All these new years resolution people in the gym getting in the way etc.

COH

(From my facebook this morning)

Here's my take on new years resolutioners and people starting out lifting in general.

Many moons ago, maybe 11 years or so I decided to make the transition from training on a crappy york bench my dad bought me in my basement to the pantheon of greatness that was the commercial gym (Westwood). At this stage, weighing a svelt 75kg and being an obvious monster benching well in excess of 85kg (because thats all the weights I could fit on the 5 foot bar) I knew I was ready...

Fast forward a couple of months I had taken my animal pack, anator p-70 (lol!), creatine, Norateen Heavyweight II and as many scoops of NO-Xplode as I could fit into a shaker I found myself on a bench repping 80kg. Yes, I was a king pin boss legend. I locked out the 7th rep and thought 'holy **** I'm gonna kill this b*tch for 10 reps'. The 8th came up ok but the 9th was a grinder. The 10th stapled me. No spotter. No idea what to do. Sh*t. Not wanting to call out for help I decided to roll the bar casually down my body without anyone seeing my struggle. A few crushed ribs later I had the bar on my pelvis... I had escaped. Boom!

I had not escaped. Completely forgot about leverage... as I sat up the combined weight of me, a monster, and the fully loaded 80kg bar flipped the entire bench up in the air. It crashed down as I fell sideways off the bench still under the bar. The noise was enough to turn the heads of every single person in the gym who proceedes to point, and laugh. They laughed ALOT. And I left dejected. What a waste of a NO-Xplode buzz... I was up til 4am sweating without having even maximised my extreme gains

So yeah - we all had to start somewhere. Young lads will do young lad things... forgive them for they know no better. Think about that next time you decide to be a judgemental c*nt for the sake of it and maybe offer some advice... or a spot!

(Just for the record I'm still all in favour of having a laugh at gym goers who are just blatant assholes ... and anyone wearing matching GAA shorts and jerseys who do single leg plyos in a power rack)







Discuss

deadlybuzzman

Its around ten years since I left my home weights set to gather dust and started going to a proper gym. At first I was doing all kinds of weird stuff.
..... I'm still at it, only now I'd almost convince someone I know what I'm at :rolleyes:

Mr. CooL ICE

First time I was left to squat by myself, I was afraid the bar was gonna topple off the squat rack when changing the plates. I removed a 10kg plate from the bar, put it on the rack with one hand and held the bar with the other to hold it in place. Keeping my hand on the bar, I shuffled over to the other side to remove the other 10kg and breathed a sigh of relief that I didn't kill anybody nearby.

Inspector Coptoor

Let them at it.fair play to them for making that first positive step.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of them will make that 1st step & expect it to be an earth shattering leap, &, when they aren't lean in 17 seconds with visible abs, most will retreat back to the couch and the Doritos.


To all I say this, you were once that annoying noob/bell end. **** it, most of us still are, regardless how many certs, & years under the bar we have, and some of us like me, were and are just crap at lifting stuff but enjoy it, and that's cool too.

It comes down to the number one rule in life, try hard not be to a dickhead

Daith

The only thing I don't get is why start in January? It's raining, windy, still dark.

Giving the choice of walking to gym after work or getting to a warm house well...

Alf Veedersane

Daith wrote: »

The only thing I don't get is why start in January? It's raining, windy, still dark.

Giving the choice of walking to gym after work or getting to a warm house well...

Because gainz.

@daith

I saw the thread title and came in ready to give out that we were all noobs once. I still mostly am. Shhhh

@daith, i go before work. Mostly. Best of both worlds. Yuss

power pants

Earlier this week people give out in a thread about the new people joining

foum heavyweight starts thread about cutting them some slack

people now embracing them

sheep :rolleyes:

chopper6

Patronising thread much?

Zombienosh

We all feel a bit awkward and out of place when we're somewhere new or doing something unknown and this is hugely amplified when it comes to gyms and fitness.

Yeah there's a lot of people who sign up to gyms and never go again, but that doesn't mean they all just got lazy or physically couldn't hack it. Quite often people might not return because while in this new environment out of their comfort zone feeling exposed and hugely insecure/self conscious, trying to make a change and all it takes is one dickhead, who has forgotten we all start somewhere making some inappropriate comments or just generally being a dick.

So if you are in the position of having a load of new people in "your" gym, say hi!

Gummy Panda

Daith wrote: »

The only thing I don't get is why start in January? It's raining, windy, still dark.

Giving the choice of walking to gym after work or getting to a warm house well...

Because they booked their summer holiday now and want gainz for the beach

Stench Blossoms

chopper6 wrote: »

Patronising thread much?

Did you actually read the OP?

deisedude

First day in a gym I pressed the stop button on the treadmill but stupidly i immediately stopped running and was catapulted backwards on to my arse.

I then picked myself up and promptly ran out the door

EmcD123

Nicolas Cage wrote: »

First time I was left to squat by myself, I was afraid the bar was gonna topple off the squat rack when changing the plates. I removed a 10kg plate from the bar, put it on the rack with one hand and held the bar with the other to hold it in place. Keeping my hand on the bar, I shuffled over to the other side to remove the other 10kg and breathed a sigh of relief that I didn't kill anybody nearby.

wait wait wait!! does the bar not actually fall over if you just take the plates off one side? Ive only used the rack a handful of times and always hold down the bar just in case

chocksaway

deisedude wrote: »

First day in a gym I pressed the stop button on the treadmill but stupidly i immediately stopped running and was catapulted backwards on to my arse.

I then picked myself up and promptly ran out the door

I tripped over my feet on a treadmill before and fell on what is basically a belt sander. My knees did not look pretty

Mr. CooL ICE

EmcD123 wrote: »

wait wait wait!! does the bar not actually fall over if you just take the plates off one side? Ive only used the rack a handful of times and always hold down the bar just in case

Technically it would topple, but only if there were a lot of weights on one side. If my maths and physics aren't rusty, the bar might topple if you placed over 40kg at the very centre point of the outer portion of the bar, or 24kg at the very edge of the bar.

Blacktie.

Nicolas Cage wrote: »

Technically it would topple, but only if there were a lot of weights on one side. If my maths and physics aren't rusty, the bar might topple if you placed over 40kg at the very centre point of the outer portion of the bar, or 24kg at the very edge of the bar.

Bar topples at 3 plates. Trust me on this!

Magenta

chopper6 wrote:

Patronising thread much?

Stench Blossoms wrote: »

Did you actually read the OP?

He's too busy trying to sound clever with that "much?" pigeon English phrase from 2009.

Betty Bloggs

deisedude wrote: »

First day in a gym I pressed the stop button on the treadmill but stupidly i immediately stopped running and was catapulted backwards on to my arse.

I then picked myself up and promptly ran out the door

:D

I've never worked out in a gym before but I think I would have done exactly the same as you if that happened me. Legged it! :pac:

brownej

Blacktie. wrote: »

Bar topples at 3 plates. Trust me on this!

I suppose it would also depend on the width betweenn the supporting points.
Some squat stands can be pretty narrow. It would also depend slightly on the weight distribution/balance of the bar itself.

I think most people load the bars with one twenty at a time.

I notice with the prone row setup in the gym I go to, the bar is supported in the middle so it will topple with only a 10kg difference between the sides. On this it is easy to notice the subtle differences betweent the balancing on different bars.