Diminishing Returns

December 12, 2010

I’m always suspicious when I see someone loading up a lift with more weight than I use. It’s not that my lifts are unbeatable, or even that impressive. What I do know with certainty is what’s possible for someone with my athletic ability (average) and my level of conditioning (excellent); and therefore, the bright line across which proper form collapses and injuries proliferate.

So I see this doofus at the gym today load two 45 lb plates at a time onto each side of the hack squat machine.1 Then, crossing the line, he slid another 25 lbs onto each rod.

In truth, this guy moved the weight through a much larger range of motion than I expected. He began the lift by letting his legs go nearly limp, smashing the sled against the bottom of the track and bouncing halfway up, then re-engaging his thighs to finish each rep.

Imagine the actual progress he could have made by cutting his weight in half, and bending his legs in a slow, controlled fashion.

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1 Some old school gyms have a few 100 lb plates lying around. I’ve used them a couple times trying to look cool, and have nearly broken my back trying to maneuver the massive plate onto a shoulder-high leg press carriage. I can’t imagine creating such an unwieldy arrangement by choice.

Leave a Comment » | Legs | Permalink
Posted by Keva Silversmith

Inquiring Minds

November 8, 2009

I don’t mind when people approach me with questions between sets. Give people credit for recognizing excellence and caring enough to learn more. Lately, I’ve been drawing a lot of attention with my Manta Ray, and folks wanting to know if it makes squats easier. Yes it does, since the device neutralizes problems caused by the typical bent and rusty barbell. However, with the bar placed higher on your traps, you’ll work harder as you’re forced into better, upright form.

When it comes to strange questions, I’d have to give the gold medal to a personal trainer who once sought me out. With her client in tow, this trainer inquired about what exercise I had been doing. It was that newfangled motion called deadlifts.

Irrespective of the query, I draw the line when someone wants to chat mid-exercise. Today, I was grinding away on the StairMaster, with my headphones drowning out the pain and my sweat streaming down the handrails. Desperate for my attention, a woman began knocking hard on the base of my machine. Obviously the gym must be on fire. I couldn’t really hear what this woman was saying, but the upshot was that she wanted to commend me on my workout intensity. Ironic that she didn’t see herself as an impediment towards that goal.

I intended to discount this last intrusion as just another example of poor gym etiquette, but then I had an epiphany. If I had witnessed something in the gym as unusual as a person training hard, wouldn’t I also seek out the nearest member to gush about it?

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As a footnote, I’d add that violations of gym etiquette aren’t limited to the gym. I was in the middle of a jog once when a car rolled up next to me and began matching my brisk 8-minute mile pace. The driver lowered her window and shouted out a question about directions.

2 Comments | Gym Etiquette, Legs | Permalink
Posted by Keva Silversmith

Diamond in the Rough

December 17, 2008

Competence is such a rare commodity. In any endeavor, when you find people who know what they’re doing, you savor the experience, consuming it eagerly and letting some of the sweet liquid run down your chin.

At the gym, you’ll often find yourself hoping to learn something from fellow members’ pushing and pulling.  The challenge is to identify among the workout rabble those few lifters worth emulating.dip-belt1

Spotting the clowns is often easy. Last week, I saw a guy exercising with a dip belt on backwards, so that the chains banged against his low back while the wide back support hindered bending in front.  Regardless, buffoons also show up in fitness camouflage, using snazzy outfits, weight belts and conspicuous note-taking to create the illusion of expertise.

So what credential is carried by almost every fitness buff? The answer is: thick, well-defined calves. One glance below the knee will tell you much about a person’s commitment to exercise.

Diamond-shaped calves are the trademarks of athletes serious about cardio: runners for sure, or even better, those into jumping rope. For bodybuilders, calves are also known as the most stubborn body part; toughened by everyday use, calves respond only after years of hard training. A person with big calves cares about a balanced physique top to bottom, and is someone whose workout may well be worth watching.

1 Comment | All Time Nuttiest, Legs | Permalink
Posted by Keva Silversmith

Team Effort

April 2, 2007

I’ve often wondered whether asking a stranger for a spot is a violation of gym etiquette. I know that when I’m asked for a spot, I’m irritated by the disruption in the pace of my workout and the break in concentration. I also resent channeling my precious energy into someone else’s workout, and, considering the absurd amount of weight usually involved, putting my low back at risk.

I’m no hypocrite: I also gave up asking for spots years ago, though mostly because people don’t understand the concept of spotting for safety. Typically, you’re just encouraging the shared lift you often see at the gym. You’ve got the spotter who assists his partner in the leg press by repeatedly throwing himself into the machine’s carriage. Or, how about the guys performing barbell bicep curls when it’s not clear who’s doing the lifting and who’s doing the spotting. The bottom line is that a spotter has no business touching anything unless the lifter is just plain stuck. Besides, if you’re using an appropriate amount of weight, a spotter really shouldn’t be necessary.

I do know that when someone else imposes a spot on you, he’s definitely crossed the line of gym etiquette.

True story: I’m minding my own business, lying back on a flat bench with two heavy dumbbells. As I start my set, some guy runs up behind me, cups his hands under my elbows, and proceeds to push up on my arms through 8 or 9 reps.

A couple questions present themselves:

1) Am I supposed to thank this idiot for his counterproductive spot?

2) Why do certain people believe that proper lifting requires some kind of group hug?

4 Comments | Arms, Chest, Gym Etiquette, Legs | Permalink
Posted by Keva Silversmith

Lazy

March 31, 2007

I always get a kick out of watching big burly guys use the seated leg curl. Few people realize this machine was designed specifically for pregnant women (who can’t lie on their stomach to perform a traditional hamstring curl). Still, the machine does a good job of targeting the hamstrings; it’s a respectable alternative to the horizontal version.

I’m not nearly as positive about the stationary hand cycle. The hand cycle provides a cardiovascular option for wheelchair-bound athletes. The able-bodied person using the hand cycle has skipped the treadmill, the StairMaster, the elliptical machine, and of course, the stationary bike, in order to experience a workout that is literally handicapped.

I notice two kinds of laziness at the gym. There’s typical sloth, and then there’s why bother to show up at all. The woman sitting in the hand cycle today most definitely burned the bulk of her calories walking from the parking lot to the gym. It’s one thing to choose a machine that uses only the body’s smaller muscle groups when your focus ought to be maximizing calorie burn. It’s quite another to rotate the crank so slowly that the fat hanging from your upper arms doesn’t even jiggle.

No matter. I think it was excellent training for repeated lifting of her TV’s remote control.

1 Comment | All Time Nuttiest, Cardio, Legs | Permalink
Posted by Keva Silversmith

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