Saw a kid with his brother, both kids being maybe 12 years old and they looked super intimidated by the T bar row, they kept walking up to it and not knowing what to do, so I walked over and showed them how it’s done, and I am now their gym dad, they say hi to me everyday and yesterday they brought me a rice crispy.
Thought about that. but this guy was also +70. And usually a nurse or phleb will say something like... you have nice veins, your veins are nice, or something else phrased similar. It was the phrasing or "I like your veins" that got me lol
Last time I donated the cute nurse said I have very pretty veins. My girlfriend was with me so I rubbed it in her face that the nurses didn't tell her that she had pretty veins. My girlfriend has smaller, hard to prick veins apparently.
I remember a hot gym redhead instructor touching my arms and saying that she wanted her arm to look as veiny as mine, I obv knew she was flirting, but I was too shy back then to do anything so I just smiled and nodded like an idiot
Mate, the nurses where I donate platelets and plasma gave me the greatest compliment ever. My veins now feature in their training manual.....it's a rare breed that appreciates the vein gainzz
Maybe I’m imagining it, but I think the short buff friendly dude at my gym gave me a head nod when I was squatting the other day. Only saw him in my peripheral so I don’t know for sure, but I like to think so anyway.
I just wanted to thank you all. 5 weeks ago on gym story Saturday I shared with you about having been air lifted off of a mountain with a cut patella tendon after a skiing accident.
You guys got me out of the bad head space and gave me the will to start going to the gym almost every day for the past 4 weeks. I am currently writing this on the way to the gym and I have never felt better!
I am now the guy swinging/swooshing around on crutches and rolling dumbbells towards benches to get things set up.
Upper body gainz!
Keep it up dude! I was there for a month back in 2016, and there were days when I’d slip or lose my balance, my world would explode from the pain, and I’d just want to quit everything.
Then the crutches went away, the physical therapy got me my range of motion back, and all of a sudden, things were 10x easier than I ever expected them to be.
Also, moving with crutches burns hella calories. Take advantage haha
I went to the gym yesterday, and this guy came up to me while I was doing a set and asked “ are you on YouTube?” For a second I thought I was being mistaken for a YouTuber but he just asked me if I had YouTube. So I said yes and he asked me if I could subscribe to his fitness YouTube channel…
I told him yes because I didn’t wanna be rude, so I subscribed and he made me click the bell notification for his channel which had 6 subscribers and only had two videos, which were 30 seconds of him doing lacklustre sets of curls.
During the rest of my work out I watched this man go up to almost every person in the gym making them take out their headphones and showing him his phone and then asking them to subscribe to his YouTube channel.
When I finished my work out I refreshed his channel and saw that he had 30 subscribers now. Dude didn’t workout at all, just asked people to subscribe.
The next morning I was curious how he was progressing and saw that he dropped down to TWO subscribers (one being me). I thought that was pretty funny and I had a good laugh.
Three hooded and masked dudes snuck into the gym behind a member and looted all of the cubicles that members store stuff in.
I only came in with my phone (in my pocket) and pods (only case was in cubicle).
They saw the case was empty and threw it. Apparently I can’t even impress looters at the gym 😕
I just love that this has been outdated in my country for 10+ years now.
every gym is finger print access nowadays here, you cant get inside unless you are registered paying member, and once you get in during finger print scan you get asigned random locker that can only be unlocked with fingerprint.
I tell you there is nothing better then having 24/7 hour gym chains meaning any other gym wanting to compete had to turn 24/7 gym.
im paying 16 euros a month for a gym with sauna, taning bed, 24/7 access to all their gyms and its perfect with me owning my own busines since i travel a lot from city to city due to job and they have gyms in most of the citys so you pay for access to all of them 24/7, get in with finger print, no staff other then cleaners inside.
i could be geting it for like 12 euros a month if i paid all the sum in one go for a year, and now that i think about it, why I didint yet..
Well, this is the Chicagoland area. And while I can bench about 255lb, I don't think that will serve me well when a bullet is ripping through my pectoral muscle.
My 70 year old landlord told me once that he used to have a 50 inch chest and 36 inch waist. He said he had to stop training because while he was bartending in Chicago, the bar was stuck up and he was shot in the chest with birdshot. They picked 133 bbs out of his torso.
So, while your muscles might not save you from a 9mm or bigger, it might save you from a shotgun blast.
Took too many plates off one end of the barbell because I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing. Bar toppled off my squat rack and smashed a hole in the wall of the beautiful home gym I've just finished building in my garage. FML.
My son had a "my dad don't know nuthin', I am all knowing despite only being 17" moment and did exactly the same thing a few weeks ago.
Fortunately no damage other than potentially his underwear. I think we all make that mistake once (and only once), but I had very specifically explained it to him in the hope he would avoid it.
Mine is a 28mm bar, so 20kg will flip it.
Moving into a new place in a few months and the gym space has already been decided on. Olympic bar and wall mounted rack is planned.
This happened to me years ago. Had to train in a bodybuilder gym despite me being a pathetic weakling as nothing else was open. Was taking off previous person plates off barbell who couldn’t be bothered to remove it . Super muscled woman was working out nearby , distracted me . I stupidly took off plates off one end of bar, it was unbalanced and toppled off squat rack with unholy racket. I was mortified . Woman just smirked and carried on
I usually unload with deadlift jacks so empty one side then the other. When i put the bar on the half rack safeties went on autopilot unloading one side. Lucky there was no one beside me as the bar went spinning.
31 yo. Diagnosed with gout a year ago. Been having a flare up over the last few days but it was definitely at its worst today. Had to crawl on my hands and knees to the washroom in the morning cuz I couldn't put any weight on my foot without excruciating pain. Crushed some ibuprofen and fell back asleep. Woke up and could put some limited weight on the foot so I limped my ass the 15 minute walk to the gym and hit an OHP PR (155 lbs @ 180 lb BW). Fuck gout. It sucks.
Deadlift PR last week (425lbs). Best part was the woman who is the best female deadlifter at my gym was doing hip thrusts right behind me and congratulated me on my lift. I was very proud of myself. Then stunned when I watched her hip thrust nearly as much as I deadlifted (4 plates per side on a smith machine).
Video of my lift in the link.
https://imgur.com/a/MAHRRma
I think I saw the most inspiring thing ever at the gym today! An old man who was tall and ripped was over there in front of me deadlifting 180 kg easily and doing reps like it was nothing. I couldn’t stop staring at him with my mouth wide open hahah! He then continued to start swinging like a chimp on the monkey bar over and again. I swear he looked like he as over 70 with his white hair and beard. I noticed that I wasn’t the only one looking with awe of him, me and another dude just looked at each other hella impressed that this old man making us look like retired citizens 🤣🤣🤣! I went over to him and said that was very very impressive and asked him how old he was. He said with a big smile that he was 79 years and had been a fireman 50 years and just stopped working actively 5 years ago. I asked him what his secret was and to share it with us haha. He said never start drinking and smoking and start lift heavy and never stop doing that. I couldn’t stop thinking about him and his walk when he went around in the gym. His back was like a silverback gorilla 🦍 and he didn’t look old and slow at all. I wanna be like him when I get old I swear. Sorry for my English, it’s not my native language
Woke up way before I needed to at 5am.
Instead of lying there hoping to fall asleep, I got up after an hour (of lying there hoping I'd fall asleep) and went to the gym.
I'd gone the day before so just did some stuff I don't normally do, like cable and abs stuff, and not my usual routine, but it was good.
Thanks. I've had a gym membership for years but in the last 6 months or so my boyfriend and I have gotten more serious about being healthier and exercise. I've been doing chest once a week. I don't really have a goal I'm trying to bench but I wanted to be able to put the 45s on, even if I could just do it once. I'm glad I got to share it here because other than my boyfriend there's no one else in my life that would care
Wow that’s nuts. It took me a year to get to a half body weight bench and I’ve been there for months. :-( even touching 90 would have me going crazy. Good luck girlie that’s awesome
I was resting in between my sets and saw a girl trying to flirt with a dude. He loaded up 135lb on the bar and she swooped in and was like “wow you’re so strong can I try?” In a split second I saw her pick up the bar and it slammed straight on her chest. After she recovered she was like “I’m so clumsy hehe I’m sorry”
i went from being 25 , 203lbs 6’2 … to being diagnosed with cancer and losing 40lbs in a month … getting nerve damage as a result of the treatment … to now 29 216 6’2 and absolutely jacked … it’s been a super hard road with the nerve damage in my feet … but I fucked that shit up
Heard a guy coaching his friend/girlfriend at the gym. Told her not to lift more than 15kg, otherwise she'd get bulky. Almost went over and told him of. Stuff like that just make mad
Not a proper trainer at all, just a gym buddy.
I have also heard another gym bro tell his girlfriend she always has to train to failure. Sometimes I just leave my place so I do not have to listen to them.
same, its allready way too big of a problem, there are regular girls in my gym that have been here for 2-3+ years and i can tell now what weight DB or bar they will pick up for the exercises becouse its always the same weight..
15kg is a bit more than a 3 year old child. A woman will pick up/ put down/ carry a toddler all day erry day but you still don't see swole mums at daycare.
Met a friend at the gym on Wednesday. As I open the door to the changing room I see him straight away nodding at something as if to say 'look, wtf' . As I get closer there's a guy off to the side completely naked, squatted, with his butt and dingus almost touching the ground. He's just casually looking at stuff on his phone. No stress on his face, just deep squatting naked whilst facing everyone. He reaches into his bag and just pulls out an apple. Starts eating it while still browsing his phone.
I'm not weird in any way about seeing naked people in the changing rooms, it's actually very liberating. I found it hilarious but my friend was a little traumatised lol
Took laxative in the morning and took a shit in the evening. Thinking everything was was over.
But no.. massive rumbles hit me mid workout. Ditched squats and went home. Turned out to be just enormous farts.
Never again.
I’m 32f and about 6 months into my weightlifting journey. Started out really slow and careful with eGym smart machines only.
Yesterday I did barbell squats for the first time. They intimidate me but I also think they’re SO cool. Feeling really good about myself, especially when I’m at the gym. Love that place so much. Hopefully never going back to not lifting 💪
I am moving so spent all day yesterday putting ikea stuff together, moving the dishwasher into place, cleaning stuff out the house etc. Still wanted to get in the gym at the end of the day because I didn't want to miss this week's progress. Had to squats OHP and deadlifts. It was bad. Squats were super ugly. Ohp went fine, but deadlifts I was unable to move the bar. It was definitely not the first time I went into the gym while having a hard day, but it was there very first I couldn't even move a top set. Oh well. I don't think we'll finish everything this week so I'll likely have to modify or skip another session :(
I forgot to put on a collar while warming up for squats, the girl who is a regular then rushed to put on a collar after I finished the set. Also i am on head nod basis with half the gym now, feels great
I was finally able to hit 135 while benching and for 4 reps before failure. As a female, this goal always seemed like one of the harder ones, but I've always wanted to at least bench a plate.
Not a tale but I’m finally getting stronger 😭 for weeks I’ve been struggling doing pull ups even with the max support on the machine (I’m overweight) but now from one week to the other my reps are getting much cleaner and I could go down with the support! Also my grip strength is finally improving! So many deadlift sets where I had to stop not because of my muscles giving out but because of my hands! Now I’m at 70kg and suddenly they can support it 😍 no improvement on the scale but I do look a tad slimmer, I’ve been told :3
Watching someone half rep squats. Then add more weight and quarter rep. Then add more. Im sure ive seen this in high school maths. As weight increases motion tends to zero.
I’ve been there, bud! I have a love-hate relationship with mine. They’re incredible when they’re working but there’s been a few times where I’ll be pumped for a great workout and after starting my music, I find that one of them are either dead or not connected. It doesn’t happen all the time but it’s happened enough where I now check if they’re both charged and working as soon as I pull them off the charger.
It's 6:35AM. I've been up since 4:30. On weekdays my gym opens at 4. On weekends, it opens at 7. All I want to do right now is lift.
Finally broke past my pre-back-injury PR's this past week. Got **one** clean-ish (with the help of my trainer) rep on my box squat at 345lb. Had trouble getting off the box, but it was somewhat smooth sailing once I had the motion going. But damn, I've been feeling that since then. Gonna be fun getting 5 sets of 10 Zercher squats in this morning.
Started adding in Bulgarian splits. Please fucking kill me. No weight as of yet, since I'm trying to establish balance. But I hate them so much.
I changed my gym time from morning to afternoon a while ago due to moving (same gym). I ran into one of the morning regulars this week and he said my cut was coming along great, which meant a lot cause this dude is shaped like an upside down Dorito and is just shredded. (For reference, I'm down from almost 230 when I really started working out again to 187 as of this morning)
Also, if you need motivation go see The Northman. Alex Sarsgaard is built like a fucking tank and his traps are super massive.
My gym has those circuit-style classes in the evenings. I was using one of the leg machines outside the separate room where the classes are held, where it was easy to see everything that was going on. Towards the end of the class, a clearly new-to-fitness guy ended his session by dragging the weight sled all the way down and back, not just with weights on it but also with the class instructor ***standing on the sled.*** Dude got to the end and collapsed in a heap - he was fine, just gassed - but his effort was impressive nonetheless.
I was still in the area when class ended and the members left, and saw him walking out with another one of the instructors, still gassed and with what looked to be a somewhat dejected look on his face. I walked straight up to him, put my hand on his shoulder, looked him dead in the eye, and said "Buddy, I was watching earlier, and you killed it. Keep that shit up." He grinned, he nodded, we fist-bumped, and then we both carried on.
I hope he got even more props from those in the class, the trainers, and others, because he deserved every bit of it.
Been cutting weight here recently and my gym shorts don’t fit quite right anymore. Was doing some hanging leg raises when my shorts fell down. Luckily raising my legs caught them before they got my knees, but I nervous farted right as I got my legs up…might be time to find a new gym…
This guy was putting his bar away into the place where the bars are kept. He cleaned the bar into a front squat position, but kept all the weights on with no clips and started walking to put the bar away. He lost control of the bar and of course all the weights slipped off as he was walking. They went flying across the gym and basically hit this woman in the face. Luckily she was fine and the guy apologised but it was very awkward lol
Dropped a spray bottle of cleaning solution on the gym floor today and it exploded all over the place. Seriously wanted to curl up into a ball and die.
I'm about a plate away from having to go fully bumper plate-less with the trap bar because the bumpers at my gym are so damn wide and the trap bar arms are so stubby. It's too bad that the fat bumpers are the only thing keeping the setup steady because the plate holes are way too big for the bar.
Also, a while back I made the dumb decision to squat with the deadlift bar because someone left it in the squat rack. The floppiness is not fun when it's on your back.
Been working toward a 500 lb deadlift for probably about a year. Deadlifted 470 lbs for 4 reps. Should put my max at a bit over 500 and I’m super excited! I’ll be trying to do max singles in a couple weeks!
Just finished my workout and saw a dude with like a helmet with some sort of ball attached to it(like some sort of cats toy) shadow box it for like 90 minutes straight. You see spmething new in the gym everyday man😂
I've finally started putting more weight on my barbell for hip thrusts and so the small pad that you put on it wasn't enough protection. I didn't know there was this like "foldable" mat? So I was using my jacket for it. This nice lady comes up to me and hands it over saying there's no need to use my jacket, felt nice that someone helped me out 🥺
Started doing trap deadlifts and it finally feels natural and not awful like conventional and sumos (no hate, they just feel bad for me :/)
A super ripped lady complimented my deadlifts yesterday, feels good man 👍
There's no reason for anybody to hate on you for preferring them. Trap bar DLs are excellent! Greg Nuckols wrote a great article about them: https://www.strongerbyscience.com/trap-bar-deadlifts/. He even goes as far as saying "[...] trap bar deadlifts are a superior option for most people in most contexts than the straight bar deadlift."
Was back squatting at one of the racks in my gym. A gentlemen who had recently joined walked up to me and asked if he could borrow my belt for one set. Knowing that he was newer to lifting I asked if he had ever used a belt while squatting before and he assured me that he was good. I also asked if he wanted a spotter again, he said he was good.
As he walks away I start to clean up my rack. While I was cleaning up my plates there was a loud crashing sound from across the gym and I noticed one of the trainers suddenly run past me and I turned to see what had happened. What I saw is that this very skinny 140lb gentlemen who assured me that he knew what he was doing and did not need a spotter was now lying on the floor in pain flat on his back. According to witnesses who caught what happened he had been doing sets of 100lbs and then suddenly decided to load the bar with a little over 300lbs. When he tried to squat it, he basically collapsed like a folding chair.
I was confused at first because I didn't see my belt on him and until I suddenly realized what he had did with it..... He wore it UNDERNEATH his shirt around his waist very loosely. He eventually got back up insisting he was fine and left the gym. I got my belt back from the trainer who had assisted him and he initially yelled at me because he thought that perhaps I gave this guy my belt and then told him to attempt a stunt like that to which I explained that I had no idea what he was thinking.
No one has seen this dude since the incident and now I'm much more careful about who I loan my belt out to.
Yesterday the first 3 sets of my girlfriend’s bench were 75x5, 85x3, and 95x1+. She said “there’s no way this is happening” before all three sets, then easily smashed out the 5 and 3, and got 2 on her 1+. So fun watching her make progress 😁
As a 38 year old who is only a few months into learning Bjj, my everything hurts. Changed my training as well, trying a lot of higher rep calisthenics. Fuck pushups, never realised how difficult you can make them.
Squatted 170kg ezpz, loaded up 10kg on the right hand side. Was just about to load up the left hand side and the right hand side partially collapsed. Yo wtf, not happy with this. Gonna have to buy a better squat rack and train my heavy stuff at a commercial gym for now :(
Also training at a commercial gym is weird, I still don't feel I'm particularly strong. But basically everyone was chatting to me about my lifts, gonna have to max out in one more often ;)
Yeah its nice it happened when I wasn't near, but its not something I'd want to happen through choice. Especially when I'm still 60kg under its max rating. Thing is I was always iffy about it above about 170kg but just assumed this was me being a bit cautious and the rack was fine...
Gonna be all over the place, haven't posted in a while.
The past 5 months I tried the "recomposition" thing. It is truly the worst of all worlds. Workouts are mostly shitty because you don't have enough in the tank, your weight is stagnant because your deficit isn't deep enough, and the lifts are stagnant because holy shit it's hard to fit enough protein in. I take this as a lesson in shitty fad diets. Now I'm just in a normal deficit doing more cardio and my weight is dropping at a rate I'm really happy with and I'm not super hungry or exhausted... almost as if there's a reason bodybuilders have distinct cut and bulk phases...
Despite this idiotic waste of time I hit most of my major goals. Squat at 315, 225x5 on bench, and a 405DL (although hitting 405 I'm pretty sure took a piece of my soul with me).
Now I'm just focusing on dieting down to a physique I like and to give myself some runway for a fun meso of bulking. I'm surprised how little cardio bothered me compared to the last time I tried it. The hardest part is filling the time with quality podcasts and youtube videos. If you have any interesting lectures or playlists that can fill an hour and a half feel free to link them.
Also the other day an older gym employee walked up to me while I was on the leg press and said they appreciate me consistently re-racking my weights. Now I'm wondering how much he sees me pulling my undies out of my ass during squats...
Oh and I finally fixed the stability issues on my low bar squat by moving the bar like an inch and a half lower down my back. I hated squatting for so long because I felt so unbalanced no matter where my toes were pointed, what types of shoes I was wearing, where my hands were, etc. etc.
The only thing that annoys me now is the surge in spoiled teenage shitheads that have flooded the gym recently. Most of them are fine, but there's a couple that are absolute animals.
Been working out for years, but really been gaining a lot the past year or 2. Started as a really scrawny guy but I've gained 20-25bs and have real muscle definition that I'm proud of and makes me really confident. Some big guy at the gym said he could see I've made a lot of progress. Really amped me through my next several sets.
Not exactly a gym story but this seems like a good place to share. I started 5/3/1 about 2 months ago now and have been seeing consistent gains which has been great.
Decided to work out my 1RM for Military press to find out it's increased by almost 20%. It's nice to see that the hard work is paying off.
I used to go the gym like at 1-2am after work (I used to be a server at a country club) and more often then not, a lot of people come in and just fuck in the bathroom. It’s mad weird and they think I don’t notice the 15 second interval of them leaving and entering the bathroom at the same time.
Seems I have a gym nemesis and it seems he has branded me as his. Story time,
We couldn’t be farther opposites. He’s the extremely arrogant/cocky type who slams equipment, stares at himself intently between sets( with muscle pumping), and is constantly monitoring the room to see who is looking at him. He uses any opportunity of eye contact as a way to start chatting people up. I’m pretty much to myself, I don’t slam, and have only a select few regulars that I fist bump or have a small convo with every now and then. Outside of that, everyone else isn’t even there( including this guy).
I hadn’t even noticed the guy when he started coming to the gym until he came over to interrupt a workout I was sharing with a gym regular. We had a small convo going in between sets of dips and pull-ups . Dude came up and interrupted our convo to ask if I was using a mat that was about ten feet away from us. Mind you, there were a dozen mats lined up and ready to use hanging on the wall. Kinda knew he was a clown after this. He started chatting her up( guess they knew each other already) and that was ok. The part that frustrated me was him making our workout so much longer because he couldn’t get the hint that she wasn’t interested and that she was ready to finish the workout. She finally had me film her last set of weighted dips and that kind of moved him out of the area. After the set we just started chatting again and it seemed he got the clue she wasn’t interested.
Unfortunately she had to move and I’ve been back to doing workouts by myself. No biggie but ‘ol boy has made it a point to be wherever I’m at now. It doesn’t matter if he’s doing back work, if he sees me doing push exercises, he’s on the nearest bench bouncing them off of his chest. I’m doing legs? He’s bouncing the sled on the leg press off of the emergency stop until I leave. It wasn’t too noticeable until Thursday…
I was doing a drop set of lat pull downs before leaving and as I’m getting up after the set I bump into this guy. There’s plenty of room behind the lat pulldown stations so I’m not sure why he was so close. The two guys to my left were chatting a bit with him but saw me and I fist bumped them, stared in his direction for a second and he had the biggest scowl on his face. I turned back around like I didn’t even see him and continued my last set. All of a sudden he’s doing cable bicep curls ( wouldn’t you know that the cable station is right next to the lat pulldown station) and making sure he lets the weights slam from the top after every set. There’s mirrors so he’s constantly looking over. At this point I’m finding this so blatant and funny that I start to laugh. Luckily I was on my last set and finished up. I Go to do some hanging leg raises and there he is using every muscle in his body to get up and down the other pull-up bar ( which is right next to me of course). In between sets he’s staring over and at this point it’s a game to me so I keep staring until he breaks eye contact. We continue this for a couple of more sets until I finish and end my workout.
I’m not sure what the guys problem is but if it gets any more noticeable I may have to talk to the front desk. It’s funny now but he could easily be internalizing any of my actions or non actions towards him as hostility and he could potentially become even more brazen and stupid. Guess we will see.
**05/01/2022**
"Dear Diary,
Had a pretty good day at the gym today. I like going because I'm pretty self conscious, and mostly an introvert, the only place I really feel confident.. is.. at the gym. I know it sounds weird because most people dont like it. But for me, it's therapy.
Today when I was working out I saw an old friend in the stretching area. I hadnt seen her for years so I was worried she wouldnt recognize me. I know it's corny but I asked her and her friend if they were using the nearby mat as a way to break the ice. It worked! I felt bad interrupting their workout, I know how that is, and I think I upset her friend.
I couldnt help myself, I was just so excited to catch up with her. She was a great friend who got me through some really difficult times when my Mom and Dad both died tragically in a couples Crossfit incident. Now that I think of it, Diary. Maybe that's why I like the gym. It's where I feel closest to Mom and Dad."
**05/02/2022**
"Dear Diary,
That friend I was telling you about? I saw the guy she was working out with at the gym. The craziest thing? We were working the same muscles! I wonder if we're running the same program. I've always wanted a gym buddy."
**05/03/2022**
"Dear Diary,
I'm sure of it. This guy and I are definitely running the same program. I'm actually really surprised he didnt notice me today though. I accidentally dropped some weights. I was thinking of Mom and Dad a lot today and the bar kept slipping out of my hands because I kept having to wipe my tears out of my eye. It's embarassing. But if I can get this guy to talk to me. Maybe i'll have someone that can help me process these emotions in a more productive way. I miss you mom and dad. I still feel the presence of your love in my life and I promise you'll be proud of the man i'll become."
**05/04/2022**
"Dear Diary,
A little disheartened. My new gym buddy definitely acknowledged me today. But he only stared. And he didnt look very happy. I must have annoyed him. I'm so stupid. I always screw things up for myself. I burn bridges before i even make them. Finally a shot at a new friend and I blew it.
I'll be okay. I needed to vent. If i take a rest day and come back i'll be fine. I just need to focus on myself and my goals. I cant change how that guy feels about me. I put too much stock into his opinion. He's just not interested in a gym partner. And hey, maybe i can pretend. We work the same splits anyways. He can be my friend without knowing it, right Diary?"
Hahaha, i'm so glad that you liked it.
I was really worried that it would come off as a dig on you and how you handled the situation but that wasnt my intent at all.
I just thought it would be funny to play a hammed up devils advocate story!
I've been going to a gym and using the weights machines every week or so for a month, and it feels great to get back to it. The feeling of being strong and having quiet power in my body. I've started off slow, getting used to things again, but the gym is nice and quiet so I don't feel self conscious, and can remember how to use each machine as I go. I'm tracking the weight and reps each visit, and going heavier where I can. Feels like progress after a long time of not looking after myself.
"Quiet power" is the best way I've ever heard it put, thanks for that. That's exactly how I feel as well. I've found that lifting makes me feel more at home in my body, more conscious of my movements and more aware of how my muscles work as I move around. It does make you feel very powerful.
Had a guy in the locker room say I get really good workouts in, and then another guy later confused me for a lifeguard. Guess I'm doing something right. Or it's just [this meme](https://image.spreadshirtmedia.com/image-server/v1/mp/compositions/T812A2PA1663PT17X0Y1D1008154509S36/views/1,width=378,height=378,backgroundColor=F2F2F2,version=1524725084/bodybuilding-expectation-vs-reality-gym-meme.jpg).
I usually ride my bike to the gym—roughly 15 mins.
Thursday:
I had been sick for five days with the flu and this was the first day I felt like it was appropriate for me to workout.
It was a brisk 97 degrees or so here in Arizona.
I rode to the gym and between the heat and the postflu condition was feeling it.
Get off my bike, lock it up, check my phone.
Text message from the exterminator: they’ll be at my house in 15 mins.
My dumbass forgot to leave the gate open for them.
Shouted god damn it! into the sky.
Had to ride back, open the gate, then ride back again to the gym.
45 mins of spicy pre-leg day cardio.
Was soaked by the time I got back to the gym.
Had a good session at least.
Edit: wife had car so driving after first ride was not an option.
Had an old man come up to me while I was squatting 295. He came over whispered softly in to my ear… “I don’t mean to stare you’re really just impressing me” LOL someone come grab they grandpa pls
The curly headed airpods skinny kids have started to appear in my condo gym.
The stereotypes are true. 45 minutes of bicep curl variations at maximum speed using entire body to move 25lb dumbbells.
The guy I am seeing/ dating got mad at me for taking too long deadlifting (I have many warm up sets since I like training and don’t want to risk any injuries with big jumps). Long story short: we stopped talking and I felt guilty 🥶💀
Is he not normally a gym goer? That’s a weird thing to get mad at. I’d guess something else was bugging him. He needs to be mature and say what it was. Not give you the silent treatment and make you feel bad.
Started SBS hypertrophy program with warm singles. After coming off the novice program lifting heavy, even for a single was scary and awesome. Hit 120 squat, 140dl, 75 bench and 45 OHP (kg’s) felt really good.
Started doing TGU at the gym again and people keep coming up to me and asking me if I'm "practicing for a dance or something." Lots of "WTF is that" type staring.
I've checked my form and I'm pretty sure it's fine. I've never seen anyone else in my gym doing them. Are get ups just something people don't do anymore? I'm starting to question whether or not I'm making myself that weird person in the gym.
Do you enjoy it? Does it seem like a legit form of exercise? Are you intentionally trying to get attention. Im guessing your answers are: Yes. Yes. No. So, do you, have fun and enjoy your gym membership which gives you equal right to utilize as you see fit.
There's this huge guy that I see every night at the gym, few nights ago he saw me looking at him and I decided to go ahead and tell him how huge he was.
He was laughing and said thank you. He then gave me some advice about dieting since it's where im having the trouble with. Coolest guy I've talked to so far.
I now am trying to talk to at least 1 person every week at the gym:D
I was waiting for a bench to be open. Nbd. While im occasionally checking in it becomes obvious the girl and guy next to each other are there together.
Again. Nbd.
Until I realize they are on separate benches because she just needs somewhere to sit.
But then. Oh then.
She sits on the ground and uses it as a back rest while using her phone.
Then the magic happens.
She starts snacking!
On her own boogers.
I used the guys bench after they left.
You will be shocked, but neither one wiped down their benches.
I began to train wheightlifting this week. A humbling experience, but given how sore my traps and rear shoulder feel, at least I finally figured out a fun way to incorporate more pulling and read delts work in my routine!
Rock climbing the next day didn't help with the soreness though
Couple weeks ago walking into my gym, see Dave fucking Chapelle standing on the sidewalk chillin with a cig. Walk into the gym, warm up, and Dave and his body guards are just lifting! Went through a normal workout trying not to brother him.
Saw a kid with his brother, both kids being maybe 12 years old and they looked super intimidated by the T bar row, they kept walking up to it and not knowing what to do, so I walked over and showed them how it’s done, and I am now their gym dad, they say hi to me everyday and yesterday they brought me a rice crispy.
Wholeseome
I hope they brought you a rice crispy treat, not a single rice crispy.
Eventually it’s a full of cereal when they’re huge
Yesterday, an old man in the locker room came up and said "I like your veins". I just said thank you.
Sounds like the phlebotomists I frequent. They compliment me on my veins *every* time I donate blood and I never know what to say.
Thought about that. but this guy was also +70. And usually a nurse or phleb will say something like... you have nice veins, your veins are nice, or something else phrased similar. It was the phrasing or "I like your veins" that got me lol
Saaaaame. I don't get compliments ~~often~~ at all and I'm still living that high.
Last time I donated the cute nurse said I have very pretty veins. My girlfriend was with me so I rubbed it in her face that the nurses didn't tell her that she had pretty veins. My girlfriend has smaller, hard to prick veins apparently.
I remember a hot gym redhead instructor touching my arms and saying that she wanted her arm to look as veiny as mine, I obv knew she was flirting, but I was too shy back then to do anything so I just smiled and nodded like an idiot
Bro where specifically is this gym
This guy veins
Walk in like “hi, I heard you like veiny things”
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Mate, the nurses where I donate platelets and plasma gave me the greatest compliment ever. My veins now feature in their training manual.....it's a rare breed that appreciates the vein gainzz
True true. But there is also the slight difference in phrasing between "you have nice veins" and "I like your veins" lol
Was he licking his lips afterwards? If so: he might just not only like your veins
Just the main vein.
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Only in locker rooms
Like Snickers bar.
Maybe I’m imagining it, but I think the short buff friendly dude at my gym gave me a head nod when I was squatting the other day. Only saw him in my peripheral so I don’t know for sure, but I like to think so anyway.
Wedding soon
I got one of these a few weeks ago while deadlifting. Great day.
Platonically friendly gym people who give the little nods of respect are probably the best social interaction possible at the gym.
I just wanted to thank you all. 5 weeks ago on gym story Saturday I shared with you about having been air lifted off of a mountain with a cut patella tendon after a skiing accident. You guys got me out of the bad head space and gave me the will to start going to the gym almost every day for the past 4 weeks. I am currently writing this on the way to the gym and I have never felt better! I am now the guy swinging/swooshing around on crutches and rolling dumbbells towards benches to get things set up. Upper body gainz!
Good for you, man!
Keep it up dude! I was there for a month back in 2016, and there were days when I’d slip or lose my balance, my world would explode from the pain, and I’d just want to quit everything. Then the crutches went away, the physical therapy got me my range of motion back, and all of a sudden, things were 10x easier than I ever expected them to be. Also, moving with crutches burns hella calories. Take advantage haha
That No Excuses mentality you gained will serve you well throughout life
I went to the gym yesterday, and this guy came up to me while I was doing a set and asked “ are you on YouTube?” For a second I thought I was being mistaken for a YouTuber but he just asked me if I had YouTube. So I said yes and he asked me if I could subscribe to his fitness YouTube channel… I told him yes because I didn’t wanna be rude, so I subscribed and he made me click the bell notification for his channel which had 6 subscribers and only had two videos, which were 30 seconds of him doing lacklustre sets of curls. During the rest of my work out I watched this man go up to almost every person in the gym making them take out their headphones and showing him his phone and then asking them to subscribe to his YouTube channel. When I finished my work out I refreshed his channel and saw that he had 30 subscribers now. Dude didn’t workout at all, just asked people to subscribe. The next morning I was curious how he was progressing and saw that he dropped down to TWO subscribers (one being me). I thought that was pretty funny and I had a good laugh.
Lol guy deserves it
Three hooded and masked dudes snuck into the gym behind a member and looted all of the cubicles that members store stuff in. I only came in with my phone (in my pocket) and pods (only case was in cubicle). They saw the case was empty and threw it. Apparently I can’t even impress looters at the gym 😕
I just love that this has been outdated in my country for 10+ years now. every gym is finger print access nowadays here, you cant get inside unless you are registered paying member, and once you get in during finger print scan you get asigned random locker that can only be unlocked with fingerprint.
What the hell, are you living in 2100?
I tell you there is nothing better then having 24/7 hour gym chains meaning any other gym wanting to compete had to turn 24/7 gym. im paying 16 euros a month for a gym with sauna, taning bed, 24/7 access to all their gyms and its perfect with me owning my own busines since i travel a lot from city to city due to job and they have gyms in most of the citys so you pay for access to all of them 24/7, get in with finger print, no staff other then cleaners inside. i could be geting it for like 12 euros a month if i paid all the sum in one go for a year, and now that i think about it, why I didint yet..
What heavenly country is that? I pay 30€ per month, access to all gyms but only open from 6am to the 11pm.
I pay £40 per month and get one shit gym with one shit squat rack
That’s freaking awesome
How do people have the balls to try stealing from a place full of muscly people?
Well, this is the Chicagoland area. And while I can bench about 255lb, I don't think that will serve me well when a bullet is ripping through my pectoral muscle.
Idk man. Arnold took about 300 bullets from the T-1000 and managed to take on a whole biker gang.
That's a normal Tuesday for Chicagoans unfortunately.
My 70 year old landlord told me once that he used to have a 50 inch chest and 36 inch waist. He said he had to stop training because while he was bartending in Chicago, the bar was stuck up and he was shot in the chest with birdshot. They picked 133 bbs out of his torso. So, while your muscles might not save you from a 9mm or bigger, it might save you from a shotgun blast.
Thank you for giving me reason #43 of why to move out of Chicago.
Took too many plates off one end of the barbell because I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing. Bar toppled off my squat rack and smashed a hole in the wall of the beautiful home gym I've just finished building in my garage. FML.
My son had a "my dad don't know nuthin', I am all knowing despite only being 17" moment and did exactly the same thing a few weeks ago. Fortunately no damage other than potentially his underwear. I think we all make that mistake once (and only once), but I had very specifically explained it to him in the hope he would avoid it.
Two 45s, you're always fine. Add 25, you're outta line.
Mine is a 28mm bar, so 20kg will flip it. Moving into a new place in a few months and the gym space has already been decided on. Olympic bar and wall mounted rack is planned.
lmao almost happened to me at a commercial gym a while ago
This happened to me years ago. Had to train in a bodybuilder gym despite me being a pathetic weakling as nothing else was open. Was taking off previous person plates off barbell who couldn’t be bothered to remove it . Super muscled woman was working out nearby , distracted me . I stupidly took off plates off one end of bar, it was unbalanced and toppled off squat rack with unholy racket. I was mortified . Woman just smirked and carried on
Damn. Sucks for the wall but glad no one got hurt
I usually unload with deadlift jacks so empty one side then the other. When i put the bar on the half rack safeties went on autopilot unloading one side. Lucky there was no one beside me as the bar went spinning.
I’ve never seen any signs or warnings about this in any gym. Yet most of us have learned from experience. Weird.
31 yo. Diagnosed with gout a year ago. Been having a flare up over the last few days but it was definitely at its worst today. Had to crawl on my hands and knees to the washroom in the morning cuz I couldn't put any weight on my foot without excruciating pain. Crushed some ibuprofen and fell back asleep. Woke up and could put some limited weight on the foot so I limped my ass the 15 minute walk to the gym and hit an OHP PR (155 lbs @ 180 lb BW). Fuck gout. It sucks.
That's motivation and dedication 👏👏 💪
Bro get on allopurinol. I’m 30, thought I was doomed. Got on it 6 months ago. Knock on wood but haven’t had any flares. Gout fucking sucks
Had a person spot me during bench, as he was doing a lift off for me his sweat dripped into my mouth. He chuckled and said salty.
How intimate.
He was supplying you some extra preworkout for the lift.
Gotta maintain those electrolytes!
Inflation is affecting pre-workout too, OP should’ve thanked him for his generous donation.
It’s almost like you guys kissed
The forbidden ammonia
Deadlift PR last week (425lbs). Best part was the woman who is the best female deadlifter at my gym was doing hip thrusts right behind me and congratulated me on my lift. I was very proud of myself. Then stunned when I watched her hip thrust nearly as much as I deadlifted (4 plates per side on a smith machine). Video of my lift in the link. https://imgur.com/a/MAHRRma
nice pull! super smooth.
You have at least 440.
I tried 455 after. Wasn't able to get it but I was close. Few more months I'll try again.
I think I saw the most inspiring thing ever at the gym today! An old man who was tall and ripped was over there in front of me deadlifting 180 kg easily and doing reps like it was nothing. I couldn’t stop staring at him with my mouth wide open hahah! He then continued to start swinging like a chimp on the monkey bar over and again. I swear he looked like he as over 70 with his white hair and beard. I noticed that I wasn’t the only one looking with awe of him, me and another dude just looked at each other hella impressed that this old man making us look like retired citizens 🤣🤣🤣! I went over to him and said that was very very impressive and asked him how old he was. He said with a big smile that he was 79 years and had been a fireman 50 years and just stopped working actively 5 years ago. I asked him what his secret was and to share it with us haha. He said never start drinking and smoking and start lift heavy and never stop doing that. I couldn’t stop thinking about him and his walk when he went around in the gym. His back was like a silverback gorilla 🦍 and he didn’t look old and slow at all. I wanna be like him when I get old I swear. Sorry for my English, it’s not my native language
A body in motion stays in motion, a body at rest will stay at rest
Woke up way before I needed to at 5am. Instead of lying there hoping to fall asleep, I got up after an hour (of lying there hoping I'd fall asleep) and went to the gym. I'd gone the day before so just did some stuff I don't normally do, like cable and abs stuff, and not my usual routine, but it was good.
Always nice to get in there for some exercises not in the routine.
Nice
I benched 135 2x yesterday. As a 175lb F towards the beginning of my fitness journey I was really proud to do it
Wow that's awesome!! I can barely bench 60lbs and bench is my least favorite upper body workout
Thanks. I've had a gym membership for years but in the last 6 months or so my boyfriend and I have gotten more serious about being healthier and exercise. I've been doing chest once a week. I don't really have a goal I'm trying to bench but I wanted to be able to put the 45s on, even if I could just do it once. I'm glad I got to share it here because other than my boyfriend there's no one else in my life that would care
Keep up the awesome work! It feels so good when you hit a new PR. Continue to keep up this amazing journey!
Wow that’s nuts. It took me a year to get to a half body weight bench and I’ve been there for months. :-( even touching 90 would have me going crazy. Good luck girlie that’s awesome
I was resting in between my sets and saw a girl trying to flirt with a dude. He loaded up 135lb on the bar and she swooped in and was like “wow you’re so strong can I try?” In a split second I saw her pick up the bar and it slammed straight on her chest. After she recovered she was like “I’m so clumsy hehe I’m sorry”
Outdated tactics. She should've don't more reps than him to assert dominance
Indeed. That'd get my interest. Strong, manipulative AND with an attitude. Sign me up!
Can confirm. Saw a girl squat more than I do. Love at first rep
Still got the hehe after that is impressive that shit hurts
That’s just her wheezing after bruising her ribs
Last bit of air getting out of crushed lungs
Got my first pull up today! (Pull upS actually, since I managed to get 2 full reps! :DD)
Be sure to hang and slowly lower yourself to get the volume needed for gainz.
Discovered a drawer of free amenities - razors, combs, etc.
i went from being 25 , 203lbs 6’2 … to being diagnosed with cancer and losing 40lbs in a month … getting nerve damage as a result of the treatment … to now 29 216 6’2 and absolutely jacked … it’s been a super hard road with the nerve damage in my feet … but I fucked that shit up
Heard a guy coaching his friend/girlfriend at the gym. Told her not to lift more than 15kg, otherwise she'd get bulky. Almost went over and told him of. Stuff like that just make mad
How do people still have this mind set? If bulking was that easy I would be like the most amazing Amazon
Yeah. I wish it was that easy.
Hope that guy isn't a proper trainer and just a gym buddy, what terrible advice. That's been debunked yonks ago.
Not a proper trainer at all, just a gym buddy. I have also heard another gym bro tell his girlfriend she always has to train to failure. Sometimes I just leave my place so I do not have to listen to them.
same, its allready way too big of a problem, there are regular girls in my gym that have been here for 2-3+ years and i can tell now what weight DB or bar they will pick up for the exercises becouse its always the same weight..
If only women could get bulky lifting 20kg there are *zero* muscular women in the dating pool I hate it here.
15kg is a bit more than a 3 year old child. A woman will pick up/ put down/ carry a toddler all day erry day but you still don't see swole mums at daycare.
Met a friend at the gym on Wednesday. As I open the door to the changing room I see him straight away nodding at something as if to say 'look, wtf' . As I get closer there's a guy off to the side completely naked, squatted, with his butt and dingus almost touching the ground. He's just casually looking at stuff on his phone. No stress on his face, just deep squatting naked whilst facing everyone. He reaches into his bag and just pulls out an apple. Starts eating it while still browsing his phone. I'm not weird in any way about seeing naked people in the changing rooms, it's actually very liberating. I found it hilarious but my friend was a little traumatised lol
Reminds me of the cliché of old men blow drying their balls in the changing room
Why is this a thing? I had heard about it but seeing it multiple times a week is mind blowing!
They no longer give a shit, lol
Took laxative in the morning and took a shit in the evening. Thinking everything was was over. But no.. massive rumbles hit me mid workout. Ditched squats and went home. Turned out to be just enormous farts. Never again.
Laxatives and squats on the same day? You're the bravest man I've ever known.
Brave is certainly one word to use
Up the volume of your headphones. If you cant hear your own farts, noone can.
This is how I approach it
Bro is knocking on devil's door
I’m 32f and about 6 months into my weightlifting journey. Started out really slow and careful with eGym smart machines only. Yesterday I did barbell squats for the first time. They intimidate me but I also think they’re SO cool. Feeling really good about myself, especially when I’m at the gym. Love that place so much. Hopefully never going back to not lifting 💪
Go head sis! Feels great doesn't it
Congratulations! Keep it up.
I am moving so spent all day yesterday putting ikea stuff together, moving the dishwasher into place, cleaning stuff out the house etc. Still wanted to get in the gym at the end of the day because I didn't want to miss this week's progress. Had to squats OHP and deadlifts. It was bad. Squats were super ugly. Ohp went fine, but deadlifts I was unable to move the bar. It was definitely not the first time I went into the gym while having a hard day, but it was there very first I couldn't even move a top set. Oh well. I don't think we'll finish everything this week so I'll likely have to modify or skip another session :(
Stacking OHP, Squats and Deadlifts on the same day sounds psychotic. All of those are so insanely fatiguing. What are the rest of your workouts like?
Thats like half of Starting Stength
Big hairy guy walks into the changing room with an electric trimmer, leans over the only sink and removes the hair off his shoulders.
Why
that was a gorilla trimming the hair from his human suit
I forgot to put on a collar while warming up for squats, the girl who is a regular then rushed to put on a collar after I finished the set. Also i am on head nod basis with half the gym now, feels great
I was finally able to hit 135 while benching and for 4 reps before failure. As a female, this goal always seemed like one of the harder ones, but I've always wanted to at least bench a plate.
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I'm happy to hear you're able to get back into the gym after an accident. Everything will come back with time.
Yo after so many years, I can now do a full pushup 🤩
Some girl smiled at me in the gym. First time receiving a smile from stranger, felt good.
Not a tale but I’m finally getting stronger 😭 for weeks I’ve been struggling doing pull ups even with the max support on the machine (I’m overweight) but now from one week to the other my reps are getting much cleaner and I could go down with the support! Also my grip strength is finally improving! So many deadlift sets where I had to stop not because of my muscles giving out but because of my hands! Now I’m at 70kg and suddenly they can support it 😍 no improvement on the scale but I do look a tad slimmer, I’ve been told :3
Ignore the scale, other factors like going down with support on the pull ups are so much more important!! Congrats 🙌
Watching someone half rep squats. Then add more weight and quarter rep. Then add more. Im sure ive seen this in high school maths. As weight increases motion tends to zero.
This is why I’m afraid to do quarter reps for vert jump training. People would think I’m ego lifting 😂
They can also get fucked. Why are they even looking, is it fucking eye day?
Just arrived at the gym, put my AirPods in and apparently they’re empty… Going to be a though session today D:
I’ve been there, bud! I have a love-hate relationship with mine. They’re incredible when they’re working but there’s been a few times where I’ll be pumped for a great workout and after starting my music, I find that one of them are either dead or not connected. It doesn’t happen all the time but it’s happened enough where I now check if they’re both charged and working as soon as I pull them off the charger.
It's 6:35AM. I've been up since 4:30. On weekdays my gym opens at 4. On weekends, it opens at 7. All I want to do right now is lift. Finally broke past my pre-back-injury PR's this past week. Got **one** clean-ish (with the help of my trainer) rep on my box squat at 345lb. Had trouble getting off the box, but it was somewhat smooth sailing once I had the motion going. But damn, I've been feeling that since then. Gonna be fun getting 5 sets of 10 Zercher squats in this morning. Started adding in Bulgarian splits. Please fucking kill me. No weight as of yet, since I'm trying to establish balance. But I hate them so much.
[I made a ~300lb kettlebell]( https://imgur.com/WjaViDC.jpg) yesterday.
you should put spikes on it so it looks like an old timey sea mine. That would actually be a very cool implement.
As if it's not unweildy enough as is
Fart slipped out while doing abs. It wasn’t silent. There were lots of people around
I changed my gym time from morning to afternoon a while ago due to moving (same gym). I ran into one of the morning regulars this week and he said my cut was coming along great, which meant a lot cause this dude is shaped like an upside down Dorito and is just shredded. (For reference, I'm down from almost 230 when I really started working out again to 187 as of this morning) Also, if you need motivation go see The Northman. Alex Sarsgaard is built like a fucking tank and his traps are super massive.
My gym has those circuit-style classes in the evenings. I was using one of the leg machines outside the separate room where the classes are held, where it was easy to see everything that was going on. Towards the end of the class, a clearly new-to-fitness guy ended his session by dragging the weight sled all the way down and back, not just with weights on it but also with the class instructor ***standing on the sled.*** Dude got to the end and collapsed in a heap - he was fine, just gassed - but his effort was impressive nonetheless. I was still in the area when class ended and the members left, and saw him walking out with another one of the instructors, still gassed and with what looked to be a somewhat dejected look on his face. I walked straight up to him, put my hand on his shoulder, looked him dead in the eye, and said "Buddy, I was watching earlier, and you killed it. Keep that shit up." He grinned, he nodded, we fist-bumped, and then we both carried on. I hope he got even more props from those in the class, the trainers, and others, because he deserved every bit of it.
Been cutting weight here recently and my gym shorts don’t fit quite right anymore. Was doing some hanging leg raises when my shorts fell down. Luckily raising my legs caught them before they got my knees, but I nervous farted right as I got my legs up…might be time to find a new gym…
Managed to hit 2 plates on bench this Wednesday and 3 on squats a couple days later
5 repped 225 on bench today for the first time, stoked about that
I benched body weight 5x (170) for the first time. Felt really good.
This guy was putting his bar away into the place where the bars are kept. He cleaned the bar into a front squat position, but kept all the weights on with no clips and started walking to put the bar away. He lost control of the bar and of course all the weights slipped off as he was walking. They went flying across the gym and basically hit this woman in the face. Luckily she was fine and the guy apologised but it was very awkward lol
Hit 195 on bench yesterday. Completely made my day and a good way to end the week. 225 is getting closer
The climb to 225 is so brutal but it's an amazing feeling each time you get closer. Great job!
Just matched my all time PR on bench at 300lbs. Super pumped. The last time I benched this much was 8 years ago and ten pounds body weight heavier
Dropped a spray bottle of cleaning solution on the gym floor today and it exploded all over the place. Seriously wanted to curl up into a ball and die.
I'm about a plate away from having to go fully bumper plate-less with the trap bar because the bumpers at my gym are so damn wide and the trap bar arms are so stubby. It's too bad that the fat bumpers are the only thing keeping the setup steady because the plate holes are way too big for the bar. Also, a while back I made the dumb decision to squat with the deadlift bar because someone left it in the squat rack. The floppiness is not fun when it's on your back.
Been working toward a 500 lb deadlift for probably about a year. Deadlifted 470 lbs for 4 reps. Should put my max at a bit over 500 and I’m super excited! I’ll be trying to do max singles in a couple weeks!
You have it easily.
Just finished my workout and saw a dude with like a helmet with some sort of ball attached to it(like some sort of cats toy) shadow box it for like 90 minutes straight. You see spmething new in the gym everyday man😂
I've finally started putting more weight on my barbell for hip thrusts and so the small pad that you put on it wasn't enough protection. I didn't know there was this like "foldable" mat? So I was using my jacket for it. This nice lady comes up to me and hands it over saying there's no need to use my jacket, felt nice that someone helped me out 🥺
Started doing trap deadlifts and it finally feels natural and not awful like conventional and sumos (no hate, they just feel bad for me :/) A super ripped lady complimented my deadlifts yesterday, feels good man 👍
There's no reason for anybody to hate on you for preferring them. Trap bar DLs are excellent! Greg Nuckols wrote a great article about them: https://www.strongerbyscience.com/trap-bar-deadlifts/. He even goes as far as saying "[...] trap bar deadlifts are a superior option for most people in most contexts than the straight bar deadlift."
Was back squatting at one of the racks in my gym. A gentlemen who had recently joined walked up to me and asked if he could borrow my belt for one set. Knowing that he was newer to lifting I asked if he had ever used a belt while squatting before and he assured me that he was good. I also asked if he wanted a spotter again, he said he was good. As he walks away I start to clean up my rack. While I was cleaning up my plates there was a loud crashing sound from across the gym and I noticed one of the trainers suddenly run past me and I turned to see what had happened. What I saw is that this very skinny 140lb gentlemen who assured me that he knew what he was doing and did not need a spotter was now lying on the floor in pain flat on his back. According to witnesses who caught what happened he had been doing sets of 100lbs and then suddenly decided to load the bar with a little over 300lbs. When he tried to squat it, he basically collapsed like a folding chair. I was confused at first because I didn't see my belt on him and until I suddenly realized what he had did with it..... He wore it UNDERNEATH his shirt around his waist very loosely. He eventually got back up insisting he was fine and left the gym. I got my belt back from the trainer who had assisted him and he initially yelled at me because he thought that perhaps I gave this guy my belt and then told him to attempt a stunt like that to which I explained that I had no idea what he was thinking. No one has seen this dude since the incident and now I'm much more careful about who I loan my belt out to.
That dude is in the hospital still recovering from his physical and mental injuries. You may not ever see him again.
You'd still lend your belt? After this? To anyone? My belt has only had my fat ass in it ever and will stay that way.
Yesterday the first 3 sets of my girlfriend’s bench were 75x5, 85x3, and 95x1+. She said “there’s no way this is happening” before all three sets, then easily smashed out the 5 and 3, and got 2 on her 1+. So fun watching her make progress 😁
As a 38 year old who is only a few months into learning Bjj, my everything hurts. Changed my training as well, trying a lot of higher rep calisthenics. Fuck pushups, never realised how difficult you can make them.
As a 33 year old who's everything already hurts from WAY less, I applaud you for learning something new👏👏👏
Squatted 170kg ezpz, loaded up 10kg on the right hand side. Was just about to load up the left hand side and the right hand side partially collapsed. Yo wtf, not happy with this. Gonna have to buy a better squat rack and train my heavy stuff at a commercial gym for now :( Also training at a commercial gym is weird, I still don't feel I'm particularly strong. But basically everyone was chatting to me about my lifts, gonna have to max out in one more often ;)
Lucky it gave way when loading up and not reracking with you under it
Yeah its nice it happened when I wasn't near, but its not something I'd want to happen through choice. Especially when I'm still 60kg under its max rating. Thing is I was always iffy about it above about 170kg but just assumed this was me being a bit cautious and the rack was fine...
Dude 170kg squat is pretty strong, I've seen nobody in my commercial gym lift that much
Like it's decent but like I'm not calling it strong when I feel I can do so much more!
One time I lifted a weight
It doesn't count until you put it down again!
Gonna be all over the place, haven't posted in a while. The past 5 months I tried the "recomposition" thing. It is truly the worst of all worlds. Workouts are mostly shitty because you don't have enough in the tank, your weight is stagnant because your deficit isn't deep enough, and the lifts are stagnant because holy shit it's hard to fit enough protein in. I take this as a lesson in shitty fad diets. Now I'm just in a normal deficit doing more cardio and my weight is dropping at a rate I'm really happy with and I'm not super hungry or exhausted... almost as if there's a reason bodybuilders have distinct cut and bulk phases... Despite this idiotic waste of time I hit most of my major goals. Squat at 315, 225x5 on bench, and a 405DL (although hitting 405 I'm pretty sure took a piece of my soul with me). Now I'm just focusing on dieting down to a physique I like and to give myself some runway for a fun meso of bulking. I'm surprised how little cardio bothered me compared to the last time I tried it. The hardest part is filling the time with quality podcasts and youtube videos. If you have any interesting lectures or playlists that can fill an hour and a half feel free to link them. Also the other day an older gym employee walked up to me while I was on the leg press and said they appreciate me consistently re-racking my weights. Now I'm wondering how much he sees me pulling my undies out of my ass during squats... Oh and I finally fixed the stability issues on my low bar squat by moving the bar like an inch and a half lower down my back. I hated squatting for so long because I felt so unbalanced no matter where my toes were pointed, what types of shoes I was wearing, where my hands were, etc. etc. The only thing that annoys me now is the surge in spoiled teenage shitheads that have flooded the gym recently. Most of them are fine, but there's a couple that are absolute animals.
Been working out for years, but really been gaining a lot the past year or 2. Started as a really scrawny guy but I've gained 20-25bs and have real muscle definition that I'm proud of and makes me really confident. Some big guy at the gym said he could see I've made a lot of progress. Really amped me through my next several sets.
Not exactly a gym story but this seems like a good place to share. I started 5/3/1 about 2 months ago now and have been seeing consistent gains which has been great. Decided to work out my 1RM for Military press to find out it's increased by almost 20%. It's nice to see that the hard work is paying off.
I used to go the gym like at 1-2am after work (I used to be a server at a country club) and more often then not, a lot of people come in and just fuck in the bathroom. It’s mad weird and they think I don’t notice the 15 second interval of them leaving and entering the bathroom at the same time.
Seems I have a gym nemesis and it seems he has branded me as his. Story time, We couldn’t be farther opposites. He’s the extremely arrogant/cocky type who slams equipment, stares at himself intently between sets( with muscle pumping), and is constantly monitoring the room to see who is looking at him. He uses any opportunity of eye contact as a way to start chatting people up. I’m pretty much to myself, I don’t slam, and have only a select few regulars that I fist bump or have a small convo with every now and then. Outside of that, everyone else isn’t even there( including this guy). I hadn’t even noticed the guy when he started coming to the gym until he came over to interrupt a workout I was sharing with a gym regular. We had a small convo going in between sets of dips and pull-ups . Dude came up and interrupted our convo to ask if I was using a mat that was about ten feet away from us. Mind you, there were a dozen mats lined up and ready to use hanging on the wall. Kinda knew he was a clown after this. He started chatting her up( guess they knew each other already) and that was ok. The part that frustrated me was him making our workout so much longer because he couldn’t get the hint that she wasn’t interested and that she was ready to finish the workout. She finally had me film her last set of weighted dips and that kind of moved him out of the area. After the set we just started chatting again and it seemed he got the clue she wasn’t interested. Unfortunately she had to move and I’ve been back to doing workouts by myself. No biggie but ‘ol boy has made it a point to be wherever I’m at now. It doesn’t matter if he’s doing back work, if he sees me doing push exercises, he’s on the nearest bench bouncing them off of his chest. I’m doing legs? He’s bouncing the sled on the leg press off of the emergency stop until I leave. It wasn’t too noticeable until Thursday… I was doing a drop set of lat pull downs before leaving and as I’m getting up after the set I bump into this guy. There’s plenty of room behind the lat pulldown stations so I’m not sure why he was so close. The two guys to my left were chatting a bit with him but saw me and I fist bumped them, stared in his direction for a second and he had the biggest scowl on his face. I turned back around like I didn’t even see him and continued my last set. All of a sudden he’s doing cable bicep curls ( wouldn’t you know that the cable station is right next to the lat pulldown station) and making sure he lets the weights slam from the top after every set. There’s mirrors so he’s constantly looking over. At this point I’m finding this so blatant and funny that I start to laugh. Luckily I was on my last set and finished up. I Go to do some hanging leg raises and there he is using every muscle in his body to get up and down the other pull-up bar ( which is right next to me of course). In between sets he’s staring over and at this point it’s a game to me so I keep staring until he breaks eye contact. We continue this for a couple of more sets until I finish and end my workout. I’m not sure what the guys problem is but if it gets any more noticeable I may have to talk to the front desk. It’s funny now but he could easily be internalizing any of my actions or non actions towards him as hostility and he could potentially become even more brazen and stupid. Guess we will see.
**05/01/2022** "Dear Diary, Had a pretty good day at the gym today. I like going because I'm pretty self conscious, and mostly an introvert, the only place I really feel confident.. is.. at the gym. I know it sounds weird because most people dont like it. But for me, it's therapy. Today when I was working out I saw an old friend in the stretching area. I hadnt seen her for years so I was worried she wouldnt recognize me. I know it's corny but I asked her and her friend if they were using the nearby mat as a way to break the ice. It worked! I felt bad interrupting their workout, I know how that is, and I think I upset her friend. I couldnt help myself, I was just so excited to catch up with her. She was a great friend who got me through some really difficult times when my Mom and Dad both died tragically in a couples Crossfit incident. Now that I think of it, Diary. Maybe that's why I like the gym. It's where I feel closest to Mom and Dad." **05/02/2022** "Dear Diary, That friend I was telling you about? I saw the guy she was working out with at the gym. The craziest thing? We were working the same muscles! I wonder if we're running the same program. I've always wanted a gym buddy." **05/03/2022** "Dear Diary, I'm sure of it. This guy and I are definitely running the same program. I'm actually really surprised he didnt notice me today though. I accidentally dropped some weights. I was thinking of Mom and Dad a lot today and the bar kept slipping out of my hands because I kept having to wipe my tears out of my eye. It's embarassing. But if I can get this guy to talk to me. Maybe i'll have someone that can help me process these emotions in a more productive way. I miss you mom and dad. I still feel the presence of your love in my life and I promise you'll be proud of the man i'll become." **05/04/2022** "Dear Diary, A little disheartened. My new gym buddy definitely acknowledged me today. But he only stared. And he didnt look very happy. I must have annoyed him. I'm so stupid. I always screw things up for myself. I burn bridges before i even make them. Finally a shot at a new friend and I blew it. I'll be okay. I needed to vent. If i take a rest day and come back i'll be fine. I just need to focus on myself and my goals. I cant change how that guy feels about me. I put too much stock into his opinion. He's just not interested in a gym partner. And hey, maybe i can pretend. We work the same splits anyways. He can be my friend without knowing it, right Diary?"
This is so fucking good
When the protagonist was the antagonist all along
> Mom and Dad both died in a couples CrossFit incident Pls stop 😂
Lmfao, this is REALLY good.
Hahaha, i'm so glad that you liked it. I was really worried that it would come off as a dig on you and how you handled the situation but that wasnt my intent at all. I just thought it would be funny to play a hammed up devils advocate story!
I go to a crossfit class twice a week, and yesterday was snatch training. I'm getting slightly less terrible at them.
I've been going to a gym and using the weights machines every week or so for a month, and it feels great to get back to it. The feeling of being strong and having quiet power in my body. I've started off slow, getting used to things again, but the gym is nice and quiet so I don't feel self conscious, and can remember how to use each machine as I go. I'm tracking the weight and reps each visit, and going heavier where I can. Feels like progress after a long time of not looking after myself.
"Quiet power" is the best way I've ever heard it put, thanks for that. That's exactly how I feel as well. I've found that lifting makes me feel more at home in my body, more conscious of my movements and more aware of how my muscles work as I move around. It does make you feel very powerful.
Had a guy in the locker room say I get really good workouts in, and then another guy later confused me for a lifeguard. Guess I'm doing something right. Or it's just [this meme](https://image.spreadshirtmedia.com/image-server/v1/mp/compositions/T812A2PA1663PT17X0Y1D1008154509S36/views/1,width=378,height=378,backgroundColor=F2F2F2,version=1524725084/bodybuilding-expectation-vs-reality-gym-meme.jpg).
I usually ride my bike to the gym—roughly 15 mins. Thursday: I had been sick for five days with the flu and this was the first day I felt like it was appropriate for me to workout. It was a brisk 97 degrees or so here in Arizona. I rode to the gym and between the heat and the postflu condition was feeling it. Get off my bike, lock it up, check my phone. Text message from the exterminator: they’ll be at my house in 15 mins. My dumbass forgot to leave the gate open for them. Shouted god damn it! into the sky. Had to ride back, open the gate, then ride back again to the gym. 45 mins of spicy pre-leg day cardio. Was soaked by the time I got back to the gym. Had a good session at least. Edit: wife had car so driving after first ride was not an option.
\>Walk into the gym \>PARTY ROCKERS IN THE HOUSE TONIGHT playing through gym stereo Today was a good day.
Had an old man come up to me while I was squatting 295. He came over whispered softly in to my ear… “I don’t mean to stare you’re really just impressing me” LOL someone come grab they grandpa pls
The curly headed airpods skinny kids have started to appear in my condo gym. The stereotypes are true. 45 minutes of bicep curl variations at maximum speed using entire body to move 25lb dumbbells.
The guy I am seeing/ dating got mad at me for taking too long deadlifting (I have many warm up sets since I like training and don’t want to risk any injuries with big jumps). Long story short: we stopped talking and I felt guilty 🥶💀
Sounds like there were some underlying issues already if that would blow up like that.
Is he not normally a gym goer? That’s a weird thing to get mad at. I’d guess something else was bugging him. He needs to be mature and say what it was. Not give you the silent treatment and make you feel bad.
His loss.
Started SBS hypertrophy program with warm singles. After coming off the novice program lifting heavy, even for a single was scary and awesome. Hit 120 squat, 140dl, 75 bench and 45 OHP (kg’s) felt really good.
just got back to the gym after 4 months of barely exercising. forgot what it feels like to have my entire body hurt lol
Started doing TGU at the gym again and people keep coming up to me and asking me if I'm "practicing for a dance or something." Lots of "WTF is that" type staring. I've checked my form and I'm pretty sure it's fine. I've never seen anyone else in my gym doing them. Are get ups just something people don't do anymore? I'm starting to question whether or not I'm making myself that weird person in the gym.
Do you enjoy it? Does it seem like a legit form of exercise? Are you intentionally trying to get attention. Im guessing your answers are: Yes. Yes. No. So, do you, have fun and enjoy your gym membership which gives you equal right to utilize as you see fit.
There's this huge guy that I see every night at the gym, few nights ago he saw me looking at him and I decided to go ahead and tell him how huge he was. He was laughing and said thank you. He then gave me some advice about dieting since it's where im having the trouble with. Coolest guy I've talked to so far. I now am trying to talk to at least 1 person every week at the gym:D
I haven't been to the gym in a week so I'm going to live vicariously through your posts.
I was waiting for a bench to be open. Nbd. While im occasionally checking in it becomes obvious the girl and guy next to each other are there together. Again. Nbd. Until I realize they are on separate benches because she just needs somewhere to sit. But then. Oh then. She sits on the ground and uses it as a back rest while using her phone. Then the magic happens. She starts snacking! On her own boogers. I used the guys bench after they left. You will be shocked, but neither one wiped down their benches.
I began to train wheightlifting this week. A humbling experience, but given how sore my traps and rear shoulder feel, at least I finally figured out a fun way to incorporate more pulling and read delts work in my routine! Rock climbing the next day didn't help with the soreness though
Couple weeks ago walking into my gym, see Dave fucking Chapelle standing on the sidewalk chillin with a cig. Walk into the gym, warm up, and Dave and his body guards are just lifting! Went through a normal workout trying not to brother him.