What's the stupidest thing you've ever seen in the gym?

[Gizmo]

Stupidest? So much to pick from. At the gym right now, and there’s and older gentleman who comes in and right away lays down on a tread mill for about 20 minutes. I’d put that in the stupid category.

 

[FK86]

Stupidest? So much to pick from. At the gym right now, and there’s and older gentleman who comes in and right away lays down on a tread mill for about 20 minutes. I’d put that in the stupid category.

Turn the machine on.

 

[Brahma]

Had a tall slender MMA fella bring his bag of whatever the hell he had stuck up in there . Proceeded to box the mirror , until he threw a kick and stubbed his big toe . Then squealed like a stuck hog while everyone tried to figure out what happened to him . SMH

 

[MarvelNerd]

We used to have a guy who brought his girlfriend to change plates for him. He would do cable machines and she moved the pin. Bench press she put on his 25 lb weights on the side. She was cute and he was a flake.

 

[SouthernMuscle]

We used to have a guy who brought his girlfriend to change plates for him. He would do cable machines and she moved the pin. Bench press she put on his 25 lb weights on the side. She was cute and he was a flake.

Failing to see the problem with this

 

[btails]

YouTube keeps trying to show me new channels of fitness youtubers lately. These kids are a fucking joke. They look like 16 year olds that have worked out for 3 months. I don't get why anyone follows them? Like take workout advice from big fuckers.

Like this Alex Eubank (I think) kid.. he looks like he's 145 and he's giving workout advice? What in the fuck...?

 

[UnholyAlliance]

Turn the machine on.

Now that would be a rude awakening for that dude haha.

 

[UnholyAlliance]

YouTube keeps trying to show me new channels of fitness youtubers lately. These kids are a fucking joke. They look like 16 year olds that have worked out for 3 months. I don't get why anyone follows them? Like take workout advice from big fuckers.

Like this Alex Eubank (I think) kid.. he looks like he's 145 and he's giving workout advice? What in the fuck...?

Those kids need to learn from the big guys first.

 

[Freighttrainwayne]

Well maybe this doesn’t fit here but one time I went into the locker room and I seen some Asian guy drying his balls off, after a shower, with the hand drier with his leg up in the counter. He looked back and continued as if it was a normal fn thing. Lol

Years ago at a Powerhouse gym I trained at was this guy we all nicknamed "Arny". He would load up the leg press machine with all the 45's in the gym. He would walk around the machine and talk to it every day but never do it. One day I came in and the ambulance was taking someone out. Arny had decided to try it and crush his legs.

Years later I was training at another gym not to far from that powerhouse. Behold Arny got a membership there. I warned management what he had done at the powerhouse but they did nothing. He did the same damn thing. Walk around the press machine loaded up talking to it until the final day. He got in it and crushed his legs again.

Feel sorry for him because most likely he suffered from a mental illness but was the dumbest thing I ever seen in a gym. It seems like every gym has that guy.

I recognize that a certain level of anonymity comes along with membership to this board if one desires so i won’t ask but I also knew an Arnold Miller 20 yrs ago who followed the same modus operandi in southeastern Michigan. He would load up the leg press with weight 10x his abilities n I recall him getting stuck. What is more vivid in memory is him putting 315 on the flat bench and then getting his face super close to the bar and picking at the knurling as if he was picking something out of it. He would do that for what seemed like an hour and then rack the weight and go onto something else.Even decades later when I speak to my college training partner who’s in Chicago, we still make the Arnold Miller reference. I’d like to remind everyone life is all about perspective. Yes his mother picked him up and dropped him off. Yes he was obviously mentally challenged on some level. Yes I recall him getting injured but even in his diminished capacity he was still in attendance regularly which is better than 99% of the rest of society outside of the subculture we all ascribe to. We can all name unlimited people with all their faculties who can’t be bothered to apply themselves. Definitely one of the strangest things I’ve seen but one some level, respect.

 

[Sacario]

Its retarded with the amount of chick's with fat asses. Good Gawd I don't remember girls looking this way when I was in my 20s.

 

[cage99]

We used to have a guy who brought his girlfriend to change plates for him. He would do cable machines and she moved the pin. Bench press she put on his 25 lb weights on the side. She was cute and he was a flake.

He’s got himself a good woman!!

Cage

 

[SouthernMuscle]

I recognize that a certain level of anonymity comes along with membership to this board if one desires so i won’t ask but I also knew an Arnold Miller 20 yrs ago who followed the same modus operandi in southeastern Michigan. He would load up the leg press with weight 10x his abilities n I recall him getting stuck. What is more vivid in memory is him putting 315 on the flat bench and then getting his face super close to the bar and picking at the knurling as if he was picking something out of it. He would do that for what seemed like an hour and then rack the weight and go onto something else.Even decades later when I speak to my college training partner who’s in Chicago, we still make the Arnold Miller reference. I’d like to remind everyone life is all about perspective. Yes his mother picked him up and dropped him off. Yes he was obviously mentally challenged on some level. Yes I recall him getting injured but even in his diminished capacity he was still in attendance regularly which is better than 99% of the rest of society outside of the subculture we all ascribe to. We can all name unlimited people with all their faculties who can’t be bothered to apply themselves. Definitely one of the strangest things I’ve seen but one some level, respect.

because it just so happens that what was stuck in his brain was hurting himself in a gym, as opposed to walking into traffic, respect

thanks for the speech chief

 

[Freighttrainwayne]

because it just so happens that what was stuck in his brain was hurting himself in a gym, as opposed to walking into traffic, respect

thanks for the speech chief

 

[mbuilder]

5 people in a row on 5 machines , all texting. Walk back after doing 3 sets of another exercises to check if they're open....., all still on their phones

I had a similar experience a few months ago where there were only 6 guys (people) in the gym and I was doing bench press. Between sets I look around and every boy were looking on their phones. After each set, all eyes stuck to their phones. When I finished with my sets the boys were STILL all looking at their phones for 15 minutes??? What a waisted generation. Mind you these "boys" were only there to say they go to the gym and not one of them had muscle, only sticks.

 

[btails]

I had a similar experience a few months ago where there were only 6 guys (people) in the gym and I was doing bench press. Between sets I look around and every boy were looking on their phones. After each set, all eyes stuck to their phones. When I finished with my sets the boys were STILL all looking at their phones for 15 minutes??? What a waisted generation. Mind you these "boys" were only there to say they go to the gym and not one of them had muscle, only sticks.

What's the issue with looking at your phone between sets? I lift heavy and rest 2 minutes between sets. I look at my phone so people don't bug me. I get tired of people asking me shit. It's fucking annoying. Would be one thing if they listened but they just waste my time. Also I'm married. I have girls come up to me and ask me shit as well and I just want to keep to myself in the gym. Do my shit and get out.

 

[NeveReveN]

Today I saw a guy use the 45 degree HS leg press as a chest press. He sat upright on the pad, knees bent, grabbed the corners of the foot plate and pushed forward. I gave it some thought, and after almost 20 years of training, I think it's the stupidest thing I've ever seen in the gym.

I've seen some bizarre workouts. Mostly of the crossfit type such as getting into a pushup position and walking with your hands sideways. Then combining this with a circuit of burpees, "battle" ropes, box jumps etc. I don't know, maybe that improves your lung capacity , but the leg press as a chest press is just stupid. Some people use the v-squat as a shoulder press. Also stupid. There's always a vibe from these people that they think they're being innovative too.

I've also noticed that the worst things I see at the gym like this are part of the old, baby boomer demographic. Obviously not all of them, but such an overwhelming majority at every gym I've ever been to. They talk the loudest, never clean machines, perform clueless workouts that do nothing, bother all the women with these awful stories, and are so insecure about their status. I understand the getting old and "not what I used to be" bruising their ego, but it's so pathetic to see them try to act like kings of the gym when they have no idea what they're doing. They also get visibly phased when anyone younger lifts more than them or looks like what they're doing is actually productive.

Anyone else have stories like this?

A big bowl of M&Ms on the counter. Every day, all days.

The spin instructors would snack on handfuls between classes all day. One instructor who worked there when I did went from having nice, muscular, athletic looking legs to having beer keg fat legs after working there for about three months. She would teach classes all day, like 2-3 in the morning, 2-3 at lunch and 2-3 in the evening. She couldn’t figure out what was happening. I showed her an article called something like “Spin Instructor Chunky Thigh Syndrome.” It basically said her body was overcompensating by storing all the sugar and fat from the M&Ms in her lower body, particularly her legs and butt. She wasn’t burning it off like she thought. He body was adapting to the ridiculous amount of stress doing brutal spin classes from 6am to 9pm five to six days a week by storing fat in her lower body and stripping her upper body of fat and muscle. It made sense to me. Just looking g at her before and after it made perfect sense. To me. Not to her. What it made her do was never talk to me again.

 

[BigGame]

Its retarded with the amount of chick's with fat asses. Good Gawd I don't remember girls looking this way when I was in my 20s.

Well, it's become the guys with big arms.

All girls do is train the booty. So they take up the squat racks and anything else to get the ass bigger.

 

[qbkilla]

I had a similar experience a few months ago where there were only 6 guys (people) in the gym and I was doing bench press. Between sets I look around and every boy were looking on their phones. After each set, all eyes stuck to their phones. When I finished with my sets the boys were STILL all looking at their phones for 15 minutes??? What a waisted generation. Mind you these "boys" were only there to say they go to the gym and not one of them had muscle, only sticks.

This is too common. Sometimes I will look at machines 2 exercises ahead of where I'm at to see if they are in use. Or I'll look to see where the mag bar is before I'm ready to use it because people will spend excessive time bullshitting between sets

 

[qbkilla]

What's the issue with looking at your phone between sets? I lift heavy and rest 2 minutes between sets. I look at my phone so people don't bug me. I get tired of people asking me shit. It's fucking annoying. Would be one thing if they listened but they just waste my time. Also I'm married. I have girls come up to me and ask me shit as well and I just want to keep to myself in the gym. Do my shit and get out.

I'll look at mine too but I think the key is we have short rest intervals, check it, then hit another set. I may check mine 4 times during an hour workout. Many of these kids or adults are on equipment 20-30 minutes. IMO the only time someone should need that long if they are going heavy and need to warm up. People taking 7 minutes on their phone between sets is absurd. I used to think what you described... attention seeking behavior, people having some need for social interaction at the gym was the biggest problem but I think people hogging equipment for excessive time has become my top pet peeve.

 

[FK86]

What's the issue with looking at your phone between sets?

This isn't a dig at you, I'm just answering the question. It sends the visual message that the person is not serious about their training and not aware of their surroundings. 99% of the time people are tying up equipment because they're lost in an Instagram scroll. The other 1% are tracking their training digitally, possibly responding to something urgent, or are trying to look busy so as not to be bothered. I get where you are coming from. I opted to focus my stare on the floor, my watch (I time rest periods), or one of the TVs on the wall. I go between the three and I never get bothered. Though I have noticed as people comment in these threads that behaviour tends to be worse/better depending on where you live and what time you go to the gym.