Folks,
Yes, YOU doing curls in the squat rack! Listen up!
I like lifting weights for one reason only. Lifting weights transforms your body faster than any cardio exercise will ever do. I am sure you can agree with me or you would not be here showing your competitive streak by lifting 300 pounds while screaming like a little boy who is being mauled by a bear.
If you ask me what is my preference in a workout, I will be honest and say that I don’t like to work out. But exercising is good for us, so I try to push myself and go to the gym, and make my way to the weight room where you and I are forced to spend time with each other for about thirty-forty minutes. Why can’t we make those minutes more pleasant and less annoying?
I hate the weight room at our gym because of you. I hate it very passionately. This passion of mine, negatively directed towards the weight room (but mostly directed towards you), upsets my husband because he loves lifting weights with me, and I refuse to go to the weight room as often as I should.
You, I am sure, love the weight room in our gym, because it seems to me that you are there all the time, grunting, screaming and throwing weights around the room. You strut around, showing off in front of the others. You don’t realize it, but it makes you look like a bunch of pimply fourteen year olds. You look much, much older to me, by the way.
Besides being almost the only woman in the weight room, swirling my way to the squat rack among your sweaty and bulky bodies, while trying not to breathe at the same time, I am also almost the only person in the weight room who does a full body work out. It might come as a surprise to you but the idea of the squat rack is … to do squats. Ever heard of them?
For some reason you never do squats in the weight room. Or deadlifts. Or lunges. Mostly you do upper body workouts. You obsessively work your chest, arms and back. I have to admit (with a cringe and a sigh) that as the result of these workouts, your upper bodies look great.
But your legs… I want to call them chicken legs. Do your leg workouts! First, it will make me look less out of place when I do squats in the weight room. Second, your chicken legs will disappear, and your body will look proportionate.
I think that you are afraid of lower body work out for a reason: some of you posses less coordination and flexibility in your lower body, and it is easier to ignore workouts such as deadlifts, lunges and step-ups. And my favorite squats!
Talking about squats … again. The squat rack is for squats and NOT for barbell curls. Do not swing your whole body in front of me while attempting to curl in the squat rack. Seriously, I am not obsessed with squats, even though I sound like I am. I am just asking – please no curls in the squat rack.
One more thing! Very important! Guys, stop grunting, twisting around, and screaming while trying to curl 200 pounds. Either stop making all the noises, or do us all a favor, and lower the weight. Amen!
LOL. Looks like you need to consider going to a women-only gym. I go to one and never have this problem; the weights are fine, too!
Have you considered Curves? 🙂
Curves? Are you the one who is doing curls in the squat rack? 😉
Sounds like you go to Gold’s. That’s one of the things I hated about going to the gym–the grunting, the slamming of the weights, the poor hygiene. I’m so much better off doing my workouts at home. Plus, I don’t have to wait for a bench to open up.
Unfortunately, it’s a psychological thing with the grunting and screaming. It’s supposed to be combined with strong exhalation to achieve a greater intensity when lifting.
I wish I could work out at home. But we live in a small condo and there is no space for work out. So, I do go to Gold’s. 🙁
Oh, I know exactly what you mean…..my biggest peeve is people who spend half an hour on one freakin’ exercise. Look, I’m busy as hell and try to maximize my time in the gym. I’m never just standing still looking at myself. I’ll do super sets of exercises of different muscle groups, never taking breaks. If I see someone eyeing one of the pieces of equipment I’m using I let them know what I’m doing, how many sets I have left, and invite them to work in with me. I know I hate waiting for equipment, wondering when the current user will be done, so I do my best to not cause the same situation.
I’m in and out of the weight room in 30 minutes completely exhausted because I never stop moving.
People that just sit there taking 10 minutes between sets, shootin’ the breeze with their friends aren’t just wasting their own time….
I am sooo with you. I completely forgot about those people who spend hours, doing one exercise. Maybe I should write a second letter! lol
Ha! I can relate. It’s precisely why when I did have a gym membership, I barely went into the weight room. The strutting and grunting is indeed, ridiculous.
This post does NOT make me sad I quit my 24 Hour Fitness membership! The gym I go to now has only a tiny corner devoted to weights, and they’re the kind of weights that help rock climbing, so when I was over there trying to do a pull up (again) instead of pissing someone off, I ended up getting tips from the only other person over there! No grunty men, ever. They can’t climb, so they don’t come to my gym.
Maybe I should start climbing! I’ve heard it is a great workout. And no grunting men around. 🙂
Haha, it’s time to leave Gold’s. Sure it was great back in the days of the original logo, but as the logo itself seems to have gone on the gear so has a lot of the patrons.
I have no problem with people who bring a bench into the rack or the half rack for self spotting, but curling is ridiculous. The only way to hurt yourself with a curl is by jerking your lower back to get the weights up… so they are increasing their risk of injury, ironically, haha.
Whew! I’m glad you got that out there for the men to see (if only they would!) Have you considered a women’s only gym? I admit – I stay away from the weight room at the gym because of these types of men. But I think I would probably be inclined to work out more with more women around. And way to go for working out so hard!
The gym actually has a women’s area only. But it is tiny, and it gets really crowded during the busy hours. 🙁
It sounds like you may be better off buying a bench and a set of weights and staying at home with your husband. I agree with you 100% about the guys who only work their upper body, in an attempt to impress others.
IF we’d have space in our condo, I’d definitely would have a bench. Maybe one day, if we get a house…
Sounds like there is a market for a women only gym. 🙂
Yeah, I don’t like all those guys grunting and screaming either. The chicken legs syndrome has been around since weight lifting started and I don’t think it will go away anytime soon.
Why do guys like chicken legs? Any idea? 🙂
that’s why i go to Planet Fitness, the no judgement zone! hehe
Sounds like no fun at all. I prefer classes at the gym but lifting weights at home. Chicken legs are never exciting, especially if there is a huge upper body/no-neck phenomenon going on.
YOU CAUGHT ME!!! I LIKE TO WORK MY FABIO UPPER BODY. MY LEGS ARE SKINNY BUT MY UPPER BODY LOOKS GREAT. BUT I NEVER SHOW MY LOWER BODY. AND WHEN I AM FORCED TO SHOW IT I WALK BEHIND PARKED CARS SO MY CHEST IS STILL VISIBLE. AND BY THE WAY I AM NOT YELLING. I HAVE THE CAPS ON.
🙂
SINCERELY,
ROACH
Aaahhhh I knew someone would come out and admit to doing curls in the squat rack. 🙂
You are hilarious, Aloysa..
There are a few workout stations at my gym that always seem to be occupied.. The chest press, the butterfly, the ab rotator. I wish folks would realize that their entire body needs work. If an exercise is hard for you, you probably should be doing it more often!!
You would think that people work out their full bodies. But that’s now what I see, and it blows me away. I do not get it.
I used to run into this problem too. I now work at home and it is much more peaceful. I think people should just focus on being healthy and not on size or bulking etc. I think it looks bad and they really arent’ gaining any fitness from it.
Haha, I get worked out at my dayjob, so I don’t ever have to go to a gym, but I can imagine what it must be like. Us men are well… we like to strut sometimes, we like to pose, makes us feel good. But your take on it is funny. Maybe the guys in your gym should spend more time focusing on working out and less time strutting around like peacocks and grunting like gorillas.
I’m guilty of only working out the body parts that are strongest. I don’t do curls at all or shoulder presses. See, to even get me IN the gym is a miracle. And get this? We have a free membership with childcare! I still hate going! I hate other people’s sweat…bleh! I hope I’m not annoying people because I rarely work out my upper body…never thought about it before :/
Oh, I am DYING! This is hilarious, and SO right on the money. Same story at my gym, too. Why don’t men ever consider strengthening their lower body? I can’t tell you the number of middle-aged, balding men walking around my gym with great biceps and legs the size of toothpicks.
I tell people all the time – look around you in your gym’s weight room and you will see that I am RIGHT. 🙂
I deadlift 700lbs, and you know what, it is not because I want to pick up women. the guys who are doing all these upper body workouts are trying to pick up women. Look at a recent article that polls women about the muscles they want most. Its biceps and abs. legs is nowhere on the list of muscles women prefer. Obliques rank higher than legs. Most women want skinny guys with skinny legs. these are the type of men who are more likely to have abs due to their skinniness and low body fat. There are a few women out there who prefer muscular guys with muscular legs and luckily there is not many guys out there for them to choose from. These women are usually into fitness and are extremely hot and muscular guys with muscular legs like myself get first dibs.