Hey fellas, time for a new and slightly lighthearted series called People of the Gym. Aside from all the other things we do in the gym, one thing we all do — admit it — is people watch.
Today I am going to take a look at several forms of what I call the Unchangings. Week after week, month after month and year after year I see some people in the gym who just never change. They are an interesting breed and come in many forms.
The first of the Unchangings is a guy I call The Strong Man. I first saw the strong man last summer. He caught my eye immediately because he was squatting 405 for reps with nearly perfect form. Slow, controlled, full range of motion for 5-10 reps with 405 on the bar. Now I see The Strong Man nearly every day at the gym which means he goes at least as often as me. His deadlift (again, for reps) is in the low 600s). Here is the thing, in the year since I first
Dorian Gainz
started seeing this guy he is still lifting the exact same amount of weight for the exact same amount of reps and, what’s more, he has no visible change in aesthetics.
In a full year of lifting 6 times a week he has made no noticeable gains in any single category. Despite his numbers being high and his physique being moderate to good, there has been no change. Somewhere in an attic must be a picture of this guy reducing body fat!
The second of the Unchangings are the Cardio Bunnies. You know the Cardio Bunnies. The thing about spending an hour a day walking up stairs to nowhere is that you have a view of all the treadmills and ellipticals. If you are a creature of habit like me you have this view at the same time every day which means you will generally see the same people every day. And day in and day out year after year you see the same people (so much so that you notice if they get new sneakers) and there they are running on the treadmill at the same speed for the same amount of time every single day yet year to year they look exactly the same.
All these people will look exactly the same this time next year
Ok, maybe there is an argument to be made for the fact that they are just doing this to unwind or for fun or whatever and that is fine. I am not here to criticize anyone’s reason for being at the gym — whatever gets you there is great. It just baffles me that someone would put this much time and effort in and have no results to show for it.
The third and final of the Unchangings I will mention (though far from exhaustive of all the types) are the trainer hags. So my gym employs trainers. There are usually about a dozen of them at any given time. They wear one color shirt when they are engaged with a client and another when they aren’t. If they aren’t they usually straighten stuff up, re-rack, offer tips to people or comply with spot requests or form checks (this is a very cool gym perk btw because having a spotter or a form check near by at all times always comes in handy). The trainers are usually young and, naturally, fit. And, once again, being a creature of habit and being in the gym at he same time every day you wind up seeing the same trainers with the same clients.
That’ll be $200 Susan. See you tomorrow. Yeah, I will recognize you don’t worry.
I can think of, off the top of my head, a half dozen people who I have seen several times a week for months or even years with the same trainer doing the same exercises at the same time (presumably paying very good money) and, again, absolutely no change.
Again, whatever motivates a person to get into a gym is a good thing. Getting off the sofa and into a workout is always, no matter what, a positive. I just get a laugh when I see the same people doing the same thing at the same time over and over through the course of months or even years with no visible changes.
People out there are allowed to and I even encourage them to do whatever they want in the gym, but for Team WB Fitness I want to see constant non-stop change. Always be getting better.
Grind On!