Anon goes to the gym for the first time
Anon goes to the gym for the first time
I love it. We used to do this in high school but with seated cable pulls. I didn’t understand how to activate certain muscles at that age so I ended up with big arms instead of a big back!
That’s where the deadlifts come in…
My experience with people who are really into working out is that they want everyone to be into working out, and want to help you get there. They’re nerds for lifting. They’re excited to get you excited.
Anyone who shit-talks you for not already being great at it is a fucking poser and you should tell them that.
Years ago, a buddy got me going to his gym so he could show me the ropes. He’d been lifting most of his life and I really trusted him. It was the sort of gym where people go to do serious work. A lifter’s lifting gym. Everyone there looked so serious and were pressing so much weight. I have never been that sort.
But they were all incredibly kind to me. Helped me when they thought I needed it. Never in a demeaning way. Any bad vibes I got from them was pretty much on me.
Those were really cool times. The gym would shut down about two years later and I haven’t really gone to a gym since.
My first night at karate class was the very same.
Senpai Brown, wherever you are, thank you. Also, cool 55 Chevy delivery truck.
When I was a teenager my friend tried to get me to join an MMA gym. Said his two friends went and the instructor wanted to show them something about defending your self properly so he knocked them both out one after the other. (Like that was the plan. See how bad you are at fighting).
I didn’t join that gym.
Arnold Shwarzenegger had a super motivating post on reddit(spits) to a guy who felt similar to this fellow.
I lift. I’ve lifted for years. Then I stopped Then I got really fat. I KNEW what it was going to take. 5+ years later. 100lbs body fat lost and 18lbs of muscle added later (no juice) and I’m older, but ripped. All I can think when I see people running, lifting, walking, whatever - with that ‘look’ like you know they are just trying to shed that that fat jacket - is “Come on! You can do this!” I know the discipline that takes! Young, mouthy douchebags at the gym with raging metabolisms that keep them cut, even after eating garbage all week, are just the next group of fat, old people trying to stay healthy and happy.
I helped a guy at the gym get into a solid 5x5 routine once, barely thought about it. Just a regular to chat to sometimes. You could have used this guy to clean a chimney. He got ripped up. Not bulk, but shredded and built it turns out. Few years later, at a different gym now, a guy comes up to me (him - I’d forgotten his face) and tells me what a difference it made for him and how him and 3 buddies all took what I showed him and were all still lifting. Thanked me, told me what a difference my advice made (diet too). Frankly, it was the BEST motherfucking day I ever had at the gym! I felt like my hero, Arnold.
Making fun of others at a gym is Imo, grounds for getting tossed out. Snickering included. Funny how they don’t seem to last at the gym anyway…
Be the chad.
I’ve seen the snickering. I’ve helped quite a few people. Not everyone is open to it, but most welcome it if you treat em with respect.
Same thing with bouldering. You see someone inexperienced struggle with a route and you give em a few pointers. You show em the moves. Can even help people with routes I can’t do cuz I somehow know how to read em.
Be the positive change in the world.
I miss my bouldering gym so much. It was always a great vibe there and people from all skill levels could climb together, chat, help each other out. Any time I went intending to climb alone I still ended up chatting and making friends because so many people are just friendly and happy to be there
Where I moved to has a proper climbing gym but it isnt the same vibe.
For RDL/stiff legged deadlifts you should only have a slight bend in the knee and focus on moving your ass back during the eccentric instead of letting your knees get forward. It’s a great exercise that will primarily load your hamstrings and glutes, which is why every* girl you see in the gym are doing them.
For a deadlift you knees will have a greater bend and move slightly forward which puts your body in a better position for maximal force output. You can load it a lot heavier and you’re putting more tension on your quads. Deadlifts isn’t as much of a leg exercise as it is a “your entire posterior chain” exercise.
*not every, just a whole lot