Stupidty at the GYM - JP Fitness Forums

Barrett · 10-26-2007, 08:52 PM

I dont know if this goes here but today I noticed alot at the gym. I am no expert, but I can tell when people are doing things at the gym that is stupid.

What are a few things that everyone has seen at the gym that is either stupid or ignorant?

I didnt want to take over the other forum but I struck me at the gym today when I noticed a 70 yr old lady was on the treadmill. She never hit the weights once, but she had her lifting gloves on like she was ready to deadlift 700 lbs. That is just one of the strange/stupid/weird things I saw at the gym today.

I. Kay · 10-26-2007, 09:01 PM

Personally I'd call grandma with lifting gloves awesome and hilarious, not stupid.

Keep in mind with older people that they may have any number of odd ailments that you've never had to consider. One guy at my gym was chuckling about an older woman at our gym who always wears a large, flowery "nighty" to walk the treadmill. I then explained that she had had two hip replacement surgeries, was embarassed by the bulky "brace", but wanted to exercise anyhow. He stopped laughing and said ,"Oh".

Barrett · 10-26-2007, 10:01 PM

soory I didnt mean stupid I meant ironic or strange.

Frank.S · 10-26-2007, 10:25 PM

Have you ever seen anyone wearing lifting gloves that hasnt made you laugh a little inside? I havn't

bullandbear · 10-26-2007, 10:42 PM

I think I've mellowed over the years and am of the belief that it's not the wisest thing to either call what someone is doing as stupid or ignorant. Imagine, in an office setting, if someone is talking behind your back, I don't think that it reflects good manners and character, let alone leadership skills. If we bring that behaviour and attitude to a gym setting, it's still not right. Some people are successful in other areas of their lives and are outright brilliant at what they do. Many are kind people with good characters. They just didn't take the time to learn more about fitness, that's all.

And what gives me the right to criticize people's choices if their actions didn't affect me. I am starting to find out that nothing in fitness is clearly designated as right or wrong until some articles are published by some practitioners who have chosen to narrow the scope of their essay to one particular area. Then a whole group of people starts to downplay other aspects of training modalities or recovery that was not mentioned in the article.

I think if one's allegiance is to fitness, the right thing to do is to promote it. The ego trips have to be minimized and people should learn to be kinder and more helpful to other less informed gym goers. This is the only way to get people to want to exercise more.

RedLefty · 10-26-2007, 11:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bullandbear

And what gives me the right to criticize people's choices if their actions didn't affect me.

Fair enough, but in the past month I've seen several stupid things at my gym, because these actions put others in direct harm:

1) Guy throwing swiss ball at high speeds throughout the free weight area (I was a surprised and reluctant participant, but never again).

2) Guy using Roman Chair to stretch lats, and pulls it over onto himself. It crashed into a treadmill, luckly a vacant one.

3) Guy spotting his buddy on the bench, and turns to look at nothing behind him right when his partner gives out. If the lifter had been using more than 120 pounds, it could've been very bad.

4) Girl loads up smith machine with way more than she can handle, then tries to clean it up to a higher rung. It crashed all the way to the bottom, and she was fortunate to back out of the way just in time.

People wear all kinds of crazy clothes too, but that doesn't bother me. If someone wants to rock an 80s headband or striped tights, they can get down with their bad selves. The chronically naked guys in the locker room don't thrill me, though.

I like your rule that we shouldn't say things here that we wouldn't say to a person's face. I would call the actions above stupid, right to their face. Barrett did mention stupid things, not stupid people, which is an important difference. And who knows, maybe stories like this will help someone else to avoid doing a similar thing in the gym this week. Your overall point is very well taken, though.

karky · 10-27-2007, 05:36 AM

I've seen a guy do wrist curls in the squat rack.. that beats biceps curls in the squat rack..

Phaedrus49er · 10-27-2007, 05:52 AM

I dunno, man. Whaddya say about someone wearing a large, leather back belt while on the hip adduction machine? I see that at least once a week, and no, there was no indication that this person was supersetting or even breaking a sweat

bigDman · 10-27-2007, 08:51 AM

oh the advantages of working out at home

youngliver · 10-27-2007, 08:55 AM

The thing I see the most is just people doing the same routine day in, day out without ever breaking a sweat or increasing their weight. During the week I workout at the gym at my work. The same 50 or so people are there every week. I recently went back to lifting in the morning and the only stupid thing I have noticed is a woman on the treadmill that puts the thing on the fastest setting, grabs onto the display to hold herself up and has her legs flailing behind her at a 100mph. Her body is literally somewhere between 45 and 90 degrees. I am waiting for the day that she misses her dismount to the sides of the thing and is flung backwards into the mirror. I am mystified as to why the employees haven't said something to her.

Aoife · 10-27-2007, 09:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedLefty

2) Guy using Roman Chair to stretch lats, and pulls it over onto himself. It crashed into a treadmill, luckly a vacant one.
.

I keep trying to imagine this... it's breaking my brain. how would one... lats?

Personally I like the guy who wears a weight belt to do his bicep curls and then moves over to the leg press. I like the guys on the ab/adduction machines. I like the chick on the torso twist thing using 10 pounds and flying twisting herself up so fast she's prolly trying for a pretzel shape. More room in the cage for me.

While they're busy using the things the gym has put in there to keep them out of my way, I get to not feel bad about hogging a cage to myself, with my hubby hogging the other one next to me. I hate sharing, so it's nice when there's no competition.

Aoife · 10-27-2007, 09:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barrett

a 70 yr old lady was on the treadmill. She never hit the weights once, but she had her lifting gloves on

My grandmother who has a rather bad case of RSI in her hands from years in a textile factory wears gloves that look like lifting/biking gloves to (i think) add compression to lessen the pain. For her the pain is worse with exertion, whether or not her hands are directly involved, perhaps a pulse/bp thing or somesuch. So she wears them when she walks the dog and stuff like that.

Rawgrip · 10-27-2007, 10:22 AM

It is what it is, allot of people are un-educated and or just ignorant. Causing harm usually to them selfs and others surounding them. This will happen until all the idiots in the world dissapear but until then just laugh at them.

LWilson212 · 10-27-2007, 10:34 AM

The thing I don't get is so many people go to the gym and just don't push themselves. Obviously, every person's level of fitness is different, but if you can walk on the treadmill while reading magazine articles, you are probably capable of going harder.

Phaedrus49er · 10-27-2007, 11:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LWilson212

The thing I don't get is so many people go to the gym and just don't push themselves. Obviously, every person's level of fitness is different, but if you can walk on the treadmill while reading magazine articles, you are probably capable of going harder.

I make the same argument against cell phones. I've yet to hear an important call (i.e. an emergency worker response). My phone never comes in with me. Maybe I should start yelling "f---ing Jagerbombs!"

Barrett · 10-27-2007, 12:56 PM

Today I saw the funniest and weirdest thing ever. This man was doing bicep curls on the precher curl bench. He was using a 65 or 70 lbs DB and barely moving and inch with the weigh. I mean it is great that he is there "trying to lift" but he is wasting his time and it is just something that bugs me.

Phaedrus49er · 10-27-2007, 12:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barrett

Today I saw the funniest and weirdest thing ever. This man was doing bicep curls on the precher curl bench. He was using a 65 or 70 lbs DB and barely moving and inch with the weigh. I mean it is great that he is there "trying to lift" but he is wasting his time and it is just something that bugs me.

Modified isometrics?