experience of working in. It’s always been more hassle logistically than just waiting for me.[/quote]

Depends on the strength difference and the length of time they will be on their. If it is already a big group occupying the rack then I usually just wait. Most people are really cool about letting you work in, however, sometimes I would rather be able to warm up and just go when I get ready to go, if I can wait 15 minutes for the rack to open up.