"We don't want bodybuilders here....."

[Corwin]

Originally Posted by BULKING_N

As for the pet peeve problems like cologne etc, those things are so friavalous! Everyone in the gym should be respectable of each other, the big guy must respect the little guy and vice versa, men respect women, whatever nationality, creed, race,colour. The gym should be a place of 'peace and sanctity' away from the world that has gone mad. Just my opinions.

You misunderstand. Is it respectful to put on so much cologne that it can be smelled 10 feet away, and is so dense that it causes people to cough and choke? I know some people who are strongly allergic to cologne. Is it respectful to have their workout interrupted, mid-lift, with a coughing fit?

When I go to the gym, I sweat. I work out hard, and if I don't sweat, then I haven't really worked myself hard enough. But it's not people like me that I smell with the cologne, it is the people who come to they gym to socialize -- stand next to the equipment, flirt with the personal trainers, etc. Respectful?

And if a gym is banning ointments that smell, it is entirely reasonable to ask if they are banning other scents, whether everyone deems those scents offensive or not.

[optimusx]

I agree about the strong smells, but I think that's part of the problem. When you craft rules to target specific individuals you fail at creating effective rules. If the owner wanted to make a rule that benefited the majority he would have stated "No strong smelling ointments or perfumes/colognes". By isolating only one strong smelling substance (and albiet used only by one person in our gym that I've seen), he shows his own personal tastes overriding what should be something motivated mainly for the benefit of his business.

I think this is true about gyms as a whole. You have two options when you create a gym; specialize or go ala carte. When you start chipping away at features/privliges to turn an ala carte type gym into something more specialized you risk alienating a large portion of your customer base. Instead of having a little of everything for everyone you now have gaps in your offerings and people will look elsewhere for what they want. Just look at how many people prefer Target over Walmart.

At the end of the day a business (which a gym is) should always count the cost of their actions. Like I posted up a few posts, if the owner had considered what the true cost of charging $10/child/month for childcare he probably wouldn't have made the change from free daycare. Consider that if a couple under a family package changed gyms because of the policy change he would loose around $700/year instead of gaining $120 he had intended. Now he still has to pay the childcare employee(s) even though there are fewer kids and fewer members paying into the general fund. I've already seen a few families choose to go to the Y instead of the gym I go to because of this recent change.

There is a reason that gyms open and close every single day. It's not an easy business to be in... but it doesn't help when you bring a gun to the party and tell your customers to start shooting you. [rant off]

[Fundude]

So back to the intimidation factor, my experience is coming from always having been super skinny. Im not scranny or short, Im just not big. Ive only ever worked out in a public gym like once or twice, and I mostly spent my time swimming. I train at training facilities that are for specific sports, like gymnastics, or aerial arts.

I have to admit that I long to start some hardcore weight training, but it is a little scary having to work out next to huge guys. I feel like I am going to make a fool of myself, or that they will laugh at me for using such light weights. So I understand where some of these people are coming from. Also, a lot of this hostility could be coming from jealousy, you know?

Im not defending these people, but it is human nature to be jealous. But in my expirience, having played waterpolo and working out in the school weight room, most guys are pretty chill and are eager to help you work out. Although every now and then you do get that one real as*hole who is just a total jerk. There were a couple of these kinds of guys in who regulalry worked out in that weight room. Seeing as how they were huge, it was pretty intimidating, and did negatively affect my training.

Besides that, Ive had no really bad happenings. But I still am intimidated, I wont deny that

[ChunkJGZX]

Originally Posted by Fundude

I have to admit that I long to start some hardcore weight training, but it is a little scary having to work out next to huge guys. I feel like I am going to make a fool of myself, or that they will laugh at me for using such light weights. So I understand where some of these people are coming from. Also, a lot of this hostility could be coming from jealousy, you know?

Im not defending these people, but it is human nature to be jealous. But in my expirience, having played waterpolo and working out in the school weight room, most guys are pretty chill and are eager to help you work out. Although every now and then you do get that one real as*hole who is just a total jerk. There were a couple of these kinds of guys in who regulalry worked out in that weight room. Seeing as how they were huge, it was pretty intimidating, and did negatively affect my training.

But see, you even said yourself that a lot of your worries come from YOU. You're worried about what they MIGHT do, which isn't fair; those worries are your creation. Douchebags come from every walk of life, so it's not fair to say that any one group of people is "cool" or not, but I've found it beneficial to train around big guys--watch they're form. Learn new exercises. Look at how much the big guy is lifting, compare it to your own, set a personal goal.

A number of guys said earlier, "I'm not here to be social, I'm here to lift." I'm betting most bodybuilders are the same way; they're too focused on what THEY are doing to worry about everyone else around them.

I go to Planet Fitness, and I was thinking the other day about how irritating the "Judgement Free Zone" is. In a perfect world, everyone could casually decide to improve themselves and it'd just happen, easily. I used to weigh 280 EXTREMELY OBESE pounds. I set my mind to it and lost 100 of that. WHY? Because of "judgement." Being obese made me feel bad enough to do something about it. I think the same thing about being small, which is why I've put so much time and effort into busting my butt at the gym.

I go to Planet Fitness because it's cheap and because I can go there at 2 in the morning if I want to (some of the best workouts I have happened at that hour!). But I look around at the people getting trained, complaining, "Ow, I don't like that! It's too hard!" and I think... "Just getting here is enough for you, isn't it?" For a lot of people, being able to say that they "went to the gym" is good enough. They come in, put on their "gear," then spend 20 minutes casually walking, do a few reps on a couple of machines (with little method, it seems), then take a shower and go home. The "Judgement Free Zone" sometimes feels like the "Progress Free Zone."

My friend Emily's brother came to visit her at work the other day, and I was in AWE--he had the kind of body I hadn't ever seen in person before... Dense, huge muscle, low bodyfat, relatively narrow waist, pecs just piled into his shirt, rippling quads poking out of his shorts... I asked Emily later about him, said I'd love to train, and she mentions how he's not allowed at Planet Fitness anymore because of "grunting" and because he was spoken to twice for "training" other people (he was showing his younger sister a day's workout...!) without permission from the gym. Now they literally look for him at the door. Made me want to drop my membership. I don't understand why grunting is so freakin' intimidating, but it's something people should really deal with.

I almost think it has to do with equipment maintenance and upkeep... The average person who signs up will go really strong for a month or two, then maybe once every two or three weeks, then will talk about their gym membership as a sidenote, something they keep forgetting to cancel. Bodybuilders would be there regularly, consistently tiring out the equipment. It's probably less expensive to keep up with equipment that's only passively used. That's probably significant.

[Fundude]

Originally Posted by ChunkJGZX

But see, you even said yourself that a lot of your worries come from YOU. You're worried about what they MIGHT do, which isn't fair; those worries are your creation. Douchebags come from every walk of life, so it's not fair to say that any one group of people is "cool" or not, but I've found it beneficial to train around big guys--watch they're form. Learn new exercises. Look at how much the big guy is lifting, compare it to your own, set a personal goal.

I never said it was fair. Like you said, your gonna find douche bags everywhere. Whether they be bodybuilders, or the people who discriminate against bodybuilders. You just gotta realize that if your big, your gonna be intimidating whether you mean to be or not. Isnt that part of the reason you want to be big? I know thats why I want to be bigger. But what people dont understand is thats not the only reason. It has to do with bettering yourself.

Oh btw, Kudos for losing all that weight!