increased popularity of strength training in your gym??

by **connorjs** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 10:52 am

it would be interesting to see if anyone has had similar experiences in their gym.
i wouldnt say that i have 'inspired' anyone into strength training, it could well be a coincidence but i have noticed that more people in my gym have started doing OH presses, deadlifts and squats (though not deep enough ha ha!!). I only notice this because these people only used to do isolation exercises.
The only problem with this is that i now have to wait for the power rack/ olympic bars to be free!!!!!!
Also, since i have started, four of my friends have also started strength training to some degree.
I must be doing something right!?

by **felonyr301** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 1:55 am

It's something that happens normally in my school gym but it's because the people who don't get results see what the big guys are doing and they see them doing squats so they jump in to do what exactly there are doing. Sadly most give up on doing squats with the free weights after they see it's too hard. They move to the smith machine and start doing half squats there with alot of weight. Too bad they had the right idea at first but oh well- I don't blame them- smith machine means more weight and easier but if only they knew it's nothing compared to what you get out of doing squats with free weights.

by **paul** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 2:58 am

yeah in my school gym i used to always deadlift and deep squat. some of my friends have started deadlifting and some did at one point start squatting a little deeper, but then as the weight got higher and they got further into their set they just started doing half squats again. when i tell anyone they need to go deeper they always say that it's bad for your knees. so i've just stopped trying lol

by **Young Athlete** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 3:53 am

Yeah strength trainers out weigh the powerlifters at my gym. The football coach knows what he is doing and has put together a decent workout plan. It's not the best but it's a hell of a lot better then there old one. Still there are a few body builders. Most don't go down all the way on a squat. People look at me funny when my bar hits the safety pins sometimes. I mean one of my friends is going to try it out this summer because I have gotten so much stronger but still not a large movement at all in my gym.
1)I'm still skinny and only 5ft 7inches no one looks to me for advice
2)I squat way lower then the kids who squat 300#'s going down around an inch or two and they lift more then me on the big daddy of all exercises the bench press!!!!(or atleast that is what they think)
3)Most think the football players have a good workout it's decent but they don't warm up or cool down and don't deadlift or squat enough.
4)I'm the only kid at the gym with a routine other then the football player most people just improvise

by **connorjs** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 1:07 pm

Thing is tho, alot of these 'big guys' bench press more than they can squat (properly)anyway!!! and there are plenty of 'em in my gym. you just want to say 'lads, your baggy sweat pants aren't kidding anyone'!!

by **Luke** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 6:51 am

At the gym I used to frequent, all I saw were half way down preacher curls, smith machine bench and a bunch of complicated cable exercises. The lonely squat rack was always open for my use, it is quite a shame really. My school weightroom is a little better but poor technique is like a plague through the football team.

by **Young Athlete** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 12:59 pm

True that luke, same situation for me. Some people are squating pretty heavily all the way down "Full Sqaut" is what the call it but I believe the proper term is olympic squat. The other kids all go down like 3 inches.

by **connorjs** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 2:07 pm

at my gym there is a guy who 'squats' on the smith machine, 3 plates a side who doesnt so much go down as nod his head a couple of times!!!!

by **christ** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 6:20 pm

well, i only go to the community center gym (its usually just me in there) but recently, i have been able to intrest a lot of my friends to start to come with me. we are not able to get things done with free weights yet so we are still with the machines, but it is a definite plan to upgrade soon.

by **Young Athlete** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 9:38 pm

Christ you have a log with information? No free weights or you can't lift them?

by **b_beer** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 9:45 pm

I barely see anyone training for strength at my gym, it's filled with people trying to gain size. They don't even squat or deadlift. I barely see someone doing that in my gym. Usually the safety pins are still same height as last time when I go work-out again

. When they are moved, very occassionaly, I'll have to put them at another height, which makes a damned lot of noise(HIGH NOISE). It's fun seeing people's disgust when I'm changing the pins for hardcore squatting. I never have to worry that the squat rack is taken though (Y)

by **paul** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 1:08 am

yeah theres too many bodybuilders in the gym. today i was waiting for 2 guys to finish doing curls in the squat rack. then next to them was another guy doing abs in the squat rack (the exercise where you lay on the floor with a barbell above your head like in the lockout of a bench and then he lifted his legs, dont know what its called) and the whole time all 3 guys were talking about all these bullshit routines. 'i read about doing cleans with 25lb plates, then you press them then u dont a row with them bla bla bla' the whole time i was thinking 'everyone is retarded' hahaha

by **Luke** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 1:11 am

Yeah, Paul definitely, I love going to my commercial gym to hear these "macho" guys talk about their great new routine and new supplements, sometimes I start laughing as I squat and almost topple over!

by **JonHarris40** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 1:13 am

There are a few in my gym that are strength trainers and then lots of body builder types and then the ones who are just lost and do what ever they feel like. My two favorite example are the one strength guy who can squat a ton of weight but he uses all sorts of bands tied to the top of the rack for stablizing and then he was doing zercher squats that would break my back but he looked like he was about to drop the weight the whole time. His biggest problem is that his shoulders are all rolled forward and neck bent down like he has never done an OH Press only bench press.
The other group in my gym that I love is the 2 guys in their 40's who have ridiculous amounts of muscle and veins all over their arms and chests, they do DB presses with 100# dumbells in each hand, I was pretty impressed until they worked in with me on dips...I did sets at like 20-16-12 or something like that, The first guy got 3 half dips, the next guy got 2 half dips and then started shaking so badly he had to stop and go stretch out. Strength but not functional strength I guess.
Most of the time I have the squat rack to myself but occasionally, if I get to the gym to late, I have to wait for someone to finsh their curls or something else that doesn't need a full rack.

by **paul** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 2:27 am

Luke - yeah, i would have laughed if i wasnt 5 feet away from them lol. theres another guy who you can obviously tell is on steroids. he wears some weird tank top muscle shirt, has HUGE upper arms, tiny forearms, big shoulders and a big chest. i was right by him one time last week and i saw these small puncture holes in every muscle head. i dont know if these are from injection steroids though, since my knowledge on steroids is none at all

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