How do you deal with the "smart" guys?

S

Stemad

New Member
I don't know if this was already discussed in the past here, but i think it's something a lot of people here can relate too...

So, i just finished training, my 5th workout of the 15. 5 workouts aren't a lot, but they are sufficent to be noticed by a common variety of gym animals: the smart guy.

Im just about to finish my first set of barbell rows when this guy, 50 years old, twenty years of training under his belt, good shape all year round and probably around his genetic limit, approach me:
"So you train your entire body every workout?"
"Yes i do."
"Do you know that if you don't give your muscles time to recover you wont grow, yes?"
"It depends from a variety of factor. For one, i don't stay in the gym 90-120 minutes doing 35 sets per muscular group.."

Here follow a long discussion about this topic that take here:

"So we will see in six months where your science take you and what kind of body you will show this summer"
and im like: "ok fine with me"
"But even if you will look good that won't prove anything because you're a beginner and beginners grow no matter what."
"So there isn't anything i can do to change your mind, what's the point in all this"

LOL

So, how do you deal with those sorts of people? Is this a situation that you can relate too?
 
I usually don't discuss or explain what I do and why because most people won't understand. They are too blind to see the fact that general bodybuilding routines don't produce the overall results you expect from them. I have explained why HST works to most of my friends but nobody cared and continue to do body part splits. It's just the way it is. I love Bryan's article about "Why isn't everyone doing HST?" :p.
 
People who train with HST don't give a hoot what anyone else thinks about their training. You are going to be using what the big shots call "sissy" weights during the 15's. No way around it. If you are there to impress the other patrons, you are not going to make many gains.

I worked out at Mike Katz's gym in Branford, CT (World Gym East) for 20 years. Newbies used to come up to me and say that they could out bench Mike because he was using 135 pounds with very strict form, 15-18 reps and 5 second eccentrics. Yet if they stood next to Mike, you would not even notice that they were there.

As for the super-persistent smart mouths who know it all, I used to finally get irritated (before I got older than dirt but a lot wiser) and say "OK, you are probably right but let's arm wrestle for the fun of it in the locker room so I won't get too embarrassed." I have given up as much as 80 pounds in body weight and many inches in arm length and haven't lost yet. Eventually they just go away. Now I work out at home and don't have to deal with others' egos. I do miss Mike though. One of the nicest guys ever born.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lol
Stemad said:
So, how do you deal with those sorts of people? Is this a situation that you can relate too?
Click to expand...

I deal with them quite viciously at this point in my life. I've been approached before by such people, I remain civil as long as possible but once they start laying their version of brotelligence on me I essentially tell them to %&$# off, leave me alone, that I did not ask for their training advice and would appreciate not getting it. This is one conversation I had three months ago with my gym's self appointed 'motivation' coach:

"Hey, I haven't seen you in a week or so, I thought you gave up!"

"I was on vacation."

"Did you go to another gym while you were traveling?! You really shouldn't let up at all, your aerobic activity disappears after just two weeks!"

"I didn't leave the area, I was just off enjoying myself."

"Why weren't you here in the mornings then like you always are?!"

"So I could avoid talking to you."

All my lines delivered in a fairly trademark deadpan Please Leave Me The Hell Alone tone of voice I've perfected over the years of being a misanthropic prick who wants to be left alone, but not necessarily to insult anyone.

Debating these people is worthless. Regardless of who's right, no one's goal is ever really to learn but to instruct and to Be Right! People debate to win, not to learn, and certainly not to find out they're wrong, even if they are wrong. So unless you enjoy the real life equivalent of a perpetual internet message board debate where the person is there, in your face, all the time, and never leaving you alone, then avoid these situations by making it clear you do not want to be bothered. A person who is truly interested in you and what you're doing will not start off by trying to 'correct' you, when you meet that person open up and talk with them. Get rid of all the others.

This is what happens when jackasses get near unlimited access to enough knowledge to be dangerous, but not enough to be effective.
 
Last edited:
This is why I wear earbuds to the gym, then you can just ignore anyone who tries to talk to you.

I've pointed out to a few people criticizing my workouts that they look like **** and that I am larger than they are, it just gets people complaining that you are a dick. The biggest criticism I usually heard was from the guys where there lifting when I arrived for my workout and were still going at it when I got ready to leave. Most of these guys were in the sub 160 lb weight range.
 
I haven't had this problem yet. Maybe the "HST" tank top gives enough of a warning for people to avoid the muscle-geek. Plus like Totentanz, I am over 6' 200 lb.s, so most people just avoid me. :D
 
There are a few guys at my "gym" who joke around and make comments especially when I'm doing 15's. I typically just provide a quick chuckle and then I get back to my exercises...

If I feel the need to say something, I've always liked, "yeah, maybe one day I'll need to overcompensate for having a small penis, but not yet."

I avoid the "why are you doing X" discussions while in the gym... never enough time between sets to have an intelligent conversation about protein synthesis, muscle recovery, progressive loading, etc; so if a conversation starts to go there, for whatever reason, I just quickly sum it up with, "Hey, you keep doing whatever is working for you!"
 
this one of the reasons I like to go in during the busiest time and do max squats or deads when I join a new gym, my last gym had a clique and they were all squatting together at the squat rack one day, talking about how max-ot is the best. They were at 225 lbs and all of them were high fiving and walking around like little roosters, so I went ahead and worked up to four plates a side and did five sets of five in the rack right next to them.

They didnt bother me much after that. Yes its silly but it gets it out there so they dont bug me about stupid stuff.
 
I don't recall ever having to deal with the "smart guy". What I always found frustrating was advice from guys who were roiding, and people talking to me when I was in the middle of a set of squats! I didn't view them as "smart guys."

Then there was this guy one time who was very interested in HST. I told him how to set up a cycle and showed him my (rather nerdy) log, at which point he asked me if I would do one for him!

I train at home now, so I have no such interruptions. Rather boring really. :)
 
Old and Grey said:
People who train with HST don't give a hoot what anyone else thinks about their training. You are going to be using what the big shots call "sissy" weights during the 15's. No way around it. If you are there to impress the other patrons, you are not going to make many gains.

I worked out at Mike Katz's gym in Branford, CT (World Gym East) for 20 years. Newbies used to come up to me and say that they could out bench Mike because he was using 135 pounds with very strict form, 15-18 reps and 5 second eccentrics. Yet if they stood next to Mike, you would not even notice that they were there.

As for the super-persistent smart mouths who know it all, I used to finally get irritated (before I got older than dirt but a lot wiser) and say "OK, you are probably right but let's arm wrestle for the fun of it in the locker room so I won't get too embarrassed." I have given up as much as 80 pounds in body weight and many inches in arm length and haven't lost yet. Eventually they just go away. Now I work out at home and don't have to deal with others' egos. I do miss Mike though. One of the nicest guys ever born.
Click to expand...

Nothing against Mike Katz, but it's hard to compare juicer's w/non-juicer's and then discuss training regimes.



I tend to agree w/Totentanz on this; performance and size resonates more deeply than words.
 
I always think of Mike Katz as being v large and tall but here he is on the cover of a Muscle mag alongside the diminutive Franco Columbu and they both appear to be the same height! What's the truth O&G? Is it a faked up pic?

MikeKatz0508.jpg

http://clay_b863.tripod.com/KatzMike/MikeKatz0508.jpg

Actually, now I look more closely, I can see where two pics have been stuck together. I guess they shrunk Mike to fit. :)
 
Last edited:
LOL, yeah they used a further away shot of Mike to size him to Columbo. He is a fairly big guy, I guess around 73-74 inches. Columbo was around 66-67 ". Mike still has an amazing chest but a good sized belly now too. BTW, I believe that all of his career up to just before the first Mr. O, which he placed 2nd in, was natural. Then he used a bit of Test and Dbol but wouldn't take enough to compete against the roid freaks. I believe he may have had a heart murmur. Anyway, then he switched to judging.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I deal with it all the time. I don't even entertain them any more. I just listen and say, "thanks" in such a way that they realize I'm not going to have a conversation with them about it. Then you can say, "You know how you could really help people? Teach them to put away their weights."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top