Ignorance.. Plus a question for the vets

[Twitched]

How do you guys handle the people in the gym who day in day out question you.. I know I should just keep my mouth shut, but it irks the hell out of me..

I was doing 2-boards today and the guy came over and was like "it's not all about WEIGHT, it's about FORM.. get RID of the boards so your PECS get some work".. I was fuming.. so I said "Thanks for the advice man, I'll try that next time"... he was so far out when it came to strength training that It felt like a waste of time to defend myself.. rather easier to play dumb..

He suggested I drop the "really bad form skull crushers" (which were really JM Presses), and do kickbacks..

to add to the embarrasment, I got pinned today :-(.. I was doing my 2-boards and I thought I had ONE more left in me before I needed a spotter to shoot for a PR.. well.. it came off the board quick and made it half way up.. then slowly it started to drift back down.. you know as soon as it starts to come back you are FUCKED. So I had to have the same asshole pull the BAR off of me!

my question is, how do you guys's close grip 2-boards 1rm compare to your RAW bench 1rm?

It's about equal for me right now.. I don't know if I should be upset it's not higher then my bench, or happy it is keeping up..



twitched

 

[FREAK19]

Well I hope I can understand your question. MY raw bench is 455 and Ive done 2boards with a close grip with like 365-385.

 

[Screwball]

What??? I don't get it. You should be able to handle more off of a 2-board then you can bench raw. The fact that it's a close-grip bench shouldn't make a big difference. At least it doesn't for me. My 2-board (close-grip) is about 20-30 lbs. more than my raw bench.

 

[FREAK19]

well im sure it is more now, i stopped doing them, i just do close grips all the way down. so im not sure what i can do off a 2 board now. so you might be correct.

 

[IrishPower]

regarding handling people in the gym asking annoying questions and dispensing unwanted advice.

it is very tough, especially when you are young and not really strong yet. my suggestion: put on some headphones and ignore every single person in the gym except your training partner.

eventually, when you start growing and getting stronger and every other asshole in the gym is the same size and strength they were 5 years ago, it will pay off and people will coming to you with respect instead of 'advice'.

i still have to be careful. previous to my pec-tear, i was getting extremely strong on lifts in the gym and still had to field a bunch of annoying questions. at least they were questions, not advice. when i got the pec-tear, i knew that i would have to train in my own place in order to avoid further setbacks because my ego kept getting in the way of my common sense.

good luck!

/irish

 

[benchmonster]

Twitched,

I feel your pain. That is why I train at my home Dungeon, and only train with knowledgeable strong people like Screwball, and bigokie.

What you might try, if you feel like being a smart ass, is the next time that some idiot tells you your form is bad, your moving the weights too fast, etc. . . ask them if they have ever trained for a 500 bench/squat/deadlift, whatever you are training. When they look at you like an idiot and say "No" then you can reply, then don't tell me how to do it.

If you don't feel like being quite so smart, then you can calmly explain, that you are a powerlifter, and therefore a strength athlete, and because of this, it is the weight that matters.

And I don't know what my raw bench is nor my raw 2 board, so sorry can't help you there.

B.