when someone tries to criticize you that the way you train bench is inefficient because they have been power lifting for 30 years , but find there bench is far from impressive and has surgery on both shoulders......... (the speed of the bar isnt going to be faster just because you tell them to move it faster when there performing their 5th set of a 5RM) the other day i cam up with a quote which to me precisely describes the nature in my gym " steroids my be the reason they are strong , but steroids isn't the reason your weak" i get sick and tired of people who think that steroid users are some sort of alien from another planet and that there methods of training doesn't work for natural lifters . and put forward notions that there is a finite level to the trainees strength , even though they know nothing of there genetic make up . also i hate the excuse from some of the power lifters that i hear talking. " that guy is stronger than me, therefore he must take steroids becuase ive been powerlifting for X years " i get really ****ed off on how poorly informed some of the british powerlifters are of today , i find that my method of thinking is more Americanized through elitefts and westside and mark rippetoe and im glad because powerlifting in Britain gets hardly any publicity at all.
an extension to this, sport center's were there are staff payed to put mats and equipment out for classes but get away with sitting around doing nothing whilst the students do it themselves. a real pet peeve for me is the body attack/fitness classes with a self defense edge we get in state funded public gyms up here, these aren't boxing gyms running specialists classes for woman or anything like that this is people just employed to work in the gym moving and cleaning machines holding pads up so woman in plastic official UFC mma gloves can do bad imitations of thai kicks and jab crosses for an hour whilst the out of shape guy holding it gives them horrible advice about striking and talks some crap about bruce lee , I mean if they wont to run a fitness class with a slight body attack/boxercise hint to it ok but taking peoples money and pretending your actually teaching them some sort of viable combat techniques when you have no experience or qualification to do so is wrong and dangerous, the same is pretty much true of most of them when it comes to giving advice on the weights.
I think alof of the gym annoyances have been covered. For me, not cleaning up after yourself, putting weights back etc..guys that stand completely naked in front of the sink that other people wash their faces/hands in..I mean put a towel over your potentially leaky junk!! I also remember a guy I used to see at seminars. When the teacher would be explaining the concept(s), he would sit there saying "Hai, Hai, Hai, Hai, Hai, Hai," for everything thing said, I always thought maybe he got stuck on loop or his internal Japanese language hard drive had a scratch on it. Man that was annoying to me.
1. coming to the dojo an hour early to do some bagwork and stretching... only to find that the bag is missing =( 2. the person who'se holding the pads for me is not paying attention to me and definately not adjusting with my distance/ technique and then complains that i'm hitting it too close to his arm/face 3. arriving to the dojo in the nick of time after just getting off from uni, only to find that class started 2-5 mins early. hence i'm late. hence i get scolded =( 4. when helping a neawbie tie the belt, getting confused and tieing it wrong cuz i was supposed to do it opposite... or sideways... or inverted AAAAUGH!!!
Whereabouts is your gym (roughly)? I think the problem with gyms in the UK is there are very few well equipped and big enough for groups training. Someone bumped into me while I was bench pressing last week as they went to add more weight on the incline bench next to me in a pair with someone else, I was on my own, no spotter. It was so close, and the squat rack is close to it. Get a few groups in and you can hardly move, yet the group training can really help with motivation, exchange of training plans, checking technique.
