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A few more gym rants.....things I saw this morning that drive me crazy!

Well, I went over to the big "chain" gym near my house this morning. I had to take some pictures of myself doing a few exercises for a presentation I am giving on wednesday to a high school volleyball team. I saw some really aggravating things that always drive me nuts. So, here it goes......


Is that belt holding your pants up?

Why the hell do so many guys wear training belts to the gym? Today I observed a guy working out and he wore a belt the entire time (except for one instance which I will get to in a minute). I could see wearing a belt if you were in a powerlifting competition and getting ready to go all out on a max attempt. From a safety stand point I could see needing the extra stability. But, guys who wear their belt all the time in the gym, even when they aren't doing intense lifting are just taking away from their core musculature to properly strengthen and develop and offer stability during movement. It becomes a crutch at that point. So this guy wears the belt to bench press. Then, he moves on to dumbbell bench press on a stability ball and he wears the belt for that too.....wouldn't the point of benching on the stability ball be to increase activation of the core musculature and attempt to enhance stability? Stupid. He used the belt on his decline bench press next (does this guy do anything except press?). He wore the belt to do seated pec deck flyes. Then, he finished his workout with push ups. He had his feet elevated on a bench and he had both of his hands up on benches off to his side so that he could get a real deep range of motion. The best part was he DID NOT wear the belt for this exercise. His lack of core strength realy showed! The guy looked like a seal during each rep, as his lower back arched and his hips dropped and sagged down. I didn't know what to do. Part of me wanted to throw some fish at him to eat and part of me wanted to just take the fish and beat him over the head with it.


Look Mom! No hands!!

This one is a big pet peeve of mine. Why do so many people hold onto the cardio equipment when they are performing their exercise? Get your hands off the machine. Stand up straight. Have good posture and stabilize yourself. Lower the speed if you have to. It is like saying "I can squat 500lbs.....if I only go down a quarter of the way."

People are always looking to cheat themselves. In the long run, it never works out though. Get in the gym, do what you have to do and do it properly. Stop cheating yourself. Allow yourself to develop and progress over time.

-Patrick

"Part of me wanted to throw some fish at him to eat and part of me wanted to just take the fish and beat him over the head with it."

LoL, that really made me laugh out loud.
Like Mr. T would say, "I pity the fool!"

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