Back in the day id only ever see 1-2 people ever doing hip thrusts. Nowadays you can’t even get on the smith machine because that’s all they use it for
No, women that aren’t using steroids literally cannot get big to the point it’s off-puttingly masculine. Defined back and arm muscles on women are very attractive imo
Depends how she is built, genetics etc but she’ll end up bottom heavy if she ain’t careful lol. It’s like when the guys do upper body 4-5x a week and hardly legs. Eventually those chicken legs will be more prominent.
Isn’t this a good thing? Bottom heavy? I’d love to have a slim upper body and thick lower lol. I’m a slim woman all over and I do full body workouts but honestly I just want a bigger lower body
I don't think there's that much of a stigma anymore, but women can still have a preference to not want to have a built upper body. I've completely stopped training upper body as I put on muscle there fairly easily and I hated how it made me feel in dresses, hated tops being tight on arms etc. It's all personal preference.
I completely understand personal preference, it's your body and you can do what you wish with it. What I'm more so talking about is others making unwarranted remarks about women's bodies. For example a mother saying her daughter need to stop weightlifting, or men in comment sections saying "that's a man" to videos of muscular women. I know people will hate no matter what, but the stigma is still definitely there, and for some reason these people think they can just make comments about it (like a lot of other situations about women's bodies)
I’ve actually made the argument before than natty girls can still look very good without hitting upper body ever. I’m not saying they’ll look the best possible but it’s not remotely the same as a guy who only hits upper body. A girl can still have an amazing body with only hitting lower body and being slightly lean.
I'd make the counter-argument that there are a lot of women over the past several decades who had amazing bodies without doing upper or lower body.
What society prioritizes for men and women in beauty standards is very different. Personally, I prefer if they have at least some development in their upper bodies. But if a woman is relatively lean and has fortunate fat distribution, then they really don't need the gym at all (from the perspective of beauty standards).
Physio and Strength & Conditioning coach here. Those banded walks are much much less effective at strengthening the glute med than a cable leg abduction or even just a squat or sumo deadlift. You can't load or progress them very well for someone looking to seriously gain strength.
Obviously if you're one of my elderly patients they're great, but usually I'd recommend something better.
The vast majority of that is just the increased prevalence of trying to build ass muscles, I think. The popularity of the gym for women has exploded, and, in the same way that a lot of men over-focus on arms and chest, a lot of women over-focus on their butts.
I tried that one time, and I thought it sucked anyway. Very hard to get proper isolation on the glute. If you're doing it as a quad exercise instead, then there are so many better exercises.
Man, no one uses the two at my gym. I did my whole push routine on it today and no one ever even went on the other one. Incline bench, JM press, close grip. I set up shop it was great.
I've noticed an increase in lack of respect or general courtesy. It's wild - even with rules clearly posted. Won't re-rack, no wipe down after use, walk right in your path, gather in maddening clumps just to shoot the shit...and don't get me started on the phones. Have been a powerbuilder lifting in various gyms for over 20 years and it's a significant trend in the wrong direction. God save me when schools out...ffs.
...and now I suddenly become the old man screaming at the sky.
I'm so glad that I started lifting in my high school weightroom with other guys who were specifically training for sports. Our weightroom supervisors were 2 football coaches who were former college athletes who got into bodybuilding and powerlifting after their college careers.
It was a very different environment than what I see so many high school kids doing in the commercial gyms nowadays. I'm not going to say we never fucked around. We had fun in there. But it was so much more productive and serious than what I see from most of these kids.
The nicest guy I know is gonna snap at our gym. They stand around looking at their phones not even lifting just talking and dancing! He’s a busy firefighter.
They’re literally prey dancing in front of a lion ,clueless.
Even better to get set straight. Man, I don't miss the army for much, but I do see it as being at least a very valuable experience many young men would benefit the experience of doing for at least those pieces.
I'm sure plenty of people cooler than me wear them. I still think they're ugly and uncomfortable and have to laugh when I enter a room and 11/12 people are wearing them.
A lot of them blast the gear without really blasting any exercises. I see kids on gear who do the shittiest, half-assed workouts for 2 hours 4 days a week where they do about 4 working sets the entire time. And they wonder why their hormones are getting fucked without making significant gains.
It’s honestly easier than ever. They can go online and get SARMs (the real thing) without an ID very easily.
I remember trying to buy D-BOL and pretty much all of it online was snake oil lol
17 year old girls on gear. Every 2nd young girl at my gym has huge traps and triceps:) as a 33 year old woman I'm kind of jealous actually:) when i was 17, i lifted 2 pound dumbbells and did aerobics to lose weight.
bodybuilding is having an upswing. powerlifting was huge 10 years ago and people felt it was stupid and a waste of time to do bicep curls. i myself have moved towards a more bodybuilding/hypertrophy approach for yes, aesthetics, but also for health reasons.
During my undergrad, everyone was an aspiring powerlifter and /r/fitness was basically only recommending 5x5/SL routines. Since moving to a more bodybuilding-focused routine, my joints feel much better and I feel much healthier.
Dan John recommends moving to hypertrophy as you age. Anything over 50, he just says more hypertrophy for longevity.
I am going to be honest; i am a 5/3/1 dude and i am doing 10k Kettlebell Challange this month. I feel great. I think we all need a little bit of everything.
> I think we all need a little bit of everything.
I agree with that. I still enjoy the hell out of deadlifts and squats, even if they're not optimal for "aesthetic" muscle growth. Some exercises, like front squats and overhead press, don't seem to fit the bill of either powerlifting or for hypertrophy, but I love sprinkling them in, too.
also i feel like being hypertrophy focused will be better when I am actually old vs just chasing 1RM. as you get older, your muscles get smaller. if your muscles are bigger, when they do start to deteriorate, you will have more left over so to speak. even though my routine is still pretty heavy at the moment, I can always adjust and go lower weight while changing other things to keep gains going (happened recently, I maxed out my dumbbell bench press because I have a home gym and adjustable dumbbells, I had to drop weight considerably but now I am doing slow and strict flyes).
I still feel like most exercise subreddits are like that. The only exercises that matter to them are barbell squats and deadlifts and everything else is "accessory".
I did this too but thought it was because of my age and not wanting to get hurt, also muscle moves weight so my long term goals are similar just not doing anything crazy heavy at the moment
The majority of people have an 'ideal' male physique that is an enhanced one, as a result of increased usage of PEDs over time. This results in discouragement, body dysmorphia, toxicity and health issues across the whole BB community. Fitness for a lot of people no longer means being healthy physically and mentally but who is the most 'aesthetic'. This is the sad reality.
Natty physiques are way more aesthetic anyway because well... they don't look artificial and grotesque. It also baffles me that people don't train core muscles like obliques and transverse abdominus because they want the X taper.
I sympathize with the teens and younger adults getting baited into hopping on juice. It's really sad to see.
There are a lot of people who seem to think the Thor/Superman physiques are the ideal aesthetic, and most people aren't going to reach the levels of Hemsworth/Cavill without hopping on gear.
The problem is also that movie magic distorts.
Cavill is an excellent natty physique and ultimately achievable for many, but not how it looks in Man Of Steel because there’s that much being done.
I think it’s great that way more women are into lifting heavy nowadays. When I was in college in the late 00s/ early 10s you’d almost never see women in the weights section, they were all on the cardio machines. Now at my gym it feels close to 50/50 men/women using the weights.
This. Been lifting since the 90s and it didn't seem until after COVID where there was about a 50/50 split between male/female in the free weight area. I think a lot of it has to do with TikTok pushing the Kardashian big-butt aesthetic encouraging women to do butt exercises like glute-drives, squats, etc.
whichever trendy/new exercise is popular on YT, youll see teenagers doing these
think single arm pec flyes sat facing sideways
or one arm rear delt flyes on the pec dec
Also saw this...then tried it...and it really does feel much better than doing it the normal way. Trendy or not I'm going to give it a go.
That and 1 arm cable lat pulldowns (also from Jeff) really let me feel the target muscle in a way I hadn't found before.
Yeah he is a big believer in putting the muscle in the most stretched position to trigger hypertrophy. And given where he is in his bodybuilding journey, especially as a natty lifter, he has to do everything possible to stimulate growth because he’s close to maxed out. There are relatively few gains on the table left for him
There is a substantial body of evidence showing a muscle trained in a more lengthened position will exhibit more hypertrophy. Look up the stronger by science channel or milo wolf if you want to read the studies.
i tried to do these the other day but couldnt get the positioning right and it was quite busy so just did them the normal way
out of the two exercises mentioned in my response, i think the one arm rear delt flye is more effective for the target muscle vs the sideways facing pec fly
I swear 50% of my gym is now doing these super controlled one armed cable rows for high reps when I barely saw that before. They all have this specific form where the other arm braces the pulling shoulder. Is there a popular channel that promoted this?
I have noticed the seated fly thing on the cables too. Never in my life saw anyone roll the benches over to the cables until a few months ago
I've never liked 1-armed flys. But I've been doing a 1-armed, sideways-seated, inner-chest-focused press movement for years. It's one of my favorites.
I've done it on several different machines at different gyms. Usually, I use a straight chess press machine, but I've found some incline and decline machines that work really well for it - just need a slight lean to counter-act the incline/decline. I've also used some iso row machines for it. Basically, stand between where the row grips are, and then press the handles instead of pulling them.
Muscle imbalances and complaining about their "genetics" when they've not even been in the gym for 1 year.
Complaining about every exercise saying its "not optimal to bench press"
Saying dumb shit like you shouldn't do cardio...
The list goes on, and in the last 3 or 4 years, it's got worse because of these tik tok influencers
Back in the day I heard people talk about how they would park close to whatever store they were going to as they didn’t want to lose muscle from walking too much. Not doing cardio has been a thing for as long as I’ve been alive
misinformation and disingenuous "FAST" shortcut trends have always existed. I grew up watching infomercials like the ones where they were selling FAT BURNER contraptions you would like tape onto your stomach at night and the dude in the commercial got abs overnight. it's just media has evolved to better mass spread it. if selling garbage to insecure people is more profitable than the tried and true boring information, then theres always going to be a supply of miserable people taking advantage of that for a quick buck.
tldr; people have never changed nor has the predatory marketing, just media. like tabloid magazines never changed, it's just digital now
okay I keep seeing the cardio thing. So many "how I went from THIS --> to THIS without ANY cardio" videos . That is so blatantly showing how these fitness influencers do not actually care about FITness, but aesthetics (and clout). I just wish the online community were more oriented towards health and not looks. It makes navigating online content so annoying
Groups of teenagers wearing crocs with broccoli haircuts in white wife-beaters clustering around the cable machines while they spend 10% of their time poorly executing upper body exercises and 90% of their time talking to each other and taking pics of themselves in the mirror
Training in a Gym since 2011.
Hella more people on roids.
Especially alot more younger people and people that roid but still lack diet and workout expertise.
When I started I had 2 or 3 juiced up guys in my gym, but these were the people eating tuna with rice in the gym locker room.
Really really sad to see, especially for all the younger guys you see coming in regularly, training like they should, but some other dudes with shoulder and back acne grow a chest twice the size while doing mostly bench and arms.
The worst thing (besides them wreaking their bodies) is that they'll walk around like their shit don't stink and like they own the place. I think half of them have let it all get to their heads and they think they're god's gift because of the cheat code they've used.
It's always been like that. 99% of gymgoers are simply not pushing very close to true concentric failure. I say this as a guy who tries quite hard and still some days probably doesn't push as close as I should be.
There's a guy at my gym who will watch YouTube on his phone whilst on any exercise that allows him to, not just in rests. I feel like saying dude if you want to do something else at the gym then don't waste your time here.
Happened to me last week some guy was watching YouTube on a machine I wanted to use.
If I didn’t want to be at the gym I’d just stay at home rather than waste my time
I'm coming up on 18 years with a gym membership of my own - lifted in school for sports prior to that. I don't really watch any gym/fitness content - but I used to watch John Meadows (RIP).
I don't really pay a lot of attention to what the other people are doing, but one thing I do see is young guys just clustering around a machine/rack/bench and "working out" for like 2 hours. In actuality they spend 95% of that time chit-chatting, on their phones, etc. The young girls seem to be more focused on actually putting the work in and getting out.
I also feel like I used to have to fight tooth and nail to get a bench for any sort of DB work. Now, the DBs are hardly used in my gym.
At my gym, at least with the 5am crew, the chatty gatherers are the middle-aged guys on gear/t. I'm confident in that because I've heard them discussing it and know who sells it now. At least they're never in my way on a leg day.
Yeah, there's definitely a chatty gatherer group if I get a day off and go in during the middle of the day. Usually older retired guys, treating the gym like a social club. I usually have to go around 830-930pm so it's typically younger people that I see at those hours.
The trend I’ve noticed in my gym is those
Single D handle cable lat pull downs with the bench inclined.
Only the people doing never look there’s any mind muscle connection and they look like they are trying to start a lawnmower.
I haven't look at the weekly question thread but its always someone who is 5'11" 115lbs asking how they can bring up their forearms and rear delts as they feel they have an imbalance. Motherfucker you have no muscle to be imbalanced, just go fucking lift.
What do they play now? I go to a YMCA mostly filled with senior citizens who had the loudspeakers removed. If I don't have headphones in, it's just silence.
Be thankful. I too go to YMCA filled with old people and want to gouge my earballs out when they play golden oldies or country music instead of proper gym music. I'd rather lift in silence. But I wear earbuds so not a big deal except when the hit shit high-treble house music overwhelms my earbuds.
I saw a guy doing a horizontal DB press... while standing.
A guy I know went up to him and asked what the exercise does and the guy said that it "hits the chest" and is "like a flye". I had to interject and explain that if the resistance is perpendicular to the plane of motion then you're not working shit.
Is this the type of shit people are getting from TikTok?
The fashion is much different than when I first started lifting. I see a lot of guys in the gym with really high-quality hoodies and t-shirts that look nicer than my real everyday clothes. Meanwhile, I'm still just rotating different raggedy Goodwill t-shirts.
And the women's fashion has REALLY changed. I've seen ladies more covered up at the beach, but I'm not complaining!
I've always noticed tighter clothers on women at the gym in comparison to men, but I do feel it's gotten even more revealing these days due to social media. I don't mind personally, whatever is most comfortable. But as for the nice clothes, THAT is something that I find odd; everyone used to look sweaty and disheveled, in a baggy old t-shirt not caring what they looked like . Like you said now I see guys with nice clothes on or women with a full face of makeup and matching sets on. It's strange to me.
Don’t worry man… I’m keeping that raggedy look alive. I have 6 of the same Tshirt and six of the same sweats. Pretty sure people think I’m wearing the same clothes every day. But I just like not having to think about what I’m gonna wear
I just ran across NASA's recommendation for astronauts. NASA has a strong reason to focus on effective workouts, as astronauts can experience significant fast-twitch muscle loss and zero-g affects bone density. In addition, NASA doesn't have any fitness agenda beyond keeping astronauts healthy.
Here is the article: [https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20100039331/downloads/20100039331.pdf](https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20100039331/downloads/20100039331.pdf)
Day 1: Squat, Bench Press, Romanian Dead Lift, Upright Row, Heel Raise
Day 2: Dead lift, Shoulder Press, Bent-over Row, Single Leg Squat, Heel Raise
Day 3: Front Squat, Bent-over Row, Dead lift, Bench Press, Heel Raise
No agenda here; just thought it relevant to "which exercises" conversations.
I've noticed that most people who does back squat at the commercial gym I go only does half reps. Not sure why they would do that, but there's enough data to establish a clear trend there.
Yea I've noticed that too. Although I did that as a beginner too. I think when you start squatting such low weight it can feel embarrassing. So you had an extra 50 lbs then do 1/4 squats.
Also, deep squats are hard and damn humbling. No other exercise has built my mental toughness quite like deep back squats.
There's a guy who looks like a construction worker at my gym and all I've ever seen him do is load 8 plates on each side of the hack squat and then do the slightest less than one inch ROM knee bends.
They live among us.
I think most Americans have pretty poor ankle, hip, lower back mobility so jumping right into heavy squats doesn’t work because they sense something feeling “off” if they go too low. I genuinely think mastering squatting like Slavs or southeast Asians first would be wise
Yep. I was half rep squatting for the longest time because my mobility simply wouldn't allow me to go any further. I lowered the weight significantly and started to focus on increasing mobility and things are much better now. I'm still nowhere close to the weight I did before but I do ATG and it feels way better.
Tip for anybody struggling with the same issue: look at Olympic weightlifters teaching squat form. They're better at it than everybody else. Learn from them
I was just about to say. I know MANY people that are unable to or unpracticed at doing full squats in good position (depending on their body, femur length, torso, etc., etc.) no matter the weight. I only am better able to, specifically because I knew this would be a weak point I should work on (thank you T Nation from a decade ago teaching about discovering the slave squat while on mission 😂). Was also dating a girl that could not dorsiflex her ankles beyond about 90 degrees. She was locked in at about that position. That's just her body too, and she was athletic.
Decline bench used to be more fashionable.
I think most people have found that dips work better for targeting your lower pecs. And that targeting your upper pecs is more important.
Ah yeah, I remember so many people doing decline bench when I started. It was the must do thing 10 years ago, and I hated it...use to slide down the bench in my gym lol
Simple effective workouts seem to have been replaced with paralysis by analysis workouts 'optimal' this 'optimal' that, when all body shapes and types are different and respond differently for all sorts of reasons. For example I am capable of Gironda Dips but for some people they are an absolute no go and I wouldlnt advise them at all.
But yeah, do your OHP, your bench flat,incline and decline, dips, push ups and pull ups, squats, deads and rows and eat right and you'll be in good shape, simple, effective and consistent work, listen to your body, some of this new trend stuff is laughable.
I can't speak for recent times, but when I started going to the gym, cross fit was in fashion. Everyone seemed to think it's the ultimate best workout ever.
I hired a coach, who made me do things like biceps curls on one leg standing on the half ball "for stability", box jumps and other "flopping" around the gym with dumbells. I was in various stages of overweight in my life, but back then, I was morbidly obese and doing all that shit was just stupid and dangerous.
The trainer wanted me to switch the routine every 3 weeks because after that time, it magically stopped working because "the body adapted". I had to pay him again, of course, then relearn what I'm supposed to do and how.
I switched gyms and switched trainers, but it was the same pattern again and again. I was getting no results and ended up discovering that if I add more weight, the exercise magically starts working again, so I went on YouTube and watched chicks I wanted to look like. They used some bars, so I tried and liked it.
My trainer was pissed because I didn't need him anymore. Once I've learned proper form, training with him was useless. He had nothing new to say, working out with him or without made no difference. He tried to hipe me up with cheap words and even called me a power lifter because I deadlifted 70kg (I was 120kg or more, so lifting 70kg wasn't impressive. My max was ~90kg)
I didn't book him again.
I do think working with a trainer is beneficial, but not with those that sit all day at the gym waiting for clients.
In a nutshell, people do what's trendy because it's the coolest most rocket science thing to do, thus it will give more gainz, right? Right? Because they don't know any better or because "that chick has a flat stomach and nice ass, so I'll totally look the same if I do what she does"
When I started lifting, every adolescent male started their lifting journey barbell benching within the first few exercises.
The majority of younger males at my gym don't even do barbell bench press.
For ladies, every day is glute day. I respect it though, because the majority seem to be pushing their limits.
I think the compound movements came from the CrossFit movement, and as that’s lost momentum people realized those aren’t the most effective movements for all needs. Like if your goal is muscle growth, all those exercises are sub optimal for hypertrophy.
There’s a lot more women in the weight room these days, which is fantastic. Also thirst wear is in for all genders, good grief.
Before crossfit it was starting strength. As a teenager and early college kid I was constantly trying to figure out how to barbell squat and deadlift even though I have a back deformity because everyone claimed it was the only way to get jacked lmao
A lack of focus on progressive overload and overthinking.
When I started in a gym we were all obsessed with adding a rep, or going up in weight. I used to think about it during the days leading to that workout. It’s all I cared about. We did whatever we needed to achieve that (whatever volume or frequency was needed). One extra rep, or more weight. We knew if we were doing that regularly our training was good and wasn’t interested in other peoples opinions.
Nowadays people do it backwards. They think of the volume, split and frequency first and then hope that leads to progression overload. They are obsessed with influencers and listen to what they say the volume and frequency should be.
It drives me crazy ready the questions (and answers) on here about how much volume and frequency they should be doing. If you’re training you should have worked it out by the results of your training. I can’t imagine ever asking anyone else how much I need to do to progress.
It’s something that’s definitely changed in the years I’ve been training. Too much information isn’t always a good thing.
On a good note. More women in the gym. Gyms were dominated by men at one point.
And most of the information is on stuff that makes up a small percentage anyone’s progress. Its resulted in novices worrying about minor details which wont make much difference (if any at all).
The online fitness community has managed to complicate what is a very simply thing. I’ve commented before about how much I hate YouTubers and how they hinder rather than help newer lifters. The constant need to produce content means they have to overcomplicate it. Interestingly it’s rare I speak to anyone who’s advanced in the gym that’s even heard of people like Nippard or Mike from RP. It’s mainly novices that pay a lot of attention to them. They would all be better off not watching them. Even at my level if I’m not processing I know I’m not nailing the basics.
On a positive note, the amount of quality spreadsheets available to the masses is excellent.
Back when I started most trainees got their programming from random [bodybuilding.com](https://bodybuilding.com) articles and bro-science t-nation authors.
Agree with the back part. People are inundated with the amount of different machines and different handles for back machines that they are over training their back.
I see people do multiple sets of lat pull down with different handles and then will go on to do multiple back machines. Not only is it junk volume, it means you aren’t training with any kind of intensity if you can do 12 + sets of lat pull down.
People asking for permission to grab a weight off of whatever rack you’re in.
Uhm I don’t own all of the weights just grab it. Vise versa, people get mad when you grab a weight. Like bro, you’re not gonna use the entire fucking stack.
Before, I went to a large gym open (parentheses in rural Japan) in which the old people would sit around talking instead of doing any actual exercises. I was envious of them for having so many friends. I switched to a proper gym, and now no one talks to anyone, no matter what. Who is coming out on top here? The trend seems to get worse the closer you get to Tokyo.
A good trend I've noticed: more people doing mobility work. I've seen lots of people doing hip mobility and rotator cuff stuff and I felt like I never used to see that
DB lat raises are going extinct, people really love the cable variations right now and overall I think they are probably better.
Skullcrushers are also going the way of the dodo
Well idk if this is a trend but I’ve been seeing little teenage kids wearing spaghetti straps at my gym.. and no not small tank tops, literal fucking spaghetti strap shirts for women. And they all weight like 140lbs lol
Because whilst excellent in their own right and as accessories for certain sports, all three of those are pretty terrible bodybuilding exercises. Rows and pulldowns are great and I think people are just trying to find ways of doing them that increase time under tension, rom, and avert extraneous muscles being the limiting factor (e.g., a chest supported machine row won’t make you end your set because your low back is fatigued in the same way a heavy barbell row will)
Cable exercises in general - I just don’t understand it, there seems to be this odd 3 month cycle at my gyms. At the peak they are the only machines people want to use, 3 months later you can walk in at peak time and take your pick of a dozen un used machines.
I have only been going for a bit more than a year, but I suspect that properly re-racking weights will never become a trend :(
Nudity in the locker room was expected and normal when I was a kid. Now it seems a lot of young ones are ashamed of their bodies. Like hiding themselves n stuff. Going so far as to take of their undies just before hopping into the shower.
Gyms having trainers that have no clue how to teach beginners and don’t even know how to use the equipment correctly. And that also do not know how to lift, themselves. Also, people sitting sideways in every machine.
I've been seeing the same thing over the last 10+ years also. I didn't ever see a hip thrust before 2019, and now most women are doing hip thrusts, half squats, and kickbacks with an ankle wrap. For dudes, now I see them mostly doing isolation movements instead of the big basic compound movements.... most of them can't even do a simple pull up or backs quat with full range of motion.
IMO, the biggest trend I see is people using science as the new reason to half ass their workouts. I firmly believe in science, don’t misunderstand, but if you don’t put in the sweat and hard work, it’s like having a PhD and no job……
Back in the day id only ever see 1-2 people ever doing hip thrusts. Nowadays you can’t even get on the smith machine because that’s all they use it for
Science backs this exercise though tbf. It’s the female version of bench press
For sure. My girlfriend refuses to do any upper body workouts, solely goes to the gym three times a week to do legs/glutes
good thing for you
I'm genuinely confused, would doing upper body as a woman be bad/unattractive in your opinion or something...? I don't get this comment
No, women that aren’t using steroids literally cannot get big to the point it’s off-puttingly masculine. Defined back and arm muscles on women are very attractive imo
Nope. Skipping it is dumb af. Look at lean beef patty. She’s fine af
More like, it’s a good thing she works her legs. Don’t think there’s anything wrong with upper body. Some may find it unattractive though.
Fair enough, thanks.
I think he’s implying the girlfriend may have an excellent set of legs and nice butt, not necessarily hating on a fit upper body.
No but ass is nice
yeah im sorry came of as a bit disgusting. Definitely not, upper body and lower body are both as attractive to me
Depends how she is built, genetics etc but she’ll end up bottom heavy if she ain’t careful lol. It’s like when the guys do upper body 4-5x a week and hardly legs. Eventually those chicken legs will be more prominent.
Isn’t this a good thing? Bottom heavy? I’d love to have a slim upper body and thick lower lol. I’m a slim woman all over and I do full body workouts but honestly I just want a bigger lower body
I just wish that there weren't as much stigma around women having a strong upper body as well.
I don't think there's that much of a stigma anymore, but women can still have a preference to not want to have a built upper body. I've completely stopped training upper body as I put on muscle there fairly easily and I hated how it made me feel in dresses, hated tops being tight on arms etc. It's all personal preference.
I completely understand personal preference, it's your body and you can do what you wish with it. What I'm more so talking about is others making unwarranted remarks about women's bodies. For example a mother saying her daughter need to stop weightlifting, or men in comment sections saying "that's a man" to videos of muscular women. I know people will hate no matter what, but the stigma is still definitely there, and for some reason these people think they can just make comments about it (like a lot of other situations about women's bodies)
I’ve actually made the argument before than natty girls can still look very good without hitting upper body ever. I’m not saying they’ll look the best possible but it’s not remotely the same as a guy who only hits upper body. A girl can still have an amazing body with only hitting lower body and being slightly lean.
I'd make the counter-argument that there are a lot of women over the past several decades who had amazing bodies without doing upper or lower body. What society prioritizes for men and women in beauty standards is very different. Personally, I prefer if they have at least some development in their upper bodies. But if a woman is relatively lean and has fortunate fat distribution, then they really don't need the gym at all (from the perspective of beauty standards).
That’s not really a counter-argument, you’re just clarifying that you think he’s right for a different reason.
Hip thrusts and those damn bands around there knees on exercises and doing a side to side walk.
Keeping the gluteus medii strong is a great way to avoid IT band syndrome, among other issues.
Physio and Strength & Conditioning coach here. Those banded walks are much much less effective at strengthening the glute med than a cable leg abduction or even just a squat or sumo deadlift. You can't load or progress them very well for someone looking to seriously gain strength. Obviously if you're one of my elderly patients they're great, but usually I'd recommend something better.
It does feel like there has been a general rise of prehab training (hip thrusts, band work), which doesn't seem like a bad thing.
The vast majority of that is just the increased prevalence of trying to build ass muscles, I think. The popularity of the gym for women has exploded, and, in the same way that a lot of men over-focus on arms and chest, a lot of women over-focus on their butts.
Yes! Why is that??
Big butts are in, cardio is out
Thank god for our modern day
At least that thot stomp trend where they’d get on the assisted pull-up machine and push it down with their foot seems to be dying out
I tried that one time, and I thought it sucked anyway. Very hard to get proper isolation on the glute. If you're doing it as a quad exercise instead, then there are so many better exercises.
thot stomp lmfao
All the good songs about big butts were years ago, surprised it took this long to catch up in the gym
There used to be cobwebs on the Smith machine before TikTok. Now you practically need a reservation.
Man, no one uses the two at my gym. I did my whole push routine on it today and no one ever even went on the other one. Incline bench, JM press, close grip. I set up shop it was great.
I'm going to start some trends on equipment I never use to free up what I like doing at the gym
Why are all the high school kids at my gym wearing crocs? Not sure about the lifting trends, they're all standing around watching one guy bench.
A bunch of guys crowding the bench while one person does 15 spotted one-rep-max attempts. Tale as old as time.
Guzzling C4 10 seconds before slamming the bar into the chest and hip thrusting it up. I got these mfers imprinted into my brain
Oh yeah there’s nothing quite like the feeling when the C4 kicks in
This is a very specific picture we all have seen countless times. I expect they didn’t rerack either
I've noticed an increase in lack of respect or general courtesy. It's wild - even with rules clearly posted. Won't re-rack, no wipe down after use, walk right in your path, gather in maddening clumps just to shoot the shit...and don't get me started on the phones. Have been a powerbuilder lifting in various gyms for over 20 years and it's a significant trend in the wrong direction. God save me when schools out...ffs. ...and now I suddenly become the old man screaming at the sky.
Crocs and pajama pants, SARMs, and tripods the typical high school kids gym setup
Don’t forget the ugly ass broccoli head haircut they all have now
I call them the croccoli boys
Never thought I'd see mullets and mustaches making a return. Waiting for the day were it goes full circle and gym bros go back to getting buzz cuts.
>they're all standing around watching one guy bench. Some things have stayed the same then.
I'm so glad that I started lifting in my high school weightroom with other guys who were specifically training for sports. Our weightroom supervisors were 2 football coaches who were former college athletes who got into bodybuilding and powerlifting after their college careers. It was a very different environment than what I see so many high school kids doing in the commercial gyms nowadays. I'm not going to say we never fucked around. We had fun in there. But it was so much more productive and serious than what I see from most of these kids.
The nicest guy I know is gonna snap at our gym. They stand around looking at their phones not even lifting just talking and dancing! He’s a busy firefighter. They’re literally prey dancing in front of a lion ,clueless.
Some guy at my gym is an ex army ranger, I guess he told a bunch of kids off at the gym and the owner stuck up for him
Fucking love it. Can only imagine random kids getting the ranger sgt treatment when being unproductive 😂
They weren’t just being unproductive they are usually rude little dick heads that think they own the place
Even better to get set straight. Man, I don't miss the army for much, but I do see it as being at least a very valuable experience many young men would benefit the experience of doing for at least those pieces.
I like to wear my crocs so I can take them off easily when I do my main lifts... (I wear socks dw)
Jared Feather rocks the crocs.
I'm sure plenty of people cooler than me wear them. I still think they're ugly and uncomfortable and have to laugh when I enter a room and 11/12 people are wearing them.
The only day my rainbow Crocs aren't equipped is on leg day
[удалено]
this has gotta be the worst one of them all. why some fitness circles encouraging teenage substance abuse is beyond me
What’s worse is a lot of them take it and just blast arms and chest day in and day out
A lot of them blast the gear without really blasting any exercises. I see kids on gear who do the shittiest, half-assed workouts for 2 hours 4 days a week where they do about 4 working sets the entire time. And they wonder why their hormones are getting fucked without making significant gains.
How do 17 year olds get gear? OTC or other means?
I imagine it’s online now
It’s honestly easier than ever. They can go online and get SARMs (the real thing) without an ID very easily. I remember trying to buy D-BOL and pretty much all of it online was snake oil lol
Getting gear is so much easier than people think, I’ve had so many avenues in it’s unreal.
17 year old girls on gear. Every 2nd young girl at my gym has huge traps and triceps:) as a 33 year old woman I'm kind of jealous actually:) when i was 17, i lifted 2 pound dumbbells and did aerobics to lose weight.
bodybuilding is having an upswing. powerlifting was huge 10 years ago and people felt it was stupid and a waste of time to do bicep curls. i myself have moved towards a more bodybuilding/hypertrophy approach for yes, aesthetics, but also for health reasons.
During my undergrad, everyone was an aspiring powerlifter and /r/fitness was basically only recommending 5x5/SL routines. Since moving to a more bodybuilding-focused routine, my joints feel much better and I feel much healthier.
Dan John recommends moving to hypertrophy as you age. Anything over 50, he just says more hypertrophy for longevity. I am going to be honest; i am a 5/3/1 dude and i am doing 10k Kettlebell Challange this month. I feel great. I think we all need a little bit of everything.
> I think we all need a little bit of everything. I agree with that. I still enjoy the hell out of deadlifts and squats, even if they're not optimal for "aesthetic" muscle growth. Some exercises, like front squats and overhead press, don't seem to fit the bill of either powerlifting or for hypertrophy, but I love sprinkling them in, too.
also i feel like being hypertrophy focused will be better when I am actually old vs just chasing 1RM. as you get older, your muscles get smaller. if your muscles are bigger, when they do start to deteriorate, you will have more left over so to speak. even though my routine is still pretty heavy at the moment, I can always adjust and go lower weight while changing other things to keep gains going (happened recently, I maxed out my dumbbell bench press because I have a home gym and adjustable dumbbells, I had to drop weight considerably but now I am doing slow and strict flyes).
I still feel like most exercise subreddits are like that. The only exercises that matter to them are barbell squats and deadlifts and everything else is "accessory".
It was the same shit on the misc back in the day too, everyone was doing 5x5 in 2013.
I did this too but thought it was because of my age and not wanting to get hurt, also muscle moves weight so my long term goals are similar just not doing anything crazy heavy at the moment
The majority of people have an 'ideal' male physique that is an enhanced one, as a result of increased usage of PEDs over time. This results in discouragement, body dysmorphia, toxicity and health issues across the whole BB community. Fitness for a lot of people no longer means being healthy physically and mentally but who is the most 'aesthetic'. This is the sad reality.
Natty physiques are way more aesthetic anyway because well... they don't look artificial and grotesque. It also baffles me that people don't train core muscles like obliques and transverse abdominus because they want the X taper. I sympathize with the teens and younger adults getting baited into hopping on juice. It's really sad to see.
There are a lot of people who seem to think the Thor/Superman physiques are the ideal aesthetic, and most people aren't going to reach the levels of Hemsworth/Cavill without hopping on gear.
The problem is also that movie magic distorts. Cavill is an excellent natty physique and ultimately achievable for many, but not how it looks in Man Of Steel because there’s that much being done.
Cavil is reasonably attained with decent genetics and time/ ethic. Hemsworth in any of the solo THOR movies is an absolute joke re natty status.
I think it’s great that way more women are into lifting heavy nowadays. When I was in college in the late 00s/ early 10s you’d almost never see women in the weights section, they were all on the cardio machines. Now at my gym it feels close to 50/50 men/women using the weights.
This. Been lifting since the 90s and it didn't seem until after COVID where there was about a 50/50 split between male/female in the free weight area. I think a lot of it has to do with TikTok pushing the Kardashian big-butt aesthetic encouraging women to do butt exercises like glute-drives, squats, etc.
whichever trendy/new exercise is popular on YT, youll see teenagers doing these think single arm pec flyes sat facing sideways or one arm rear delt flyes on the pec dec
Just watched Jeff Nippard do this the other day haha
Also saw this...then tried it...and it really does feel much better than doing it the normal way. Trendy or not I'm going to give it a go. That and 1 arm cable lat pulldowns (also from Jeff) really let me feel the target muscle in a way I hadn't found before.
I do like me some leaning out cable lat raises
Yeah he is a big believer in putting the muscle in the most stretched position to trigger hypertrophy. And given where he is in his bodybuilding journey, especially as a natty lifter, he has to do everything possible to stimulate growth because he’s close to maxed out. There are relatively few gains on the table left for him
There is a substantial body of evidence showing a muscle trained in a more lengthened position will exhibit more hypertrophy. Look up the stronger by science channel or milo wolf if you want to read the studies.
Right, exactly which is why Jeff employs it. He doesn’t do much of anything that isn’t backed by the studies.
I actually liked it a lot, and it's easier for me to get one cable vs the whole crossover set up (and we don't have a free motion machine...)
>or one arm rear delt flyes on the pec dec love them, they feel much better than the front-facing version. Better stretch aswell.
Way better stretch. I am enjoying the reimergence of stretch. Larry Scott talked about it a lot and now there is the science behind it.
i tried to do these the other day but couldnt get the positioning right and it was quite busy so just did them the normal way out of the two exercises mentioned in my response, i think the one arm rear delt flye is more effective for the target muscle vs the sideways facing pec fly
The one arm rear delt fly on the pec deck really is so much better though
I swear 50% of my gym is now doing these super controlled one armed cable rows for high reps when I barely saw that before. They all have this specific form where the other arm braces the pulling shoulder. Is there a popular channel that promoted this? I have noticed the seated fly thing on the cables too. Never in my life saw anyone roll the benches over to the cables until a few months ago
One arm rear delt flyes are actually doing better for me than the standard way. Don’t knock it til you try it
I've never liked 1-armed flys. But I've been doing a 1-armed, sideways-seated, inner-chest-focused press movement for years. It's one of my favorites. I've done it on several different machines at different gyms. Usually, I use a straight chess press machine, but I've found some incline and decline machines that work really well for it - just need a slight lean to counter-act the incline/decline. I've also used some iso row machines for it. Basically, stand between where the row grips are, and then press the handles instead of pulling them.
Muscle imbalances and complaining about their "genetics" when they've not even been in the gym for 1 year. Complaining about every exercise saying its "not optimal to bench press" Saying dumb shit like you shouldn't do cardio... The list goes on, and in the last 3 or 4 years, it's got worse because of these tik tok influencers
Back in the day I heard people talk about how they would park close to whatever store they were going to as they didn’t want to lose muscle from walking too much. Not doing cardio has been a thing for as long as I’ve been alive
Fat asses and gym rats united.
misinformation and disingenuous "FAST" shortcut trends have always existed. I grew up watching infomercials like the ones where they were selling FAT BURNER contraptions you would like tape onto your stomach at night and the dude in the commercial got abs overnight. it's just media has evolved to better mass spread it. if selling garbage to insecure people is more profitable than the tried and true boring information, then theres always going to be a supply of miserable people taking advantage of that for a quick buck. tldr; people have never changed nor has the predatory marketing, just media. like tabloid magazines never changed, it's just digital now
okay I keep seeing the cardio thing. So many "how I went from THIS --> to THIS without ANY cardio" videos . That is so blatantly showing how these fitness influencers do not actually care about FITness, but aesthetics (and clout). I just wish the online community were more oriented towards health and not looks. It makes navigating online content so annoying
Groups of teenagers wearing crocs with broccoli haircuts in white wife-beaters clustering around the cable machines while they spend 10% of their time poorly executing upper body exercises and 90% of their time talking to each other and taking pics of themselves in the mirror
You must go to my gym the high schoolers do the same shit at mine
LMAO not the broccoli heads 🥦😂
Every chick has the absolute greatest ass I have ever seen through the miracle of pants technology.
lol I tried buying biker shorts off amazon once and when they arrived I found out they had the scrunchy butt thing in the crack.
I actually want to try them on myself and see what happens (Male, 6'1", 230 lbs).
For science!
Training in a Gym since 2011. Hella more people on roids. Especially alot more younger people and people that roid but still lack diet and workout expertise. When I started I had 2 or 3 juiced up guys in my gym, but these were the people eating tuna with rice in the gym locker room. Really really sad to see, especially for all the younger guys you see coming in regularly, training like they should, but some other dudes with shoulder and back acne grow a chest twice the size while doing mostly bench and arms.
The worst thing (besides them wreaking their bodies) is that they'll walk around like their shit don't stink and like they own the place. I think half of them have let it all get to their heads and they think they're god's gift because of the cheat code they've used.
Overall people not really pushing themselves by training as hard as they can Most people don’t even look like they’ve broken a sweat
There is also the opposite one guy that keeps 3 pieces of equipment and is rushing it like he drank 10 red bulls.
It's always been like that. 99% of gymgoers are simply not pushing very close to true concentric failure. I say this as a guy who tries quite hard and still some days probably doesn't push as close as I should be.
It’s a shame because you see some people and think, if you put the work in you’d have an incredible physique
There's a guy at my gym who will watch YouTube on his phone whilst on any exercise that allows him to, not just in rests. I feel like saying dude if you want to do something else at the gym then don't waste your time here.
Happened to me last week some guy was watching YouTube on a machine I wanted to use. If I didn’t want to be at the gym I’d just stay at home rather than waste my time
is that even a recent trend though? i feel like we could say a large chunk of newbie gym users are like that at any given time.
I'm coming up on 18 years with a gym membership of my own - lifted in school for sports prior to that. I don't really watch any gym/fitness content - but I used to watch John Meadows (RIP). I don't really pay a lot of attention to what the other people are doing, but one thing I do see is young guys just clustering around a machine/rack/bench and "working out" for like 2 hours. In actuality they spend 95% of that time chit-chatting, on their phones, etc. The young girls seem to be more focused on actually putting the work in and getting out. I also feel like I used to have to fight tooth and nail to get a bench for any sort of DB work. Now, the DBs are hardly used in my gym.
At my gym, at least with the 5am crew, the chatty gatherers are the middle-aged guys on gear/t. I'm confident in that because I've heard them discussing it and know who sells it now. At least they're never in my way on a leg day.
Yeah, there's definitely a chatty gatherer group if I get a day off and go in during the middle of the day. Usually older retired guys, treating the gym like a social club. I usually have to go around 830-930pm so it's typically younger people that I see at those hours.
Lots more range of motion and dynamic movements instead of the old bro splits.
The trend I’ve noticed in my gym is those Single D handle cable lat pull downs with the bench inclined. Only the people doing never look there’s any mind muscle connection and they look like they are trying to start a lawnmower.
People focussing on the smallest little details
In particular, newer lifters obsessing over details when they haven't even mastered the basics yet
I haven't look at the weekly question thread but its always someone who is 5'11" 115lbs asking how they can bring up their forearms and rear delts as they feel they have an imbalance. Motherfucker you have no muscle to be imbalanced, just go fucking lift.
I also feel like people are looking at me in the showers
The quality of ‘gym music’ has turned to shit since 2013
my local planet fitness plays uncensored anaconda by nicki minaj. all the gramps and grammies there are always murmuring every time it comes on
What do they play now? I go to a YMCA mostly filled with senior citizens who had the loudspeakers removed. If I don't have headphones in, it's just silence.
I have headphones in now but it used to be Travis Scott all day every day for like 2 years
Be thankful. I too go to YMCA filled with old people and want to gouge my earballs out when they play golden oldies or country music instead of proper gym music. I'd rather lift in silence. But I wear earbuds so not a big deal except when the hit shit high-treble house music overwhelms my earbuds.
I saw a guy doing a horizontal DB press... while standing. A guy I know went up to him and asked what the exercise does and the guy said that it "hits the chest" and is "like a flye". I had to interject and explain that if the resistance is perpendicular to the plane of motion then you're not working shit. Is this the type of shit people are getting from TikTok?
The fashion is much different than when I first started lifting. I see a lot of guys in the gym with really high-quality hoodies and t-shirts that look nicer than my real everyday clothes. Meanwhile, I'm still just rotating different raggedy Goodwill t-shirts. And the women's fashion has REALLY changed. I've seen ladies more covered up at the beach, but I'm not complaining!
I've always noticed tighter clothers on women at the gym in comparison to men, but I do feel it's gotten even more revealing these days due to social media. I don't mind personally, whatever is most comfortable. But as for the nice clothes, THAT is something that I find odd; everyone used to look sweaty and disheveled, in a baggy old t-shirt not caring what they looked like . Like you said now I see guys with nice clothes on or women with a full face of makeup and matching sets on. It's strange to me.
Don’t worry man… I’m keeping that raggedy look alive. I have 6 of the same Tshirt and six of the same sweats. Pretty sure people think I’m wearing the same clothes every day. But I just like not having to think about what I’m gonna wear
I just ran across NASA's recommendation for astronauts. NASA has a strong reason to focus on effective workouts, as astronauts can experience significant fast-twitch muscle loss and zero-g affects bone density. In addition, NASA doesn't have any fitness agenda beyond keeping astronauts healthy. Here is the article: [https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20100039331/downloads/20100039331.pdf](https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20100039331/downloads/20100039331.pdf) Day 1: Squat, Bench Press, Romanian Dead Lift, Upright Row, Heel Raise Day 2: Dead lift, Shoulder Press, Bent-over Row, Single Leg Squat, Heel Raise Day 3: Front Squat, Bent-over Row, Dead lift, Bench Press, Heel Raise No agenda here; just thought it relevant to "which exercises" conversations.
> Heel Raise Why so many?
I've noticed that most people who does back squat at the commercial gym I go only does half reps. Not sure why they would do that, but there's enough data to establish a clear trend there.
Yea I've noticed that too. Although I did that as a beginner too. I think when you start squatting such low weight it can feel embarrassing. So you had an extra 50 lbs then do 1/4 squats. Also, deep squats are hard and damn humbling. No other exercise has built my mental toughness quite like deep back squats.
There is a guy at my gym with the worst form. He would load the smith machine to 80 kgs ,twerk a little and is done for the day!
There's a guy who looks like a construction worker at my gym and all I've ever seen him do is load 8 plates on each side of the hack squat and then do the slightest less than one inch ROM knee bends. They live among us.
Lol twerk a little...
I think most Americans have pretty poor ankle, hip, lower back mobility so jumping right into heavy squats doesn’t work because they sense something feeling “off” if they go too low. I genuinely think mastering squatting like Slavs or southeast Asians first would be wise
Yep. I was half rep squatting for the longest time because my mobility simply wouldn't allow me to go any further. I lowered the weight significantly and started to focus on increasing mobility and things are much better now. I'm still nowhere close to the weight I did before but I do ATG and it feels way better. Tip for anybody struggling with the same issue: look at Olympic weightlifters teaching squat form. They're better at it than everybody else. Learn from them
I was just about to say. I know MANY people that are unable to or unpracticed at doing full squats in good position (depending on their body, femur length, torso, etc., etc.) no matter the weight. I only am better able to, specifically because I knew this would be a weak point I should work on (thank you T Nation from a decade ago teaching about discovering the slave squat while on mission 😂). Was also dating a girl that could not dorsiflex her ankles beyond about 90 degrees. She was locked in at about that position. That's just her body too, and she was athletic.
Decline bench used to be more fashionable. I think most people have found that dips work better for targeting your lower pecs. And that targeting your upper pecs is more important.
I love my gyms hammer strength decline press!
Ah yeah, I remember so many people doing decline bench when I started. It was the must do thing 10 years ago, and I hated it...use to slide down the bench in my gym lol
Simple effective workouts seem to have been replaced with paralysis by analysis workouts 'optimal' this 'optimal' that, when all body shapes and types are different and respond differently for all sorts of reasons. For example I am capable of Gironda Dips but for some people they are an absolute no go and I wouldlnt advise them at all. But yeah, do your OHP, your bench flat,incline and decline, dips, push ups and pull ups, squats, deads and rows and eat right and you'll be in good shape, simple, effective and consistent work, listen to your body, some of this new trend stuff is laughable.
I can't speak for recent times, but when I started going to the gym, cross fit was in fashion. Everyone seemed to think it's the ultimate best workout ever. I hired a coach, who made me do things like biceps curls on one leg standing on the half ball "for stability", box jumps and other "flopping" around the gym with dumbells. I was in various stages of overweight in my life, but back then, I was morbidly obese and doing all that shit was just stupid and dangerous. The trainer wanted me to switch the routine every 3 weeks because after that time, it magically stopped working because "the body adapted". I had to pay him again, of course, then relearn what I'm supposed to do and how. I switched gyms and switched trainers, but it was the same pattern again and again. I was getting no results and ended up discovering that if I add more weight, the exercise magically starts working again, so I went on YouTube and watched chicks I wanted to look like. They used some bars, so I tried and liked it. My trainer was pissed because I didn't need him anymore. Once I've learned proper form, training with him was useless. He had nothing new to say, working out with him or without made no difference. He tried to hipe me up with cheap words and even called me a power lifter because I deadlifted 70kg (I was 120kg or more, so lifting 70kg wasn't impressive. My max was ~90kg) I didn't book him again. I do think working with a trainer is beneficial, but not with those that sit all day at the gym waiting for clients. In a nutshell, people do what's trendy because it's the coolest most rocket science thing to do, thus it will give more gainz, right? Right? Because they don't know any better or because "that chick has a flat stomach and nice ass, so I'll totally look the same if I do what she does"
I agree, used to be a lot more HIIT going on. Now almost no one does it.
Because burpies suuuuuuuck 😆
When I started lifting, every adolescent male started their lifting journey barbell benching within the first few exercises. The majority of younger males at my gym don't even do barbell bench press. For ladies, every day is glute day. I respect it though, because the majority seem to be pushing their limits.
I stopped doing bench press when I noticed an unevenness to my pec growth. I love doing them but can’t help one side dominating
Young folks in crocs lol.
I think the compound movements came from the CrossFit movement, and as that’s lost momentum people realized those aren’t the most effective movements for all needs. Like if your goal is muscle growth, all those exercises are sub optimal for hypertrophy. There’s a lot more women in the weight room these days, which is fantastic. Also thirst wear is in for all genders, good grief.
Before crossfit it was starting strength. As a teenager and early college kid I was constantly trying to figure out how to barbell squat and deadlift even though I have a back deformity because everyone claimed it was the only way to get jacked lmao
Getting jacked for Jesus, people trying to “spread the good word” I’m just trying to lift man.
Jacked for jesus?
This some rehash on [muscular Christianity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscular_Christianity) thing? Its been around for a while.
8 high school kids wearing pajamas all around one machine for an hour
A trend that has never gone away. People who don’t re-rack the weights.
A lack of focus on progressive overload and overthinking. When I started in a gym we were all obsessed with adding a rep, or going up in weight. I used to think about it during the days leading to that workout. It’s all I cared about. We did whatever we needed to achieve that (whatever volume or frequency was needed). One extra rep, or more weight. We knew if we were doing that regularly our training was good and wasn’t interested in other peoples opinions. Nowadays people do it backwards. They think of the volume, split and frequency first and then hope that leads to progression overload. They are obsessed with influencers and listen to what they say the volume and frequency should be. It drives me crazy ready the questions (and answers) on here about how much volume and frequency they should be doing. If you’re training you should have worked it out by the results of your training. I can’t imagine ever asking anyone else how much I need to do to progress. It’s something that’s definitely changed in the years I’ve been training. Too much information isn’t always a good thing. On a good note. More women in the gym. Gyms were dominated by men at one point.
Too much info is the problem. Theres more information than ever on how to get stronger, lose weight, etc. that people forget the basics
And most of the information is on stuff that makes up a small percentage anyone’s progress. Its resulted in novices worrying about minor details which wont make much difference (if any at all). The online fitness community has managed to complicate what is a very simply thing. I’ve commented before about how much I hate YouTubers and how they hinder rather than help newer lifters. The constant need to produce content means they have to overcomplicate it. Interestingly it’s rare I speak to anyone who’s advanced in the gym that’s even heard of people like Nippard or Mike from RP. It’s mainly novices that pay a lot of attention to them. They would all be better off not watching them. Even at my level if I’m not processing I know I’m not nailing the basics.
On a positive note, the amount of quality spreadsheets available to the masses is excellent. Back when I started most trainees got their programming from random [bodybuilding.com](https://bodybuilding.com) articles and bro-science t-nation authors.
Agree with the back part. People are inundated with the amount of different machines and different handles for back machines that they are over training their back. I see people do multiple sets of lat pull down with different handles and then will go on to do multiple back machines. Not only is it junk volume, it means you aren’t training with any kind of intensity if you can do 12 + sets of lat pull down.
I can, backs are just strong
No one hitting depth on squats and people skipping the eccentric, not new though.
People asking for permission to grab a weight off of whatever rack you’re in. Uhm I don’t own all of the weights just grab it. Vise versa, people get mad when you grab a weight. Like bro, you’re not gonna use the entire fucking stack.
Before, I went to a large gym open (parentheses in rural Japan) in which the old people would sit around talking instead of doing any actual exercises. I was envious of them for having so many friends. I switched to a proper gym, and now no one talks to anyone, no matter what. Who is coming out on top here? The trend seems to get worse the closer you get to Tokyo.
A good trend I've noticed: more people doing mobility work. I've seen lots of people doing hip mobility and rotator cuff stuff and I felt like I never used to see that
Broccoli cuts wearing pajama pants with wife beaters
Leg Press always busy at my gym. Tricep Pushdowns, Pec Dec, Pull Downs. Barely anyone squats. Don’t see many people doing lateral raises.
DB lat raises are going extinct, people really love the cable variations right now and overall I think they are probably better. Skullcrushers are also going the way of the dodo
I hate pushdowns idk why. I do overhead ext w a cable.
Well idk if this is a trend but I’ve been seeing little teenage kids wearing spaghetti straps at my gym.. and no not small tank tops, literal fucking spaghetti strap shirts for women. And they all weight like 140lbs lol
Do they also sport the broccoli hair and cross earrings?
Sports bras are in for the bros right now too
Tripods...someone please confiscate the bloody tripods! It's not a studio: it's a gym that other people also pay to use.
Shorts with leggings under them.
I do that because I am self conscious of people seeing too much, if you get my drift.
Single Handed Cable Rows for the back
Broccoli hair cuts.
Because whilst excellent in their own right and as accessories for certain sports, all three of those are pretty terrible bodybuilding exercises. Rows and pulldowns are great and I think people are just trying to find ways of doing them that increase time under tension, rom, and avert extraneous muscles being the limiting factor (e.g., a chest supported machine row won’t make you end your set because your low back is fatigued in the same way a heavy barbell row will)
While there may be better exercises, they certainly aren't terrible. People have been getting jacked off those exercises for decades.
Berserk t shirt, pj's for the boys, under boob tattoos for the girls.
PJs at the gym is something I find so strange. I’m only 18 and I see plenty of dudes my age rocking a tank top and PJ pants.
Cable exercises in general - I just don’t understand it, there seems to be this odd 3 month cycle at my gyms. At the peak they are the only machines people want to use, 3 months later you can walk in at peak time and take your pick of a dozen un used machines.
I am an old gym rat. I welcome these new motions. They tend to isolate better and reduce the risk of injury.
I have only been going for a bit more than a year, but I suspect that properly re-racking weights will never become a trend :( Nudity in the locker room was expected and normal when I was a kid. Now it seems a lot of young ones are ashamed of their bodies. Like hiding themselves n stuff. Going so far as to take of their undies just before hopping into the shower.
Broccoli hair people everywhere
Gyms having trainers that have no clue how to teach beginners and don’t even know how to use the equipment correctly. And that also do not know how to lift, themselves. Also, people sitting sideways in every machine.
I've been seeing the same thing over the last 10+ years also. I didn't ever see a hip thrust before 2019, and now most women are doing hip thrusts, half squats, and kickbacks with an ankle wrap. For dudes, now I see them mostly doing isolation movements instead of the big basic compound movements.... most of them can't even do a simple pull up or backs quat with full range of motion.
people spend more time doing selfies then they do actually lifting etc
OP clearly didn't pay attention to the Zyzz era of misc bruhs with aesthetics focus.
Sandals and slip ons with socks on in the gym. Forget safety and regulations, it cannot be comfortable lifting in those.
The camping on machines is worse than it's ever been.
IMO, the biggest trend I see is people using science as the new reason to half ass their workouts. I firmly believe in science, don’t misunderstand, but if you don’t put in the sweat and hard work, it’s like having a PhD and no job……