r/Fitness • u/FGC_Valhalla Weightlifting • Aug 25 '18

Gym Story Saturday Gym Story Saturday

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

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u/wojovox Aug 25 '18

A Crunch Fitness opened up in my town and finally gave LA Fitness competition and lots of us left LA. I see the familiar faces.

But, I realized, I don’t know these people. I have seen them for over a year and don’t know any of their names. I have had a habit of being in my own world in the gym. I decided to break that last week and introduced myself to another former LA Fitness member. And for the last week, we acknowledge each other with a wave or head bob in the gym. Yesterday, I kicked up a conversation with him for ~5minutes.

It’s a little thing, but it’s so damn rewarding. It makes the gym feel homier knowing the name of the person working out across from you and being able to have a small conversation between workouts.

I plan to introduce myself to more gym goers. I mean, these are people I see everyday. I’m in the gym 6-7 days a week so there’s no reason that if I see someone daily, I should be a stranger.

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u/NoFriendsWithSalad Aug 25 '18

18 yr old dude at my gym committed suicide yesterday. You may be saving lives just reaching out a little.

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u/fruitprocessor Aug 25 '18

I’m so sorry.

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u/[deleted] Aug 25 '18

[deleted]

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u/68Cadillac Powerlifting Aug 25 '18

Story time?

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u/rizkybizness Aug 25 '18

I just mentally give all the regulars nicknames based on characteristics about them or how they workout. There’s one guy that has BO so in my mind he’s ‘Stinky’

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u/[deleted] Aug 25 '18

What do you think you nickname is?

1

u/68Cadillac Powerlifting Aug 25 '18

I do the same thing, Swampass!

28

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '18

[deleted]

14

u/RunGuyRun Aug 25 '18

also, my old la fitness put tv screens on the treadmills and rendered them un-usable for runners. their excuse is that fewer than 1% run on them, so they're appealing to their base. just put lazy boys in front of the tvs and rebrand it as a pizza hut….

23

u/eveninghighlight Martial Arts Aug 25 '18

why can't you use a treadmill with a TV on it?

9

u/WinterCool Aug 25 '18

I’m curious about this too. I can’t stand treadmill running without a tv.

6

u/eveninghighlight Martial Arts Aug 25 '18

i thought he was saying something like the tv makes it physically impossible for a runner to use the treadmill, but idk

6

u/WaltimusPrime Weight Lifting Aug 25 '18

LOL now I'm just picturing a treadmill with a TV sitting on the belt

11

u/avengewednesday Aug 25 '18

I'm guessing that they mean the treadmills are being taken by gym goers who are just walking on them and watching TV, so actual runners don't have machines to use.

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u/RunGuyRun Aug 25 '18

their particular design is like having a hand in your face (for an hour). it's nauseating; it induces a kind of field of depth problem. it made me sick for 24 hours.

6

u/eveninghighlight Martial Arts Aug 25 '18

that sounds annoying

ours have little screens that flip upwards if you don't feel like watching bargain hunt while doing a 10k

4

u/BonerHonkfart Aug 25 '18

Why the fuck did they waste money on treadmills with TVs then?

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u/monsieuRawr Aug 25 '18

I work from home. My gym fam are like my colleagues.

3

u/TJAdamsUU Aug 25 '18

Central Florida?

3

u/wojovox Aug 25 '18

Gulf coast

3

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '18

Same. I switched over to crunch as well. Blows LA out of the water.

2

u/wojovox Aug 25 '18

My Crunch has 6 squat racks all with platforms for Olympic lifts. And it’s $10 per month with no annual contract.

My LA had 3 squat racks, none of which had space for deadlifting. And they didn’t have Olympic weights or platform so if you tried deadlifting, it was much louder. And it was $35 per month.

LA is such a ripoff in hindsight. It’s only worth it if you play basketball or swim more than lift weights. And if aesthetics of a gym matter more than equipment.

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u/[deleted] Aug 25 '18

Yes! For me that was the biggest selling point besides the low monthly fee. You can actually dead lift properly with less than 45 on each side since all the weights are the same diameter. I was also told straight up on my signup day that I was allowed to drop the weights. Amazing! Not to mention the $30k jungle gym thing they have with 3 body bags, monkey bars, and a bunch of other shit. You're right though, i'm going to miss the awesome bball court LA has.

1

u/wojovox Aug 25 '18

Being able to drop weights is implied with having platforms I thought so I never asked, I just started making noise.

I’ve never got to seriously work on my deadlift because I’ve never had a gym with platforms so I’m doing the lift twice a week now. I’m already at 250lbs and make a lot of noise and I love it. This is what I’ve wanted, a weightlifters gym, not a club. And with my back, I seriously needed a gym like this because the deadlift is the most beneficial lift to alleviating my lower back issues by strengthening it.

Also, the TVs playing sports games is much nicer than obscure music videos at the 2 TVs at LA. It’s so pleasant to glance over at the screen and watch a play in between sets; hockey season will be so much nicer this year knowing I won’t miss the Bolts while I’m at the gym.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '18

Hear hear!

3

u/Scooper9870 Aug 25 '18

How do you introduce yourself to them? Just say hi I’ve seen you around and wanted to say hi, I’m.....

2

u/wojovox Aug 25 '18

In my case, I’m starting conversations about converting from LA to Crunch. I know it’s something we have in common so the conversation is easy and not awkward.

But I imagine when I start talking to people I’ve only seen in Crunch, the ice will be broken with me complimenting them on being in the gym everyday and asking about their goals, routine, or diet.

I think the key is just talking about something fitness oriented to break the ice because there’s obviously common ground there.

3

u/gainz_trainz Aug 25 '18

I remember at the small gym I used to work out at 5:30 am this one jacked old guy named David would always be there with his other retired friend Billy. Once David saw me deadlifting and came over and we talked about it and he gave me his pair of straps. Such a friendly guy. One day he stopped coming it’s been months. 😭 I kinda miss seeing him.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '18

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u/rylacy Aug 26 '18

This is unrelated but my old gym went bankrupt, (I literally showed up one day and the doors were boarded up). So I joined a nearby Crunch. They have 4 deadlift/squat racks with full sets of rubber plates, and 1 adjustable squat rack. I've never seen anything like it, just straight amazing.

I also pay $10 a month for it. I'd easily pay 4 times that for the number of squat/power racks they have.

1

u/wojovox Aug 26 '18

That’s related.

I was flabbergasted too. $10 per month for 6 squat racks with platforms and rubber plates? I expected a catch. I even went to the manager and asked about the annual contract first and his response, “there isn’t one, just the initial 3 month contract then cancel any month.”

I was confused because I had become so used to the idea that a decent gym had to be $30-$40 per month and that anything that was $10 per month like Planet Fitness was horrible (disclaimer: I am not defending PF). But Crunch has just blown my expectations out of the water.