Actually strong people don't need to belittle others around them to feel stronger.
this post was submitted on 18 Jun 2024
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My experience with people who are really into working out is that they want everyone to be into working out, and want to help you get there. They're nerds for lifting. They're excited to get you excited.
Anyone who shit-talks you for not already being great at it is a fucking poser and you should tell them that.
“Nerds for lifting” I fucking love that and feel that.
Everyone's a nerd for something, I firmly believe that.
Bouldering gyms are like this too. The best climbers are the ones stopping what they're doing to cheer for and hype up the beginners. Mostly very wholesome group
Also a handy excuse to give the arms a break!
Same here. The real gym bros will take their time with someone who is not fit because you actually showing up to the gym, to them is a sign you want to work on yourself and they value that.
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Nerds for lifting describes it perfectly. My friend and I used to being a notebook to the gym to track our lifts and sets. It was a vibe and I've never been able to match that energy solo.
My brother in law does strongman competitions, lifting hundreds or thousands of pounds at a time. I joked once about how I might be able to lift the bar that you put the weights onto (he said it was about 75lbs) and his response was a very positive "you have to start somewhere"
I had a similar experience with boxing. We all suffer together, and anyone who makes an effort deserves to be helped. Strong bros are nice people.
Real chads lift everyone around them
Arnold Shwarzenegger had a super motivating post on reddit(spits) to a guy who felt similar to this fellow.
I lift. I’ve lifted for years. Then I stopped Then I got really fat. I KNEW what it was going to take. 5+ years later. 100lbs body fat lost and 18lbs of muscle added later (no juice) and I’m older, but ripped. All I can think when I see people running, lifting, walking, whatever - with that ‘look’ like you know they are just trying to shed that that fat jacket - is “Come on! You can do this!” I know the discipline that takes! Young, mouthy douchebags at the gym with raging metabolisms that keep them cut, even after eating garbage all week, are just the next group of fat, old people trying to stay healthy and happy.
I helped a guy at the gym get into a solid 5x5 routine once, barely thought about it. Just a regular to chat to sometimes. You could have used this guy to clean a chimney. He got ripped up. Not bulk, but shredded and built it turns out. Few years later, at a different gym now, a guy comes up to me (him - I’d forgotten his face) and tells me what a difference it made for him and how him and 3 buddies all took what I showed him and were all still lifting. Thanked me, told me what a difference my advice made (diet too). Frankly, it was the BEST motherfucking day I ever had at the gym! I felt like my hero, Arnold.
Making fun of others at a gym is Imo, grounds for getting tossed out. Snickering included. Funny how they don’t seem to last at the gym anyway…
My best friend in a small town high school and I were outcasts but because of that we were huge gym rats. We didn’t play any sports but would ditch study hall, shop, and PT and lift in the gym. This was mid nineties and I remember us doing the bodies for life challenge even though we were young and didn’t have a starting body to work from. The most pride I have from those days is we put up a sign above the gym that said “leave your ego at the door”, we would help and stick up for anyone and everyone no matter what, a couple of our classmates parents came in to lift with us while their kids were at practice and thanked us. That meant a lot as a teenager.
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Anon experiences human contact outside of highschool for the first time?
Good for him. Regardless of how people feel about 4chan the users are still people.
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Years ago, a buddy got me going to his gym so he could show me the ropes. He'd been lifting most of his life and I really trusted him. It was the sort of gym where people go to do serious work. A lifter's lifting gym. Everyone there looked so serious and were pressing so much weight. I have never been that sort.
But they were all incredibly kind to me. Helped me when they thought I needed it. Never in a demeaning way. Any bad vibes I got from them was pretty much on me.
Those were really cool times. The gym would shut down about two years later and I haven't really gone to a gym since.
Damn. Yeah a close friend I know has been taking me to the gym whenever he's free so it's nice to get out with him every once in a while. Gym guys are pretty nice.
Sounds made up. I've never interacted with a single person at the gym, ever.
Be the chad.
I've seen the snickering. I've helped quite a few people. Not everyone is open to it, but most welcome it if you treat em with respect.
Same thing with bouldering. You see someone inexperienced struggle with a route and you give em a few pointers. You show em the moves. Can even help people with routes I can't do cuz I somehow know how to read em.
Be the positive change in the world.
I miss my bouldering gym so much. It was always a great vibe there and people from all skill levels could climb together, chat, help each other out. Any time I went intending to climb alone I still ended up chatting and making friends because so many people are just friendly and happy to be there
Where I moved to has a proper climbing gym but it isnt the same vibe.
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Depends on the gym you go to imo. More commercial gyms there's almost no interaction but more privately owned or specialty gym (powerlifting, strongman, etc) - these interactions happen a good bit.
This sounds like the gym I used to go to. It was mostly massive powerlifters and female Instagram influencer....all super serious into fitness. And guys would ask me to spot them all the time, and we would often share racks and chat. The girls mostly kept to themselves, but the dudes were all pretty chummy with each other.
Although that being said, I still think this is made up because I've never heard anyone vocally bad mouthing other people at the gym such that they can hear, and the bad mouthing i have heard has absolutely never been about someone out of shape trying to better themselves. It's always because someone was being a jerk, or selfish or something like that.
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My old gym was in an area notorious for gang violence, but the regulars were friendly and up for helping newbies like this. This guy mistook his weird meme characters for real people.
I’ve been to a lot of gyms and people are always happy to help each other. People love talking about their hobbies and gym folk be no different.
the snickering part sounds made up, but people definitely ask strangers to spot them
I've been going to the gym 4 times a week for 2yrs and I've been asked exactly one time to spot someone. Not to contradict you because it definitely happens, but some gyms don't have that culture, like mine.
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Chad peaked in high school and has a beer gut now. Gym bros were often losers in school who turned it around after they graduated.
How do you know who I am??
Because I’m you.
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Deadlifts are back day exercises and I will not budge off this hill
Every exercise is a back day exercise if you do it wrong enough.
I see you've read my workout books and watched the videos.
Don't have to do leg day if you break your back haha
That’s just your upper upper legs
This is the spirit
I’ve been lifting for 25 years now and have concluded that deadlifts can fit on any day.
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I don’t care if this is fake. It’s how the world should be and I really hope it is.
If you get yourself into a private community gym instead of Planet Fitness, you’ll realize how real this is.
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I'm sure we can find some zoomers to make fun of you, so...
Halfway there, eh?
I have one of those. I call him son 😂
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A good gym, that's how it will be to some extent. Now, the shitty chain gyms where you get the kind of assholes that would disrespect a beginner in the first place may not have any serious lifters or dedicated enthusiasts of other forms of exercise to step up, but it happens.
Shit, the gym I went to for most of my twenties, and into my thirties, anyone disrespecting a beginner would be out on their ear in a hot minute, and I've been to other gyms that were like that too. Gyms for serious lifting tend to be all about helping each other and that goes double for a noob.
It isn't even something you think about after a while. You see someone struggling, you give support. Might be hyping them up, might be spotting, and it might be taking a new person and making sure they stay safe as they learn. Tbh, it's my opinion that if you won't do that, go set up a home gym and bugger off. Not everyone can do it, but if you aren't willing to try to help a new lifter out, a gym isn't really where you need to lift.
I just can't imagine seeing someone doing their best to improve themselves and not taking a little bit of time to boost them. I know I got that kind of boost at a few points, and it really was special to me. You pass that kind of thing on and it helps everyone.
I saw this older gym rat trying to chat up a younger dude. He was obviously trying to fuck the poor lad.
Don't be toxic at the gym. People are there to improve themselves.
Fuck the haters at the gym. Fucking creeps.
Don't put yourself down for trying. The people who don't try will never get better, you have a chance at it if you never give up on yourself.
Proper chads are indeed like this
This is exactly how us Chads are, yes.
I can't do the standard gym but bouldering gym is recommended. I used to have a membership to climb whenever at any location of that gym and found people are super happy to give advice and discuss the 'beta'.
Disclaimer: I had taken a class like a decade earlier and gotten somewhat used to responding non-akwardly to people unexpectedly talking to me by the time I started going to the gym. I also went almost every day, sometimes to multiple locations. Some days I spoke to nobody, other days I got roped into group discussions on technique and posititoning. The climbing related strength training stuff people just recommended youtubers to me for the how to instead of giving potentially harmful advice.
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