Hypertrophy 7/30/18 + bonus review of Planet Fitness

The workout: Hypertrophy. Week 3, day 1.

Focus: vertical push/pull + posterior leg

Total volume: 42 sets

Circuit 1: 4 sets, 8-10 reps

• Neutral grip lat pull down
• Cable shoulder captions
• Weighted hip thrust (back elevated glute bridge)

Circuit 2: 4 sets, 8-10 reps

• Wide grip lat pull down
• Barbell shoulder press
• Hip extension w/eccentric focus (commonly known as back extension, I focus on the movement coming from the hip joint and using my glutes only)

Circuit 3 (Abs): 3 sets, 30-45 seconds

• Traditional crunch (30 sec)
• Oblique crunch left/right (30 sec each)
• Flutter kick (30 sec)
• Bicycle (30 sec)
• Front plank (45 sec)
• Side plank left/right (45 sec each)

I always enjoy the opportunity to workout with friends. The workout feels faster, I have more fun, and having an accountability buddy is great for consistency. I recently have worked out 1-2 times a week with a friend from my PT class who has a membership with Planet Fitness. Like a lot of gym rats (I assume) I had some presuppositions regarding how my experience would be and they were not entirely positive. I’ve got to be honest y’all, I was pretty impressed.

The gym was CLEAN, like spotless clean. The locker rooms were clean. The equipment was clean….it was amazing.

The gym staff were polite and professional.

Not a single person dropped their weights or performed more than their last rep with bodily noises involved (grunting, huffing, etc.)

Weights were where they were supposed to be! There are signs every 5 feet reminding people to re-rack their weights and I got the impression it was something the staff reinforced.

It was temperature controlled. “What gym isn’t?” You might ask. I’ll tell you. Every single Gold’s location which has bought into the crossfit fad with their “Gold’s Fit” has the darn doors open in the evening so their clientele can pretend they train in Sparta or some nonsense.

Exactly zero gym bros tried to hit on me or “help” me.

The only real negative I found was in the variety of equipment. This Planet Fitness had most of your standard gym fare; however, there were no squat racks, or free barbells/plates available. This is probably due to the idea of keeping away the gym bros or “lunks.” Unfortunately for me, it’s also a nonnegotiable component.

In summary, I won’t be giving up my Gold’s membership anytime soon ( I enjoy squats and deadlifts too much), but for most people I think this gym is a great option and is surprisingly affordable.

Best,

Dr. Mims

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The Gym from the Perspective of a Gym Rat

As a trainer I have heard every reason possible for people to avoid the gym.  Being self-conscious is one of the most common.  “It feels like everyone is looking at me,” has been said to me more times than I can remember.

The thing that I find fascinating with this argument is that people fail to translate their feelings to others.  The gym is a place for people to improve themselves, and so it follows that people who are in the gym are those who by definition do not see themselves as perfect.  We gym rats are for the most part neurotic, self conscious, perfectionists.  Certainly we have all seen the woman with the perfect body that is there to be seen, rather than sweat.  However, I truly do believe this is the minority.  In the main, people in the gym are not looking at you and judging you, any more than you are judging them.  I have found that they are JUST as self conscious as you are.

When I go to the gym, I do not judge people by their fitness level, the clothes they are wearing, or what type of workout they are doing.  This is what I notice…

Politeness. I will always notice when people are following general gym etiquette.  Your body-fat or the weights you are lifting will not draw my attention; but you best believe that if you drop weights, fail to wipe sweat off your equipment, or leave your weights un racked you will receive some very unpleasant looks from me.

Modesty.  I notice when people are arrogant, making loud noises, and staring at themselves.  I don’t have any negative feelings towards these people, but I do find them amusing.   The fittest person in the gym is probably not looking diminutively at you, they are probably laughing at the guy flexing and smiling at himself in the mirror.

Form. Practice does not make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect.  While I have no bad feelings or judgement towards people who lift poorly, I am a trainer by trade.  I notice poor form (and good form) and often wish that I could help…unfortunately the self conscious gym goers (those who’s concerns I am discussing.) prevent this.  A person who radiates the “leave me alone vibe” can’t benefit from the experience of others.

In the end, being self conscious is an inhibitor.  Focusing on the negative, “who is looking at me?” “I feel fat.” “what is her deal?” does nothing except distract you.  Everyone is self-conscious and has their moments of doubt…accepting that everyone around you is just as awkward and worried makes all of the difference in the world. Fight through it, understand that you aren’t alone, and for your own sake don’t leave the gym. Trust me when I say that the people you see around you went through the same process.

Selene M.

My nightmare LA fitness experience

It is always difficult for me to keep up with fitness when traveling.  This is partially because when I am out of town I don’t know where I should workout (what gyms are friendly/have good equipment) and finding safe places to run can be a bit of a challenge.  Of course, extracting yourself from the vacation type atmosphere can be difficult as well.  I am out of town this week for my sister’s graduation.  I went to the LA fitness in Secaucus NJ to try and get my workout in.  This was the run/lift that I posted yesterday.  

 

I usually try to give gyms the benefit of the doubt; however, I have to say that this was one of the worst gym experiences I have ever had.

 

First –   The price! 

They charged me 20 dollars for a single day, and they didn’t have week passes available at all. 20 bucks for L.A. Fitness? Really?  This would have been irritating but acceptable if it was a really awesome gym.

 

Second–  The equipment.

 

Warm-up/flexibility

 My first question to the girl at the front desk, “do you have an area for stretching?”  Her answer “no…not really. But you can use the cardio room if you want.”   Let me tell you about the “cardio room.”  It was an empty room, with one greasy mat and no sanitizer or paper towels.   Neither were there any foam rollers.  I ended up using the Trigger Point ball that I brought with me and covering the mat with my personal towel. 

 

Run –

 Next I found my way upstairs to the row of dreadmills and ellipticals.  “Why was the designated cardio room nowhere close to the actual cardio equipment?” you might ask.  Good question.  Here is the problem with putting all of your cardio equipment on the second floor, heat rises.  There were no fans either on the floor or on the actual treadmills themselves, and the average temperature was about 80.  Let me tell you, I am from Texas…we know heat.  The temperature outside was about 65.   That is not acceptable. 

Lift –

After changing all of my clothes (on account of being disgustingly sweaty) I entered the free weights area with a little more hope.  “Maybe this is just a weights friendly gym” I told myself.  I had been hoping to do another conditioning workout using kettlebells and a jump rope.  When I wasn’t able to find the kettlebells (or really much of interest) I went in search of their personal trainers.

Me – “do you have kettlebells?”

Pt- “no”

Me – “what about bumper plates?”

Pt – “no”

Me – “what about a hex bar?”

Pt – “no”

Me – “what about a glute-ham raise?”

Pt – “what’s  that?”

At this point I wandered off to see what there was.   I found a decently functioning rack, regular plates, and an old school cable machine.   This worked fine; however, I was a bit miffed that I had to deal with such a lack of variety of equipment after paying a ridiculous gym fee.

 

 

Third –

                The mess…  This gym was dirty.  Weights littered the floor and it would not be an exaggeration to say that there was not a single dumbbell in its appropriate place.  This would have been acceptable if all of the personal trainers were occupied…three of them were standing around the info desk bs’ing. 

 

Fourth –

                I understand that southern hospitality is a real southern thing.   That being said, I would assume that if I am paying you money I deserve some kind of respect.  The only employee in this gym who did not treat me either as a hillbilly or in a sexist way was the girl at the smoothie bar. 

 

 This was one of the most frustrating gym experiences that I have ever had. It comes as no surprise to me that LA fitness is now being sued in a class action lawsuit.  Thus, in conclusion… if you are traveling, take the time to call the gym beforehand.  Make sure that the equipment you would like to see is available and that they gym fees are reasonable.