Yet another "WTF?" moment in the gym...

[whiteman90909]

Ok, I've seen them all, and heard of them all. Or so I thought.

You all know them, the New Years resolution crowd. Today I had the ultimate WTF? when one of them asked me for a spot. He said it was for squat, so I agreed and followed him to his squat rack.

First of all, he asked me for a spot on what turned out to be a smith machine. Yes, a smith machine. Like, one where you can't hurt yourself no matter how hard you try. He had 315 loaded on, so I just rolled my eyes and put my arms under his pits in preparation...

...Then he asked for a liftoff. A lift off on squats. On a smith machine. I just asked him, "uuuuhhhhhhhh, what?". He just told me he wanted a lift off on three. I beat my head into the rack , and lifted him off the rack...


...then I proceeded to watch him go down a full 4 inches. It looked like he decided not to go ahead with the squat before he even really started. He only did one "rep", then he turned around and asked me "did I go parallel? It felt like I did...". I just told him "uh, no... but you were close!" and went back to curling in the squat rack.

[WBBIRL]

I'd have said no, you don't need a ****en spot in a smith machine nor should you be using one.

[BigCorey75]

wow, this damn near beats what i saw today

i saw two guys squatting 405 and to say they were going down 3 inches is generous by an inch and a half

it was ridiculous

then they looked at me wierd when i was going to paralell..

[BFGUITAR]

People dont seem to understand the concept of parallel. Any 5th grader can tell you what parallel is.

[rdkraus]

My gym must be different. I never see these 3' squatters.

Sometimes, after doing parellel squats with like 305, some of
the big guys will throw on even more weight and just do
mini squats or even just hold the weight up in a standing or
slightly squatting position. But thats AFTER doing real squats.

On the other hand, it IS only a small percentage who squat
with a barbell at all.

[BFGUITAR]

My gym must be different. I never see these 3' squatters.

Sometimes, after doing parellel squats with like 305, some of
the big guys will throw on even more weight and just do
mini squats or even just hold the weight up in a standing or
slightly squatting position. But thats AFTER doing real squats.

On the other hand, it IS only a small percentage who squat
with a barbell at all.

Ive done those mini squats with a lot more weight than I can handle when im done real squatting. It helps me feel whats its like to have a lot of weight on my back. They are very useful.

[WORLD]

lol I have to join a public gym again. This is the good stuff I miss.

[Keith]

lol I have to join a public gym again. This is the good stuff I miss.

And giving people names! Man... good ol' Extreme and Roos days eh?

[WORLD]

And giving people names! Man... good ol' Extreme and Roos days eh?

There was Jack-ass, Light-bulb, ab guy, f ckin idiot... I know there was way more too.

[Keith]

There was Jack-ass, Light-bulb, ab guy, f ckin idiot... I know there was way more too.

LOL there was way more then that. Too many to name, though. Good times.

[mikey4402]

First off i dont condone smithsquats. But i can see why you would need a spot. Dont you have to roll the bar to lock it into place and isnt this harder to do if there is more weight on the bar?

But i really dont know because im a man...and i squat bears in the woods.

[arnoldsclone]

First off i dont condone smithsquats. But i can see why you would need a spot. Dont you have to roll the bar to lock it into place and isnt this harder to do if there is more weight on the bar?

But i really dont know because im a man...and i squat bears in the woods.

jesus i thought I was a man, i only squat sheep and ponies........

[CleverName]

The other day I saw some guy on the tricep pushdown cable thing and was like twirling around then bending over with it. Almost like he was dancing with it really fast. It's really hard to explain just exactly what he was doing... but it was really, really weird. It didn't help that he had a tick handlebar mustache and rainbow shoes and bright orange shorts.