When Did You Realize You Weren't Normal

[barbe705]

This morning at the gym I was doing some pinch work. I haven't been able to get a 45 by the hub yet. after warming up with 25s I noticed two guys watching me. I didn't think anything of it. When I dragged the 45s over to my bench the one guy says"You're not going to lift those?!?" It was funny, they were blown away that I could pick up 25s by the hub. they acted like a 45 was superhuman. They both came over and watched. I managed to get it about 6 inches up with my left and right hand. I think if I had cleaned the hub first I could have done better. It was a weird feeling.

Brent

[Crotchulla]

Yeah, it's a funny feeling. To me grip training is a normal thing now. But when I tell my friends about tearing cards, ripping phonebooks, and bending steel they think I have a mental problem. But when I mention I can finally deadlift like 2.5 times bodyweight they just shrug it off like it doesn't matter.

[TarHeel Strongman]

I too am not normal regarding my addiction to strength and grip strength, but for me I believe that this is merely a symptom of a more complex mental problem. Not just a case of BDD (Body Dysmorphic Disorder), but perhaps another disorder yet to be identified. Just something to ponder

[jlc]

I take my 40lb. blob to the gym every now and then. I get some weird looks, then

they start asking questions and trying to pick it up. It's makes you feel good when

you can walk in the gym and do something no one else can do.

[climber511]

WHAT - I'm not normal? You just broke my heart!

[EmEx]

funny story brent....when i first saw someone do wristcurls i thought it was a really weird exercise

i once read an article with a poll that most guys dont enjoy working out and have to force themselfs...i dont understand it, i always look forward to it in anticipation

[gripmaniac]

I can relate to this. . . .

I train 2HP at my gym every Wed. Nothing really flash - just a couple of 25lb pancake plates and a 15" * 1" bolt to load the other plates onto. The puzzling looks I get are truly priceless while the questions are pretty stock standard "What muscles are you training? Why are you lifting it like that? What's it for? How do you do that?, I'm seriously thinking about producing a FAQ flyer for people !!!

No one has been game enough to ask to try the lift . . . .but I know for a fact that on a few occasions when I've headed off to the change room to wash my hands (I don't use chalk) people have surrendered to temptation and had a go with the 150-170lbs I'll have loaded. . .I'm yet to here of any success stories . . .

For this reason I'd be considered amongst the most abnormal trainees at my gym. . .

Dave

Edited November 21, 2006 by gripmaniac

[Trevor111]

I'm not Normal!!!!?????! ahhhh

[twig]

Always bin weird, always gonna be weird. Just cos I'm an adult, that doesnt mean I have to be a grown up!

[antarath]

I realized I weren't normal when I got funny looks by bypassers when I rolled up fryingpans alone in the middle of the woods

[EmEx]

I'm seriously thinking about producing a FAQ flyer for people !!!

Dave

hilarious next time takes some FAQ flyers with you and when someone looks at you weird give him one without saying a word

Edited November 21, 2006 by EmEx

[Yersinia]

I realized I weren't normal when I got funny looks by bypassers when I rolled up fryingpans alone in the middle of the woods

haha wtf .

i got some stares when i went home from work with 2 stacks of phonebooks . got like 64 of them for free =D

[heatwave13]

When I make one of my rare appearances at the gym my wife works out at (a biceps and abs type of gym). I get the craziest looks when I do overhead squats. I load the bar up to 85kg, press it up overhead, then do a few reps while the guys with 19" arms look at me like I'm crazy, "dude, you're gonna hurt your back!"

Also, when my brother, who is a mainstay at the "biceps and abs" type of gym, with his cut body, ripped abs, yet he cannot even close the #1. Most folks just don't even think about training grip. It's a rarity these days.

[mwinsl01]

When I make one of my rare appearances at the gym my wife works out at (a biceps and abs type of gym). I get the craziest looks when I do overhead squats. I load the bar up to 85kg, press it up overhead, then do a few reps while the guys with 19" arms look at me like I'm crazy, "dude, you're gonna hurt your back!"

Also, when my brother, who is a mainstay at the "biceps and abs" type of gym, with his cut body, ripped abs, yet he cannot even close the #1. Most folks just don't even think about training grip. It's a rarity these days.

I concur. Alot of people just focus on what people can see, this is what seperates a true bodybuilder/weightlifter. I for one focus on the 20 rep squat routine and have started working on the kta program. I have just as big if not bigger arms on this rountine using 20 rep squats, stiff deads, bench, long bar cable row with chin grip, and shoulder press than when i did a conventional routine that involvd bicep curls on long bar and dumbells. I talk about some of the grip training stuff that i do and people think that i am nuts. they got their version i got mine is all i can say.

[sixlitre]

I can relate. I train with a couple of other guys and last spring we had a regular fan club of guys who I swear came to the gym just to see what we were going to do. One instance that I remember: We (carusom1, easywieght, and myself) were tearing cards one night after our workout when a group of 4 guys came up to us and asked us what we had against cards. I couldn' help myself so I started muttering under my breath stupid cards hate everyone of em take all my money away and drive my old lady into someone elses arms I'll killem killem all I say, die die die, etc as I continued to rip. The guys looked at us like we were completely nuts and took off without looking back. I think the vien that pops out of my forehead helped out too. It was good for a laugh.

But seriously, don't you all find it fun to perform a exercise that makes the mirror gazers shut up and take notice of how incredibily useless their 19" upperarms are because of their 10" forearms. I know I do. I hate commercial gyms!

[Matt Brouse]

I can relate. I train with a couple of other guys and last spring we had a regular fan club of guys who I swear came to the gym just to see what we were going to do. One instance that I remember: We (carusom1, easywieght, and myself) were tearing cards one night after our workout when a group of 4 guys came up to us and asked us what we had against cards. I couldn' help myself so I started muttering under my breath stupid cards hate everyone of em take all my money away and drive my old lady into someone elses arms I'll killem killem all I say, die die die, etc as I continued to rip. The guys looked at us like we were completely nuts and took off without looking back. I think the vien that pops out of my forehead helped out too. It was good for a laugh.

But seriously, don't you all find it fun to perform a exercise that makes the mirror gazers shut up and take notice of how incredibily useless their 19" upperarms are because of their 10" forearms. I know I do. I hate commercial gyms!

[diesel]

these two girls were outside my dorm room playing a friendly game of cards. i went over to them, asked to see the cards, gave them a good look, tore them in half, then scattered them across the table.

on another occassion, i took a friend's bet that i couldn't crush an unopened can of soda. so i walked outside of the university library with a diet coke in my hand, blew up the can in my hands, then walked back into the library with a coke-stained polo. i got a lot of stares that day.

also, when i bent my steel at the local athletic club. so many questions, so many empty gazes. that was the first and last time i brought my gear to an arm and ab gym.

i bet if i was to be mentally examined, they would say i have a destructive personality. oh well...

Edited November 23, 2006 by diesel