Board 8 > Fitness, Weightlifting, Exercise and Self-Care Topic for Board 8

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i have a gym story to post later. Almost got my ass beat by someone for not squatting enough weight

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The couple times I've tried to squat since going back, I've only been able to lift a gimp-tastic amount of weight. Something feels off in my hamstrings, more the right than the left. I feel it if I do anything more than the bar, and I have to question if I'm doing myself harm if I go higher than 95. So whoever was about to beat your ass would absolutely have kicked mine.

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Yeah so theres a guy at my gym (which is a commercial gym thats more of a family environment and while it has racks and platforms its by no means a powerlifting/strongman gym) who is probably in his mid 40s. Strong as hell black dude. Warms up on the bench at 315 likes its nothing. Weve talked probably 10 times and have never had an issue. Hes helped me with some of my lifts from time to time. He does leave every weight on the bar when hes done, and fucking slams and bangs everything, but whatever.

anyways I came in today to hit legs. Amongst other things my back has been giving me tons of shit lately. I havent been squatting much at all all year and honestly who even knows if I could do 315 anymore. But I got on the rack and started warming up at 170. Mind yall Im on one of 4 racks, and two others are open while this is about to happen. He comes up to me and asks how many sets I had left. I said sorry man Im just starting to warm up so Ill be a while. Dude blows a fucking gasket and starts yelling to the whole gym about how apparently offensive this was as people here just squat weight he can do off the groundand that my ass would have been beaten if I pulled that at my old gym. He gets so heated that he says he has to go outside to calm himself. Did not work because he came back in, picks up a bar with 135 on it that was on the ground and just tosses it onto the deadlift platform, thankfully not taking out the wall. He continued to rant and be pissed about this the entire time.

i just kinda did my sets and went about my workout. My job has me dealing with crazy people all the time so Im used to tantrums on an almost daily basis, but it was just absurd. Any of the other racks would have been fine, and even if they werent he just would have had to wait ten freaking minutes to do his stupid ass shrugs.

management loves me there because Im a likable dude and am the exact opposite of everything that he does so I just texted them after the workout about what happened and told them to see it all on camera.

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That's absurd. From everything I've heard from you, you seem like the last kind of person that a gym bro should be giving shit to. And, as you said, there were open racks at the time, so unless there was some reason why he had to have that one, it's silly to begin with.

Maybe he was just off his meds. (Or on his roids.)

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azuarc posted...

That's absurd. From everything I've heard from you, you seem like the last kind of person that a gym bro should be giving shit to. And, as you said, there were open racks at the time, so unless there was some reason why he had to have that one, it's silly to begin with.

Maybe he was just off his meds. (Or on his roids.)

I would imagine it was just a power thing. Dude is used to getting his way a lot and ran into a situation where that didnt happen, even though I was normal and polite about it. Hell my first word was apologetic even though I had nothing to apologize for.

or the roids, which was the working theory of the other people who witnessed it

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And hes always said that he likes me because I dont come in there and do stuff to show off or want attention, I just go about my workout. Apparently that stops when I dont immediately leave a rack that Ive been on for all of three minutes when he wants it

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Today was a much less stupid workout. I did not see the clown show but I talked to one of his friends that was there and he apologized that it went down that way and that he sometimes gets like that


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yeah, thing about crazy is... you can never trust it
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Ive barely done any core work the past year and sadly it shows

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Fell off my daily exercising again, not really that surprised though. The weighted push-ups worked out okay, while I had the motivation to keep doing them.

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Shonen_Bat posted...

Fell off my daily exercising again, not really that surprised though. The weighted push-ups worked out okay, while I had the motivation to keep doing them.

All it takes is one workout to not be in the fell off phase and back in the back at it phase

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I ripped through back today without much pain. Im still just hanging in the mid 300s these days. Even though I have a back injury it doesnt really hurt when I deadlift, it just doesnt seem to activate. The squat is when it gets painful

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Good on you.

This doesn't need to be a big deal, but one of the reasons I started exercising was to help cope with depression. And it helps pretty well, but a lot of the time I don't feel able to get any sort of exercise done. That one workout is harder than it should be.

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Proud of you for getting up everyday

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Shonen_Bat posted...

This doesn't need to be a big deal, but one of the reasons I started exercising was to help cope with depression. And it helps pretty well, but a lot of the time I don't feel able to get any sort of exercise done. That one workout is harder than it should be.

It always is. You aren't alone. A few thoughts:

1) If you fight through the gloom, you really do feel better afterwards. If regular exercise isn't a thing for you, it might take a couple months before you get used to how your body feels after exercise and how different it is, but everything will be looser, freer, and full of good energy rather than negativity.

2) Even if you don't do your full workout, you should at least strive to do *something*. It's amazing how much of a difference simply getting off the couch makes. I used to call it the shower effect -- take a shower and it tends to wash away everything else. These days, it tends to be shaving. Once I do that, I'm better able to push through a lot more. If you aren't going to work out, doing a quick set of something can often get you going -- if not for a workout, then for at least handling the rest of the day better.

3) As iiaattgg said, it only takes one day to get back in the habit. Don't get mad at yourself when you skip a day. That can't be an excuse to let a day go, because one day becomes two and then three if you allow yourself to rationalize it. But don't get trapped in the spiral, either.

For my own part, I didn't get to the gym today after telling myself I would. I had a decent workout yesterday, though, and I still feel pretty good. I also have a treadmill in the basement now and I haven't ruled out making use of it once something is on that I feel like watching. Barring that, I have a free day tomorrow.

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Thanks. I did a bit of exercise today. It's hard not to think of it as 'this is something I'll have to keep up with every day for years' and get overwhelmed but I'll try to get something done. I'm not really cut out for a full workout right now but doing a couple push-ups or something is fine.

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Shonen_Bat posted...

Thanks. I did a bit of exercise today. It's hard not to think of it as 'this is something I'll have to keep up with every day for years' and get overwhelmed but I'll try to get something done. I'm not really cut out for a full workout right now but doing a couple push-ups or something is fine.

It helps to have goals for yourself, both long and short term. My long term goal is to be able to bench 1.5x my body weight, squat 2.0x, and deadlift 2.5x. Will I ever reach that goal? I don't know but it always helps me to have something to shoot for.

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Don't think of it as "something to keep up with for years." That's the wrong attitude. Just think of it as a part of your daily life, like eating or taking care of your pets. Except think of it as the better parts of those things, like getting to eat a meal you enjoy or seeing how excited your cat/dog is as you get their dinner ready.

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Seanchan posted...

It helps to have goals for yourself, both long and short term. My long term goal is to be able to bench 1.5x my body weight, squat 2.0x, and deadlift 2.5x. Will I ever reach that goal? I don't know but it always helps me to have something to shoot for.

I know I'm not as strong as you -- when I started in the gym, my lifting goals were simply not to be upstaged by the girls who were basically just squatting the bar -- but prior to coronavirus I think I was at .75x bench, 1.25x squat, and 1.75x deadlift. Right now, I'd like to just see if I could get back toward those numbers. Of course, those numbers were on good days, and I have to remind myself of that, too.

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azuarc posted...

I know I'm not as strong as you -- when I started in the gym, my lifting goals were simply not to be upstaged by the girls who were basically just squatting the bar -- but prior to coronavirus I think I was at .75x bench, 1.25x squat, and 1.75x deadlift. Right now, I'd like to just see if I could get back toward those numbers. Of course, those numbers were on good days, and I have to remind myself of that, too.

My goals are aspirational. What I'm ABLE to do is short of that goal. I go to the gym and I read topics like this and there's ALWAYS someone who makes me feel like a weakling. So I try to use them as inspiration, especially if they're around my size/weight. In the end, you have to judge your progress against yourself not the guy a foot taller who's repping 4 plates per side.

I'm also not looking to set personal bests and kill myself every time I go to the gym. I tried that for a while, always trying to do more weight every session, and I ended up just hating myself (and sometimes hurting myself).

Now, I have a detailed plan and regiment that I follow to make sure that I don't burn myself out. Look up Wender 5-3-1, which I supplement with Boring But Big to get some volume. It's designed for long term gains over the course of years. Each session has only 1 maximal effort set that you build towards, so I don't get mentally fatigued. Plus, there's a "rest week" every 4 weeks.

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