Bwana, I think it is inappropriate to offer unsolicited advice and critiques. I should stop there, but I'll go on.

Aside from that, what would your sister say if you told her she was a bozo if she ordered diet coke with her lunch? Maybe she'd apologize and even thank you for your concern after punching your lights out. And this is family, someone who loves you like a brother. You may say that one is an informed choice and the other *might* be an uninformed choice. You are going to have to live with certain amounts of ignorance in the world. Also, outside of internet fora, probably a good idea to walk softly given our own ignorances-- half the people who want to correct someone are bent on telling them the wrong thing.

Finally, the following rule has never let me down: Don't get between a fat man and something he's trying to put into his face.

Fat people doing crunches thinking it will help them lose their gut. You can not spot reduce fat.

my hunch was most people would recommend staying out of other people's business. ive never considered commenting on someone's lift but this seemed like one of those things that if the guy were told a light bulb would go off. seems like this is not an exception to the rule.

shemp, a little rough but point taken. although i didnt suggest calling anyone names i suppose he could have interpreted it that way.

years ago someone was working out next to me and said "i used to do the lift youre doing until i found it wasnt helping me in my workout. instead i started do X." i appreciated his comment and how it was said.

so i started going to the gym to do the elliptical things. pretty good workout imo. problem is, im the guy who sweats a ton. like a rediculous amount. i wipe it off and everthing but its flying all over the place, proly hitting the ppl next to me sometimes, actually forms a puddle on the base and pedals.

so ya, im that guy. *** u all!

I see and hear this all the time

Skinny guys love to do bicep curls..the bigger fellas tend to work their arms less often.

1. the guy who slams the weight down when he's done with a set and yells for attention.
- we get it dude, you're trying to throw up weight. what you don't realize is that instead of you owning the weight, that weight owned you

2. the guy who runs on his heels and it's loud as hell
- land on the balls of your feet

I've been noticing the bigger the meathead the smaller the girlfriend - and I mean tiny. I swear I keep seeing these 6'3" 220+lb guys with like 5'2" sub 100lb gfs.

I dunno, why would you bother. He has to actually understand the whole theory of caloric balance to understand your advice about the gatorade. It's a shame that people aren't taught this in school.

Tiny hands make your c*ck look bigger.

Today I was the only guy in the entire ****ing gym (maybe 20 people, mostly in groups of 2-4) doing leg work (well unless cheat curls count). The entire place stank of rampant douchbaggery.

I even had a guy try to get me out of the squat rack so he could do shrugs. Mother-****ing shrugs.

I bet he rolled his shoulders backwards and forwards at the top of the motion too.

Ahhhhhh. Of course...

Yeah it's always interesting to note the ratio of people doing squats to people doing bicep curls or anything else for that matter

I didn't make to the gym until 10am this morning. I just now realized that all the MILFS workout from 10am-1pm after they drop their kids off at school.

This is life changing information imo.

lol yer. When I decided to get onto starting strength, I noticed that there were only 2 squat racks in my gym and I thought it was going to be a pain in the ass waiting for one... weeks later and I've only had to wait once.

I clicked on this thread to post the same thing. There's a middle-aged guy at my gym who is, in my estimation, 120 pounds overweight. And I've seen him doing multiple sets of crunches two or three times in the last week. Obviously, I can't give the guy any advice but I genuinely feel bad for him. I mean the guy is making a legitimate effort just by dragging himself to the gym every day.

Unrelated: What percentage of people at your gym do you think could bench more than they squat? Assume relatively good form on the squat, going slightly below parallel. Same rules apply to the bench. None of this half-rep crap. My friend asked me this last week and my kneejerk reaction was "WTF? None!" but now I think it's a significant percentage.

I have a friend who has mad posture issues... Yet is still on the chest/bis routine. I don't have the heart to tell him that he's a ******. Somehow his amazingly well educated doctors can't help him understand this either.


Though I do see him doing stuff for his rotator cuffs on occasion which is kinda funny.

Most people can't air squat to that standard.

Umm... Given loose bench form (what they consider their 1RM) and then given the pretty tight squat form thats outlined here... I'd go 50% if not much much higher. A crossfit gym... like 0%... a planet fitness... maybe like 60%... A college gym like 90%

Thremp,

Your numbers are a little higher than what I was thinking but not by much. What if you applied this standard to both exercises: do a decent rep (i.e. something that wouldn't make a S&C coach cringe).

Umm... Probably drop each by 15%... That'd be a decent quick and dirty approx (By 15% I mean 15% of whatever is listed... So 50% would go to 42.5%... 90% would be to 76.5 etc)

People never squat or use terrible form. In addition they have horrible pressing form IIRC. Either not touching their chest, or raising their hips or a multitude of other terrible abominations. Maybe someone can correct me, but isn't VM activation very high when you go deep in a squat and also a muscle that is very poorly developed in most people?

"Maybe someone can correct me, but isn't VM activation very high when you go deep in a squat and also a muscle that is very poorly developed in most people?"

the way i understand is that this muscle doesn't kick in until you hit around parallel or below, so unless you squat deep you likely won't hit it...although you can prob get it with leg extensions or lunges...

I do this about as often as I walk into someone's house and start trying to clean up their Windows installation unsolicited. As has been said. No good can come of it.

People who work out with personal trainers rarely work out on non-appointment days, even if they only have a weekly appt. If they do come work out, they generally throw their workout plan/form out the window and do the same stupid crap they've always done.

I occasionally see someone who is obviously on SS/similar program. Great form, solid routine, and they seem happy with their workout/results. People who do circuit crap and recumbent bike for an hour are miserable and never improve.