Wrong Wednesday – Gym Etiquette #01

Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy hello there everyone! Welcome to my first blog post and what I am going to be calling “Wrong Wednesday” where I will write about things that people do wrong in the gym. Each Wednesday I will go over one thing that I think people are doing wrong in the gym or something that is wrong about the gym. A lot of what I will be writing about will be my own opinion but I will most definitely cite my information to the best of my ability when needed.

For today’s and the first ever “Wrong Wednesday” I’m going to go over a little gym etiquette. If you are like me and go to a commercial gym you’ll notice that everyone around you is different. You have bodybuilders, powerlifters, new gym goers, veteran gym goers, and so on and so forth. I think you get the idea. Everyone is on a different level, from just starting out to advanced gym goers.

Everyone has the ability to learn something new; no matter how long you’ve been going to the gym. Are your arms too small? Do you want your biceps to be big and strong? Here comes the good idea fairy popping up next to your head. 

You walk over to an empty squat rack load your 5lb maybe 10lb plate on each side of the barbell and proceed to start doing curls.

WRONG, WRONG, wrong wrong, WRONG. 

What are you doing?!?!?! Curling in the squat rack has to be one of, if not, the biggest sin people can commit in the gym…… in my opinion.

For one, there are so many ways to do bicep curls; dumbbells, ez curl bars, straight bars, fixed ez curl bars, fixed straight bars, the PLETHORA of bicep machines your gym most likely already has. Why, for the sake of Arnold would you desecrate one of the holiest of all lifts, the squat, by curling in the squat rack? It’s just plain wrong.

For one, you’re barely using any weight! Your fixed ez curl and fixed straight bars probably going up to around 110lbs and you’re curling 95lbs… with an olympic bar….. in a squat rack…. You are more than likely wasting someone else’s time by making them wait for a squat rack so that they can squat. 

Here are five reasons you shouldn’t curl in a squat rack:

1. Wasting other people’s time
2. Plethora of other equipment to hit your biceps
3. You’re only using the squat rack to hold your weight between sets
4. You look like a jerk
5. You’re not Arnold Schwarzenegger

For those of you who do this unknowingly; stop immediately, go curl in an open location, near a mirror, on a bench, at a machine, near the dumbbells, nearly anywhere but the squat rack. You will be forgiven for your transgressions.

For those of you who do this on purpose; take a good long look in that mirror you’re already staring into, are you curling at least 135lbs, with good form? Does your gym not have ez curl or straight bars? Are you Arnold Schwarzenegger? If you can’t answer yes to two of these questions then it’s very simple. You’re rude and a jerk and should not be curling in the squat rack.

At the end of the day doing bicep curls in the squat rack is wrong. Please stop.

If you enjoyed this post, disagree with me, or have a story for me; then leave me a comment below! If you want to keep up to date with future postings make sure to follow my page for future posts! If you want to keep up to date with me between the posts make sure to head over to my Instagram which you can find a link to above and follow me there.

Until next time, hit the gym, do something productive, and try to be less of a jerk.