So at the gym, there is a machine which simulates climbing lots and lots of stairs. Sometimes you see people on it putting lots and lots of weight on their arms. Apparently this allows you to do the machine at a higher level for the same amount of effort.
The question is this: Do you find this annoying? If so, why?
I myself find it slightly annoying although it is difficult to say why. Stair machine cheaters aren’t hurting anyone; at most they are putting some unnecessary strain on their elbows.
I really don’t take much notice of what others are doing, I have my own workout to worry about. Besides, the only person they’re hurting is themselves.
The older I get, the more I’m able to do this. So someone is “cheating” at climbing stairs, it’s still a hell of a lot better than being a couch potato.
I figure on those kind of things:
Whatever, hopefully they will get to a fitness point they can stop the silliness and really go for it. I did some awfully goofy things in the beginning.
I really only correct people when they do stuff that might actually hurt them.
I try to always be positive. “Hey, I noticed you like that, have you tried doing this? It’s good to shake things up every now and again!”
I just figure maybe they know something I don’t, or they’re going for high reps/low stress, but mostly, it’s none of my business. I sure as heck don’t want fifteen people walking up and telling me that I’m stretching out wrong…
I used to be annoyed by this - unreasonably so. That was about 10 or so years ago when I was training for a marathon. Now that I’m older and trying to get back to a reasonable level of fitness, I don’t have the luxury (i.e., breath or attention span) to care about what anyone else is doing.
Gym annoyances are things that actually impact me in some way. Unnecessary noise, hogging equipment without using it, neglecting to restack weights.
If I were bothered by the way a stranger exercised, it would be clear evidence of an unhealthy obsession with other people’s business, exacerbated by an arrogant attitude that I knew what was best for everyone and could improve the world overnight if everyone would just bend to my way of thinking. If I were self-aware enough to comprehend this, I’d seek professional help. Unlikely, but we can always hope.
I don’t get annoyed, but I do find it slightly amusing when I’m watching people on the bench press (Which is right in front of the treadmill). They’ll load it up with all this weight, but when it comes time to do the actual reps, they only come half way down and back up again.
Then they hop of the bench press all but too proud of themselves.
Sorry guys, if you really want to brag to people that you can bench six reps of 250, you need to bring that barbell all they way down to your chest. (or a couple of inches away from it.)
I don’t go to gyms largely because I don’t want to annoy people with my idiosyncrasies. And also so I am not tempted to judge others, most of whom are doing their best.
When I’m in my yoga class, I try to follow this sage advice: “Keep your mind on your own mat.” It kept me from losing my focus and falling flat on my face.
No, its not cheating. Its adapting to suit the machine, because they can’t change the machine to suit them. Its even making it safer to use the machine ? If you don’t weight enough, you are at risk of bouncing up… or straining something.
Also people may feel awful pains from trying the excercise they are not ready for .
Let them get started on the machine (any which way) and get used to it.
I don’t care. But maybe that’s because I have no regard, no regard at all, for elbows.I don’t like elbows really. I think elbows are assholes. Fuck elbows. Fuck them to death.
I completely agree with these annoyances. Anything that impacts my workout or me is probably going to ping my annoyance center of my brain.
Haha, pretty much this.
Plus, if I were to pay attention and knit pick people’s form and how they do exercises I would never actually get into my own workout. Further, I’d probably nit-pick my own form more than I already do.
There’s no other way to adjust the force involved. If you don’t bear weight with your arms, then the machine’s force is equal to your weight. The maximum speed is then determined by your aerobic capacity. If you want a different kind of workout, you need to adjust the force of the machine. The only way to reduce that force is to bear some of your weight with your arms. Alternatively, you could go in the other direction, adding weight in a backpack and setting the machine to a slower speed.
The speed/force nature of the workout matters. Many years ago I did a two-week backpacking trip around Mont Blanc in late summer. For the first 10 weeks of summer prior to that, I rode about 1000 miles on a bicycle. I was spinning 90-100 RPM the pedals while riding at my aerobic limit, which resulted in pretty modest pedal force. Although I was aerobically fit, riding like that was absolutely inadequate preparation for walking on mountain trails with a 40-pound pack, where the movements are slower and much more forceful; at the end of the first day on the trail my legs were incredibly sore, almost to the point of immobility.