just when R and i were contemplating switching to a more weights-focused gym or hell, eventually our own rack (monday was a huge pain in the ass; we were there FOREVER because we had to wait for both the rack and the pull up bar, others' entire sets), i go in today and everyone's so nice. the parking attendant wednesdays (his name is Robert, hee) who's always been super kind (he wishes me a good morning every time, and i dunno, it feels more genuine than the standard cashier greeting thing) today paused and greeted me in korean with a question mark at the end, sort of checking to see if his guess i was korean was right. i laughed and told him i was familiar with that but not much else as i'm adopted; he was quick to say he didn't know much either. i gave him a thumbs up and said "good call" and he smiled.
thennn one of the trainers we see regularly who's more weights-focused (but with a less over the top bodybuilder clientele than the sunday guy) was working with an older woman near me and he paused and turned to me and said "look at you here all motivated alone! i remember when you and your husband came in months ago and little you, the bar alone was a challenge" (gestures at the 45lb plates on each side) "now look at you!" then he turned to the lady he was working with and said "they'd come in here and you could tell they were wondering how to do everything, real unsure of themselves" and then he turned back to me and said "now here you are and you don't even have a spotter, you're so motivated. and you have good form too! see, you just gotta have faith!" at this point i smiled shyly and said "yeah the bar WAS hard, i remember...just starting was intimidating" and the woman made a face and said "yeah that looks heavy, ee." felt good, especially since right before he said that i was kind of dawdling and nervous hoping they'd do what they were doing next to me fast and go off because i didn't want the trainer to see me lifting my (quite possibly fail-inducing; the first time in over a week i was putting on new weight) work set, thinking shyly he might make fun of me in his head or something (yeah tht's dumb i know). when it was clear they weren't leaving anytime soon i just went for it albeit self consciously and then he said that at the most reassuring possible moment, ha. it helped that today i FINALLY broke that over-a-week-long wall and yes damnit, i am lifting 135lb+ in the squat, the big plates, and my form isn't a wreck either. today was so productive. angelo came by and helped me unrack without my saying a word like he does now, and joked "you need more on that bar, mary?" the one downside was this big beefy dude interrupted my press (making awesome inroads with that finally too; adding pull ups and dips has made all the difference) gruffly asking if i was done yet with the rack. i let him have it, no big deal, it was more the manner in which he talked to me that bugged me. when i apologized for having made him wait which i didn't realize and smiled he just sort of grunted like he was annoyed. oh well. on the plus, he wound up doing olympic stuff, i am bad still with terminology but that thing that's the second part of a clean and press, where he didn't clean it off the floor but instead off the rack, snapped it up to his delts, and then lifted it over his head. that made me realize we could do that instead of the power clean maybe, it'd be y-friendly enough. just need to find out if it works well at strengthening one's deadlift symbiotically the way the power clean does (the ultimate goal).
thennn one of the trainers we see regularly who's more weights-focused (but with a less over the top bodybuilder clientele than the sunday guy) was working with an older woman near me and he paused and turned to me and said "look at you here all motivated alone! i remember when you and your husband came in months ago and little you, the bar alone was a challenge" (gestures at the 45lb plates on each side) "now look at you!" then he turned to the lady he was working with and said "they'd come in here and you could tell they were wondering how to do everything, real unsure of themselves" and then he turned back to me and said "now here you are and you don't even have a spotter, you're so motivated. and you have good form too! see, you just gotta have faith!" at this point i smiled shyly and said "yeah the bar WAS hard, i remember...just starting was intimidating" and the woman made a face and said "yeah that looks heavy, ee." felt good, especially since right before he said that i was kind of dawdling and nervous hoping they'd do what they were doing next to me fast and go off because i didn't want the trainer to see me lifting my (quite possibly fail-inducing; the first time in over a week i was putting on new weight) work set, thinking shyly he might make fun of me in his head or something (yeah tht's dumb i know). when it was clear they weren't leaving anytime soon i just went for it albeit self consciously and then he said that at the most reassuring possible moment, ha. it helped that today i FINALLY broke that over-a-week-long wall and yes damnit, i am lifting 135lb+ in the squat, the big plates, and my form isn't a wreck either. today was so productive. angelo came by and helped me unrack without my saying a word like he does now, and joked "you need more on that bar, mary?" the one downside was this big beefy dude interrupted my press (making awesome inroads with that finally too; adding pull ups and dips has made all the difference) gruffly asking if i was done yet with the rack. i let him have it, no big deal, it was more the manner in which he talked to me that bugged me. when i apologized for having made him wait which i didn't realize and smiled he just sort of grunted like he was annoyed. oh well. on the plus, he wound up doing olympic stuff, i am bad still with terminology but that thing that's the second part of a clean and press, where he didn't clean it off the floor but instead off the rack, snapped it up to his delts, and then lifted it over his head. that made me realize we could do that instead of the power clean maybe, it'd be y-friendly enough. just need to find out if it works well at strengthening one's deadlift symbiotically the way the power clean does (the ultimate goal).