Newbie gym etiquette question

[everstar]

I was at the gym today and I was going to do my squat sets, but the power rack was occupied by a young man (late teens) who was doing biceps curls. I waited until he was done with a set and asked him if he wouldn't mind letting me use the rack since he was only doing curls and I wanted to squat. He stared at me like I was speaking Esperanto so I backed off and went to squat with dumbbells instead. There were crooked barbells of equivalent weight to what he had on the barbell, so he could've just switched. Was I too rude? Should I have backed off? Was I within my rights to feel like clonking him over the head with a five-pound DB?

Heh, maybe I fret too much about these things. :unsure:

[BronzedGoddess]

Originally posted by everstar@Jun 5 2006, 08:50 PM
I was at the gym today and I was going to do my squat sets, but the power rack was occupied by a young man (late teens) who was doing biceps curls. I waited until he was done with a set and asked him if he wouldn't mind letting me use the rack since he was only doing curls and I wanted to squat. He stared at me like I was speaking Esperanto so I backed off and went to squat with dumbbells instead. There were crooked barbells of equivalent weight to what he had on the barbell, so he could've just switched. Was I too rude? Should I have backed off? Was I within my rights to feel like clonking him over the head with a five-pound DB?

Heh, maybe I fret too much about these things. :unsure:
ugh. he was at fault not you. Shrug it off, you will run into these guys all them time. I call the the polio leg crew.

[everstar]

Heh, he was pretty scrawny altogether. Mostly I was just wondering if it was acceptable to ask someone to switch equipment to accomodate you. The place where I work out is the local community center, so the place is pretty well packed with high school sports kids.

[Erik]

Originally posted by everstar@Jun 5 2006, 09:50 PM
I was at the gym today and I was going to do my squat sets, but the power rack was occupied by a young man (late teens) who was doing biceps curls. I waited until he was done with a set and asked him if he wouldn't mind letting me use the rack since he was only doing curls and I wanted to squat. He stared at me like I was speaking Esperanto so I backed off and went to squat with dumbbells instead. There were crooked barbells of equivalent weight to what he had on the barbell, so he could've just switched. Was I too rude? Should I have backed off? Was I within my rights to feel like clonking him over the head with a five-pound DB?

Heh, maybe I fret too much about these things. :unsure:
You should have thrown a dumbbell at him.

[everstar]

Don't think I didn't think about it. Especially since he and his friend were languidly switching off to do biceps curls and nothing else. :curse:

[Blondell]

Did you consider asking him to work in? He should not have been there but perhaps if you had asked to share he would have been more kind. :shrug:

[PowerManDL]

Oh I used to love those guys back when I was squatting heavy.

Ask 'em to work in and by about my 3rd set they're sick of loading plates.

[andi]

Originally posted by PowerManDL@Jun 5 2006, 09:25 PM
Oh I used to love those guys back when I was squatting heavy.

Ask 'em to work in and by about my 3rd set they're sick of loading plates.
:lol:

[everstar]

Originally posted by bdd814@Jun 5 2006, 09:23 PM
Did you consider asking him to work in?
I might've... do you mean we'd alternate sets? I'm not entirely sure what working in means.

[jrb1990 Roommate]

Yes, just ask if you can work in. That means you work while he rests and visa vera.

At my gym, there is an unwritten rule re squat rack - squat it in or get the :censor: out

[Ashes41]

Originally posted by jrb1990 Roommate@Jun 5 2006, 11:23 PM
Yes, just ask if you can work in. That means you work while he rests and visa vera.

At my gym, there is an unwritten rule re squat rack - squat it in or get the :censor: out
I wish my gym had the same unwritten rule...

I swear I'm the only one who actually uses it for squatting... but that certainly doesn't mean I don't ever have to wait for it :yell:

[DeeDee]

Originally posted by Ashes41+Jun 5 2006, 11:44 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Ashes41 &#064; Jun 5 2006, 11:44 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteBegin-jrb1990 Roommate@Jun 5 2006, 11:23 PM
Yes, just ask if you can work in. That means you work while he rests and visa vera.

At my gym, there is an unwritten rule re squat rack - squat it in or get the :censor: out
I wish my gym had the same unwritten rule...

I swear I&#39;m the only one who actually uses it for squatting... but that certainly doesn&#39;t mean I don&#39;t ever have to wait for it :yell:[/b][/quote]
Same here.
There&#39;s always a couple of bozos using it to do bicep curls. Totally annoying. :curse:

[LisaBunny]

You&#39;ll get this alot :rolleyes: One time I was squatting in the squat rack, and one of the guys asked if I&#39;m almost done. I was impressed, thinking he was going to do legs. So I was like "leg day, huh" and he looked at me like a freak. "No, biceps". :censor:

[Sarah]

i&#39;ve kicked people out of the squat rack before. it&#39;s fun. the most i&#39;ve ever had to ask is twice - generally one of the bigger guys tells them to get out in not so nice terms. :cool:

[krispy1138]

In all seriousness, why do people use the rack for bicep curls? My gym also has the preloaded barbells and I still see guys using the rack for this all of the time. I even saw a guy doing bicep curls on the Smith yesterday?&#33;

[Sarah]

Originally posted by krispy1138@Jun 6 2006, 09:02 AM
In all seriousness, why do people use the rack for bicep curls? My gym also has the preloaded barbells and I still see guys using the rack for this all of the time. I even saw a guy doing bicep curls on the Smith yesterday?&#33;
they want to feel cool

[mybell]

Originally posted by LisaBunny@Jun 6 2006, 08:10 AM
You&#39;ll get this alot* :rolleyes: One time I was squatting in the squat rack, and one of the guys asked if I&#39;m almost done.* I was impressed, thinking he was going to do legs.* So I was like "leg day, huh" and he looked at me like a freak.* "No, biceps".* :censor:
I don&#39;t get it, why do biceps in the squat rack?

oops someone beat me to it.

[DeeDee]

Originally posted by krispy1138@Jun 6 2006, 09:02 AM
I even saw a guy doing bicep curls on the Smith yesterday?&#33;
...trying to get a visual on this.....
:blink:

[jaleena]

Originally posted by everstar@Jun 6 2006, 02:02 AM
Heh, he was pretty scrawny altogether. Mostly I was just wondering if it was acceptable to ask someone to switch equipment to accomodate you. The place where I work out is the local community center, so the place is pretty well packed with high school sports kids.
It&#39;s totally acceptable. At my gym, there&#39;s a heirarchy, typically along the lines of who&#39;s using the most weight, but also what can be done in a rack instead of a cage gets lower priority. Would seem like common sense...curls don&#39;t need the safeties...if you report them to the staff, they may be asked to leave. Would be at my gym, at least.

[everstar]

Originally posted by jaleena@Jun 6 2006, 10:35 AM
If you report them to the staff, they may be asked to leave. Would be at my gym, at least.
Probably not at mine. In fact, they&#39;d probably look at me blankly and ask if I couldn&#39;t wait until he was finished. There were some young women running backwards on the treadmills and after I got done gaping and thinking, "Lawsuit&#33;", I asked the "trainer on duty" if she perhaps shouldn&#39;t tell them not to do that. She looked at me and said, "No, that&#39;s legitimate. It works the quads."

All I could think other than "Works the QUADS?" was "Lord, I hope they&#39;ve got the safety clips on."

[absolut_blonde]

Originally posted by everstar@Jun 6 2006, 10:56 AM
Probably not at mine. In fact, they&#39;d probably look at me blankly and ask if I couldn&#39;t wait until he was finished. There were some young women running backwards on the treadmills and after I got done gaping and thinking, "Lawsuit&#33;", I asked the "trainer on duty" if she perhaps shouldn&#39;t tell them not to do that. She looked at me and said, "No, that&#39;s legitimate. It works the quads."

All I could think other than "Works the QUADS?" was "Lord, I hope they&#39;ve got the safety clips on."
Yeah, at my gym I suspect that they&#39;d simply just refer me to the Smith Machine. No thanks&#33;

[gettingstronger]

I always have to compete with this one guy at the gym, who comes in and only uses the squat rack for shrugs..It&#39;s the only exercise I ever see him do..
It&#39;s quite comical when he&#39;s doing shrugs and his two buddies are occupying the two Smith machines doing bench presses. The best part is when they bring in friends and &#39;teach&#39; them how to do these exercises &#39;properly&#39;. From the looks of these guys, they don&#39;t even know what squats are&#33;&#33;