Do You Grunt at The Gym Too?
Jun 12th, 2008 by Mehdi Posted in Weight Lifting
Le Maosheng Grunting: Image Credit: dehwang
Holding your breath while lifting increases blood pressure. Some will therefore tell you to exhale on the way up. Wrong. Weight lifting increases cardiovascular fitness. Your heart learns to deal with the increased pressure.
A variation of holding your breath is grunting or yelling. Tennis players are best known for yelling when hitting the ball. Kib started a thread in the Forum called “Anyone a grunter?“. It inspired this post.
Benefits of Grunting. The valsalva maneuver increases abdominal pressure. Grunting, without exhaling, spikes this pressure. Benefits:
- Lower Back Safety. Your abs support your spine from the front, your back muscles from the back. Grunting increases abdominal pressure, increasing the support of your spine.
- More Weight. Increased stability at your torso is not only safer on your lower back, it also allows you to lift more weight.
- Increased Muscle Mass. More weight is more strength. More strength is more muscle mass. Grunting increases muscle mass indirectly.
If your not grunting your not lifting enough weight. - johnnyo
The Correct Way to Grunt. Unrack the weight for Squats. Take a big breath. Hold it. Squat down. Squat up while exhaling against your closed glotis. Grunt your way up for increased pressure if needed.
Start light. Add weight progressively. When the weight gets challenging, you’ll know what to do and how. Some grunt, some yell. Do whatever works for you. Sharapova’s yell technique might inspire you.
What If Your Gym Doesn’t Allow Grunting? Albert Argibay was kicked out of Planet Fitness for grunting while Squatting 500lbs. Watch this video and read the thread on Sherdog “Planet Fitness Screwed Me“.
Planet Fitness is a gym version of Wal-Mart: killing competition using low prices. They also force you to sign up for 1 year. So if you quit because you don’t get results, you’ll have to continue paying for a service you don’t use.
Gyms like Planet Fitness don’t care about you. They exist to make money, not to help you achieve your goals. If your gym has the same no grunting/no Deadlifts rules as Planet Fitness, find another gym or build a home gym.
What About You? Do you grunt at the gym? Or do you train in a Planet Fitness like gym that doesn’t allow grunting? Share in the comments.
Good post
Grunt, sweat, and bleed (sometimes). I do it all. Otherwise, it’s not a productive workout.
@johnnyo
good quote
I told myself I wasn’t going to be one of those grunting weight monsters that looked like they were about to have a heart attack. I thought they were doing it just to get looks in the gym or because they wanted to appear badass to everyone else.
Now I’m on the 5xt in only my 4th week and I find myself grunting involuntarily.
Thanks!
@Ben
There are definitely gym people who do it to get attention too.
@johnnyo
You’re welcome.
I go to a Planet Fitness. $10/mo, month to month - no 1-yr requirement. No frills. No grunting - that I can handle fine. Nothing against it; I just haven’t ever done it. Biggest problem with my Planet Fitness: dumbells only go to 60lbs.
Is it true those Planet Fitness gyms have ‘lunk alarms’ that go off when you drop weight/grunt? I think that is dangerous, imagine being in the middle of a heavy set and a frickin’ alarm bell/siren starts flashing and ringing. What a horrible idea. Those gyms are for lazy people that want to go and “ride the bike” for 30min a few times a week with zero tension while leasurely reading a magazine and not breaking a sweat. Those people look at me strangely when I do intervals on the treadmill beside them and soak my shirt.
It’s the whole attitude thing, people grunting while doing hard work doesn’t phase me at all, neither does the sound of people dropping the bar from a snatch to the platform, while it seems to cause distress for others in the gym. Luckily my gym, although it has a lot of people standing around doing curls or sitting on the bike not sweating, has an oly platform and has no rules against grunting, chalk or dropping weight.
Personally, I find myself grunting when I am exerting myself close to my limits, it just feels natural. I don’t do it very loud but it does help.
Yeah, they have a “lunk alarm”. I’ve only heard it go off once, but I don’t even know what set it off at the time. Besides, it was lame; I could barely here it over the music. My understanding of it is that it’s for people who throw weights around a lot. When I deadlift or when I rack the weights on squat and bench, they can clang pretty loudly, but that’s never set it off. My experience shows the people in there are pretty much like everywhere else - my HS gym, 24hour Fitness ($40+/mo), YMCA ($30+/mo) - some folks are serious, most aren’t.
I don’t care. It’s got a power rack, benches and plenty of iron. It’s in an converted warehouse, with huge bay doors in the back which are open when weather permits - the fresh air is great. $10/mo means I can buy all the whey I need with the difference and still come out ahead. Plus it’s right down the road.
Cheap does mean that you should inspect the weights, especially the allen screws on the ends of olympic bars, because the staff probably doesn’t do it. I’ve had to tighten things up once or twice - just like every other [more expensive] gym I’ve been in. Safety is preeminent; always check.
I don’t mind the grunting, but the uninitiated see it as a sign of too much testosterone. People that don’t lift heavy don’t understand the need to grunt (and occasionally pause to take three quick hyperventilating breaths with spit flying before pushing up that last rep). To them I say, bring a towel and ear plugs or go home.
Albert Argibay just wants attention. He knew the rules when he signed up, but now he’s mad because someone kept their word? Your gym, your rules. Don’t like them? Go elsewhere.
@ Mehdi
Stick to your guns. I agree that grunting on heavy lifts is fine and normal. I disagree with Planet Fitness’s policy, too, but I’ve found the hype about it to be blown out of proportion. Yes, they only care about my money. I only care about using their iron. So far, so good.
Grunt, sometimes I yell and there is no AC in the gym, strait up beast work baby!
I grunt, too. ^^ Not all the time but when the weights are really heavy…
Ok, excessive grunting is annoying/funny… but prohibiting to do so just makes me feel like I’m in a fascist gym!
I should say: For god’s sake - But I will say: Well, it seems like they work (Planet Fitness gyms), there are people that like them and pay them. So, if you don’t like the rules, just don’t f**king pay them!
Anyway, I just today learned about these “gyms” (since I’m not from the USA) and I must tell you, it’s very amusing. Especially the YouTube related videos, are like some funny-fictional-viral advertisement.
A “No deadlift” policy in a gym? What’s next? A “Do all your exercises without weights on a Swiss Ball” policy? That’s lame
As my deadlift has increased, grunting has become necessary. I couldn’t imagine being silent on a max effort lift these days.
Just to let you know mehdi that your posts are coming up in my feed reader for the year 1999. Weird.
Hhmmm. Grunting to me is a ‘look at me’ move. Breathing heavy or purse-lip breathing elicit’s the same ‘positive effect’ that everyone is talking about.
I unfortunately do not agree at all with holding in any air. You need to inhale and exhale during each movement for the exchange of oxygen even on the macro level of simply getting rid of the excess CO2 and deterring any sort of lactic acidosis phenomena.
@Mehdi I think you meant the valsava maneuver increases intrathecal pressure not abdominal.
Great post all around.
Thanks again. I do love the amount of feedback you get with each post!
At least they give you a way out of the 1 year contract. Just grunt and you can quit anytime.
A “do all your exercises without weights on a swiss ball” actually sounds like a good idea to me
We don´t have Planet Fitness here in Brazil (i guess), but we do have an equivalent here in my hometown. The guy is all about making money, so he follows the exact same strategy..
But here we also have the true hardcore gym, where i train, where there is chalk everywhere, rusty bent bars, spider webs and a lot of grunting, yelling and psyching up(including my own). My gym is a lot less popular, of course.
You have to understand the owner´s point of view too. If he wants to make money on the gym he has to make it a little social, otherwise it will scare the “regular people”..
I wasn’t allowed to do power cleans once at a gym, and I quickly dropped the idea of attending there considering it was part of the workout. And I have been asked to leave or stop grunting/yelling; mine is kind of in between, from my old gym. It is true grunting or yelling does help you lift more weight, I remember when I was working on my endurance workout for kick-boxing way back in the days I used to push my body to the point where I would workout until failure, however if I grunted on that last rep, which by the way never looked like it would get up, I was able to push it. Now that I’ve graduated and I have no access to a free gym, I’ve put money into building a home gym where I’m free to workout how and when I want. It’s worth the investment. Compare two years of gym membership to a life-time home gym, and you can obviously say that the latter is obviously more efficient. Oh and just for some common knowledge, you don’t necessarily have to buy a dip/pull-up station, I’m quite happy with my gymnastics rings, and they seem to work much more of the body during dips, pull-ups, and chin-ups. Just make sure to buy a pair with a low-elastic, high strength band, and just clip it on to something that you know will be able to hold your body weight as well as a few extra lbs for those of you who are already using weights. My rings managed to withhold 45 extra lbs, so altogether 205 lbs.
@harrysputnik
No problem. I got the info from the sherdog thread. Got no experience with Planet Fitness, but I do know that Fitness First in Belgium has similar policies where you pay per month, but sign up for a year, so when you quit you have to continue paying without using the service. Their subscription is 40-50€/month.
@Strong One
Nope I meant the valsalva maneuver increases intra-thoracic pressure and intra-abdominal pressure. Abdomen & thoracic cavity are linked, only diaphgram separates them, so one influences the other.
And breathing out during a heavy squat or deadlift is asking for injuries. Lose pressure in your abs and you’ll collapse. Watch any video of power lifters, strongman, weight lifters, etc, you won’t see them breathing during a lift.
@Wilhelm
If the gym-owner is smart, he would care about getting people results, and teach them that grunting is nothing to be scared of, that it’s normal like in any other sport (fight sports, tennis, etc). Your gym sounds like fun.
There are people who do excessive grunting just to get attention or even scream while doing their 30% ROM leg presses.. Thát annoys me. Modest grunting can indeed help you lifting more weight, but excessive screaming will just decrease the pressure and is for attention whores.
Does grunting while bench pressing work?
Or do you just fully breathe out and breathe in
I don’t know if I can link to this directly, but it’s the hardest-core grunting I’ve ever heard:
http://performancemenu.com/resources/exercises/videos/snatch.mov
If only these gyms could be as gung-ho about keeping people from curling in the squat rack/power cage or talking on cell phones loudly while hogging equipment.
I understand that gyms might want a comfortable environment for newer, more out-of-shape members. After all, their monthly dues are the same as the Mr. Universe wannabes.
That said, when you chase away more serious trainees, you’re also chasing away people that the newbies can learn from. If there’s one thing I wish I could tell every beginner it’s that there’s no reason to fear the more advanced guys. They were once in your shoes.
Of course if the serious guys aren’t around the “personal trainer/supplement salesmen” won’t have any competition.
I used to go to Planet Fitness until I discovered Stronglifts.com and started to Deadlift and Overhead Press. After about 3 weeks of doing so, a personal trainer came up to me and told me I could not deadlift because it was not that type of gym. I already knew what he was talking about because of theie dumb Lunk Alarm ( If you drop a weight) and stupid “No judgment Zone” motto that they advertise. So I just said well, I have been doing this for almost a month now.. so why tell me this now? and he said well I am sure you will agree with me that Deadlifts are dangerous and I know exactly why you are doing it. I turned around and said well actually.. every exercise in this gym is just as dangerous if not performed correctly. If you Bench press and don’t have a spotter and the barbell falls on your neck you can die. So I don’t agree with you. He then looked stupid and didn’t know what else to say, but I’m sorry we don’t allow deadlifts here and so I walked calmly to the front desk and cxld my membership and joined PEAK FITNESS and it is the best thing I have done ’cause I can now do free weight squats, deadlifts, and overhead presses and I have gained some excellent strength and size… and i don’t get any lower back strain from them useless smith machine squats that run down a fixed position causing all types of pains and weak indicator of true strength.
There was this new guy in the gym (never seen him more than once), who was screaming at the top of his lungs while curling 25 lbs dumb bells. Now that you approve it, don’t know what to make of it
Whatever works. Cheers.
dood you write some awesome articles man. i’ve never seen this topic addressed in any other blog or website. great work.
interesting video about making noise..
http://youtube.com/watch?v=WoZQD4djwW0
What ever gets the weight back on the rack I reckon, nice to know that grunting will help.
@Charles
I grunt on the bench press too. Releasing pressure (exhaling) on the way up is never good, you lose tension that way.
@Stephen/Willski
Good posts!
@Derek
Thanks for that video.
grunting in lifting is a bit like kiai in martial arts.
My favourite grunt video
http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=D76gLzrriuk
I tend to stay pretty quiet when I’m lifting as I’m trying to focus myself. Often when I grunt, it is because I need that extra bit of power to push things up (usually do it the most on my final bench press reps).
Pushing my deadlift to 140kg tomorrow night… Think I might let loose a scream!
That was one hell of an article i would never thought that gyms have snitch alarms like planet fitness. Anyway, grunting or breath holding is something that comes naturally under heavy load.
Mehdi, thanks, topics you talk about is always fun to read for me.
Seems the guy wasn’t banned from Planet Fitness for grunting: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/11/prweb482175.htm
I can’t find the bit on their website that says you can’t deadlift, nor does it seem to be in their terms and conditions. Does anyone else find it hypocritical that it’s supposed to be a gym with no judgement…yet they’ll judge people who deadlift and grunt??
I’ve seen the PF rules and they definitely state that you can’t deadlift.
I started grunting last night at the gym as I was working out some heavy squats and as I went as high as I’ve ever gone on the bench press. Probably wouldn’t have if I hadn’t read this article ;-).
@Bart: that video is awesome.
This stuff is amazing! Ok, excessive screaming is annoying and maybe intimidates some people and yeah you always get some dick who has to make out he’s the hardest guy there, but grunting with a heavy weight is completely natural and really helps get those last reps out. How the hell can you ban people from deadlifting? Unbelievable, it’s not ‘that kind of gym’, what, the kind of gym where you can workout to get fitter, stronger, bigger? Glad we don’t have these places here (yet).
I personally am a member of Planet Fitness. Even though the “No Grunting” policy is universal within those gyms, the particular location I attend will not repremend you for it. The manager finds that rule unneccessary. No other member in that gym has complained about lifters grunting either.
I guess it all depends what idiot is running the show.
I hate people making noise in the gym for no reason!!! It kills my focus and usually the ones yelling are the part timing, weight hording, gym going kids who come just to slow me down. I don’t want to smell you and I don’t want to hear you. 315lbs bench, 155lbs curl, and 275lbs squat…… if I’m not yelling nobody should. These numbers are not mind blowing #s but 225lbs bench……..I shouldnt hear a sound. In my gym the regulars are all for real and we will very politely ask anyone to remember that they are in a public place and if they are looking for attention I have a shrink on speed dial.
I used to belong to Golds Gym in Glen Byrnie Maryland, and I actually got to an argument with a competitive power lifter over grunting and yelling. At the time, I was 200lbs at 5′9″, whach I thought was pretty good size. Mr. juice-head, who was about 6′2″, 300lbs, didn’t think the weight I was legg pressing was heavy enough to warrant a grunt or a yell. What he didn’t realize was that I had taken the weight of 485lbs to failure at 21 reps, so when I peeled myself out of the seat, finished puking, he and his flunkies decided to start laughing and making fun of me in front of all the rest of the juice heads in the gym. Me, being the typical Jarhead that I am, stood up and told them, ” That’s Okay, you know I’ll look better this summer than your fat-asses.” Which of course didn’t go over to well. They were waiting for me in the parking lot after their workout. And while I’m a little crazy, I’m not suicidal, so I had a girl I was dating, who was working at the gym, let me out the back door so I could live to lft another day. Needless to say, I cancelled my membership soon after that to avoid anymore unpleasant exchanges between myself and the chemically enhanced, or cowards who are afraid to do it the natural way.
I always grunt or sometimes yell my way through a tough set! I have my own workout area, the gyms around these days are just to wimped out. I have iron weights, a bench and squat racks. I put on the heavy rock & roll and when a set gets hard, it’s grunting and yelling time!!!
I’m confused.
Its says not to exhale on the way up, but says squat up while exhaling against your closed glotis??
Everything I’ve ever read (Men’s Fitness, Flex, Men’s Health, etc.) has instructed that it is best to breathe out as you do the work of the exercise, whether that be pushing or pulling. I’ve always done this without problems and have been told by some power lifters that this is the correct technique. Do you view this as flawed or could there just be two theories on this?
@Gee
Exhaling releases pressure. Exhaling against a closed glotis won’t release any pressure, you’re breathing against the closed glotis, no air gets away.
@Tony
You read shitty magazines (no offence). No power lifter, olympic lifter or strongman is breathing out during a heavy squat/deadlift/whatever, you’d lose abdominal pressure which puts your lower back at risk.
Watch videos of competition lifts on youtube, see for yourself if they breathe on the way out. Here’s on example out of many: legend Captain Kirk squatting 1000lbs for 2 reps, no breathing. Ask “johnnyo” & “getoutofmyface” in the forum what they do, they are competitive powerlifters.
OK thanks! That makes sense for 1-2 reps for power lifters…what if you are doing higher volume training of say 6-8 reps or more? You have to breathe during these but you can still be lifting some pretty heavy weight. When do you breathe?
As far as the magazines, they are not aimed at power lifters so they have a different philosophy on a lot of topics. I wouldn’t say they are shitty because of this. They all provide some sort of value, for bodybuilders as well as people interested in fitness in general. But I can see how a power lifter would not find them useful.
@Tony
6-8 reps > breathe in between reps, not during. Same reason why.
@VIZ
C’mon now. Obviously 225 is a laughable weight for you, but for those of us who are just starting out it’s a target, not something they left behind a long time ago. I bench maybe 170 tops and that’s my *absolute* max right now and you better believe I’m breathing pretty damn heavy when I do it. It’s all proportional.
Mehdi, i agree with your point of view, results are what matters.
My gym is indeed fun, but my dream is a home gym like yours where i can listen to Stahlgewitter very loud and just go berserker.. hahaha
Excellent, Medhi. I don’t think I quite understood what the vasalva maneuver meant physiologically until I read “Squat up while exhaling against your closed glottis.” It’s easy to replicate with a powerlifting belt but this will be useful for cues sans belt.