Of the places guys can go, the gym is seriously one of the most positive places.
Most gyms tend to have really friendly and supportive culture for men I have noticed. Especially since men don't have much support groups amongst themselves.
Im not saying every gym bro is a good guy, but the most positive supportive people I've ever met have been gym bros.
I worked out in a bodybuilding gym once and I was working in on the bench press with a other guy. He was moving like fucking 400+ lbs for reps. After all his buddies were cheering and slapping him on the back and shit.
After when I did my set I was lifting maybe half, if even that, what he did. After I finished my set they all had the exact same reaction.
Tendon pain probably means you're a rock climber rather than a weightlifter. 😭
(In seriousness, tendon pain is bad no matter what, but most rock climbers will experience it at some point regardless of how careful they're trying to be, it's just the consequence of putting so much load on tendons that most people don't really load too heavily)
I started rock climbing a year ago and I think I'm starting to feel pain/ worrying about injury even though I've been very careful with "progressive overload", warming up etc... even taking short breaks from climbing (twice a week to once or zero) form time to time. I got much stronger and leaner though, and I prefer it to lifting (still lift a bit for injury prevention&lower body strength)
I have gained more useful strength from climbing than lifting, and my only regret is that I didn't find it younger.
I'm in my 40s now, and started climbing in my late 30s, but the people who started climbing younger have such an easier time with recovery.
Definitely much stronger and leaner than I've ever been, but also had a pulley rupture and other intermittent hiccups in spite of trying to be careful, because climbing is just hard on your whole body.
My son is 12 and it's insane how good he is. He's small for his age, and is due to sprout (I was too until I wasn't).
He doesn't think he'll ever be better than me (he's sent V6 and can consistently send V4 or V5 in a session with an occasional flash, at a home gym that does not grade soft), and doesn't realize that he's maybe a year away from making me look like a chump.
Bro is right though. At the gym you can choose the weight. Make sure you're safe and do the proper amount. To much can seriously injure you. Sometimes slow with proper form is better than a shit load of weight
I hate that I've actually seen a sign like this at a gym
it's not even always about high weight causing injury, you should train for your goals, if you want to lift heavy, you should go high weight for only a few reps, sometimes going slow and sometimes not based on your coach's advice (newcomers who don't have a coach yet generally should not worry too much about going slow for powerlifting, you want to be a comfortable speed), if you want a body builder physique, lower weight very slow for around 12 reps a set is great, if you're training for a sport with lots of explosive movement, some lifts you will try to do fast based on your coach's advice
since most gym goers are focused on aesthetics, going slow for high reps is usually best, and ofc you always want good form, but higher weight and faster doesn't mean bad form, it just means different results
Also lower the weight. You have nothing to prove. Find a weight that is a challenge but doable for a full set. When it’s gone from “challenging” to “comfortable” then you can increase.
Yeah. It takes some feeling out though cause it's a fine line, and then you gotta track what you're lifting each time. You should be able to do just about as many reps as you're shooting for, leaving one or two in the tank until the last set.
If your goal is muscle-building ofc.
Even if your goal is strength, you should be able to control your reps. It's just usually fewer reps with more weight, but form is still important. Except if you are Lu. But you are not Lu.
Yeah. Also higher repetitions of lower weight are useful too. You don't have anyone to impress at the gym, the simple fact that you're there is because you want to improve, and improving is the important thing, not where you're at right this moment.
Not only number of repetition, but also speed of repetitions. I got way better returns when I studied up a bit and read up about hypertrophy.
Putting in layman's terms, you want to make a strong but controlled extension, then "cook" your muscle on the return. Make it slow, make it painful. At the very end, extend and stretch your muscle as much as possible. That's the point where you get the most returns.
Not only that, if you make slow eccentric (the "return") movements, you can tire your muscles with much much lower weights, which massively reduces the risk of injury
That's also called ego lifting. It's when you're more worried about how much you're lifting over how you're lifting. Lift too much and you're form suffers, you can't do as many quality reps, and you're more likely to hurt yourself. Decide how many reps you're going to do, and list an amount that makes you push to finish the last 2-3, depending on total. If you're grunting on rep 1, you probably have too much weight.
There are multiple ways of working out for many different goals. Strength, hypertrophy, endurance, power are some. Training is somewhat goal-dependent. And even when focused on one goal, like me with hypertrophy, there are times it makes sense to vary training protocols. Furthermore, there are recent studies showing things like similar hypertrophic progression for using heavier or lighter weights so long as the exercise is taken to similar levels of failure.
If it would be where you approach muscular failure. Where you arrive at a point where you can no longer move this weight while maintaining good form. This range can be anywhere from 5 to 35 sets and create growth.
But, a healthy set range usually exists between 8 to 12 repetitions.
If you believe that you can do approximately 8 to 10 repetitions of a movement while maintaining good form, that’s probably a good wait for you to go for. Once you feel that you can go above 12? It’s probably best to move to a heavier weight.
Seems like this legit happened to you. You make the most random of friends at the gym. One guy was the hot dog cart guy who was just jacked and had perfect form, he recognized me from my nights downtown and he would spot me and give me decent form advice. He's still out there selling hot dogs to drunk college kids. Turns out he owns a cleaning company as his day job. We go to different gyms now but we keep up on socials.
I see broskis lifting heavy but I always do it a bit light because I’m not that strong yet. I’ve always been insecure of myself and always thought that I’ll never be like them.
One of the frequent members of my gym, who also trains the broskis, saw me in the locker room. I was finished for the day and he was about to start, so we were chatting up after the meet and greet. He asked me whether I’m done, I told him it was legs and I’ve given my best but it simply not wasn’t enough.
He gave me this surprised look and simply said “you’ve done really well, I’ve seen you work out, don’t think like that, you’re doing well and I’m proud of you!” He may have said that for motivation, but I swear if I hadn’t left, I’d have cried then and there. I laughed, thanked him and left. But I did leave with a big smile on my face.
It really is. It was just a bit shocking when I got to see one of them in person. (For the uninformed: Rodin made multiple copies.). And I realized that it’s actually a kinda awkward pose. Who sits like that??
You're not working out to show off in the gym, you're working out to show off everywhere else. You want to lift for results, not to get hurt trying to prove something.
Aside from the metaphorical angle, that's true on a strength-building level too. You'll make better progress lifting manageable weights with good form than testing the limits on every set.
Oo boy. This brings back painful memories. 2-3 weeks ago one of my best buds calls me. Almost in tears.
Bro is 32 (M) 5'3". Let's call him A. And balding. Recently divorced, started going to the gym. And is actually getting better day by day. I can see it.
One day A is waiting for a guy to finish his set. Guy gets up leaves for the washroom and doesn't come back for few minutes. My buddy starts his workout, guy comes back and shouts hey! I am still in the middle of my workout. Let's call this guy B
A: I thought you are done/or left
B: what did u think, I went to turkey to get hair for you.
A says nothing and goes to a different station.
After a while B is done with his workout and is leaving the gym and shouts to A. "Take care little man"
My buddy is devastated. Gets home calls me
Almost on the verge of a breakdown.
It doesn't take anything to be nice to someone. Be nice. Don't be an asshole. Life comes at everyone like a freight train and Karma is a bitch. Mightier people than you have fallen before.
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u/UpCDownCLeftCRightC Never Safe From Wumbo 4h ago
It's not always about lifting weights. It's also about lifting one another up.