Commercial Gym Rant

So over the past couple weeks since I began the rehab process I have noticed a couple things. For months now I have noticed my mindset and motivation is not where it needs to be pre-workout (15-30 min before workout) and my overall performance has suffered. Over the past week or so the weather has been getting nice again and I have been having some of my best workouts in recent memory, all at the park down the road from my house. At first I thought the reason for lack of motivation during workouts was because I was working out at the same club I work at. Ask any trainer if they enjoy working out at there club and if they say they do then they are straight up lying! Since I have been rehabbing my knee I began working out at a different commercial gym so I could do pool work, and guess what? Still flat workouts with less motivation then needed. This made me realize a couple of things, the commercial gym environment is not for me and I am officially an Undergrounder! What is an undergrounder you might be wondering? It is the lifter who doesn’t care what people think of them and does what works instead, the guy who lifts in his garage or park because they know they can accomplish more there then at the local Golds or Ballys. With that being said below are a couple things I noticed at both my gym and the other gym I lifted at today that really rub me the wrong way, enjoy.

Wrist wraps….for pull-ups
Really? If your grip is so weak that you can’t even hold your own body weight yet can perform a pull up there is something seriously wrong! Loose the wraps, grab some chalk and get after it!
Half Rep Pull-ups/Squats
So I am at the gym today and begin my warm up when a skinny guy walks over to the cable machine (only spot to perform pullups at this gym) and begins doing weighted pullups with a 25lb dumbbell. He was going down to a full hang but then would only pull himself up half way! What is this doing for you….NOTHING! Check the ego at the door and perform full Range of Motion on every exercise, even those bicep curls!
Coffee drinking during workout
Don’t get me wrong I love coffee as well. I would be lying if I said I don’t have a cup on the way in for a workout to boost my energy levels occasionally, but during your workout, really? Try performing any real workout while sipping on coffee and you will be in the bathroom loosing some quality protein, but then again these guys enjoying that latte during leg day are also the ones standing around more then working!
Hitting Curls to start the workout
So after I hit my strength work for the day on the bench press I decided I would do a superset with Dips and Pull Ups, the only problem? The little meathead that just walked in from the locker room is taken up the whole cable machine working some biceps! To bad my arms are still bigger then yours and I haven’t done curls in months, you know what they are from? Lifting heavy shit RAW, and pullups don’t hurt either.
More Talking then Lifting!!
I found humor in this crew of 4 skinny bastards “working out” together while I was crushing some upper body. All 4 of these kids had there water bottle filled with protein and might have weighed 150lb soaking wet. Why am I still so skinny, I drink 3 shakes a day and workout 6 days a week these kids may be wondering. How bout we put the headphones on and do some work! Each kid was performing a set every 5 minutes or so while they took a break from talking and checking out the babes. I enjoy checking out girls as well but last I checked the gyms a place to lift heavy weights and the beach is a place to check out babes.