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Originally Posted by bixby snyder
Honestly I'm weak and out of shape and I felt pretty out of place at first, but I've developed some confidence since at least I'm somewhat educated on what I'm doing now and attempting to lift heavy weight with decent form...
IMO, if anyone cared at all, they'd evaluate you on your intensity relative to your current ability. Hard training, good form, a minimum of sitting around and texting, etc. win more respect than pure strength. Even with that, I think most lifters respect the fact that people -- regardless of current conditioning level -- are doing the right thing and getting themselves into the gym.
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I swear I do get weird looks a lot, today the dude doing 135lb 1/4 squats in the smith machine next to me was definitely giving me weird looks while I was doing 185lb real squats, but I've learned to ignore that since I'm pretty sure about my general knowledge at this point. If I had no idea about how to work out I think I'd feel differently.
He's probably thinking he should warn you that squats are bad for your knees!
FWIW, I personally don't think anyone thinks squatting 185 lb deep for reps is snicker-worthy. As for me, I know that person can probably half-squat 275 lb and respect that he is not.