I've just moved cities with work and, despite always striking lucky in the past by finding good gyms on the many times I've had to relocate, this time has been a nightmare. I'm on my fourth gym in four months and this latest gym's still shite. It's one of those where most of the blokes have the 'gym swagger' despite all weighing about ten stone ringing wet. They see it as an affectation, rather than something caused by being heavy. They compound the swagger, too, by all wearing those tops without sleeves to show off the huge arms and delts they don't even possess.
My way of coping with its naffness is to keep my head down and concentrate on my work, rather than looking round at the awful form and all the other mistakes going on around me. If you did that, the place is so bad that you'd spend half an hour every workout tutoring people and I just don't have the time. Quite often, though, you'll see someone doing something so badly that they're in danger of injuring themselves, and then I think it's only right to offer some advice. This happened the other day, when the bloke behind me when I was squatting was doing shoulder presses, and I noticed in the mirror he was giving it the big heave by bending his legs massively on every rep. So I went over:
"Hiya, are you doing shoulder presses?"
"Yes," he replies, slightly bemused.
"You're not targeting your shoulders doing it like that, because you're bending your legs and taking the emphasis away from your delts, momentum's taking over the movement and you're not stressing the muscle you're supposed to be working."
He spluttered a bit, because he was wearing one of those tops which obviously made him the sort of expert who didn't need anyone's advice.
And then he came out with: "I'm doing a push press, it's working my legs too."
Hmm, well, first of all I'm not sure what other sort of press there is than a 'push' one, and secondly I've never heard of someone working their legs and delts in the same movement.
"So you're working shoulders AND legs?"
At which point he backtracked, and then didn't seem to know what he was working at all.
The thing was, when I had a sly look in the mirror at his next set, he stopped bending his legs...
So that's me done with offering friendly advice - they can all fuck off and injure themselves. I need a new gym quick...
My way of coping with its naffness is to keep my head down and concentrate on my work, rather than looking round at the awful form and all the other mistakes going on around me. If you did that, the place is so bad that you'd spend half an hour every workout tutoring people and I just don't have the time. Quite often, though, you'll see someone doing something so badly that they're in danger of injuring themselves, and then I think it's only right to offer some advice. This happened the other day, when the bloke behind me when I was squatting was doing shoulder presses, and I noticed in the mirror he was giving it the big heave by bending his legs massively on every rep. So I went over:
"Hiya, are you doing shoulder presses?"
"Yes," he replies, slightly bemused.
"You're not targeting your shoulders doing it like that, because you're bending your legs and taking the emphasis away from your delts, momentum's taking over the movement and you're not stressing the muscle you're supposed to be working."
He spluttered a bit, because he was wearing one of those tops which obviously made him the sort of expert who didn't need anyone's advice.
And then he came out with: "I'm doing a push press, it's working my legs too."
Hmm, well, first of all I'm not sure what other sort of press there is than a 'push' one, and secondly I've never heard of someone working their legs and delts in the same movement.
"So you're working shoulders AND legs?"
At which point he backtracked, and then didn't seem to know what he was working at all.
The thing was, when I had a sly look in the mirror at his next set, he stopped bending his legs...
So that's me done with offering friendly advice - they can all fuck off and injure themselves. I need a new gym quick...