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.
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.
I have a question. Would age be at all a factor in the vibe? How about acute arthritis and being a newbie? I wouldn’t expect to just “fit in” immediately, but I’m left wondering if a slower middle-aged dude would have a hard time hanging with that crowd.
I’ve climbed with 10 year olds and 80 year olds. Ive climbed with people who could climb 8 hours straight and those who can only do a few routes a day. So long as you have a good attitude, climb safely and respect others you will likely fit in fine at your local climbing gym.
You’ll be fine, rock gyms tend to be a super welcoming place, regardless of age or experience. Things like arthritis and age will affect your ability, sure, but not enough to prevent you from doing it at all - you just might not be able to go as often or for as long as others 🤷♂️
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.
I see this shit at my gym very rarely, but it’s because they offer free summer memberships to teenagers and some of them don’t know how to act in the adult world. So it’s an asshole teenager thing rather than a gym thing.
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 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.
For RDL/stiff legged deadlifts you should only have a slight bend in the knee and focus on moving your ass back during the eccentric instead of letting your knees get forward. It’s a great exercise that will primarily load your hamstrings and glutes, which is why every* girl you see in the gym are doing them. Glutes and hamstring are part of a normal leg day.
For a deadlift you knees will have a greater bend and move slightly forward which puts your body in a better position for maximal force output. You can load it a lot heavier and you’re putting more tension on your quads. Deadlifts isn’t as much of a leg exercise as it is a “your entire posterior chain” exercise.
Haha for real. I don’t do them, but I don’t disparage anyone for how they like to work out. I do wish people would focus on form before weight though, I’ve seen some concerning deadlift reps 🤣
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.
I have a question. Would age be at all a factor in the vibe? How about acute arthritis and being a newbie? I wouldn’t expect to just “fit in” immediately, but I’m left wondering if a slower middle-aged dude would have a hard time hanging with that crowd.
I’ve climbed with 10 year olds and 80 year olds. Ive climbed with people who could climb 8 hours straight and those who can only do a few routes a day. So long as you have a good attitude, climb safely and respect others you will likely fit in fine at your local climbing gym.
You’ll be fine, rock gyms tend to be a super welcoming place, regardless of age or experience. Things like arthritis and age will affect your ability, sure, but not enough to prevent you from doing it at all - you just might not be able to go as often or for as long as others 🤷♂️
Thanks for the encouragement!
^ This guy sends.
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.
I see this shit at my gym very rarely, but it’s because they offer free summer memberships to teenagers and some of them don’t know how to act in the adult world. So it’s an asshole teenager thing rather than a gym thing.
It could also be that they where talking about something else and Anon, being a weirdo who uses 4chan, got the wrong idea.
Isn’t 4 chan more mainstream then lemm.ee?
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.
My gym has no equipment that requires spotting lol. If you need a spot for the Smith machine, you’re doing it wrong.
Really? You never had to give an excuse to leave the gym?
100%. Also aren’t your legs straight for a whole deadlift? (I don’t do them, always struck me as a lower back thing)
Edit: spelling
For RDL/stiff legged deadlifts you should only have a slight bend in the knee and focus on moving your ass back during the eccentric instead of letting your knees get forward. It’s a great exercise that will primarily load your hamstrings and glutes, which is why every* girl you see in the gym are doing them. Glutes and hamstring are part of a normal leg day.
For a deadlift you knees will have a greater bend and move slightly forward which puts your body in a better position for maximal force output. You can load it a lot heavier and you’re putting more tension on your quads. Deadlifts isn’t as much of a leg exercise as it is a “your entire posterior chain” exercise.
*not every, just a whole lot
There’s a variation where you keep your legs straight to help you get more bootylicious, but generally no.
Cool thanks
Before your edit I 100% thought you were saying deadlifts are for losers lol
Haha for real. I don’t do them, but I don’t disparage anyone for how they like to work out. I do wish people would focus on form before weight though, I’ve seen some concerning deadlift reps 🤣
I similarly gave some side-eye at the leg-day/deadlift thing, but some people have weird schedules 🤷♂️