Dan and I recently went through the arduous process of finding a gym we both enjoyed going to. It had to be the kind of place that let me feel like I could be a beginner and not be in anyone's way, and have equipment for his more advanced weight limit and skill. Neither one of us wanted something super busy, either.
About two months ago, we finally settled on somewhere that, while expensive, checked all the boxes (mostly). I've been going semi-regularly, even by myself, and have been feeling more and more comfortable. The gym has a pretty community-minded feel, and most people are chill about asking to work in, checking if you're using something, or not hogging equipment (again, mostly).
Let a bitch work in, bro.
There's this amazing phenomenon where my dumbbell weights are the exact match of whatever jerk wants to hog the dumbbells that day. There's 20-bajillion sets of dumbbells below 30 lbs, but only one of each above that. I want to do 40 lbs goblet squats? Or 45 lbs rows? Or 30 lbs curls? Some jerk has them at his feet, not using them, staring at his phone or off in the middle distance as he does his rests, and not making eye contact with anyone who may want to ask, "hey, can I borrow that?"
Which is exactly what happened today. I waited for a middle-aged man, who was using one 40 lbs dumbbell, with the other languishing unused at his feet, to finish his set, and then I asked, "Can I borrow that?" He gave me the most aggrieved look, said, "I'm using it," looked even more annoyed when I said, "both of them?" Then he rolled his eyes at me when I said, "I just need to do a warm-up set."
I walked away, skipped that warm up, and then asked the gym to get another set of weights between 30 and 55 pounds.
Now, look, I know his version of the story is very different from mine. He saw me, a fat woman, approach and ask to borrow his dumbbell that he was clearly using that was sitting on the floor for the last 5 minutes, totally not touched while he did triceps extensions with one dumbbell. How dare I approach him like he hasn't been using both dumbbells at the same time for the last 5 minutes while only one was in his hand and the other was on the floor?
How dare, I say?!
What he's missing from his story is that I could have done my warm up set of 45lbs x 5 rows in the time he took his rest. No one would have been disadvantaged.
It's gotten to the point where I just go do barbell rows in the half rack because, for some reason, these guys never seem to make it to the rack. But sometimes, you just need to use a dumbbell.
Let a bitch work in, bro. Don't be a dick.
Math is hard.
In other news, I did math wrong and couldn't figure out why my 185 lbs deadlifts were so hard.
It's because they were really 205 lbs.
Math is hard.
Don't start lifting weights if you're bad at math. Or if you're going to hog weights.
Where are the birds, Steph?
All around you!
Like this Scarlet Tanager that just flew in front of my face when I was having a bad day and then landed on a tree at almost eye level and posed like the perfect, pretty prince that he is.
Anyway, thanks for letting me vent all of that out of my head. This is my blog and I can do what I want, but I appreciate you coming along for the ride!
See you the next time something grinds my gears.
But probably sooner. We have an exciting trip coming up!
