Exercising *too* hard? Poor habits at the gym

[Grip of Death]

Over this week in the school fitness room, I have seen more and more people join in. I have also seen inexperienced people use the gym. I am happy to see some overweight people participate because it makes the gym a more diverse place, and I like seeing formally sedentary people feel empowered enough to use the fitness room. I can relate to overweight folk.

But I've observed inexperienced people at the fitness room do some things that may backfire on them later. I'll talk about them, but I don't want to come off as judgemental. I someday would like to build up more knowledge about health, develop effective teaching skills, and conquer my own problem first too so someday I may empower other individuals to do the same. Anyway, here's some of the things I see some people do~

- Many people, even the more experienced gym-goers, like to work out very strenuously on a cardiovascular-based machine, like the tredmill, or the stairstepper. And then these people will naturally get off the machine after only 3 minutes on it. the problem with "going all-out" when you just begun is that you are going to completely max out your heartrate so fast and make you want to pass out. And you are burning anerobically- you are burning the stored up glycogen in your muscles that was meant to be used for quick bursts of energy. This is not an aerobic exercise. When you want to work your heart, you've got to start slow and gentle so you can warm up your body and slowly raise up your heart rate.

- People also thrash around the weights on the weight machines too hard. This is not an effective way to train your muscles, and it will damage the machines from the immense thrashing. The best way to handle the weights is slow and controlled. If you cannot fully control the movement of the weights, then it is an important sign that you have too much weight to handle and you need to lighten up the load.

- Today I saw a thin, tall, fit-looking man "coaching" a heavy set girl. The girl felt displeasure over the activities he made her do. I think part of the reason was from her preconceived attitudes about exercise, but another was that I felt he was working her way too hard. I think his intentions was good, but I don't think he understands what it's like to be heavy. For one, heavy people, and sedentary people are going to be limited in the exercises they can do. For them, my major emphasis is to make the gym experience an enjoyable and motivating experience, not a painful, grating one. Sedentary people need to work gently at first.

Have any of you notice any poor fitness behavior, or poor gym ettiquette? Talk about, and/or vent your frustrations here! blaugh  

[Aeren]

I SOOOO concur. I have seen so many people in the gym, over-doing it because they've had "no pain no gain" in their heads all their life. I guess I am one who overdid it tho sweatdrop The ligament that connects your liver to your diaphragm (hepatic ligament) gets jostled quite a bit when running, and if your body is not used to running, it can damange it. I did this recently. So precautions to beginning runners.

I have also seen the problem quite often of overlifting. 3 repetitions of an extremely heavy weight is going to do nothing, it'll cause you to have improper form, and could damange your muscles. Even if you were able to get a decent 3 reps in, it would not do a thing for you. Not that you need insanely high reps either, but a happy medium.  

[Fuzzykit]

I'm alright with weights, but I often have trouble with aerobic pacing. Especially running (put me on a bike and I'll be fine- put me on a track and I'll collapse after about twelve minutes jogging). ^^; I'll admit it- I'm impatient to see progress, and I know it's no good. And now I don't even have time to do these things. >_>; Eh, my heart lies with music (and hopefully not too much cholesterol).

My experiences of bad behaviour in the gym- people trying to compete against each other and sometimes end up hurting themselves. Gym is about a healthy lifestyle people, it's not about impressing people! Okay, maybe it might be a factor in the longrun, but there's a time and place for everything. sweatdrop And competing just makes some others that are further from their target feel worse. xp

And people running about between potentially dangerous equipment in a gym to grab a machine before someone else does - but that's just plain stupid. >_<  

[Aeren]

oooh yes, i hate someone next to me who feel they have to go faster than me and continuously look over to make sure they are beating me. totally idiotic.  

[Grip of Death]

I third you all.

People are at totally different stages of development and fitness in their life.

But yea, I don't run on the tredmill, I only lightly jog because I have a pretty heavy bosom.  

[Fuzzykit]

Ouch. >_<;  

[Grip of Death]

ouch is right! If worse comes to worse, I'm thinking of breast reduction. Godamn, nobody should ever want my breast size. And no, i'm not gonna tell what it is xd

Anyway.. ya. wink  

[Aeren]

oooh, i hear ya, i have big breasts too.  

[Fuzzykit]

I don't understand girls who want to pump their chests full of silicon and stuff. Baaad idea. sweatdrop

Mine are alright, but it's still enough to refrain from jogging on the spot when possible. >_<;  

[Indie_Marauder]

I've trained alright with weights and even the tredmill... but I have definite trouble on the track. I have no idea how to sustain myself while running. It's funny, cause in soccer, we used to say running while playing was easy... it was the laps that killed us. And, now I have the same problem. I see that with some people similiar to myself. Just not sure how to correct it...  

[kochi~mochi]

At the YMCA nearest me they have people who tell you how much you should be doing, and watch to make sure you aren't doing too much, or mistreating the equipment. Also, at about 11 am most days there's an un-official "we're doing it to loose the weight" hour, where alot of the people who are at the gym to loose weight go, and beat up people who push themselves too hard, or push others too hard. xd okay, so we don't beat them up... But thats just because they accept the help.

It always irks me when i'm there at any other time, and theres adults there not doing things right, or not sharing the equipment... And you stand there and wait, but since they aren't on the fitlinx thingy which tells you how many of what you should be doing, they just keep going and get all confused when you ask them if you can go in at the end of a set... And they tend to use them way too fast, and slam the weights against eachother... It drives me nuts.

The other thing that drives me nuts is highschool PE... theres these horrid things called couger laps... a half mile, up hill, down hill, up, down. I have sooo much trouble runnimg them... I do much better on the track. At least with the track i can jog the traight parts and walk the curves (it works really well) when i get tired. The really horrid part is that they make us run a couger lap, and then expect us to be able to run around and play a game like football (US style). This is a problem for me because they don't explain the rules or anything, and i'd never played football before. And they want us to go out and play as soon as we finish running... As a kid, i played hocky, in the mud if it was possible. (Mud hocky is fun - is that the puck or a dirt clod? Oh well, it didn't go in the goal.) I have no clue how to play this sport, and you won't let me stand and ask somebody to explain it.. Yes, thats a great way to get me to run around, joining in.
That, and theres this one guy, Kyle... He's not really hott or anything, he just likes to jump around, and he shows his boxers... and i wear boxers quite often, and i get distracted by those hola monkey boxers, or his penguin ones... Not my fault!
Oh, and they don't make the shorts long enough.  

[Divash]

I don't have a problem with the way people exercise, because I wish someone would show me how. I do have a problem with the lack of instruction in how to use machines (my gym has no trainers; you just have to know how to use the stuff). I also have a problem with the lack of available exercise attire for people who are substantially taller, shorter, or thicker (with fat or with muscle) than the majority population. True, shorter people can get children's exercise gear, but then there's not enough room for breasts. Taller people can buy normal-length stuff, and so what if it looks like 3/4 length?

But if you wear a size 3X or above, it's VERY hard to find attire that's conducive to exercise. I have a friend who's nearly 400 pounds and another who's just over 250, and both of them have a real problem finding things to wear. Heck, I don't weigh that much, and I have a hard time finding exercise clothing, too. It's hard to move around in things that weren't designed as workout attire, and also I hate sweat stains on my normal street clothes, so what's a girl (or guy) to do?

I did find two places that provide larger sizes of workout clothing. Here's one that offers modest workout clothing, which I find very helpful and in keeping with the level of modesty my religion requires. They only go up to size 16, though. http://www.hasema.com/shopen/products.asp?cat=1

And the other is http://ladiesonlysports.com/plussizcomso.html which has some truly wonderful workout clothes. I especially like the Enell sports bra and the ABA workout capris or yoga pants.