• FreeTrainers.com Forums
• All Else Lounge
• Gym Superstitions

Group: All Else Lounge

Gym Superstitions

wamo25 Posts: 25 Joined: 2002/10/01	2003/05/02, 10:40 PM Does anyone have any gym superstitions? I have two. Wearing a sleeveless shirt in front of anyone. I think it takes your strenght away. Also walking on a treadmill next to this one girl in the gym. If I am already on the treadmill and she comes next to me, I get off immediately. Don't know what it is. She is a nice person and all but just feel wierd.
Carivan Posts: 8,542 Joined: 2002/01/20	2003/05/02, 10:57 PM I need all the weights on a barbell facing the same way, or I won't lift it. I even check twice. -------------- We must become the change we want to see. Ivan Montreal Canada (aka SpongeBob Square Pants to some!)
	2003/05/04, 03:42 PM For any barbell exercises, I set my grip three times before I actually do the lift. Not sure why I do it, but I think it lets me know that everything is in place before I lift. -------------- OSU Law Rugby....specializing in personal injury and pain & suffering.
bb1fit Posts: 11,105 Joined: 2001/06/30	2003/05/04, 08:12 PM One thing, I like to eat steak the night before benching. -------------- As far as genetics go, the skies the limit. You are limited only by your mental perception of it. Ron
jsawell Posts: 7 Joined: 2003/03/21	2003/05/05, 09:28 AM This is a weird one I picked up way back in the day. Any exercise that requires me to stack a circular weight, like the bench press or squats, I always spin the weights on the barbell a full 360's before I lift. Dont know why just do it. I also wear the same cutoff shirt underneath my workout clothes. I do that cause it was the shirt I was wearing when I finally broke through my heaviest max on the bench all those years ago.
BIGGIN Posts: 130 Joined: 2003/04/30	2003/05/05, 08:07 PM my superstition is the same as carivans, have to have all the weights faced to same way or i just feel weird when i lift. -------------- ---Kev--- Focus and Lift!!
dahayz Posts: 794 Joined: 2002/05/08	2003/05/05, 09:19 PM I am not sure if this is a superstition type thing or just a weird thing, but I cannot squat with shoes on. In the gym, I have to be barefoot (with socks) or else I just can't squat. I feel more contact with the ground this way which equals more stability which then equals more weight. I have been doing this for quite some time and can't remember exactly why I started doing this in the first place.
Ogun Posts: 559 Joined: 2002/08/11	2003/05/06, 05:52 PM I always get one small cup of coffee loaded with 2 teaspoons of instant coffee, dry creamer, and sweetNlow when I leave the gym. Never missed once yet, except for when the gym caught fire and had smoke damage and they had to take everything out to clean it. (I never felt so weird in my life as when I missed my coffee). -------------- --There are no versions of the truth.-- Jeff Goldblum, Jurassic Park II
azredhead57 Posts: 1,651 Joined: 2003/04/11	2003/05/08, 02:49 PM I use the cardio equipment at our complex now, but when I used to use the gym's, I had to have to same treadmill all the time. If someone was on it, I would wait or just do something else. I tried a different one a couple times, but it felt wrong, so I got off. Weird.
wamo25 Posts: 25 Joined: 2002/10/01	2003/05/09, 01:18 AM Carivans and Biggin, I have to admit I do that alot too. I don't know what it is. If they are not facing the same way then it feels akward.
geotact Posts: 1 Joined: 2003/08/06	2003/09/09, 05:11 PM superstition... or OCD? I just started going to the gym, and I'm way to self-conscious to be experiencing either yet - but if you gimme a chance I'm sure I will come up with a whole slew of ritual neuroses! :) -The new guy FTW/LTW
London Posts: 176 Joined: 2003/01/10	2003/09/10, 11:51 AM I know the women will hate this, but I always try to get ont the cardio equiptment next to the most attractive woman int the gym. Something about a guy's macho attitude makes me work that much harder then. Must be a primitive mating instinct or something. haha I am also extremely vain when working out and try to position myself in front of a mirror because I like to watch my muscles and body move while working out. I started doing that when was I was chunky to motivate myself by seeing the small changes in my physique.
stanlee75 Posts: 136 Joined: 2003/08/18	2003/09/10, 06:17 PM Before any heavy set, I close my eyes and take three very deep breaths, and envision me lifting the weight.
mtlong33 Posts: 114 Joined: 2003/01/28	2003/09/13, 10:19 AM I rotate the bar 360 degrees, have to have the plates facing the same way, redo my grip 4 or 5 times, i wipe my hands on my chest each time i redo my grip, and i being in front of a mirror except just to check form. If i look at my muscles in the mirror(with people around) i feel as if i'm being arrogant and too obsessed with myself. maybe i'm just weird though. -------------- Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.
erirvine Posts: 196 Joined: 2002/11/20	2003/09/14, 01:55 PM For superstitions I need all the weights stacked largest/heaviest on the inside edge of the bar, always with matching weights and always facing inwards. It even bugs me seeing others lift with a small metal 20kg one side and a big rubber 20kg the other. Maybe it’s because the bar looks unbalanced even though it isn’t. I also have a bag of stuff I need to train with. A wrist support I always wear even when not doing an exercise that uses my wrists. I also wear a gum shield, but I can still class this by practicality - I cracked off half one of my back teeth earlier in the year tensing my jaw on a heavy lift. I can't train without taking off my glasses, and putting on my MD player - but I think that’s more about cutting my self off from the rest of the world so I focus on the lift instead of been to self-conscious. I guess it’s a whole bunch of ritual, but doing all this gives me enough time to concentrate on the session, instead anything else.
hcolantonio Posts: 41 Joined: 2003/09/10	2003/09/14, 05:02 PM I guess it is kinda more weird than superstitous.. but, If I miss too many days in a row at a gym (like 4 or more) I need to find a new gym. I do pretty well at not skipping, but I figure if I am not going to the gym (which to me is like a little kid going to the park) then I need to change it up and start anew.
jplatz Posts: 196 Joined: 2002/10/08	2003/09/25, 05:06 PM Erirvine, I share your superstition about the weights facing inward. I was once told it's good karma to have them facing inward and I have to have it that way. I even get spooked when I see a bar and the weights are facing out. I have actually taken the weights off of a bar to clear the karma. Also, before I lift, I have to look at the plates on each side once right before I begin. -------------- The meek shall inherit the Earth, but the strong and muscular will carry them through it! That which does not kill me can only make me stronger.
richardjst Posts: 410 Joined: 2002/07/13	2003/09/27, 06:51 PM When I bench i always have to have the bench either set perfectly parallel or perfectly perpendicular to lines on the ceiling, otherwise i feel im pushing up akward. -------------- If hard work and persistence were the keys to success, most people would opt to pick the lock.~Dick
GOWAR Posts: 361 Joined: 2001/10/24	2003/09/28, 03:46 PM HEY YALL, These aren't superstitions at all , these are just the things we all like to do things. What ever helps us. A superstition in the gym would be i just saw a black cat walk under a squat rack and now i wont be able to do squats for 7 days.LOL
gatormade Posts: 1,355 Joined: 2003/10/01	2003/10/24, 09:55 AM Weights have to face in,ALWAYS! Same shorts (clean) for my leg days. Same dri-fit shirt (clean) for my bench days. Chuck Taylor's a must on leg day.
fryer91 Posts: 441 Joined: 2003/09/29	2003/10/24, 10:38 AM Before the start of a workout-3 deep breaths-say; time for pain- and on the lighter side before a heavy lift day; say, "ok, God; please let me keep control of my bowels today.
gatormade Posts: 1,355 Joined: 2003/10/01	2003/10/24, 11:42 AM HA, LOL. I think we all ask for that! :)
mengsk Posts: 54 Joined: 2003/10/31	2003/11/02, 01:15 PM Yeah, I just freak out when the weights are not facing in.
bowers Posts: 179 Joined: 2003/04/13	2003/11/03, 03:01 AM Whenever I am going to attempt a new PR or go for my heaviest set I never ever look at the weights before I lift. I pick a spot and concentrate on it. It doesn't matter what the lift is.
crazy1 Posts: 6 Joined: 2003/06/24	2003/11/23, 09:28 PM Ive done this for years, great advice Bowers, I definatley recommend this. You'll see good gains. ============ Quoting from bowers: Whenever I am going to attempt a new PR or go for my heaviest set I never ever look at the weights before I lift. I pick a spot and concentrate on it. It doesn't matter what the lift is. =============
NaberAber Posts: 16 Joined: 2003/11/05	2003/12/05, 01:39 AM I believe these are all idiosyncrasies ;)
laneylou Posts: 277 Joined: 2003/10/21	2003/12/08, 02:48 PM heheh Not superstitions. Not at all ... They're motivators. Every time I go to the gym, I make sure I have certain clothes on because they make me look the best and feel the best to wear. Then I grab my little seethrough orange purse with the flowers on it and put in my mp3 player, ink pen, workout folded in half, water bottle, gum, phone, stretch chart and keys. I won't go anywhere 'till I have these items. On the way I walk to the mail box to check the mail and give myself a little warmup then go straight to the gym. I know I'm prepared and ready to do my workout when these things are all together. Even if something distracts me I'll stop doing that thing and continue with my workout. By the way I take the gum because it keeps me from getting a dry mouth while running or walking. These aren't superstitions, they're motivators ... You can control your mind by saying when I see certain things together it means I'm going to do this item. Or when I see these things together it means don't do this or remember this. It's all a mind game. ;) My boyfriend has a hard time going to sleep at night. I told him to just start doing this...When it's time to shave you go in and shave your beard and when you're done go straight to bed. He deos it like clock work now.