NiaShanks.com

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• Posted 07/19/2010
• Tags:
  strength training
• 3 comments

About a month ago I started searching for a new gym. I had two primary options and both were small, local gyms. The first option was newer, fancier, and had all of the “state of the art” equipment, tanning beds, a juice bar, child care, and other nifty extras (none of which I wanted or needed). However, there was one vital thing that gym did not have – a power rack. Needless to say, that gym quickly got scratched off the list.

The second gym was older and a little smaller. But the atmosphere was laid back. And they had a power rack. I found my new gym.

I’ve been training there for a few weeks now and things are going well. I have to admit that part of me really likes training at a place where no one knows me. No one bothers me or asks me questions, or touches me while I’m training. I can get in, train hard, and get out.

The other day I noticed something quite interesting. From the second I walked through the doors to the second I walked out, not a single person in that place touched a dumbbell or barbell. Everyone in there was either on cardio machines or piddling about on the exercise machines.

I was in there for about an hour and ten minutes (my training session only lasted about 45-50 minutes, but the total time includes warm-up, going to the lockroom, etc). While I was there I managed to complete three hard sets of squats, weighted parallel bar dips, barbell bent over rows, thick bar curls, and some ab work.

Like I said – not a single person in the entire gym touched a weight. I was a complete and total Outsider.

Now please don’t think I’m being an arrogant ass and saying that I’m superior to anyone at that gym. I am not. I am simply sharing my experience and trying to help other people actually make progress in the gym and accomplish their training goals.

I’m sure the people who spent an hour plus on the treadmills and cardio equipment were thinking they were getting in a great workout. I’m sure the people who used all of the ab machines thought they were “toning up” their midsections.

I’m sure some people thought I was insane because my back was covered in chalk (keeps the bar from slipping while squatting), I was red faced and stumbling and gasping for air after my last set of squats.

Now I’m glad that the people who were in the gym that day have actually made a great step of being physically active. Granted, it’s not the most productive way, but at least they are trying. Unfortunately all of the popular fitness magazines don’t help matters by providing useless and even dangerous training information, along with TV show hosts and famous TV “trainers”. That’s the reason so many people are on the wrong, unproductive path in the gym.

Okay . . . I’m getting off track now.

Back to my original topic: who do you think was getting in a better “workout” and doing more to improve their physical appearance and strength? Who’s workout will make a bigger impact on their body?

A) Walking on a treadmill at a super slow and easy pace for 45 minutes to an hour, and then playing around with some exercise machines and every ab machine in the gym.

B) Busting ass with squats, parallel bar dips, and bent over barbell rows.

Now you all know the answer to that question. But here’s another one for you: why do people plod along on a treadmill and then use machines for isolation work like inner/outer thigh machines, ab machines, biceps and triceps machine, and other exercises? Why don’t more people use free weights?

BECAUSE IT’S HARD WORK.

I’ve talked about this many times before, so I won’t ramble on about it here. However, if those same people who spent about an hour and half walking on a treadmill and then doing a few exercises with machines would have performed my workout, they would have done much more for their body.

If they performed workouts similar to mine week after week, month after month, and improve their performance in those lifts, those people would be astonished by the results they achieved. Yes, it really is that simple.

Yes, lifting hard and heavy is tough work. However, you can get much more accomplished in half the time and actually achieve noticeable results.

I know without a doubt that I would rather bust ass on a few Basic Exercises a few times per week and spend a fraction of the time most people do and get significantly better results.

I tell people if they’re going to spend any amount of time in a gym to make it worth it. Don’t get in there and loaf around and socialize. Have a game plan, pick a few basic exercises, and WORK HARD.

Dare to be different Yes, I am aware of the fact that “most people” do triceps kickbacks, isolation curls, inner/outer thigh machines, leg extensions, and every ab exercise imaginable. Hell, when it comes to how the vast majority of women train, I am at the complete and extreme opposite end. I even train completely different than most men – very few guys train their legs, and if they do it’s usually with the leg press and Smith machine squats.

Yes, I know you may feel weird if you perform a brutal set of squats, get red faced, and stumble around the gym for a few minutes. I know you may feel weird if you do what I do and squat in nothing but your socks. I know you may feel weird by bringing some chalk to the gym and putting it on your hands for the majority of your exercises. I know you may feel weird and out of place when you use the only power rack in the gym for your whole training session and people give you dirty looks because they want to use the hanging straps from the bar to do “leg raises”.

There was once a time when I felt weird by “going against the grain” in the training world and not following the typical Bodybuilding Splits that everyone else was doing. There was a time when I felt weird deadlifting and making noise while everyone else worked quietly on the leg press machine.

Well . . . I truly don’t give a rip anymore what anyone thinks. I know I am training hard and that I will get results. Not only will my body look better, but it will be strong and do anything I ask of it.

My true hope is that other people will take notice of what I do, the results I get, and then start to adopt the same attitude and start getting results themselves. I do what I do and encourage others to do the same because it works. If light weights for high reps with isolation exercises would actually improve my strength and physical appearance, then I would do them.

The fact of the matter is that too many people join a gym, put in a little bit of effort for a few weeks, and then notice that they didn’t get any results and then quit. The recipe for success have never, and will never change, when it comes to getting in results at the gym – big, basic exercises trained hard and consistently.

So simple, even a cave man could do it.

Today I’ll be back in that same gym for some heavy deadlifts. Maybe, just maybe, someone will be back there with me busting ass and getting results.

In the mean time, if you want a plan of action that will actually produce noticeable results, then check out Fat Loss Detour.