Oh the places you'll bro! (Tales of Gym Glory)

[Skander]

I was sitting in a cafe yesterday and there were 4 college kids, who mostly looked pretty DYEL. But one thing they spoke about was lifting, and were totally fluent in terms like back squat, overhead press, etc.

It made me realize something - I feel like a big part of the early SS community goals was that knowledge of lifting would become more widespread, and it's interesting to see how it has indeed become a pretty common part of peoples' knowledge of exercise. Squats are the new jogging or something. It's not everywhere, but knowing the basics of lifting is a lot more common now than in the 2000s. I'm not giving credit to SS necessarily (it probably played a part), but it's interesting to see that community goal I saw articulated back in the SS forum days, or on r/fitness, etc, be realized in a major way. Just a random thought, but it's kind of cool.

[dw]

I was sitting in a cafe yesterday and there were 4 college kids, who mostly looked pretty DYEL. But one thing they spoke about was lifting, and were totally fluent in terms like back squat, overhead press, etc.

It made me realize something - I feel like a big part of the early SS community goals was that knowledge of lifting would become more widespread, and it's interesting to see how it has indeed become a pretty common part of peoples' knowledge of exercise. Squats are the new jogging or something. It's not everywhere, but knowing the basics of lifting is a lot more common now than in the 2000s. I'm not giving credit to SS necessarily (it probably played a part), but it's interesting to see that community goal I saw articulated back in the SS forum days, or on r/fitness, etc, be realized in a major way. Just a random thought, but it's kind of cool.

I agree S and D (and in fact OHP) have become a lot more mainstream in the last 10 years or so.

[mbasic]

I was sitting in a cafe yesterday and there were 4 college kids, who mostly looked pretty DYEL. But one thing they spoke about was lifting, and were totally fluent in terms like back squat, overhead press, etc.

It made me realize something - I feel like a big part of the early SS community goals was that knowledge of lifting would become more widespread, and it's interesting to see how it has indeed become a pretty common part of peoples' knowledge of exercise. Squats are the new jogging or something. It's not everywhere, but knowing the basics of lifting is a lot more common now than in the 2000s. I'm not giving credit to SS necessarily (it probably played a part), but it's interesting to see that community goal I saw articulated back in the SS forum days, or on r/fitness, etc, be realized in a major way. Just a random thought, but it's kind of cool.

its social media, TikTok, and modern meme-culture.

Its a lot more accessible, and have filtered down into youth.

My kid is into lifting, but its hilarious the stuff he has picked up on IG, TikTok, etc.
I'd say 90% of it is correct (or correct enough) one way or another.
Depends who he/you , and his/your buddies, follow. Sure, I'm there as a bit of a filter.

Without me saying a word, all on his own, he(@ 15y.o.) has gone round and round with the whole "sumo, is it cheating? or just a means to an end".
Its fucking comical. I mean, when I was 15, I was definitely a meat head and into lifting, I didn't know a 1/10th of shit he knows (or thinks he knows).
It wasn't even a topic.

I think Rip only gets a bit of credit because he was the defacto strength guy/authority for that spell when X-fit got going.
That, and the main/popular barbell lifts in powerlifting are the ones a guy can do the most weight on, AND used in football training, and general S&C quite a bit.

Had that been Bill Starr, we may or maynot have all be doing HBBS, clean high pulls, and incline presses.

[Skander]

Yeah I'm less interested in Rip's role as I am in how people used to wish this day would come, and it has in it's own way. I remember feeling that way when a d&d podcast kept making squat jokes and I'm like "wait, even the standard nerds have become gym nerds, times really have changed" (I personally was always a nerd and never a jock to use those old categories)

[SnakePlissken]

I think CrossFit propped up people like Rip way more than the other way around though. I believed every myth and bit of conventional wisdom about lifting circa 2005 when I was a fat kid trying to lose weight (like localized fat burning lol). I first heard of what a squat and deadlift were from one of my dad's friend's that did crossfit to un-fat himself around maybe 2011 or 2012. Few years later Youtube started getting a lot more lifting content aside from Mike Chang.

In terms of butterfly effect, I may not be a "lifter" if crossfit didn't exist.

[hector]

I think CrossFit propped up people like Rip way more than the other way around though. I believed every myth and bit of conventional wisdom about lifting circa 2005 when I was a fat kid trying to lose weight (like localized fat burning lol). I first heard of what a squat and deadlift were from one of my dad's friend's that did crossfit to un-fat himself around maybe 2011 or 2012. Few years later Youtube started getting a lot more lifting content aside from Mike Chang.

In terms of butterfly effect, I may not be a "lifter" if crossfit didn't exist.

Same. CrossFit was my gateway to Starting Strength.

[CheekiBreekiFitness]

I think CrossFit propped up people like Rip way more than the other way around though. I believed every myth and bit of conventional wisdom about lifting circa 2005 when I was a fat kid trying to lose weight (like localized fat burning lol). I first heard of what a squat and deadlift were from one of my dad's friend's that did crossfit to un-fat himself around maybe 2011 or 2012. Few years later Youtube started getting a lot more lifting content aside from Mike Chang.

In terms of butterfly effect, I may not be a "lifter" if crossfit didn't exist.

Crossfit ressucitated olympic weightlifting. It's funny to think that this elitist sport was ressucitated by a bunch of guys doing kipping pullups.

[CaptainAwesome]

I was sitting in a cafe yesterday and there were 4 college kids, who mostly looked pretty DYEL. But one thing they spoke about was lifting, and were totally fluent in terms like back squat, overhead press, etc.

It made me realize something - I feel like a big part of the early SS community goals was that knowledge of lifting would become more widespread, and it's interesting to see how it has indeed become a pretty common part of peoples' knowledge of exercise. Squats are the new jogging or something. It's not everywhere, but knowing the basics of lifting is a lot more common now than in the 2000s. I'm not giving credit to SS necessarily (it probably played a part), but it's interesting to see that community goal I saw articulated back in the SS forum days, or on r/fitness, etc, be realized in a major way. Just a random thought, but it's kind of cool.

I've noticed the familiarity is limited. They know there is a such a thing as a barbell squat, and have been told it is important and that "serious lifters" do them. The old joke was that squat racks sit around in gyms collecting dust, but now they are hot items, mostly utilized by people doing half and quarter squats with weights they could not handle for a better range of motion. But they think because that they even went to the squat rack and did these things, they are "serious lifters" now. Things like hack squat and leg press machines are the things you find people using rarely now, and honestly I can probably get a better workout using these machines than a lot of the people doing "serious lifter" stuff over in the squat racks. It feels almost like a cargo cult.

[Hardartery]

I was sitting in a cafe yesterday and there were 4 college kids, who mostly looked pretty DYEL. But one thing they spoke about was lifting, and were totally fluent in terms like back squat, overhead press, etc.

It made me realize something - I feel like a big part of the early SS community goals was that knowledge of lifting would become more widespread, and it's interesting to see how it has indeed become a pretty common part of peoples' knowledge of exercise. Squats are the new jogging or something. It's not everywhere, but knowing the basics of lifting is a lot more common now than in the 2000s. I'm not giving credit to SS necessarily (it probably played a part), but it's interesting to see that community goal I saw articulated back in the SS forum days, or on r/fitness, etc, be realized in a major way. Just a random thought, but it's kind of cool.

I've noticed the familiarity is limited. They know there is a such a thing as a barbell squat, and have been told it is important and that "serious lifters" do them. The old joke was that squat racks sit around in gyms collecting dust, but now they are hot items, mostly utilized by people doing half and quarter squats with weights they could not handle for a better range of motion. But they think because that they even went to the squat rack and did these things, they are "serious lifters" now. Things like hack squat and leg press machines are the things you find people using rarely now, and honestly I can probably get a better workout using these machines than a lot of the people doing "serious lifter" stuff over in the squat racks. It feels almost like a cargo cult.

Anything that gets people to stop doing curls in the Squat Rack, especially when the gym only has one. Although I would say even doing 1/4 Squats they arre getting abetter workout than they would be otherwise. After all, they wouldn't be doing it correctly in the machines either and they are working more than the prime movers when using a bar and freeweights.

[mgil]

Lifting is kinda perfect for IG/DikDok/etc.

It’s something that translates well to a short video and is proof of life regarding bragging about some arbitrary bullshit while simultaneously being quantifiable.

Plus it can all be done in a relatively small space.

Try to video a 100m sprint with a single phone in one pass and make it look interesting. It’s hard. Same with lots of other sports where movement is involved.

Now couple that with the notion that the skill required is nowhere near what’s needed to dunk a basketball or hit a home run.

Great fodder to turn mediocrity into social media currency.

[Hardartery]

Lifting is kinda perfect for IG/DikDok/etc.

It’s something that translates well to a short video and is proof of life regarding bragging about some arbitrary bullshit while simultaneously being quantifiable.

Plus it can all be done in a relatively small space.

Try to video a 100m sprint with a single phone in one pass and make it look interesting. It’s hard. Same with lots of other sports where movement is involved.

Based on stuff that pops into my Youtube feed, I believe the technique is to only record women, focus on the ass, and make sure there is a thumbnail with a borderline pornographic angle.

[mgil]

Lifting is kinda perfect for IG/DikDok/etc.

It’s something that translates well to a short video and is proof of life regarding bragging about some arbitrary bullshit while simultaneously being quantifiable.

Plus it can all be done in a relatively small space.

Try to video a 100m sprint with a single phone in one pass and make it look interesting. It’s hard. Same with lots of other sports where movement is involved.

Based on stuff that pops into my Youtube feed, I believe the technique is to only record women, focus on the ass, and make sure there is a thumbnail with a borderline pornographic angle.

You’re not wrong

[mbasic]

I actually gave up my Elieko silent-rubberized platform the other day.
Gym was packed. Nerdy kid was waiting to use a rack obviously.

I finished doing clean+jerk .... split-jerk triples, so I kinda really needed a solid long wood platform for that. Odds of missed jerk was high, etc.

Next was some light hang power snatches, so a more easy and "controllable" movement.
So I rolled the my bar off the end of the platform onto the gym floor, and I told the kid, "I can finish up out here, you can have it".
(there was a 2nd bar in there to use)
Odd, that he really didn't say thanks or anything.

Then that motherfucker did his squat workout, moved over to leg press, and left 225 collared up in the squat rack.

Fucktard.

Its so bad, that if one take the plate off of one side the squat bar, do a 180 pivot, half step forward, you could put that same plate right on the leg press horn in one motion.

In fact that what I thought thats what he was going to do. Nope.

Gym packed, now people got to wait around 5 min to make sure the rack in not being used.

[Hardartery]

I saw what I think was the greatest thing ever, in a non-sarcastic way, on Friday.
There is a kid running around the gym, tiny girl in diapers not talking really yet but running around to give you a gauge on age. This doesn't happen in the West, but here no biggie. The old lady that runs the desk during the day watches her, and is clearly her grandmother (Possibly Great-grandmother, they start young here). Anyway, there's a girl, probably early 20's, lifting that is some sort of relative to the kid. She gets to the hip thruster portion of her workout and sets up a bar in front of one of the benches, with an extra piece of that jig-saw puzzle looking floor mat that she folds in half and uses between her hips and the bar for cushion. She starts her sets, the kid comes flying over encouraging her and then jumping in to take her turn, like they're lifting together. Sets up the mat, tugs on the bar and then hops out. She did that every set taking turns with the girl working out, she even put on her lifting belt, by which I mean held it at waist height while sitting down and essentially sitting on the belt for her "Set". I would have recorded it but that could come off as creepy. Seriously one of the greatest moments ever in a commercial gym. The kid was so serious.

[DanCR]

@Hardartery, that was a great one, in the opposite tone of the usual.

Guy walks into gym last week and loudly announces for everyone and no one, “I think 315’s on the agenda today!”

Half squats on his 135 warm up were a bad sign and it predictably got worse from there.

[Hardartery]

In the ongoing saga of the littlest lifter, she wasn't there when I got to the gym today and her grandpa was watching the desk. Halfway into my incline benching she arrived, with grandma in tow, and ran straight in and hopped on the seated row, like she was late and had to get the session going. She got her grandpa to pull the pin from the stack so it was just implement weight and snagged the V-handlw and proceeded to knock out several reps of what amounted to seated back extensions. She hit a second set and then disappeared. A few minutes later she's back, with her toy cell phone and intra-workout (Jello cup). This is becoming the new highlight of my week every time I walk in there. The kid must have done at least 6 or 8 sets of these seated back extensions before deciding that she was done with the machine.

[mbasic]

In the ongoing saga of the littlest lifter, she wasn't there when I got to the gym today and her grandpa was watching the desk. Halfway into my incline benching she arrived, with grandma in tow, and ran straight in and hopped on the seated row, like she was late and had to get the session going. She got her grandpa to pull the pin from the stack so it was just implement weight and snagged the V-handlw and proceeded to knock out several reps of what amounted to seated back extensions. She hit a second set and then disappeared. A few minutes later she's back, with her toy cell phone and intra-workout (Jello cup). This is becoming the new highlight of my week every time I walk in there. The kid must have done at least 6 or 8 sets of these seated back extensions before deciding that she was done with the machine.

shes gonna stunt her growth

also: lol at toy cell phone use between sets

[Hardartery]

In the ongoing saga of the littlest lifter, she wasn't there when I got to the gym today and her grandpa was watching the desk. Halfway into my incline benching she arrived, with grandma in tow, and ran straight in and hopped on the seated row, like she was late and had to get the session going. She got her grandpa to pull the pin from the stack so it was just implement weight and snagged the V-handlw and proceeded to knock out several reps of what amounted to seated back extensions. She hit a second set and then disappeared. A few minutes later she's back, with her toy cell phone and intra-workout (Jello cup). This is becoming the new highlight of my week every time I walk in there. The kid must have done at least 6 or 8 sets of these seated back extensions before deciding that she was done with the machine.

shes gonna stunt her growth

also: lol at toy cell phone use between sets

The kid is a walking meme, but I find it very entertaining. It makes me smile every time I think about it and I'm wondering what the next thing will be.

[Hardartery]

New gym kid story. Her early 20's relative was doing one arm DB rows near the entrance at a bench. There's a step where you pass from the front area to the actual gym, the kid was there using the step as her bench. She was watching the other girl and going rep for rep with some little pink 1 lb DB's. She was watching her training buddy and matching her, switched arms at the same time and then at the end of the set the big "Whew!" from finishing a hard set. Fantastic.

[mbasic]

today I missed loaded 5 pounds out of balance on a 225-ish power clean.

That looked really really funny. In fact, if I wanted to make a parody video poking fun of crossfit, or high school football S&C, I would simply intentionally misload one side of the bar to get the desired clumsy awkward look to a power clean.

Fun times

That is all