Dangerous gym dude stories

[Spamela]

here's mine:

A guy this morning does 1/4 squats with 225 lbs, then bumps it up to 315. Paces before "squatting" 315 because 225 taxes your CNS and one has to psych up, you know.

nears falls over walking out with the bar and "squats" with an obvious lack of control (thus endangering others as well as himself).

notably, a bar pad didn't provide enough comfort, so he added
a thick sweatshirt with the hood doubled over.

smashes his finger re-racking the plates (props for the latter); winces, but tries to act all cool about it.

and no, i didn't try to straighten him out.
15 years in the gym have taught me that people like this aren't teachable.

 

[HendrixFan]

I see those guys all the time. What really bothers me is when some dude is using the power racks to do arm curls under 100 lbs (meaning he could easily use the weights that are presized) and I have to wait to do squats or deads. Almost every time the arm curl guy is really putting his back into it too.

About a year ago I was doing the dumbbell shoulder press. Some middle aged guy came and sat down next to me, around my same weight of 150lbs. Then I saw him grab an 80lb dumbbell. I thought that was quite a bit and then I saw him start doing concentration curls. He was using pretty much his whole body to swing that thing up, almost like he was starting a lawnmower. As I worked through my different exercises I saw he kept doing sets of those curls for about 30 minutes, never dropping the weight down to something more manageable.

 

[marmasatt]

I once saw an amateur body builder doing calves on a recline sled. He didn't have the catch bars to spot him and he "popped" his calf/achilles right off the bone as the 600 lbs or whatever it was he had just basically sliced through him and melted him down to nothing....His achilles gave out and his top of his foot was almost touching his shin. I remember it like it was yesterday and it was 20 years ago.

 

[MotF Bane]

I once saw an amateur body builder doing calves on a recline sled. He didn't have the catch bars to spot him and he "popped" his calf/achilles right off the bone as the 600 lbs or whatever it was he had just basically sliced through him and melted him down to nothing....His achilles gave out and his top of his foot was almost touching his shin. I remember it like it was yesterday and it was 20 years ago.

Holy crap. D:

 

[Sixguns]

I once saw an amateur body builder doing calves on a recline sled. He didn't have the catch bars to spot him and he "popped" his calf/achilles right off the bone as the 600 lbs or whatever it was he had just basically sliced through him and melted him down to nothing....His achilles gave out and his top of his foot was almost touching his shin. I remember it like it was yesterday and it was 20 years ago.

I am always afraid of something like this happening while I am in the gym. I would hate to see this and not really be able to help them out. But some of the guys to who think they can squat the world will bring this on themselves.

 

[episodic]

I'm very humble. I know that I don't know a lot. What I've done is watch Ripptoe coach on youtube and I've read starting strength. I constantly check my form and I've never got an ego about lifting more than I can handle properly. I started with the bar with everything.


I had a guy come up to me while doing squats telling me I was going too deep and I was going to hurt myself. I was going just slightly below parallel as you should. I said do you know who Ripptoe is? He said, "No" - so I ignored him after that.

My 18 year old son recently started 5x5 training. He is the proverbial skinny kid. He has already progressed on squats and his abs are visible after only 3 weeks. He has already gained 6lbs of muscle. He had some 18 year old football kids walk over and tell him he had to do sets of 10-12 to exhaustion. He ignored them, I was proud.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

I'm sure you've all seen the 300+lb quarter squats in the smith machine. :facepalm:

At my gym there's a guy who weighs about 130 that consitnently tries to curl 65lb dumbells. It looks like he's doing the hokey pokey the way he's moving his body...

 

[Spamela]

I once saw an amateur body builder doing calves on a recline sled. He didn't have the catch bars to spot him and he "popped" his calf/achilles right off the bone as the 600 lbs or whatever it was he had just basically sliced through him and melted him down to nothing....His achilles gave out and his top of his foot was almost touching his shin. I remember it like it was yesterday and it was 20 years ago.

Wince times 10. Sounds like one of the ER stories my son tells me. My ex-coach saw a guy lose a finger racking a heavily loaded bar while benching. You pay for carelessness.

 

[tedrodai]

At my gym there's a guy who weighs about 130 that consitnently tries to curl 65lb dumbells. It looks like he's doing the hokey pokey the way he's moving his body...

At the gym I used to go to, there was a 130lb guy who could legitimately curl that, and you wouldn't think he could curl 30 by looking at his arms. The guy used perfect form.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

I see those guys all the time. What really bothers me is when some dude is using the power racks to do arm curls under 100 lbs (meaning he could easily use the weights that are presized) and I have to wait to do squats or deads. Almost every time the arm curl guy is really putting his back into it too.

This is the exact reason I quit going to the gym and bought my own equipment. I'd get off work late then head to the gym. I'd have to wait 20 minutes while guys do curls using the only squat rack in the whole place. If I was lucky I could get in after that. Usually there would be other guys in line to use the friggin rack for curls and shoulder shrugs.

 

[Kaido]

I once saw an amateur body builder doing calves on a recline sled. He didn't have the catch bars to spot him and he "popped" his calf/achilles right off the bone as the 600 lbs or whatever it was he had just basically sliced through him and melted him down to nothing....His achilles gave out and his top of his foot was almost touching his shin. I remember it like it was yesterday and it was 20 years ago.

Wow. I'll stick with my calisthenics bodybuilding program, kthx D:

 

[SociallyChallenged]

This is the exact reason I quit going to the gym and bought my own equipment. I'd get off work late then head to the gym. I'd have to wait 20 minutes while guys do curls using the only squat rack in the whole place. If I was lucky I could get in after that. Usually there would be other guys in line to use the friggin rack for curls and shoulder shrugs.

I'm confused - did any of you guys ever say anything to the people in the squat rack? Every time there was someone doing anything other than front squats, heavy shoulder press, or rack pulls, I asked them to move. The best way to do it is to ask nicely. If that doesn't work, make them feel like an idiot. "Do you mind if I use the squat rack for some, er, squats?" I'll even offer to set up another bar for them outside of the rack. If not, you can typically notify the staff. I'm here to lift weights, not watch some tool waste his time.

If you can't tell, that's a pet peeve of mine.

I saw a guy showing his friend how to deadlift. He had pretty good form - relatively neutral spine, didn't go too heavy for him, worked hard. His friend went to do it and rounded the entirety of his spine - thoracic, lumbar, all of it. He was using a weight that was way too heavy (it was less than 135lbs - he was a small guy). The guy trying to teach the other guy says, "Yeah, that's good. Like that." I just about flipped. Say hello to herniated discs.

 

[Sixguns]

Say hello to herniated discs.

Possible business for you though right?

 

[Whisper]

I'm confused - did any of you guys ever say anything to the people in the squat rack? Every time there was someone doing anything other than front squats, heavy shoulder press, or rack pulls, I asked them to move. The best way to do it is to ask nicely. If that doesn't work, make them feel like an idiot. "Do you mind if I use the squat rack for some, er, squats?" I'll even offer to set up another bar for them outside of the rack. If not, you can typically notify the staff. I'm here to lift weights, not watch some tool waste his time.

If you can't tell, that's a pet peeve of mine.

I saw a guy showing his friend how to deadlift. He had pretty good form - relatively neutral spine, didn't go too heavy for him, worked hard. His friend went to do it and rounded the entirety of his spine - thoracic, lumbar, all of it. He was using a weight that was way too heavy (it was less than 135lbs - he was a small guy). The guy trying to teach the other guy says, "Yeah, that's good. Like that." I just about flipped. Say hello to herniated discs.

I'm always torn about asking the curler to move when I'm waiting on a squat rack. I mean, I see using a squat rack for anything that doesn't require a rack when people are obviously waiting as a lack of consideration (although, as the other poster mentioned, it's universally been the guy with horrible form to begin with, so odds are he might not know basic gym etiquette). But at the same time, that guy theoretically has the same right to the squat rack as me, for whatever he wants to do with it, and he got there first.

My two absolute biggest pet peeves, though, are 1) people who sweat profusely and don't wipe equipment down when they're finished, and 2) people who don't re-rack their weights. For the latter, my view is that if you're too lazy or tired to put the weights back when you're done, you shouldn't be lifting them in the first place. It's especially bad when the gym's crowded, and someone decides to leave their dumbbells lying on the floor near a bench when they're finished. Not only does it make it hard to know if the person's done with the bench, it clunks things up and makes it dangerous for people moving through there (and the benches in front of dumbbell racks tend to be one of the highest-traffic areas in the gym).

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

I once saw an amateur body builder doing calves on a recline sled. He didn't have the catch bars to spot him and he "popped" his calf/achilles right off the bone as the 600 lbs or whatever it was he had just basically sliced through him and melted him down to nothing....His achilles gave out and his top of his foot was almost touching his shin. I remember it like it was yesterday and it was 20 years ago.

That hurt my brain just thinking about it.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

With all the quat rack comments of people doing curls, why don't gyms just post a sign on the rack that says that the rack is not for arm curls, etc?

Also. I hear about people doing deadlift in the rack. Why?

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Possible business for you though right?

I'd rather have people be healthy and have good quality of life than get the business. It's a shame I mainly treat it after the fact. I would love to train people for prevention.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

I'm always torn about asking the curler to move when I'm waiting on a squat rack. I mean, I see using a squat rack for anything that doesn't require a rack when people are obviously waiting as a lack of consideration (although, as the other poster mentioned, it's universally been the guy with horrible form to begin with, so odds are he might not know basic gym etiquette). But at the same time, that guy theoretically has the same right to the squat rack as me, for whatever he wants to do with it, and he got there first.

My two absolute biggest pet peeves, though, are 1) people who sweat profusely and don't wipe equipment down when they're finished, and 2) people who don't re-rack their weights. For the latter, my view is that if you're too lazy or tired to put the weights back when you're done, you shouldn't be lifting them in the first place. It's especially bad when the gym's crowded, and someone decides to leave their dumbbells lying on the floor near a bench when they're finished. Not only does it make it hard to know if the person's done with the bench, it clunks things up and makes it dangerous for people moving through there (and the benches in front of dumbbell racks tend to be one of the highest-traffic areas in the gym).

It's the SQUAT rack. They don't have the same priority if they're using it for unintended purposes that can be accomplished elsewhere. You can do it the same without a rack as with a rack. The rack is non-essential.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

With all the quat rack comments of people doing curls, why don't gyms just post a sign on the rack that says that the rack is not for arm curls, etc?

Also. I hear about people doing deadlift in the rack. Why?

It depends. Some people actually just want the mirror and the barbell for deadlifting, which is stupid. Other times, people use the rack for rack pulls, which are essentially reduced range deadlifts. They're a great exercise for people who have their most trouble when locking out on the deadlift. It's essentially an accessory exercise to get stronger in the deadlift, which is fine in my book.

 

[the DRIZZLE]

This happened a few weeks ago. I was at the gym and there were a few high school aged kids deadlifting. Their form wasn't terrible but they were rounding their backs pretty badly. I generally don't give out unsolicited form advice but I got the impression that they were new to lifting and they kind of gave me a look like "are we doing this right?" so I gave them some help.

I started telling them not to round their backs and was explaining how tight hamstrings can make it hard to maintain the proper lower back positioning when this other guy comes over and starts giving insane advice. He keeps telling one of the kids to hyper extend his back by leaning way too far back on the lockout and to jerk the weight back as he lockouts out the rep. He goes on to say that if they lock out standing straight up without leaning back they'll all have bad backs like him.

It was awkward as hell so I just let him talk and went back over to the kids and told them not to listen to him a few minutes later.

 

[Spamela]

It depends. Some people actually just want the mirror and the barbell for deadlifting, which is stupid. Other times, people use the rack for rack pulls, which are essentially reduced range deadlifts. They're a great exercise for people who have their most trouble when locking out on the deadlift. It's essentially an accessory exercise to get stronger in the deadlift, which is fine in my book.

also, the rack makes it easy to change plates. after the set i walk the bar forward & then rest it on the squat rack lower arm thingies. i use the power cage for rack pulls.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

also, the rack makes it easy to change plates. after the set i walk the bar forward & then rest it on the squat rack lower arm thingies. i use the power cage for rack pulls.

Meh, I say pick the damn bar up. You're doing deadlifts for Christ's sake. If you wanted easy, you wouldn't be deadlifting

 

[tedrodai]

If one can do an exercise without tying up a piece of equipment someone else wants/needs to use, then one should definitely do so. However, if other space or equipment is already tied up, I have no problem with someone doing ANY exercise at a squat rack that can be done there, whether someone wants to squat or not. Everyone wait their turn and all that--of course tying up equipment for multiple exercises when people are waiting isn't cool.

 

[timosyy]

Hm. I actually stopped going to the gym a while ago, ever since my friend built his own in his garage (power rack, half rack, olympic platform, kettlebells, c2 rower, bumper plates, the whole nine yards).

That being said, so many stories lol. For example, the dad teaching his son how to bench press... telling him to use a thumbless grip and to "explode" it off your chest. Yikes. Or the guys tip-toeing squats off the rack. And then of course your skinny kids trying to bench far too much weight and flailing their legs around ...

 

[Baked]

Another reason I only do exercises using my own body weight and not excessive dead weights. I do have a pair of 20lb dumbbell for bicep curls, but that's it. I do push ups w/ my hands parallel to my shoulders, and also hands together forming a triangle. Then a couple sets of pull ups using an Iron Gym upper body workout bar. Then a couple sets of hand stand push ups against the wall. And a few sets of sit ups as well. Then I'm Done.

Ps. Bonus video on how not to do bench press...