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Archive for June, 2010

Day pass for $20? I think not
by Chris

Even when on vacation, you still have to lift if that’s how your schedule falls. If you want to be the best you can be at something, you can’t take days off “just because”.

I went to a local gym with my brother on the New Jersey Shore to lift early Friday morning, and since he didn’t have guest privileges on his account, they wanted me to pay $20 for ONE visit. WHAT? I have heard amounts between 5 and 10 dollars… but double that? For that money I’d make sure I get some good use out of the equipment to make it worth while.

Luckily for me, one of the other guys working behind the counter somehow realized that charging a $20 fee to workout was insane for just one session, so he told me to give him just 5 dollars and we’d be set. I gladly gave him 5 and went on to lift.

Seriously guys, what are you thinking when you open a gym and try to charge a one time visitor $20 to lift for just one session? That would certainly have left a sour taste in my mouth had I been in the market for a new gym and was simply shopping around. I doubt I’d want to go there as a regular paying member just on principal.

Photo

June 25th

20:49
Miscellaneous

Squatting heavy leads to projectile vomiting
by Chris

Here’s a video one of my buddies posted on my facebook wall, which it’s pretty graphic if you have a weak stomach:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEnk11UXxM4

I like reading through the comments about how he had no business stepping under a bar with that amount of weight, or how the spotters didn’t “help him” but instead let him struggle with the weight leading him to throw up like he did. Of course, these are people who have never really squated before in their lives, or they are a fratboy lifter. It’s videos like that that make me wish YouTube would just disable comments to prevent the spread of stupidity.

The Fratboy Lifter
by Chris

I saw this posted in a discussion on a facebook group and thought I’d repost it because it’s true:

The fratboy lifter is a breed of male that should not be allowed in a serious weightroom, ever. All this lifter does is upper body, and when they do lower body it might be some form of leg press and some calf raises.

The fratboy lifter does bench presses and curls every workout. When they do bench press, their spotter holds the weight while they press it. They then record the helped reps in their logbook as finished reps. When they spot another lifter, they are inclined to grab the bar as soon as the lifter starts to strain with the weight, making the entire lift useless and wasting the serious lifter’s time.

[Note: There is a difference between using forced reps as a training method and just being a fratboy. Real lifters with under the bar experience will tell you that partner-helped reps are the worst intensity method one can use. If you want to increase intensity in a higher rep range, use rest-pause, drop sets, or cluster sets. Just please do not let someone touch the fucking bar.]

Fratboy weightlifters tend to barbell curl way more weight than they should, and flex in the mirror or in front of a camera. It is funny to watch, because when they flex, they always do an arm pose.

These lifters are also inclined to take every supplement in the book in order to gain that “extra edge” even though they only eat two meals a day that would leave a bird hungry. Whenever this lifter’s progress stalls, the first thing they say is “I need to go ON something.” These guys tend to think they are “hyuuoooge” as soon as they hit 160 lbs soaking wet.

In order to prevent becoming a fratboy lifter, there are certain rules to follow:

1.) Never touch the bar when your partner is in the middle of the rep to “help” them finish the rep. This wastes the lifters fucking time and completely negates the entire lift, whether you think it does or not.
2.) If you happen to touch the bar when spotting, never say “it’s all you” while helping a lifter get the bar up.
3.) If some fuckhead fratboy happens to touch your bar when you are lifting, do not record the rep as completed.
4.) For every upper body workout, do one lower body workout.
5.) If your weight gain stalls, do not immediately look to supplements to break you out of a plateau. Argue as much as you want, but more food trumps any legal supplement 10 times out of 10.
6.) Do not post a fucking video of a 1 RM bicep curl.

If you have identified yourself as a fratboy lifter, leave the group and come back when you are serious about this iron game.

Photo

June 2nd

21:28
Miscellaneous

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