Reactions To Muscle

[Firminator]

Steve - Glad to see you posting. I have wondered if you are still at it. You were one of the guys that lived here when I first joined in 2002.

Great seeing you around again!

Firm

 

[Steve McDermott]

Quote[/b] (Firminator @ June 24 2005,1:17)]Steve - Glad to see you posting. I have wondered if you are still at it. You were one of the guys that lived here when I first joined in 2002.

Great seeing you around again!
Firm

HI Firm.....

Yeah, it's been a while...busy with work and life in general. No excuse for not stopping in more often though

 

[chiefhog]

Clear! We got a pulse! After Bob mentioned this post in another thread today, I decided to use the underutilized and mysterious search button. Yes, it took a couple tries, but I found this post and performed mouth-to-mouth, cpr, and hit it with the paddles a few times.

I'm the type of person who quietly does his thing. Eat healthy and workout intensely, all without saying too much about it. That being said, I still attract attention due to my lifestyle (certainly not my size...yet. Next summer, will be different, though).

People can't help but comment on how healthy I eat/live. They even make up excuses to talk about it. You know, like offer me some chips and a coke and say, "oh yeah, you are the health freak." I know they mean well, but it still bugs a bit. I don't say, "You want some whey protein? Oh yeah, I forgot you are a cellulite-ridden, fat, lazy, excuse-making slob who wouldn't know how to set a goal if their life depended on it. My bad."

I also attract attention in my gym. I am the ONLY person who squats or deadlifts during the time I am usually in the gym.

 

[Totentanz]

I know what you mean about the gym chief. I recently started going to a gym because my home-made squat rack broke down. It's hard to get over twice your bodyweight onto your shoulders safely when you don't have a rack or a bench that you can squat off of.
There are a lot of guys there who just do "cardio and abs" or who's routine consists only of benching and (cheat) curls. They see you doing squats or bentover rows and they are like "wtf is that ur doin dood?"

I also like the people who try a program for a week, don't see instant results so they quit. Or the people who call you insane simply because you have discipline and they don't.

They call me obsessed, I call myself driven.

Just wait until you change more and people start asking you if you are on steroids. Deny it all you want, they won't believe you.

 

[chiefhog]

Wrap your mind around this: You are at a gym. You are there to lift weights. Squats, deadlifts, weighted dips, and weighted chins are the 'bread and butter' of any serious workout. Yet, when I perform these exercises, I get stared at by other male 'weightlifters'...AT THE FREAKING GYM!!!! Do you realize how utterly absurd that is?!! Sorry for the rant.

 

[Totentanz]

Just don't try to educate them. It's sad to say, but it seems like most of the guys at gyms are the most close-minded folk out there...

 

[Jester]

I've brought a friend into HST, under my wing at the gym...he's eating enough so the results are showing, and now we have a couple of other guys who train around the same time coming up and asking us qu's about 5-6x fullbody a week . . . it's def. taking hold @ my gym.

 

[Tcup]

Also it`s sad to see where main portion of all gyms are going at least here in Finland. All neat gyms are sold to big franchicing companies and we all know what that means. Their main customer segment for those are white collar pencil necks I dont mean that they can´t train with me, but if the staff comes to you and say that you train too loud like making sound when squatting, then something is wrong. I dont mean shouting or anything just training hard. Also there may be only one squatting rack and 10 different leg machines

It seems that you are acceptable only if you read cosmopolitan and do 450 reps in adductor machine

Yesterday there was a tupperware show in our gym

Best comment i`ve ever received was from my mom. I was staying in Ireland for 6 months and then i did my first cycles of HST. I got 20 lbs that time and when i saw my mom after i got back she just stared me and said: Oh my god! What have you done to yourself

 

[Fausto]

Steve

Wow! Long time no hear! How have you been. Last I heard your wife had a baby, how're things going? Hope all is good!
Great to hear from you again!

Tot

Quote[/b] ]They see you doing squats or bentover rows and they are like "wtf is that ur doin dood?"

I'd like to see that reaction, can't remember when last I went to a gym, my power cage is not that bad, except for the name, it ain't really a cage perse, but hey it works and it has been handling the weight.

Quote[/b] ]I also like the people who try a program for a week, don't see instant results so they quit. Or the people who call you insane simply because you have discipline and they don't.

They call me obsessed, I call myself driven.

Just wait until you change more and people start asking you if you are on steroids. Deny it all you want, they won't believe you.

Figure that out! Growth only comes fromsteroids if you do not know about HST that is. LOL

Hey, my squat is already feeling rather heavy and I barely just started my 5's, but hey, there is a partner this time and my goal is just short of 2x body weight, hell man what a feeling...and to think many poor sods ignore the squat

 

[9to5lifter]

About the gym population... 95% of the guys there perform thousands of reps on crunches, concentration curls, forearms and the like. Myriads of fancy exercises. I've seen only 3-4 people taking the time to squat. Is there anything else to say?

It's a new lifestyle. Go to the gym, train light, feel good, talk to the cellular an hour or so and then brag to your friends about exercising and living "healthy" in general.

 

[jvroig]

Hey

First, reaction to muscle...

Along the lines of "Wtf have you been doing, JV?!".

And the all too common, "Dude... steroids, huh?".

God dang it. God dang them all. (hey, just kidding, let them say what they want)

Now, about "supposed" guys on gyms...

Yeah, these "supposed" bodybuilders go in, lie on the bench, press for a few sets, then go to a few arm machines, talk a lot of crap, then bench again... then you go deadlift something that's around 100 pounds heavier than what they were benching and they go "Dude, what the hell is that? What the freakin' hell do you think that exercise will accomplish?! Why don't you just come here and bench press?"

Go figure. "Supposed" bodybuilders who don't squat or deadlift. dang. Benching is all they now. And don't even think about explaining HST to them.

I just workout at home now, thanks to time constraints due to work.

 

[Joe G]

Many people ask me for my autograph.

And when I tell them that I am not Arnold Schwarzennegger they get really upset because they think I am lieing and just dont want to give out my signature!

This thread is hilarious btw,

Joe G

 

[Rain]

There are a lot of different dimensions on training in this thread.

So why do we actually bodybuild in the first place? Granted, we're chasing hypertrophy, so most of us want to be big - but why do we want to be big? A more appealling reflection in the mirror? Fight better? To attract more women (or men)? All of the above? I've asked myself this question, but I don't really have a good answer. I don't really train for any specific sport...

I get mostly positive feedback, and I don't really listen to negative comments. I'm very social outside the gym, but once in the gym I generally don't say much. I guess weight training has become a sort of meditation for me, in the sense that I try to focus and concentrate fully on what I'm there to do. This is a dimension of training that I've found that I appreciate very much, and after a session I almost always feel mentally envigorated (and physically beat).

Yes, I also got the steroid question.

"Their main customer segment for those are white collar pencil necks". Tcup, what do you mean - I'm a white collar pencil neck...it's just that my pencil is bigger .

Great thread!

Regards,
/ R

 

[imported_ectoman]

Quote[/b] (chiefhog @ Sep. 14 2005,4:40)]You know, like offer me some chips and a coke and say, "oh yeah, you are the health freak." I know they mean well, but it still bugs a bit. I don't say, "You want some whey protein? Oh yeah, I forgot you are a cellulite-ridden, fat, lazy, excuse-making slob who wouldn't know how to set a goal if their life depended on it. My bad."

Can't agree with you about how it is meant well. It is not. Comments like those are really thinly veiled hostility, envy and jealousy.

Instead of being supportive, they feel threatened by you for not conforming to social norms. You make them look bad, so they try to paint you as "different" and "not normal" in an attempt to put you back into line with "the group".

Heh! Perhaps you should respond like that in future. You'll find out in a hurry who your real friends are. I know I have ;-)

 

[robefc]

Quote[/b] (Totentanz @ Sep. 15 2005,2:40)]Just don't try to educate them.  It's sad to say, but it seems like most of the guys at gyms are the most close-minded folk out there...

I have to disagree with this...I've always asked people questions in the gym, especially when I first started although it was intimidating...now I do it less as I feel I know a lot more than most people in my gym thanks to a lot of research on the internet and especially this site...so now when I see people doing something that is plain wrong I might suggest something to them...I never tell them its wrong, I just suggest they might like to try it a different way or something like that.

Sure some people might take it the wrong way but if you present it as a suggestion and they decline then that's that, no harm done....I was always paranoid about suggesting things to people but recently I've felt really good after people took on my suggestions and appreciated that I was trying to help them.

Still - I never suggest anything to anyone bigger than me!

Cheers

Rob

 

[chiefhog]

Why do we bodybuild? Now that's a great question. And it ties into people's reaction to muscle as well because there are some who assume why we do it.

There are alot of reasons why I love the Iron Game. It's certainly more than big muscles. It's the self-control, regimen, and constant grind towards self improvement. That is the one hour of my day that is my time. No stress beyond the physical demands I am placing on myself (which, by the way, is another reason I love bodybuilding).

I am also blessed with the best training partner in the world, my wife. We do HST together. She does everything I do and is the best trained spotter in the world. I don't mind saying that she has ridiculous genetics . I'm actually a bit jealous. She's 5' tall, 97lbs and is toned as hell. Her calves are amazing. Nice, low insertion and they measure 13.5". They are friggn' huge! She's a balet teacher, but since she does'nt dance professionally anymore, she has been into working out putting on more muscle. It's worked out well for us because I'm working on a second degree and we don't get to spend alot of time together right now. Sorry, got a bit off subject there.

 

[Tcup]

I hate the though that BB`ers are dumb. It`s really hard to get rid of the stereotypes that more muscles you got less brain you got. Why it is so hard to people undestand that for many of us the Iron Game, as chiefhog said, is more than just adding up muscle? For me it is a way of life. It`s the valve for letting out the steam from everyday life. When i go to the gym, it`s just me and my thoughs. My own private world 4 times a week
I would have no idea what to do if i couldn`t go to the gym or not to do any sports. Still, why the genaral idea is that if you play, lets say, soccer 4 times a week it`s more acceptable.

About those reactions what people think. Usually when you think as a scientist etc. molecular biologist you get the picture of that glass wearing nerd Well I`m a molecular biologist and sometimes it hard for me to get respect because i just don`t fit in to the picture. Only after I open my mouth people start to listen to me..it sucks

Well, now I`m applying to police academy, maybe then I fit in more easily

 

[imported_daxie]

I think the kids are the best when it comes to reactions...

They are only interested in one thing...biceps, and a big peek

It's great to see their eyes after they felt your bis, the awe... (and then sometimes their imitation, which is most of the time funny as hell)

daxie

 

[liegelord]

What is sad is that you don't have to deadlift 700 lbs to have people stare at you; all you have to do is deadlift.  I'm also one of about three people who deadlift in my gym and some guys just stand there and watch me lift.  They also stare when I do weighted chins and dips, I'm the only one who does those.  Some guys dip, but it's with BW and  they never go below parallel.

What I hate to see are guys juicing who have bigger arms than me who curl 100 lbs and do dumbbell bench presses with nothing more than 100's.  

 

[Fausto]

Great thread, first time I read the lot.

Mixed feelings

Glad to say I gym at home and therefore do not have most of the problems the guys mention, except for the odd partner
telling me how crazy I am

I've had a few yeah, they keep coming, until you find one that is as mad as you are or wants it as bad as you do LOL  

I'd say I am just willing to try out my limits, and yeah I guess I am fairly strong for my size, I wonder what kind of reactions would I get in the gym.

At work there are a few people who comment, some even call me "spartan" - hey I don't mind, the spartans looked mean and lean, just wish I could look as good, but then again there are a lot of lazies around here too so it is not really a bench mark.

One does get the odd looks from people on occasion due to arm size and build, generally speaking just know when you look good or you do something about it.

South African men in general look pretty bad, a beer "boep" - afrikaans for stomach - is pretty common, much like the americans I hear (average american of course, lest I offend someone)