Dropping weights

[Kev]

At the gym I go to, they hired some wormy new general manager who likes to linger around the dumbell area and yell at everyone he sees dropping weights. The other day I got yelled at for dropping 2 85lb dumbells from a height of about 1 foot. The guy came over and said I can't drop them even though they barely made a sound, and he gave me these options:

A) Use a spotter (what the hell is a spotter going to do to help my unload the weight?)

B) Dismount without dropping them. This means basically doing a situp with 170lbs on my chest. I'm not going to risk hurting my back any more than it already is just so this little worm doesn't have to hear loud noises.

So what are your thoughts? Everyone at the gym seems to think this guy is ridiculous. Even one of the trainers said he was being an ass.

 

[rasczak]

i wish i had a place where i could just drop the weights. then i could try to do cleans. i think the guy is being a typical gm. trying to save money by not having to replace weights and mats. kinda stupid imho since this has been going on in gyms for a long time no?

 

[Deeko]

It sounds like he's being over the top. But I do get annoyed when people slam their weights around for no reason other than to call attention to themselves. Especially with deadlifts - believe it or not you *can* lower the bar back down, you don't have to drop it from the top of the lift!

But yea that's a separate issue. Have their been a lot of complaints or something causing them to implement this new policy?

 

[IceBergSLiM]

tell him to fuck off. Seriously. Whats he going to do?

I do the same thing though. lower weights as low as your arm is fully extended then drop. Usually way less than a foot distance..

A spotter cannot unload 200 lbs in weights.

standing up with that kind of weight from laying, incline or decline position is probably very bad.

 

[Kev]

Well apparently some dumbass put a hole in the floor doing god knows what... but you're not going to put a hole in the floor from dropping a dumbell 1 foot

 

[Deeko]

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
tell him to fuck off. Seriously. Whats he going to do?

He's the GM...he could revoke your membership...

Not saying he SHOULD in this instance, just answering the question.

 

[Deeko]

Originally posted by: Kev
Well apparently some dumbass put a hole in the floor doing god knows what... but you're not going to put a hole in the floor from dropping a dumbell 1 foot

ahh...yea I guess he's just being paranoid now because of that. Sounds like he's just an ass.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

Originally posted by: Deeko

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
tell him to fuck off. Seriously. Whats he going to do?

He's the GM...he could revoke your membership...

Not saying he SHOULD in this instance, just answering the question.

Around here there is too much competition they wouldn't risk losing customers. Usually the GM of a gym should at least have some knowledge of weight training. Tell him to get rid of free weights if they don't want noises.

 

[brikis98]

He sounds like an ass, but I can see a few legitimate reasons for not letting you drop weights:

1. It can damage the weights. This is a serious problem and I can definitely understand why a gym owner wouldn't want that.
2. I've seen people drop the rubberized dumbbells from a pretty good height (after doing incline dumbbell bench press, for example) onto a rubber floor. The result: the 85lbs dumbbell bounced off the floor, flew several feet, and smashed straight into the shin of a guy nearby. Not a good situation and definitely something a gym owner would want to avoid.
3. It can damage the floor, although, if the gym is in a proper room with rubber padding, it really shouldn't.
4. It can make a loud, distracting noise. Again, with proper rubber floors & the like, this should hardly be an issue.

Personally, I just stand up with the weights from a bench, even the 120lbs dumbbells. All it takes is a good leg kick and you're in a sitting position with the weights on your thighs. If you can't do that, then maybe you shouldn't be doing that kind of weight? Still, I can see situations where that might be a problem, such as someone who has an injury (e.g. back) or is doing some exercises where this is truly impossible (decline dumbbell bench, maybe?). I think the reasonable policy is to not let you drop weights from higher than ~1 ft, but of course, it can be tough to properly enforce that, so maybe they just use the blanket "no dropping weights" rule.

 

[scootermaster]

The only things I *ever* drop are dumbells if I miss a rep doing bench press. And since that bench is, oh, about 2 feet off the ground, and more than likely my arms add another foot or so, it's really only going three feet or so, and I don't so much "Drop" them as really just let them go when my arms move/fall down on a miss.

And even that, at my gym, is considered a no-no. And I've had people look at me funny. But the reality is this: if anyone ever came up to me and told me not to, I'd tell him to walk me right to the manager's desk, and tell him that HE is the reason I am canceling my membership (and my roommates, who's on the same account, and telling my workout partners, etc). And I would tell him I'm going to a "real" gym (a half-mile away to the Gold's that is their major competitor, where I used to work out for two years, by the way).

Otherwise, he needs to realize that in a real gym, people miss reps. And sometimes the weights hit the ground. And that's why they've got rubber on the outside of them. Thanks, please drive through.

 

[Koing]

Just try and lower it but if you got to drop it you got to drop it. Just lower the weight down to your hips/ thighs and you can do a sit up easily then.

But I'm glad I train at a club where I can do whatever I want.

Koing

 

[onlyCOpunk]

Ask him to spot you then. Be cheeky about it.

 

[paulxcook]

I know exactly what you're referring to, I do the same thing. It's probably not even a foot. I'd find another gym if he keeps doing this.

 

[crt1530]

Unless you're on a decline bench, it's really not that hard to get the dumbbells back to your knees.

 

[glenn beck]

My club thankfully lets me drop anything, I would hate not to drop them
I work out with the 130's db for flat bench, there is no way in hell I am
coming back up with those things.

 

[Jack Ryan]

Dropping because you pushed to hard is one thing, but dropping everytime is silly and, in my opinion, shows you are using too much weight.