Gee, you really must get a lot of exercise; your ass is in such great shape, you can talk out of it!
In terms of health benefits, walking does exactly the same thing as running: it burns calories and increases your heart rate. If you’re trying for conditioning, then yes, running would be better. But if all you want is to stay healthy, a slow walk is all that’s necessary.
Here’s another fun fact for you: lots of people can’t run, for medical reasons. Not everybody is a finely-honed marathon-running Olympic-class bionic athlete like you. Us ordinary mortals, who are not quite as perfect as you, sometimes have health problems.
Personally, I can’t run worth a damn. I’m in good shape and have decent stamina, but I’ve got problems with my knees. I can walk just fine, but running puts a lot of stress on the knee joint-- the force of all that pounding against the ground is transmitted straight upward through the leg bones. A “hard ten-minute run” would leave me unable to stand up for about two days, which is not my idea of a fun time.
A good friend of mine has epilepsy, and too much physical exertion triggers his seizures. If he tried your ten-minute run, he’d be unconscious and seizing within the first sixty seconds. This is also not exactly a pleasant experience
In short, if you want to run, go ahead and run. Just don’t go telling me that I have to run, just beacause you’re such an asshole you can’t stand waiting a couple extra minutes to use the treadmill.
Utopia and vandal, just because someone isn’t running as fast as you can on the treadmill doesn’t mean they’re not working out. When I started running a few years ago, I had the treadmill set at 4.5 mph; and yes, that was running speed for me. And in case you haven’t checked out any exercise references lately (which you apparently haven’t, although I strongly recommend it), walking is a very effective form of exercise too. Regardless of whether someone is walking, jogging, or running on the treadmill (as long as he’s not having a picnic on it or something like that), he is using it effectively.
Geez, reading these posts has really made me appreciate my gym more. I’ve never had a problem getting people to let me work in with them, and no one acts like a hot shit just because he’s stronger than I am. Also, I very rarely see people talking on cell phones (now that I think of it, I don’t know that I ever have).
There was a guy one time who was lifting weights and grunting loudly/screaming with each rep, to let the rest of the people in the gym know how mighty and powerful he was. Just about everyone else at the gym was laughing at him. Eventually one of the trainers came over and told him to knock it off.
My major peeve is that there aren’t enough women hitting on me at the gym. This infuriates me to no end.
Nice attitude. I hope I didn’t aggrivate the shit out of you using the weight machines and doing 10lb lifts after my FUCKING SPINAL FUSION, dickwad. I also hog up the treadmill doing my wussy 45 minute walking thing. I’m not there to get “buff”, I’m there to keep myself strong enough to keep standing every day and walking. Peoples level of intolerance to others is just unbelievable. I guess it must be hard to think about anyone but yourself with your head that far up your ass.
In short, if you get annoyed at someone elses workout, get a fucking life and mind your own damned business. They paid their club dues, so wait your fucking turn, no matter what they’re doing. Their workout (or lack therof) is none of your concern, you self centered, egotistical dickwad. Sheesh!
Anyway, Blue- my club has a sign on the drinking fountain that says “PLEASE, for the sake of our club members, staff, and all of humanity- DO NOT SPIT IN THE SINK”.
Lizard - I don’t think I am a world record holder by any means… this was just the record at my gym based on percentage of body mass lifted. This is an inclined press machine.
I poked around and found the site of the Finnish national champion Timo Vilponen, he weighs 215 and he has a drop set record of:
35 x 600 kg (1322 pounds) > 15 x 400 kg > 10 x 250 kg.
The 1322 pounds is 614% of his weight and he can do 35 reps with this weight.
{note: I removed some dead space in this post. -Lynn}
While this guy may have been looking for attention, I doubt it, and I can’t believe a trainer asked him to stop. When I max press, there is a lot of shit going on, I’m not grunting for you, its for me. I know I lift more when A) someone is yelling at me and B) I let out a lung full of air on the upstroke. Monica Seles was NOT looking for attention when she gave her fat grunts on every swing, but she also had to deal with numbnuts telling her to shut up. The nice yell you hear in karate movies during a nasty kick to the head serves a purpose, it’s not for show. The sharp exhale tightens the muscles and prepares your lungs to get more oxygen for the next nasty rep. As long as were talking about not judging others in the weight room, don’t do it either.
Oh, it was just a coding thingie. You had a { or a } instead of a [ or a ], which messed up your coding and made your post look funny. I didn’t change your message at all.
I’ve been doing a pretty good job recently of getting myself back into some semblance of shape, after letting myself go for a few years as a desk jockey. A few miles of walking every day, coupled with a few hours of full-court basketball twice a week, have proven pretty effective.
Why am I telling you this? Well, I’ve been thinking lately that I’d like to augment that with some weightlifting. One of the main reasons I haven’t, however, is dread of the idea of dealing with demeaning gym-elitists, of the ilk of a couple who have posted here.
Bluepony - Your OP rant was very good and very funny.
Far as I can tell (and without links) no. My own pathetic self can leg press (if I’m thinking about the right kind of leg exercise) 300 lbs without warming up (emphasis basically to say that it’s not the end of the world for someone with actual muscular legs to do 800) so I’d think that 800 lbs isn’t a world record.
I was talking to some friend of mine (on my academic team, FWIW) a few months ago and they knew some wrestlers in HS who could squat 2000 lbs. So I would think (again, not knowing if a leg press and a squat are the same thing) that 800 lbs is not a world record.
Was thinking of putting out my weightlifting recs here, but . . . y’all would laugh. Plus I don’t remember all of them and it’s been a while.
Er, the current world record for the squat is 1032 pounds, held by a fella named Steve Goggins. I can recall reading about 10 years ago about a guy who nearly did a 1052 pound squat, but the officials said that he didn’t squat quite far enough. I think you’ve overstated your friends’ capabilities a bit.
If the “leg press” is that device where you push the weighted “sled” along an incline, then yeah, it’s not hard to lift some impressive-seeming amounts. Not sure why, but I’d imagine it has something to do with the fact that the weight, while it moves a long linear distance, doesn’t move much vertically.
sounds like some people are under the misconception of “if I can do x, then everybody can do x like I do”. if someone is walking on the tread mill, don’t get bent out of shape, just let them, they have their reasons. now I can/have run 4 miles in under 36 minutes in temps ranging from 0 - 110°F, I have walked 12 miles with 35 - 40 lbs on my back with an 8 lb rifle in my hands in under 2 hours. fun army stuff. now I don’t expect everyone to be able to do those sortof things, and I don’t belittle them when they are unable to do them (unlike others I have known). so if someone is not working up to your expectations, don’t worry about it, all you will do is raise your blood pressure, and I know that I have agravated more then a few by not working out to their level.
about the people who just sit on the machines and do nothing but talk, or hog the machines longer then the time limit, I have to agree with you there. I always hate when people do those things at the gym.
A few years ago, there was this really creepy guy who worked out in my gym, and supposedly he was a personal trainer. But I don’t think he was really a personal trainer (he certainly wasn’t affiliated with the gym); he mostly walked around the gym, telling us women what we were doing wrong on the machines (I have a system, damnit, and my way is just as good).
Also (and this is the really creepy part), every time I saw him “training” someone, it was a young woman in her twenties or a little older, and it was always floor work (sit ups, leg lifts, etc.). With the woman in a spread eagle position, and him between her legs, coaching her along.
Well, Max, it was something where this guy cleared out the entire gym. And I don’t know for sure that this guy my friend knew wasn’t on steroids or something. I do know, though, that there wasn’t anyone from the Guinness team or anything watching him.
[hijack]A while back I was reading the life story of a guy who broke the world record for most consecutive pushups (he set it at around 5000+ or so . . . I don’t remember the exact number but it was REALLY high). Anyone know how one does that, other than being strong? Breaks allowed so long as X person stays in Y position?
But if someone is obviously not using something that I want to use, then I ask them to move. If someone is doing something that I don’t think is appropriate then I ask them to stop. Ok, so I’m not exactly a “90 lb. weakling”, and perhaps (big big perhaps) that is why I am always met with postitive reactions. I prefer to believe that it isn’t because I’m a big guy but rather because I approach people with respect (and a crow bar… j/k!) that I meet with favorable responses. I know this is “the pit” and where everyone comes to rant and rave and bitch and moan, but I think you have all these rants because you feel helpless in these situations to do something about it. My advice: Ask the perpetrator to stop the offensive action in a respectable way. And then if they don’t comply, bash their fucking stupid head in. :-p
The most I’ve ever squatted is a little over 400 (a real, legal, DEEP squat). But I can easily top 800 on a leg press (I’ve never tried to actually max out on this machine so I don’t know what I could do). The sled usually runs along a track at about 45 degrees to the horizontal, so you’re actually doing the weight divided by the square root of two. Plus, a lot of the strain in a squat is on your back, while in the leg slide it is all on your legs and hips, which are much stronger.
As for the rest, I’ve been lifting pretty steadily since the late 70’s and I’ve rarely encountered people who were actually rude to me in the gym. Where are you people from? If I might make a suggestion, find the most professional gym you can, rather than a health club. The more serious the gym, the more you will find that people are usually not there to pick up girls or compare themselves to whoever walks in off the street. They are also usually pretty curteous about sharing machines.
As for guys posing in front of mirrors, I don’t do it myself because I’m not a bodybuilder. If I was, do you think I’d care what you think? Posing in front of the mirror is how you judge the degree of development of your muscles. Characterizing this person as “vain” or otherwise derogating them just underscores your own feelings of inadequacy - the heart of most complaints I’ve heard about people who don’t go to gyms for one reason or another: “I don’t want people looking at me!”, or “they’re all gay!”, or “Bunch of muscle heads with no brains”, etc. etc. etc.
My personal gripes have more to do with amateurs in the gym than the regulars. Some rules of gym etiquette for beginners might look like this:
IF YOU DON’T KNOW SOMETHING, ADMIT IT!
1.a) If you are using a machine in a dangerous fashion, as I’ve seen people do, don’t be surprised if someone offers to show you how to do it right. It is not arrogance! For some reason this is especially common with back machines, which can really screw you up. I’ve also had the experience of telling people how to use the thing right, have them ignore me, and end up injured. :rolleyes:
1.a.i) Unless someone is using a machine dangerously, don’t offer unsolicited advice.
1.b) If someone asks you for a spot and you don’t know how, DO NOT JUST WING IT! God, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to ask strangers for a spot because there was no one I knew there, only to have them screw it up. And this is after my asking them point blank, “do you know how to do this?” Too much help means you may as well not do the set; too little and you can get hurt. This is especially common with squats, I’ve found, which are a bit harder to spot for than most exercises, but it can be pretty damn annoying with the bench press, too.
If someone asks to work in, let them.
2.a) An exception is if there are already three or more people on the machine. It can take too long between sets with too many people, so if the machine is that crowded, do something else until it frees up.
2.b) If someone is waiting for the machine, it should be in constant use. If it’s your turn, and you’re too tired to go just yet, pass it on to the next person. DO NOT STAND AROUND TALKING while the machine is not in use. This is about as rude as anything you can do in the gym.
Have consideration for the people around you. Working out is often a rather introverted activity, as you concentrate on your own muscles, so be aware that it is also a social environment.
3.a) Wipe down the machines when done.
3.b) Don’t scream and yell more then necessary.
3.c) Put dumbbells back, and strip all bars of plates when done.
3.d) For the love of God, DO NOT WEAR PERFUME OR COLOGNE while working out! :eek:
Only problem I have is when someone takes a machine, most often the Smith rack for bench/squats, and does their entire workout there, resting for ungodly periods between sets.
Also, my gym only has dumbbells up to 65#, so if you want to bench or squat more than 130#, you have to use the rack. So it strikes me that common courtesy would have folks who are benching or military pressing 30# or so, could use the dumbbells, or the military machine.
Oh well, my workout is flexible enough that I can always adjust it. I don’t go to the gym to get pissed off.
And you won’t hear me complaining about too many good looking women, tho it is a bonus if they are working out and sweating instead of just standing around.
Sounds like we got some big boys on the board here. And I thought I was making some progress with my lifting. Guess I won’t post any of my stats.
So yesterday I had to try to get some work done with an image of Eve going to bed. Today I can compliment the headshot in the people pages with tights and a baggy t-shirt. Mmmm!
