The gym idiot: 30 signs to avoid

The gym idiot isn’t someone who is still learning. It’s the type who doesn’t listen, doesn’t think and keeps making the same mistake. Here’s an old-school list, with a sharp sense of humor, of what makes other people smirk or shake their heads in the gym.

Why the gym idiot gets noticed

Every gym has its own unwritten rules. Put the dumbbells back. Don’t interrupt someone mid-set. Don’t do chest day seven times a week, and don’t assume that a bigger number on the machine always means more strength.

This article isn’t meant to mock beginners. A beginner asks, tries and learns. The problem starts when ego runs over technique, recovery and common sense. Honestly, most of these points can be fixed within a week if the person genuinely wants to improve.

Signs of the gym idiot in training

1. If your week looks like this: Mon: Chest, biceps. Tue: Chest, biceps. Wed: Chest, biceps. Thu: Chest, biceps. Fri: Chest, biceps. Sat: Chest, biceps. Sun: Rest.
2. If you press 135 kg once on a vertical chest press machine and believe that’s more impressive than 120 kg pressed with a regular barbell.
3. If you use a 50 x 125 scheme for some exercise and think that’s a smart training plan.
4. If a 45-minute aerobic workout before strength training seems like a good warm-up to you.
5. If you go to McDonald’s, order a Big Mac and a Coca-Cola, and then seriously tell others you’re on a diet.
6. If you say: I’m going to lose 12 kg of fat while gaining 4-5 kg of muscle mass at the same time!
7. If you believe protein and creatine are steroids.
8. If you think endless sit-ups and crunches will bring out your abs.
9. If you squat 200 kg, but do it with the worst technique possible.
10. If you do a huge volume of dumbbell concentration curls and say you’re building the peak of your biceps.
11. If you only go to the gym to chat and socialize.
12. If you bounce the barbell off your chest at the bottom of every rep on the bench press.
13. If you put on the kind of makeup you’d wear for a Saturday night out when you go to train, but the intensity of your workout doesn’t even make your skin slightly damp.
14. If you do sets of 50-rep biceps curls with a 3 kg dumbbell in front of the mirror, but your technique is zero and your attention is on the other guys or men training in the gym.
15. If the weight on your T-bar rows is so heavy that you’re almost standing upright and only move your body a little.
16. If your goal is bodybuilding, but you can’t leave your ego at the door and you pick weights like a powerlifter.
17. If you start talking to someone who is in the middle of a set.
18. If you eat 1 meal a day, and even that is at McDonald’s, spend 2 hours a day in the gym and wonder why your progress has stalled.
19. If you let your phone wreck your focus and interrupt your workout for 10 minutes.
20. If you leave dumbbells lying around.
21. If you think machines are really better than free weights.
22. If you believe you grow at the very moment you train in the gym.
23. If you skip leg day.
24. If during a bulking phase you gain 15 kg of fat in addition to muscle.
25. If you train abs more than 3 times a week.
26. If you constantly do 40 – 50 sets for every body part and think more always means better results.
27. If you load so much weight on the barbell during biceps curls that your back and front delts do the work instead of your biceps.
28. If you go up to someone who has just finished a 45-minute strength training session and plans a 20 – 30 minute aerobic workout, and tell them everything they did in the gym is going to waste.
29. If you train in the gym for 2 – 3 hours and call someone lazy who has finished their intense 50-minute workout.
30. If your biceps workout lasts longer than your back workout.

How to avoid gym idiot behavior

Simple truth: you don’t have to know everything in the gym, but you do have to be willing to learn. If your technique falls apart, reduce the weight. If your workouts last hours every time, check whether you’re really working or just stretching out the time.

Nutrition works the same way. When people say someone needs to get 250 grams of protein a day, it doesn’t mean you have to force that amount into 2 meals. If you only have time for 2 meals a day, the problem is your routine, not the math.

It’s also worth remembering that squats, deadlifts and presses play a huge role in increasing arm circumference. It doesn’t all come from the biceps pump. And when an exercise is listed as 4 x 10 – 12, the 4 is the number of sets and 10 – 12 is the rep count in each set. It is not the weight in kilograms.

Old gym myths that live on

Some beliefs have been going around from gym to gym for years. For example, that bodybuilders have no strength. Or that steroids are miracle drugs: you take pills, you inject, and you don’t even have to train. You hear this especially from young beginners, even though 95% of people who train regularly don’t actually know what steroids are, why they are taken or how they act in the body.

Blindly following role models is just as strange. When Marek Kalmus or Ott Kiivikas say something, it doesn’t mean everyone should follow exactly the same plan and believe that in a month and 15 days they’ll bench press 110 kg and deadlift 200 kg. Good advice has to be adapted to your own level, recovery and goal.

Training shoulders or triceps right before chest day, or biceps right before lats, isn’t a very smart idea either. Muscles and joints need to be fresh, not constantly pre-fatigued. The same goes for treating powerlifters and strongmen as bodybuilders. That’s about as accurate as lumping javelin throwers and discus throwers together.

FAQ: the gym idiot and gym culture

Can a beginner be a gym idiot?

A beginner is not the problem. The problem is when someone ignores advice, gets in other people’s way, leaves equipment lying around or uses dangerous technique just to make the weight look bigger.

Is exercising in front of the mirror showing off?

No. A mirror helps you check your technique. It is extremely petty to automatically consider training in front of the mirror showing off.

What should I do if I recognize myself in some of the points?

Fix one thing at a time. Put the dumbbells back, learn the technique of the basic exercises, read a bit of relevant literature and ask for advice from someone who really knows what they’re doing.

Translated by: Janar Rückenberg

Source: Turg.Fitness.ee

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