Gym Pet Peeves

[HuskerShark]

I just looked into this five minute rest thing and that long of rest is only suggested if you are doing extremely heavy weight (your maximum) with only 1-3 reps. I guess I wouldn't know anything about that because even on my heavy days I do weight I can rep between 5-6 times.

If you can hit your reps with the amount of rest you are taking, then awesome. Keep doing that.

My point was that when training for strength, the most important thing is to get your reps. If you need to rest longer to do that, then do that. That's all.

True. And when training for physique, take as few breaks as possible and rep out sets until failure. Massive bloodflow to the muscles you're working, causing them to tear. And in addition, you're burning a lot of calories since your heart is pumping faster.

Yessir. That's how I do it anyway.

Is training for physique like body building? I don't claim knowledge but wasn't Chaddy into this? I remember him saying that he never went to failure and made it sound like a bad thing.

Pretty much. My reason for doing so is that lifting really heavy weight is bad for your joints, and I really don't have any need to be strong. Football players need to be able to lift heavier weight, but for a person like me who only plays pick-up basketball once or twice a week, there's really no need for me to lift lots of weight. I'm just trying to stay in shape, build some muscle, cut fat if I can watch my diet better, and essentially LOOK better. I like to break my lifting days up into working opposing muscles in the same day. For example, one day is quads, calves, and hamstrings. Another day is biceps and triceps, and another is chest, back, traps, lats, and shoulders. I usually work light abs in all 3 muscle group days just to tone up, and occasionally, I dedicate one day primarily to abs.

 

[DaveH]

I guess I could post my annoyances. To each their own, but if we're into judging people...

• The guy who wears tanks that are way to big so you can see the meat display. /oswalt
• People who mean mug and aren't generally courteous.
• Bench bro's. All bench. All the time.
• Guy's who bench with their a$$ a foot in the air.
• Half and quarter squat guy. I guess generally, half rep guy.

That is considered a legal lift in the powerlifting community. It is almost like they are doing decline bench when they do that.

In most federations, no, it's not legal. Here's the rules for for IPF (page 17) as USAPL (page 30).

Now there are about a billion "federations" out their with their own rules, so whatever. But generally a$$ in the air is a no no in most every legit federation and also can unnecessarily increase risk for injury.

Here is an article about it. http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/fake_strength_stop_arching_the_bench_press

I don't agree with it but it is how a lot of powerlifters do their bench.

I am not a believer in raising your a$$ in the air to bench heavier. To me, it is cheating and is a fake bench. A friend of mine that powerlifts arches his back enough to raise his a$$ off the bench and that is how he goes about it. He said it shortens the route of the bar and makes it easier to lift heavier. Like I mentioned earlier, it is almost extreme enough that it looks like they are doing decline bench instead of FLAT bench.

Yea, it's ridiculous and dumb. Looks like we're on the same page.

IMO, you should bench with a "chest up" position, but keep your a$$ on the bench.

 

[DaveH]

I just looked into this five minute rest thing and that long of rest is only suggested if you are doing extremely heavy weight (your maximum) with only 1-3 reps. I guess I wouldn't know anything about that because even on my heavy days I do weight I can rep between 5-6 times.

If you can hit your reps with the amount of rest you are taking, then awesome. Keep doing that.

My point was that when training for strength, the most important thing is to get your reps. If you need to rest longer to do that, then do that. That's all.

True. And when training for physique, take as few breaks as possible and rep out sets until failure. Massive bloodflow to the muscles you're working, causing them to tear. And in addition, you're burning a lot of calories since your heart is pumping faster.

Yessir. That's how I do it anyway.

Is training for physique like body building? I don't claim knowledge but wasn't Chaddy into this? I remember him saying that he never went to failure and made it sound like a bad thing.

Pretty much. My reason for doing so is that lifting really heavy weight is bad for your joints, and I really don't have any need to be strong.

You might disagree 10-15 years from now.

Doesn't it make sense that getting stronger now would actually be good for your joints by strengthening the muscles that support them?

 

[jimk]

I hate it when the girls in yoga pants get mad at me for staring creepily.

 

[HuskerShark]

I just looked into this five minute rest thing and that long of rest is only suggested if you are doing extremely heavy weight (your maximum) with only 1-3 reps. I guess I wouldn't know anything about that because even on my heavy days I do weight I can rep between 5-6 times.

If you can hit your reps with the amount of rest you are taking, then awesome. Keep doing that.

My point was that when training for strength, the most important thing is to get your reps. If you need to rest longer to do that, then do that. That's all.

True. And when training for physique, take as few breaks as possible and rep out sets until failure. Massive bloodflow to the muscles you're working, causing them to tear. And in addition, you're burning a lot of calories since your heart is pumping faster.

Yessir. That's how I do it anyway.

Is training for physique like body building? I don't claim knowledge but wasn't Chaddy into this? I remember him saying that he never went to failure and made it sound like a bad thing.

Pretty much. My reason for doing so is that lifting really heavy weight is bad for your joints, and I really don't have any need to be strong.

You might disagree 10-15 years from now.

Doesn't it make sense that getting stronger now would actually be good for your joints by strengthening the muscles that support them?

You can build the muscles around the joints and strengthen them, but for the most part, the cartilage and ligaments that support your joints and allow them to move freely can't get stronger. Excess weight will especially wear down the cartilage that pads your joints and eventually cause arthritis.

 

[DaveH]

I just looked into this five minute rest thing and that long of rest is only suggested if you are doing extremely heavy weight (your maximum) with only 1-3 reps. I guess I wouldn't know anything about that because even on my heavy days I do weight I can rep between 5-6 times.

If you can hit your reps with the amount of rest you are taking, then awesome. Keep doing that.

My point was that when training for strength, the most important thing is to get your reps. If you need to rest longer to do that, then do that. That's all.

True. And when training for physique, take as few breaks as possible and rep out sets until failure. Massive bloodflow to the muscles you're working, causing them to tear. And in addition, you're burning a lot of calories since your heart is pumping faster.

Yessir. That's how I do it anyway.

Is training for physique like body building? I don't claim knowledge but wasn't Chaddy into this? I remember him saying that he never went to failure and made it sound like a bad thing.

Pretty much. My reason for doing so is that lifting really heavy weight is bad for your joints, and I really don't have any need to be strong.

You might disagree 10-15 years from now.

Doesn't it make sense that getting stronger now would actually be good for your joints by strengthening the muscles that support them?

You can build the muscles around the joints and strengthen them, but for the most part, the cartilage and ligaments that support your joints and allow them to move freely can't get stronger. Excess weight will especially wear down the cartilage that pads your joints and eventually cause arthritis.

Sure, you can wear down cartilage, but I'm not sure that's a function of weight lifted. Certainly many repetitions of any weight will cause some cartilage degradation too, but so will life.

 

[HuskerShark]

I just looked into this five minute rest thing and that long of rest is only suggested if you are doing extremely heavy weight (your maximum) with only 1-3 reps. I guess I wouldn't know anything about that because even on my heavy days I do weight I can rep between 5-6 times.

If you can hit your reps with the amount of rest you are taking, then awesome. Keep doing that.

My point was that when training for strength, the most important thing is to get your reps. If you need to rest longer to do that, then do that. That's all.

True. And when training for physique, take as few breaks as possible and rep out sets until failure. Massive bloodflow to the muscles you're working, causing them to tear. And in addition, you're burning a lot of calories since your heart is pumping faster.

Yessir. That's how I do it anyway.

Is training for physique like body building? I don't claim knowledge but wasn't Chaddy into this? I remember him saying that he never went to failure and made it sound like a bad thing.

Pretty much. My reason for doing so is that lifting really heavy weight is bad for your joints, and I really don't have any need to be strong.

You might disagree 10-15 years from now.

Doesn't it make sense that getting stronger now would actually be good for your joints by strengthening the muscles that support them?

You can build the muscles around the joints and strengthen them, but for the most part, the cartilage and ligaments that support your joints and allow them to move freely can't get stronger. Excess weight will especially wear down the cartilage that pads your joints and eventually cause arthritis.

Sure, you can wear down cartilage, but I'm not sure that's a function of weight lifted. Certainly many repetitions of any weight will cause some cartilage degradation too, but so will life.

Very true, it's just accelerated by heavy weight. That's why you hear about obese people having bad knees. Peoples' joints aren't made to withstand that much weight.

 

[DaveH]

I just looked into this five minute rest thing and that long of rest is only suggested if you are doing extremely heavy weight (your maximum) with only 1-3 reps. I guess I wouldn't know anything about that because even on my heavy days I do weight I can rep between 5-6 times.

If you can hit your reps with the amount of rest you are taking, then awesome. Keep doing that.

My point was that when training for strength, the most important thing is to get your reps. If you need to rest longer to do that, then do that. That's all.

True. And when training for physique, take as few breaks as possible and rep out sets until failure. Massive bloodflow to the muscles you're working, causing them to tear. And in addition, you're burning a lot of calories since your heart is pumping faster.

Yessir. That's how I do it anyway.

Is training for physique like body building? I don't claim knowledge but wasn't Chaddy into this? I remember him saying that he never went to failure and made it sound like a bad thing.

Pretty much. My reason for doing so is that lifting really heavy weight is bad for your joints, and I really don't have any need to be strong.

You might disagree 10-15 years from now.

Doesn't it make sense that getting stronger now would actually be good for your joints by strengthening the muscles that support them?

You can build the muscles around the joints and strengthen them, but for the most part, the cartilage and ligaments that support your joints and allow them to move freely can't get stronger. Excess weight will especially wear down the cartilage that pads your joints and eventually cause arthritis.

Sure, you can wear down cartilage, but I'm not sure that's a function of weight lifted. Certainly many repetitions of any weight will cause some cartilage degradation too, but so will life.

Very true, it's just accelerated by heavy weight. That's why you hear about obese people having bad knees. Peoples' joints aren't made to withstand that much weight.

True about obese people, but I don't think you can equivocate that with training with heavy (relatively, mind you) weights.

Obese people carry weight around with them 24x7.

Your body is loaded with barbells for maybe 5-10 minutes total in a whole workout. Even then, depending on the lift, it's not the whole body.

It's not the same thing.

 

[HuskerShark]

I just looked into this five minute rest thing and that long of rest is only suggested if you are doing extremely heavy weight (your maximum) with only 1-3 reps. I guess I wouldn't know anything about that because even on my heavy days I do weight I can rep between 5-6 times.

If you can hit your reps with the amount of rest you are taking, then awesome. Keep doing that.

My point was that when training for strength, the most important thing is to get your reps. If you need to rest longer to do that, then do that. That's all.

True. And when training for physique, take as few breaks as possible and rep out sets until failure. Massive bloodflow to the muscles you're working, causing them to tear. And in addition, you're burning a lot of calories since your heart is pumping faster.

Yessir. That's how I do it anyway.

Is training for physique like body building? I don't claim knowledge but wasn't Chaddy into this? I remember him saying that he never went to failure and made it sound like a bad thing.

Pretty much. My reason for doing so is that lifting really heavy weight is bad for your joints, and I really don't have any need to be strong.

You might disagree 10-15 years from now.

Doesn't it make sense that getting stronger now would actually be good for your joints by strengthening the muscles that support them?

You can build the muscles around the joints and strengthen them, but for the most part, the cartilage and ligaments that support your joints and allow them to move freely can't get stronger. Excess weight will especially wear down the cartilage that pads your joints and eventually cause arthritis.

Sure, you can wear down cartilage, but I'm not sure that's a function of weight lifted. Certainly many repetitions of any weight will cause some cartilage degradation too, but so will life.

Very true, it's just accelerated by heavy weight. That's why you hear about obese people having bad knees. Peoples' joints aren't made to withstand that much weight.

True about obese people, but I don't think you can equivocate that with training with heavy (relatively, mind you) weights.

Obese people carry weight around with them 24x7.

Your body is loaded with barbells for maybe 5-10 minutes total in a whole workout. Even then, depending on the lift, it's not the whole body.

It's not the same thing.

I definitely agree that it makes a difference to carry that weight around 24/7, but it's hard on the joints regardless. And if you consider a person who is an avid lifter and lifts heavy for an hour to hour and a half 5 or 6 times a week, that's a considerable amount of stress on a person's joints.

 

[Count 'Bility]

I guess I could post my annoyances. To each their own, but if we're into judging people...

• The guy who wears tanks that are way to big so you can see the meat display. /oswalt
• People who mean mug and aren't generally courteous.
• Bench bro's. All bench. All the time.
• Guy's who bench with their a$$ a foot in the air.
• Half and quarter squat guy. I guess generally, half rep guy.

LOL. That's me. That is sooooo me.

 

[DaveH]

I definitely agree that it makes a difference to carry that weight around 24/7, but it's hard on the joints regardless. And if you consider a person who is an avid lifter and lifts heavy for an hour to hour and a half 5 or 6 times a week, that's a considerable amount of stress on a person's joints.

Well yea, I don't think anyone advocates lifting really heavy all the time.

I mean, unless you're a recovery machine you'll probably burn out pretty quickly doing that. That and form usually degrades closer to your max and there is really no reason for form to break down that much during training.

Still, I'll never back down that there is some excuse for not lifting heavy at least some of the time. When I say heavy, I mean say 85-95% of your 5 rep max. Continually working at weight below that will not get you stronger, it will just get you really good at moving that weight. That is if you want to get stronger, which I think everyone should, you should be continually trying to get stronger. That means, eventually, trying to move something heavy.

Time is already trying to make you weak. If you don't get strong, you'll lose in the long run.

 

[Hedley Lamarr]

Anyone ever have the wanna be strongman that shows up next to you and trys to do the set of dumbbells heavier than yours but uses complete sh#t form and looks like a moron?

 

[Stumpy1]

Anyone ever have the wanna be strongman that shows up next to you and trys to do the set of dumbbells heavier than yours but uses complete sh#t form and looks like a moron?

I see that a lot in the high school kids that come into the fitness center. It is funny.

 

[teachercd]

My pet peeve...

Dudes in prison bench every single day and do curls every day...they are usually jacked.

They don't have trainers, might not have the best form, no supplements...still they are usually jacked.

When I see that...it makes me think Muscle and Fitness is more like Muscle and Fiction.

 

[BigRedBuster]

As a runner and biker primarily, I have very different fitness goals than a muscle head who basically is there to see how strong and big he can get.

There have been times when I have used weight lifting in my training. It's usually over the winter when I can't get out and run and bike like I would like.

What is laughable and frustrating at the same time is the muscle head that thinks he knows exactly what I should be doing and everything I'm doing is wrong because I won't get as big as he is.

My goals are obviously some strength but that also needs to include endurance. Weight lifting for a runner also helps prevent over use injuries.

Not everyone wants to be stacked full of muscles and look like Lou Ferrigno.