Guy Who Does Curls in the Squat Rack: Douchebag of the Month - May 2009

[Sushiraptor]

hahaha man I see this at my gym all the time.

I never know exactly how i should approach them so I don't make them feel retarded

[Emevas]

I have an intuition that everyone who bitched about Phrost complaining in this thread is just jealous that when they wanna complain about something on the internet, no one pays attention.

No, it's more that, on a site that promotes confrontation, this was incredibly passive aggressive. Along with that, most people complaining about numbers usually sport small numbers themselves.

[sway]

Fuck it. that's funny i'm back and i'm laughing......luv ya bullshido

[Phrost]

No, it's more that, on a site that promotes confrontation, this was incredibly passive aggressive.

I just found this thread, linked on another site. Figured I'd resurrect it to respond to something I'd missed.

A few months after the incident pictured happened, I was in the exact same situation. I occupied the power cage while a (different) douchebag next to me did curls in the squat rack.



Anyone who knows me knows I'm not exactly shy on confronting people when it's necessary. In the situation which prompted this article, it wasn't; I'm not the gym police and as long as I've got a place to squat, I don't care if there's a troupe of horny gypsies using the squat rack to bugger each other. So there was no need for a confrontation then.

However, I do occasionally appoint myself as Etiquette Czar in situations when people's inconsiderate behavior makes things suck for everyone around them - talking loudly in a movie theater, for example.

Here's what I wrote about the situation pictured above, when I posted the picture to my Facebook wall:

This individual at the gym was doing curls in the squat rack. Afterwards, he walked off without unracking his set of 10lb weights. I attempted a polite chat with the gentleman about this, giving good-natured advice about courtesy and ettiquitte.

This seemed to upset him a great deal and he threatened to "find me in the street sometime". He must have been terribly busy because when I inquired as to what was wrong with "right now" he turned and walked off. That's what I get for being friendly, I guess.

The moral of the story is that sometimes you need to confront people who are being douchebags, and sometimes you don't. The difference is the degree to which their douchebag behavior impacts the people around them.

[Frecloclona]

hey guys

fuking love this forum

[bobyclumsyninja]

^^^ all that shit up there.

[bootinthenutz]

Hell with the gym. Workout at home.

[TaeBo_Master]

This kind of thing irritates me to no end. I workout at a higher-end gym, which unfortunately means it's full of Primadonnas and mirror-whores, and you could count the number of LIFTERS on one hand. I've personally gone both routes: trying to be polite and quiet, letting douchebags do their thing and then letting that anger fuel an extra hard set of squats to show them what's what. Also, tried approaching them and asking nicely (I often ask hey, can we trade locations? Cuz you know, I can't do squats out here, but you can do curls out here). Every once in a while I get success with one or the other, but rarely. It's to the point where I make an effort to hit the gym during hours when I know few people are there. It's not worth letting douchebaggery get into my headspace and fuck up my lifts.

[Eddie Hardon]

I just found this thread, linked on another site. Figured I'd resurrect it to respond to something I'd missed.

A few months after the incident pictured happened, I was in the exact same situation. I occupied the power cage while a (different) douchebag next to me did curls in the squat rack.



However, I do occasionally appoint myself as Etiquette Czar in situations when people's inconsiderate behavior makes things suck for everyone around them - talking loudly in a movie theater, for example..

Late last year, I asked a chap sitting on the Shoulder Press station if he could share and allow me to use it while he was Resting. He told me he had 'one more set' - predictably, I told him that there is an existing Etiquette which encouraged use etc etc. He called me an "Idiot" - the brave middle class bloke.

What can you do? (Short of knocking some fucking sense into 'em). Well, no doubt he'll meet someone less charitable than me...someday.

[rangerdavy]

Reading this thread has really made me appreciate the gym I go to. I've never had anyone be less than totally courteous to me, and everyone comes in solely to work out. My group does show up at 5am and are out by 6, so I'm only interacting with a small percentage of the clientele.

[jnix]

ah man!, don't get me started! i work at a gym and i don't wanna whine to much, but another thing i hate is people not racking there weights. i mean if your too weak to re-rack your weights use lighter weights. tripping over 100 lbs abandoned dumbells is freaking unacceptable. and whats up with half reps? if you can't get a full range of motion with the weight your using try using lighter weight unless of course you have some sort of injury that disallows full range of motion. half reps with heavy weight does not impress me, my weak-self could do that!

[Phrost]

Sometimes it just goes beyond gym etiquette to a lack of manners in general; there should be a parenting license.

[Who_Muay?]

Fucking priceless..

[Who_Muay?]

ah man!, don't get me started! i work at a gym and i don't wanna whine to much, but another thing i hate is people not racking there weights. i mean if your too weak to re-rack your weights use lighter weights. tripping over 100 lbs abandoned dumbells is freaking unacceptable. and whats up with half reps? if you can't get a full range of motion with the weight your using try using lighter weight unless of course you have some sort of injury that disallows full range of motion. half reps with heavy weight does not impress me, my weak-self could do that!

I also work at a gym and just the other day one we almost had an all out fight over it. One of our trainers, Tommy is.....passionate. And we have....had, a problematic client that would never rack his shit....well Tommy had it up to here with this guy-and it's so funny because Tommy's like 55 and he's HUGE. Well Tommy grabs this guys arm to get his attention and the guy starts screaming at the top of his lungs, "Don't fucking touch meeeee!!!" LOL! He was screaming like a girl it was crazy; we got him to leave.....he cancelled his membership...damn..

[Fearless Ukemi]

I know this thread is old but curling in the squat racks and power racks is still common practice at my gym.

It doesn't throw me into a rage, but it can be slightly annoying at peak hours when you gotta wait for a squat rack. My gym only has two of them. It's definitely lame when it's a personal trainer having a client do it.

I bet if the racks weren't in front of mirrors I'd see this a lot less.