T Nation

Worse Than Curls In The Rack...

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#1

So I hit the gym yesterday and I immediately knew that something was amiss… I couldn’t tell exactly what it was, but my spidy sense was going crazy.

After closer inspection, I saw it: There was a bar with 40 pounds on it sitting waist-high in the squat cage. There wasn’t anyone immediately next to it, so it took a moment to identify the culprit. “What the hell is this?!”, I thought to myself as I saw him approach the bar. He walked up to the bar and then TURNED AROUND. Then, he grasped the bar behind his back. I immediately thought, “Surely, he’s just warming-up for some monster behind-the-back shrugs. - He’s going to be putting plates on that bar in a second.” But what happened next, my friends, was a crime against testosterone (brace yourselves): He began doing behind-the-back wrist curls - IN THE SQUAT RACK!

God help us all…

#2

That sends shivers down my spine!!!

#3

I used the squat rack for curls tonite. I know this is a crime against T-Men everywhere, but I really don’t think anyone at my “health club” type gym knows what the squat rack is. Is it still bad?

#4

That is hilarious! Great job building up the story. Yes that is worse than squat rack curls.

#5

I do reverse curls in the squat rack, in a commercial gym. Granted its with 95-115 lbs, but then again who gives a shit! Know why? Because I can count on one hand how many people use the squat rack for anything and half of the ones that use it can’t even squat their bodyweight.

I think it would be funny if everyone started using the flat bench for barbell curls. Then again you get immune to seeing the same people year after year staying the same size, curling and benching the same weight. Good thing my membership is damn cheap!

#6

He might not want to hack squat the 40lbs before he bulks his forearms. See, if you build any mass on the legs, it makes the arms look smaller.

#7

That’s fricking awesome!!!

I saw someone doing swiss ball knee ups while holding on to the safety bars in a squat rack. Needless to say, when the guy got off the ball to get a drink, a powerlifter kicked the ball out of his way and set up for some heavy squats.

#8

did he ask you for a spot?

#9

Think thats bad, today at school some freshman, probably about 115lbs, was doing leg curls with just a 25lb plate.
The wieght was obvioulsy to light for him because when he brought it up, the plate flew off the leg curl machine and went about three feet in the air, landing about an inch away from his head.

Damn was that funny to watch. Hes very lucky that didnt land on him or anyone else

#10

[quote]sugarfree wrote:
See, if you build any mass on the legs, it makes the arms look smaller.[/quote]

You don’t know how right you are. - I’ve seen this guy several times before, and let’s just say that he’s one of those guys that thinks the there’s only 2 muscles in the human body: the right arm and the left arm…

Anyway, for guys doing similar stuff in ‘health clubs’, I think you get a pass as long as there wasn’t anyone else around that might want to use the rack. But in my situation, I was waiting for a rack to open (we only have 2 - and the other one was busy with someone doing 400 lb squats).

#11

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#12

[quote]pushharder wrote:
I normally train in my home gym but I do travel for business so am forced to train in a local gym from time to time. Went to the 24 Hour Fatness on Karen St. in Vegas this past Monday. I think I have read on other T-Nation threads about what is about to follow here but this still blows my mind. One of the PT’s there was training a middle-aged, 40 lbs. overweight woman who was obviously a complete rookie in the weightlifting world. HE HAD HER STANDING ON THE BENCH, ONE-LEGGED, DOING DUMBBELL CURLS. It was all she could do just to get on the bench but then he handed her the dumbbells, told her to lift one leg and proceed to curl the 10 or 15 lbs. dumbbell.

Armageddon cannot be far away.[/quote]

LMAO! Oh dear God! That made laugh so hard I think I woke the kids. Damn. hahahaha! I might pay to see such an odd sight.

#13

How about people coming from the aerobics classes to the weights area and choosing a machine- such as leg curls or the preacher curl station, purely as a sitting down and stretching the legs out station, then after stretching sitting there and making phone calls on their cell phone, or signalling friends and them using it as a sociallizing/leaning on/posing station. When you want to use it and stand there for five minutes staring at them, them not catching the hint whatsoever. Drives me crazy every time, especially during those times when I’m trying to fit in my training before work and have to be efficient with my time, and my life will not be complete without doing preacher curls. Lots of them in my gym. They seem to fit into the saggy/no butt, butts that look like it’s never ever trained before, wears buku hairspray/red lipstick to the gym category.

#14

[quote]pushharder wrote:
One of the PT’s there was training a middle-aged, 40 lbs. overweight woman who was obviously a complete rookie in the weightlifting world. HE HAD HER STANDING ON THE BENCH, ONE-LEGGED, DOING DUMBBELL CURLS. It was all she could do just to get on the bench but then he handed her the dumbbells, told her to lift one leg and proceed to curl the 10 or 15 lbs. dumbbell.[quote]

That visual is BOTH Sick AND Wrong. I’m so glad I have a home gym now.

#15

[quote]pushharder wrote:
I normally train in my home gym but I do travel for business so am forced to train in a local gym from time to time. Went to the 24 Hour Fatness on Karen St. in Vegas this past Monday. I think I have read on other T-Nation threads about what is about to follow here but this still blows my mind. One of the PT’s there was training a middle-aged, 40 lbs. overweight woman who was obviously a complete rookie in the weightlifting world. HE HAD HER STANDING ON THE BENCH, ONE-LEGGED, DOING DUMBBELL CURLS. It was all she could do just to get on the bench but then he handed her the dumbbells, told her to lift one leg and proceed to curl the 10 or 15 lbs. dumbbell.

Armageddon cannot be far away.[/quote]

hhhmmm, I’ll need to try that sometime…

#16

[quote]pushharder wrote:
I normally train in my home gym but I do travel for business so am forced to train in a local gym from time to time. Went to the 24 Hour Fatness on Karen St. in Vegas this past Monday. I think I have read on other T-Nation threads about what is about to follow here but this still blows my mind. One of the PT’s there was training a middle-aged, 40 lbs. overweight woman who was obviously a complete rookie in the weightlifting world. HE HAD HER STANDING ON THE BENCH, ONE-LEGGED, DOING DUMBBELL CURLS. It was all she could do just to get on the bench but then he handed her the dumbbells, told her to lift one leg and proceed to curl the 10 or 15 lbs. dumbbell.

Armageddon cannot be far away.[/quote]

I must have seen her obviously more athletic twin sister getting “trained”, only she was standing one-legged on a bosu. Not the flat side but the ball side.

Funny thing is I see the trainers themselves do the same thing with a little heavier weight when they train. So thats what you can learn for $90 and 3 sessions???

#17

[quote]Klink wrote:
So I hit the gym yesterday and I immediately knew that something was amiss… I couldn’t tell exactly what it was, but my spidy sense was going crazy.

After closer inspection, I saw it: There was a bar with 40 pounds on it sitting waist-high in the squat cage. There wasn’t anyone immediately next to it, so it took a moment to identify the culprit. “What the hell is this?!”, I thought to myself as I saw him approach the bar. He walked up to the bar and then TURNED AROUND. Then, he grasped the bar behind his back. I immediately thought, “Surely, he’s just warming-up for some monster behind-the-back shrugs. - He’s going to be putting plates on that bar in a second.” But what happened next, my friends, was a crime against testosterone (brace yourselves): He began doing behind-the-back wrist curls - IN THE SQUAT RACK!

God help us all… [/quote]

To play devil’s advocate…
So how else do you pick up the bar to do behind-the back wrist curls? It’s an exercise I have done only a couple of times in my life, but both times it was in the rack.

Pretty hard to pick up a barbell dead center behind your back and stand up from the floor.

#18

So hell looks like a state of the art gym with dumbass trainers…

#19

They need the following rules posted at EVERY squat rack.

RULE #1 - The Squat Rack is for Squats
RULE #2 - Curling is not a Squat
RULE #3 - Unless you can curl more than your bodyweight…A CURL IS NOT A SQUAT!!!

I mean seriously…Common sense type stuff. I’ve seen people curling the bar or close to it in the squat rack…taking their time, of course. You know the guy…the skinny white kid in the wifebeater pumpin his guns for 35 minutes and calling it a day.

I suppose its not that bad though…it could be a huge fat guy in underarmor.

#20

[quote]deanosumo wrote:
To play devil’s advocate…
So how else do you pick up the bar to do behind-the back wrist curls? It’s an exercise I have done only a couple of times in my life, but both times it was in the rack.

Pretty hard to pick up a barbell dead center behind your back and stand up from the floor.
[/quote]

Just do a hack squat?