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asc422
Joined: 23 Feb 2009
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 Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2011 6:45 am Post subject: |
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I've worked out at 3 different gyms ... all with these problems.
- Annoying protein bulked trainers with no fitness background dishing advice.
- Mr. Chest's that work chest every single day with chicken legs. Looney toon builds are to be expected of average jabronis but I see this far too much in Korea.
- The stupid shaking machines. Those went out in the 1940's. The only one that provides any benefit is the shaking back and forth one -- the benefit being 1 minute of increased explosiveness for like 10 minutes of shaking. I'm sure that explosiveness will be well used walking on the treadmill.
- Watching people work abs for 45 minutes like that's actually going to do anything.
- Watching people work biceps for 45 minutes like that's actually going to do anything.
- Watching people get out of the saddle on stationary bikes, why?
- Watching people do that stupid ankle roll simultaneous palm stretch ... is that from the Korean army or something?
- Rolled shorts on guys to show poorly built quads. Rolled t-shirt sleeves to reveal 14 inch arms. Wife beaters in the gym to reveal 60 kg frames.
- Too close for comfort locker room: is it necessary to stand nude for 20 minutes in the mirror blow drying your pubes, REALLY? Some of these guys just walk in, immediately strip naked, and then start chatting on the cell phone while staring in the mirror. I think many spend more time in the locker room then working out.
- No sanitation sprays or wipes for the equipment: Dirty shoes ... okay, who cares. But, sweat infested equipment is horrible.
- Patrons hogging the squat rack is the single most irritating thing at any gym. In most countries people respect the squat rack and get in and get out. In Korea guys will hang in there and squat 60 kg for an hour.
- The strutting. It's starting to drive me insane. Why must you lift your shorts and flex your quads every 2 minutes? Is it necessary to flex biceps in the mirror in full view of everyone? The rolled sleeves and narcissistic mirror stares are too much. I'm sorry but nobody in any of the gyms I've been too gets a pass on this ... they aren't bodybuilders or anything.
- Poor ROM. I see this old guy (60 +) load 4 plates on the decline bench and move it 2 inches x 5 times. I just think about the day when his elbow is going to snap.
- Wacky ROM. Full swing bicep curls. Full body weight "tricep" pull downs. The lat pully is the worst.
- Super gay assists. Do you need a guy to spot you from behind on a 10 kg curl? I don't think so.
- Curling in the squat rack. GTFO!! Skull crushers on the flat bench. GTFO!! Walking backwards on the treadmill. GTFO!! No concept 2 rowing machine anywhere. Does not compute.
I could go on but gyms in Korea are really annoying. If you go to the gym as much as I do (5x a week for 1.5 hours) you start to lose your mind. I make it a point to change gyms every 2 months. |
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UknowsI
Joined: 16 Apr 2009
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| Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2011 5:15 pm Post subject: |
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I feel a bit ashamed that I even care about it, but I do sometimes get annoyed when nobody else are running in the gym. It's not really any of my business how other people exercise, so it shouldn't bother me, but I do feel a bit frustrated when I see people walk at 3 km/h on the treadmill and never break a sweat.
Overall I'm very happy with my uni gym. It's free, spacious and has a good variety of equipment even though some of it sometimes break. I guess the most annoying parts is that the writing on the free weights are put on the outside and is worn off very fast so it's impossible to see how heavy the weights are. Also the bench-press rack is too narrow, so I can't use it without worrying that I'll pinch my hands. For some reason the weights you put on the regular bars are breaking. I find this a bit odd since they only need to be a lump of iron, but the screws are falling off and the iron is breaking where there are holes to lift the weights. The bars in themselves are also a bit random weight. Some of them are around 10 kg and some are around 15 while none seem to be the standard 20 kg.
I don't mean to make smart remarks, but I'm a little curious to some of the comments above me. I don't exercise often (Probably once a week on average) so I probably do a lot of the exercises wrong and wouldn't mind some corrections if they are sensible:
| asc422 wrote: |
- Watching people get out of the saddle on stationary bikes, why?
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What is the problem with getting out of the saddle on stationary bikes? Do you mean because of the uneven resistance on some stationary bikes or because you don't believe there is any workout benefits?
| asc422 wrote: |
| Skull crushers on the flat bench. GTFO!! |
Are you supposed to do them on an inclined bench? I tried to google it and I couldn't find anyone doing it on anything but flat benches. Or do you mean in the bench press rack? |
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JJK1
Joined: 22 May 2006
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| Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2011 9:43 pm Post subject: |
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I agree with most of the things said in the thread but some of comments below bother me:
| asc422 wrote: |
- Watching people work abs for 45 minutes like that's actually going to do anything.
- Watching people work biceps for 45 minutes like that's actually going to do anything.
Just like with any other body part, you need to lift in order to build muscle mass. Some people are lucky enough to have good genes, have great abs and biceps by just doing compound exercises but to think that isolating is a waste of time is ridiculous.
- Watching people get out of the saddle on stationary bikes, why?
What?
- Watching people do that stupid ankle roll simultaneous palm stretch ... is that from the Korean army or something?
You've never seen people stretch before?
- Rolled shorts on guys to show poorly built quads. Rolled t-shirt sleeves to reveal 14 inch arms. Wife beaters in the gym to reveal 60 kg frames.
14 inch arms are not that small, especially if you're not fat and 5'11 and under.
- The strutting. It's starting to drive me insane. Why must you lift your shorts and flex your quads every 2 minutes? Is it necessary to flex biceps in the mirror in full view of everyone? The rolled sleeves and narcissistic mirror stares are too much. I'm sorry but nobody in any of the gyms I've been too gets a pass on this ... they aren't bodybuilders or anything.
- Poor ROM. I see this old guy (60 +) load 4 plates on the decline bench and move it 2 inches x 5 times. I just think about the day when his elbow is going to snap.
- Wacky ROM. Full swing bicep curls. Full body weight "tricep" pull downs. The lat pully is the worst.
This is common behavior seen in every gym, all across the world.
- Skull crushers on the flat bench. GTFO!! Walking backwards on the treadmill. GTFO!! No concept 2 rowing machine anywhere. Does not compute.
Where else would you do skull crushers? And WTF is a concept 2 rowing machine?
I could go on but gyms in Korea are really annoying. If you go to the gym as much as I do (5x a week for 1.5 hours) you start to lose your mind. I make it a point to change gyms every 2 months.
It sounds like no gyms anywhere could live up to your standards. And 1.5 hour long workouts is over training unless you're doing cardio or taking 15 minute breaks in between sets. You will surely get an injury if you workout for that long.
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BankOfRC
Joined: 06 May 2010
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| Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2011 3:34 am Post subject: . |
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Message
Last edited by BankOfRC on Tue May 03, 2011 10:01 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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beast
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 5:13 am Post subject: |
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| Been here a total of 14 years now. I laughed my you know what off!!! Seen all that stuff and more. It hasn't changed in 14 years. Incredible! The thing that really annoys me these days is the sneezing. What's up with the sneezing! A guy will sneeze eight, ten, twelve times in a row and I feel like I'm being contaminated by him. What's up with Korean guys and there sneezing??????? In the shower, in the gym, sneezing, sneezing, sneezing!! |
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tottenhamtaipeinick
Joined: 05 Sep 2010
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 2:58 pm Post subject: |
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| I highly doubt a Korean gym would be worse than a gym full of young wogs. Every gym I go to in Australia gets taken over by some group of wogs either Lebanese or Bosnian. It becomes their local hangout where they shout in their native language walk round like kings and stare you down if you decide to go near weight machines. They just take up the whole weights section for 3 hours tensing and cursing loud and all junked up on steroids looking like they are actually dealing at the gym rather than working out. Any gym which doesn�t have 50 wogs who know each other is a gym worth going to. This is the top reason I choose to use my smaller apartment gym. From what you guys have said Korean gyms don�t sound that bad. |
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R. S. Refugee
Joined: 29 Sep 2004
Location: Shangra La, ROK
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| Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2011 8:30 pm Post subject: |
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Well, I'm just a gym neophyte. I've only been going a few months almost every day. But I have to say I really like the gym I go to in Hwajeong. It's part of a government-run complex that has an ice skating rink, soccer field, swimming pool, gymnasium, and a workout gym. I only use the workout gym. I'm not sure if the 50,000 won a month I pay covers any of these other things or just the workout gym. It really doesn't matter to me because the workout gym is all I'm interested in using.
I do weight machines. I would do more free weights if I knew more about them, but there really aren't any English-speaking staff there to teach me. I used to do the treadmill, but recently I discovered that I like the elliptical trainers better and use those for all my cardio and Peak 8 work. It overlooks the swimming pool on the floor below so watching the swimmers while training is pleasant.
Beyond that, I like using WBVT machines and I also attend the stretching classes regularly.
Someone on this thread was talking about small, skinny Korean guys. Well, nutrition has improved over the years and I do see Koreans with well-developed muscles working out there -- some young, some old, some in-between.
This gym is very popular and is in constant use throughout the day. I like that. I like to watch other people exercise as well as exercise myself. There are men and women, twenty-somethings, thirty-somethings, forty-somethings, fifty-somethings, sixty-somethings, seventy-somethings using this facility. A good mix. I even met an 84-year old chap in there one time -- a former National Assemblyman, now local pastor.
It's a very upbeat sort of place to go every day. Most of the other gyms I've been to were quite boring by comparison.
Oh, and one time there was an incredibly well-formed, poised hot female in there exercising. She wore a skin-tight outfit rather than the standard provided workout clothes and her form was amazingly good in every exercise she did. A real treat to watch. Alas. I only saw her there once. |
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sadguy
Joined: 13 Feb 2011
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| Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2011 9:00 pm Post subject: |
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| R. S. Refugee wrote: |
Well, I'm just a gym neophyte. I've only been going a few months almost every day. But I have to say I really like the gym I go to in Hwajeong. It's part of a government-run complex that has an ice skating rink, soccer field, swimming pool, gymnasium, and a workout gym. I only use the workout gym. I'm not sure if the 50,000 won a month I pay covers any of these other things or just the workout gym. It really doesn't matter to me because the workout gym is all I'm interested in using.
I do weight machines. I would do more free weights if I knew more about them, but there really aren't any English-speaking staff there to teach me. I used to do the treadmill, but recently I discovered that I like the elliptical trainers better and use those for all my cardio and Peak 8 work. It overlooks the swimming pool on the floor below so watching the swimmers while training is pleasant.
Beyond that, I like using WBVT machines and I also attend the stretching classes regularly.
Someone on this thread was talking about small, skinny Korean guys. Well, nutrition has improved over the years and I do see Koreans with well-developed muscles working out there -- some young, some old, some in-between.
This gym is very popular and is in constant use throughout the day. I like that. I like to watch other people exercise as well as exercise myself. There are men and women, twenty-somethings, thirty-somethings, forty-somethings, fifty-somethings, sixty-somethings, seventy-somethings using this facility. A good mix. I even met an 84-year old chap in there one time -- a former National Assemblyman, now local pastor.
It's a very upbeat sort of place to go every day. Most of the other gyms I've been to were quite boring by comparison.
Oh, and one time there was an incredibly well-formed, poised hot female in there exercising. She wore a skin-tight outfit rather than the standard provided workout clothes and her form was amazingly good in every exercise she did. A real treat to watch. Alas. I only saw her there once. |
look buddy, i don't know what you're trying to do here but this is a PET PEEVES thread, not a what's great about my gym braggathon, capeesh? |
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R. S. Refugee
Joined: 29 Sep 2004
Location: Shangra La, ROK
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| Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2011 9:12 pm Post subject: |
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| sadguy wrote: |
look buddy, i don't know what you're trying to do here but this is a PET PEEVES thread, not a what's great about my gym braggathon, capeesh? |
Oops. My bad. |
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fadedgirl
Joined: 26 Nov 2006
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| Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 11:10 pm Post subject: |
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lol!
back to the topic at hand...
One time I was using the lat machine. I don't know the official name...it's the one that you sit down at and pull the weights down....
Well I guess I wasn't leaning back and instead of just telling me to lean back, the personal trainer kneed me in the back.
I was so shocked! Did he really just put his knee in my back?! Apparently so.
I NEVER used THAT machine at THAT gym ever again. |
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Goochmon
Joined: 10 Sep 2009
Location: Gwacheon
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| Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2011 2:30 am Post subject: |
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-A general lack of knowledge regarding how to exercise correctly and effectively.
-Chicks and Bro's constantly on the Cell.
-That people try so hard to look the roll but can't do jack in the gym.
-No wiping down.
-Not enough space
-Not well equipped
-No resistance bands
-Cramped and gross locker rooms. |
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jk3587
Joined: 02 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 10:32 pm Post subject: |
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| BankOfRC wrote: |
| JJK1 wrote: |
I agree with most of the things said in the thread but some of comments below bother me:
| asc422 wrote: |
- Watching people work abs for 45 minutes like that's actually going to do anything.
- Watching people work biceps for 45 minutes like that's actually going to do anything.
Just like with any other body part, you need to lift in order to build muscle mass. Some people are lucky enough to have good genes, have great abs and biceps by just doing compound exercises but to think that isolating is a waste of time is ridiculous.
- Watching people get out of the saddle on stationary bikes, why?
What?
- Watching people do that stupid ankle roll simultaneous palm stretch ... is that from the Korean army or something?
You've never seen people stretch before?
- Rolled shorts on guys to show poorly built quads. Rolled t-shirt sleeves to reveal 14 inch arms. Wife beaters in the gym to reveal 60 kg frames.
14 inch arms are not that small, especially if you're not fat and 5'11 and under.
- The strutting. It's starting to drive me insane. Why must you lift your shorts and flex your quads every 2 minutes? Is it necessary to flex biceps in the mirror in full view of everyone? The rolled sleeves and narcissistic mirror stares are too much. I'm sorry but nobody in any of the gyms I've been too gets a pass on this ... they aren't bodybuilders or anything.
- Poor ROM. I see this old guy (60 +) load 4 plates on the decline bench and move it 2 inches x 5 times. I just think about the day when his elbow is going to snap.
- Wacky ROM. Full swing bicep curls. Full body weight "tricep" pull downs. The lat pully is the worst.
This is common behavior seen in every gym, all across the world.
- Skull crushers on the flat bench. GTFO!! Walking backwards on the treadmill. GTFO!! No concept 2 rowing machine anywhere. Does not compute.
Where else would you do skull crushers? And WTF is a concept 2 rowing machine?
I could go on but gyms in Korea are really annoying. If you go to the gym as much as I do (5x a week for 1.5 hours) you start to lose your mind. I make it a point to change gyms every 2 months.
It sounds like no gyms anywhere could live up to your standards. And 1.5 hour long workouts is over training unless you're doing cardio or taking 15 minute breaks in between sets. You will surely get an injury if you workout for that long.
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though I agree with most of what you said, training 1.5 hours really isn't a problem. I don't know where the over-training myth came from, but recently once again natural bodybuilders are preaching the 2x a week training, high volume. Hell, powerlifters will train same body parts 3x a week and workouts will consist of 2+ hours. I know my power days are around 2 hours, and my goals are a 600 lb deadlift, I have already surpassed the 500 mark and 300 bench. All the while doing 40+ sets a workout on hypetrophy days, two hour workouts on power days. Eat well, sleep well, and stay healthy and there shouldn't be a problem. However, an adaptation period will occur where you will feel run down.
I have many pet peeves, the clapping while performing bench or deadlifts, the touching, the blow drying of the pubes, and not putting away the weights properly. Also, the blatant starring. However, put in some good music, focus on your lifts and other than the pube drying there really shouldnt be any issues.
But I did laugh at the "protein bulked up" trainers lol. I must be the protein bulked up waygook annoying everyone with heavy deadlifts. But my arms are over 17, can I still wear a cut off? |
Where do you train and do you have any videos? I'm currently stuck at 195kg on deadlift sumo style but I want to hit the 500 lbs mark by the end of the year.
Here's a video of me squatting 180kg before I switched over to box squats:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlgHYC1cA7I&feature=channel_video_title |
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RMNC
Joined: 21 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2011 12:36 am Post subject: |
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^^^ I wanna train with you. You actually know what you're doing. Even if you didn't quite get low enough on that squat.
This is why I have a flat bench and changeable dumbbells at home. |
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jk3587
Joined: 02 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2011 3:02 am Post subject: |
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| RMNC wrote: |
^^^ I wanna train with you. You actually know what you're doing. Even if you didn't quite get low enough on that squat.
This is why I have a flat bench and changeable dumbbells at home. |
Looked like parallel in the still frames but I definitely want to go a bit lower. |
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chotaerang
Joined: 23 Mar 2004
Location: In the gym
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| Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2011 4:05 am Post subject: |
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| JK, your lifts are great. Where do you train and do you compete at anything? |
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