Do you ever have people stare at you while lifting?

[thedreamthief]

I had this happen to me for the first time this past Saturday. I was doing deadlifts (not a lot of weight by any means, 260 lbs.) and apparently majority of the people at my local Y have either never seen anyone do deadlifts or seen anyone do deadlifts with that much weight.

Anyhow, by my 2nd rep out of 5, I noticed about 8-10 people just staring at me, watching me do my deads. It was really distracting and even more embarrassing. I wanted to stop and ask "What are you looking at?"...but, I just finished my set without saying anything.

As I was leaving the gym, I overheard one guy mentioned to his friend "Did you see all those people who were starting at him when he was doing that lift?" which made me feel even more embarrassed.

On one hand, I guess it was kind of cool to have everyone staring at you in awe (at least I hope they were staring in awe and not staring at me like I was a dumbass or something) ...but it really was more embarrassing than anything.

Anyone have similar experiences? Does it bother / distract / embarrass you at all?

 

[H_T_]

you must train at an awful, useless, pos, gym. the people at my gym mind their own business and there isn't a lift they haven't seen. find a real gym. quit training next to blue hairs....

 

[SgtSlaughter]

Yes. It happens sometimes in my gym... vastly different types of people train and workout there... from 250lb+ lean mofo BB types to skinny fat kids trying to get big biceps to old lady's doing flys on the yoga ball.

solutions:

-learn to deal with it
-find a new gym
-stop working out

 

[Powerbuilder333]

I think all powerlifters watch their peer group train, and give encouragement. There's genuine comradery amongst powerlifters, even in competition.

 

[rnch]

staring is one thing.....LAUGHING is another.

 

[HaZaRDouZ]

lol, never happened to me. i lift at a private whole in the wall gym where your average lifter (there isnt many people) is 210lbs+ and with above average weight on lifts. my gym is "Where the serious animal trains" thats the slogan. so no.

 

[Itsadeepburn]

After a heavy squat session i was on the exercise bike stretchin the legs out a bit, and tried to softly squeeze out a fart that turned out to be a crack of thunder....it was a few weeks ago, and the gym was packed full of the "resolutioners". I stopped a good bit of people dead in their tracks.

 

[crossy]

Funnly i had the same thing last week when doing deads, must of been that my face was red and my eyes blood shot. But yeah very distracting.

 

[steig]

I had a similar experience. A couple of people were staring at me while I was doing floor presses and finally one of the guys walked up to me and told me i could use his bench so i could bench for the full range of motion.

 

[youngguns]

When your gosh darn beautiful, you get used to it.

 

[bigsteven80]

Yup while doing barbell shurgs cause all my veins stick out like a mother and it looks freaky but cool lol

 

[plifter]

Back when I benched 405 I had people staring at me.

 

[Xlajbf]

I wish people would stare. They could actually learn something.

 

[carlsuen]

one guy not only stared at me, he actually came over and attempted to DL my weight while i was away for a drink (120kg.. not much i know.. but he was only a 160lbs kid) and said.. "wholly crap! no way!" when he failed to budge the weight..

 

[sofakingdel]

I can tell people are watching and lookin at me wierd when I do 5X5 lifts. One day a guy asked me what I was doing, i dropped some knowledge on him and gave him the website, i saw him a couple of days later and he thanked me.

 

[gettnlarge01]

It happens until you get to a real gym.

 

[Stacemranger]

-learn to deal with it
-find a new gym
-stop working out

Pretty much covered it there. I did deads yesterday actually. I tried 425 which was a max for me and got 6 reps after doing 135, 225, 315, 375. 6-10 on each. I was very impressed with myself. And yes, a bunch of people were watching me lift. It is how it usually is at the gym. I lift more on biceps than some people do when they are benching, so it's bound to draw attention. I love it though, don't know why you don't like it.

 

[e6er]

No, never any stares. But do always notice the skinny dudes always looking at people lift and then bitch about proper form. Always the skinny guy's bitchin about it, yet they are the same guys who never seem to grow either

 

[Burning_Inside]

i remember i used to get looks when i weighed 250 lbs. I'm 6'4" and taller than basically anyone at my gym except for one guy, and I guess at that time i looked intimidating to the average guy (i had a wierd looking beard to go along with it too)

Now people just look at me cause I'm pathetic.

Also i notice you will get a lot more looks from guys when you're huge than you will women, and a lot more looks from women when you're thin and ripped than you will guys.

 

[Brad87]

I really hate all the highschoolers that come to my gym, they do the same lifts every single day, and stand around and talk the rest of the time. If there not benching than they are usually just staring at the biggest guys in the gym.

 

[al420]

I like to pop a Viagra or two before I train so I have a really flush face and a rock hard boner. Seems to get some attention. Also helps on heavy shrugs sets as you don't ever hit your dick.

 

[HiDnGoD]

Somewhere there is a website called MediocreFitnes.slob and the wankers in there have a thread called Morons at the gym. And they talk about us.

 

[silver_shadow]

where i lift i get attention all the time... there's just a handful of guys who are really hardcore, all of them competitive bodybuilders so those guys get more of the attention from the dudes. that's ok, i think i get more from the chicks

it's really not a big deal although sometimes i wish that some of my numbers were actually impressive enough to justify the attention. i just get on with lifting and shut out everything else when i'm about to start a set.