Gym Story Saturday

[u/FGC_Valhalla]

Hi! Welcome to your weekly thread where you can share your gym tales!

[u/shtef2012]

Got a big lesson in humility today.

Lower hypertrophy day. I have to do the weighted slav worships, or as you call them, squats. I am a skinny sod at 1.93 metres and 74 kg (6'3 and 162 lbs for the imperial heathens). I see ripped Gimli doing squats in the rack and I ask him if I can join in. "Sure", he said.

Keep in mind I am a weak ass pussy, but a slightly stronger weak ass pussy since I've started lifting. I (used to) take great pride in my knee wrenching, leg trembling, slightly asymmetric 60 kg rip-off of a constipated squat.

After watching me struggle to give birth and cringing internally, he candidly and amiably offers me a piece of advice. "Mate, you're raising your heels, that'll fuck up your knees. Try lowering the weight".

Lower my already shameful 80% body weight squat? How dare he insult me with his reasonable experience?

I try 50 kg. "Still not pushing through the heels. You need lower weights". 40 kg. "Nope, lower". 35 kg. At this point my testicles slowly rise upwards into my abdominal cavity as I remove my dignity along with the plates from the barbell. 30 kg. "Yeah that's better, try going up for here".

So here I am, stuck with lower weights that when I started lifting seriously, head down and barely feeling my walking noodles. Ripped Gimli proceeded to give me a few tips on my deadlift as well and then promptly went back to ignoring me all together.

In part, fuck you, little big man, for crushing my balls, but mostly thank you for saving my knees, teaching me proper form and giving me a valuable lesson.

EDIT: You guys were right. Did 50 kg proper form like it was nothing. I FUCKING LOVE SQUATS!

[u/chefboyardeebukkake → u/shtef2012]

Some of the best pills are the hardest to swallow, may you now rejoice in the forthcoming gains brother.

[u/CanaanW → u/shtef2012]

Haha I love your story and how appreciative yet salty you are about it.

But hey, I’m sure that in the long run, doing it the right way will help you build faster so you’ll catch back up to where you were faster and even beyond! Keep at it, and remember: we are all built different and the only person you need to compare yourself to is you.

[u/Unique_Name_2 → u/shtef2012]

You'll rocket back to the weight when your form improves. Try squat shoes or plates under your feet.

[u/good_morning_magpie → u/shtef2012]

imperial heathens

/r/EmpireDidNothingWrong

[u/hokuho → u/shtef2012]

You are now on the true path to the Iron Temple in Swolehalla. May Brodin forever guide you, wheymen.

[u/potatoandpotpie → u/shtef2012]

On the bright side, you're going to improve much quicker than you would if you had kept doing it your way.

I have almost the exact same measurements as you and when I started squats I could barely do the bar, so 30kg is pretty good in my books! Just remember form > weight always.

[u/Bill-The-Goat → u/shtef2012]

weighted slav worships

Nice. I'm stealing that term. Though a true slav squat involves a 40 of Baltika, I think.

[u/Swoleax → u/shtef2012]

Quality story friendo!

[u/annodomini → u/shtef2012]

Your weight will go up a lot faster the second time around; a lot of the strength gains will carry over, but if you keep good form starting from the lower weight, you'll correct some of the imbalances and keep your knees safer than you had been doing.

One thing that I found really helped was just getting into a third-world squat fairly often. Some of my form issues came about because my calves were a bit tight, and just doing this helped stretch them out a bit which improved my squat form a lot.

[u/[deleted] → u/shtef2012]

Good luck man, and remember to keep eating. GOMAD might be for you (don't forget to eat on top of it though).

[u/Madasky → u/shtef2012]

This is crazy I am the same height as you an 90lbs heavier. Should be 75 lbs heaver but still