# Do People Give You a Hard Time for Dropping/Bouncing Weights at the Gym?



## SubliminalX (Feb 26, 2006)

I get this shit every blue moon at the public gym.  And it's always from some old fart with a gut who pretends to be a lifting guru.  My response is always respectful, without raising my tone or acting annoyed.  No need for me to make a scene in public and appear to be the bad guy.  But hell, when you're shoulder pressing 90 pound dumb bells or chess pressing 120s, it's impossible (at least for me) to set the weights down completely softly without injuring yourself.  There's always gonna be a little bounce off the floor, and it's never even nearly enough to cause a big thud that makes everyone turn their heads.  But to some of these geezers, I'm "damaging the weights."  Why would they care!?!?  They never use the heavy weights anyway.  And they're fuckin weights, not dinner plates.  It's dangerous to even have a spotter try to take them off me after a set.   

Most gyms have rules against dropping/throwing weights as part of their safety policies.  But if the employees aren't saying anything about the way I handle weights, then other gym users ought to just mind their damn business and not interrupt my workout to try to lecture me.


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## Davo (Feb 26, 2006)

a totally innocent question : if you can control the weight almost to reach the floor then can you not just control it that small amount more all the way to the floor?  Regardless - I think that people understand that if you are lifting heavy then you'll always tend to drop/bounce the weights - what I think the gyms are guarding against is the annoyance caused by people who think its cool to drop the weights - and they are lifting a pathetic weight, not heavy


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## PWGriffin (Feb 26, 2006)

Davo said:
			
		

> a totally innocent question : if you can control the weight almost to reach the floor then can you not just control it that small amount more all the way to the floor?  Regardless - I think that people understand that if you are lifting heavy then you'll always tend to drop/bounce the weights - what I think the gyms are guarding against is the annoyance caused by people who think its cool to drop the weights - and they are lifting a pathetic weight, not heavy



When I can I don't drop the weights myself....but you could injure urself trying to put down some heavyweights sometimes, if ur trying to let it down and lose ur balance or something....


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## Doublebase (Feb 26, 2006)

The only time I drop wieghts is when I'm flat DB pressing.


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## t.durden (Feb 26, 2006)

If you can pick it up and lift it properly, then you should be able to put it down properly. Sometimes things happen but for the most part you should be able to set the weight down. I can press 120s for chest and 90s for shoulders and have never had a problem putting them down. I have a set of 90s at my gym with loose heads on them, kinda makes you realize that dropping weights does damage them and that you could get hurt lifting faulty equipment. JMO


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## MyK (Feb 26, 2006)

t.durden said:
			
		

> If you can pick it up and lift it properly, then you should be able to put it down properly. Sometimes things happen but for the most part you should be able to set the weight down. I can press 120s for chest and 90s for shoulders and have never had a problem putting them down. I have a set of 90s at my gym with loose heads on them, kinda makes you realize that dropping weights does damage them and that you could get hurt lifting faulty equipment. JMO



are you tyler from RSD?


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## t.durden (Feb 26, 2006)

must not be


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## Arnold (Feb 26, 2006)

If it is just a little bounce that is understandable, but if you're dropping them than they are too heavy for you, or you should be using a spotting partner that can take them from you.


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## BigDyl (Feb 26, 2006)

I usually let gravity take over when I'm done with my set.  This occurs after the concentric portion of the lift, I skip the excentric part, and just let the wieghts fall to each side.  It sounds like the end of the world.


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## GFR (Feb 26, 2006)

Only a total loser drops the weights from the top of the movement, I don't see this much anymore because most gyms will kick these trolls out if they continue to do it. If you can't handle free weights like a man then go buy a Bowfex and workout at home.


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## musclepump (Feb 26, 2006)

If I'm training and doing a set to failure, and I get stuck at the bottom, I drop them, yep. Never had anyone come at me about it.


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## The13ig13adWolf (Feb 26, 2006)

t.durden said:
			
		

> If you can pick it up and lift it properly, then you should be able to put it down properly.


that's what i was thinking.


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## Squaggleboggin (Feb 26, 2006)

I lift at home so no one really complains, but I definitely know what you're talking about. If I'm DB benching with heavy weights, I certainly can't do an oddly positioned reverse hammer curl with the same weight I use for benching. I let it down as softly as I can but I'm not going to injure myself just to make sure a piece of steel is 'safe.' I also don't see the point in limiting the weight you use so you can put it down as softly as possible. Maybe if other people actually used some kind of intensity with their workouts, they wouldn't be paying attention to what you do.


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## CowPimp (Feb 26, 2006)

I don't mind a little drop, at least if you try and set them down.  Some people hit lockout and just chuck them down.  That is obnoxious.  However, I rest the dumbbells on my chest and kind of do an explosive situp so they are supported by my quads so this doesn't happen.


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## shiznit2169 (Feb 26, 2006)

CowPimp said:
			
		

> I don't mind a little drop, at least if you try and set them down.  Some people hit lockout and just chuck them down.  That is obnoxious.  However, I rest the dumbbells on my chest and kind of do an explosive situp so they are supported by my quads so this doesn't happen.



that's exactly how i do it


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## The Monkey Man (Feb 26, 2006)

Ahem...


You are all FAGS!

I'll fucking throw the barbell through the godamn squatrack when I'm done
and all you quiet nazi panzee police can kiss my ass!

(PS... I workout at one of the nicer fitness facilities where they scorn
things like this, and I have never been "talked to")


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## KelJu (Feb 26, 2006)

Lol, my gay ass gym complains to me when I re-rack the weights to loadly. I had words with one of the workers about two weeks ago. He walks over to me and ask me if I can rack the 45's without clanking them together, so I told him that if he says another fucking word to me about how I re-rack the weights, that I wasn't going to re-rack them at all. He is a skinny little bitch that has no buniness working at a gym, and hasn't as much as looked at me funny ever since our nice little chat.


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## Monster Mayhem (Feb 26, 2006)

my gym is sweet because of the fact that there are 2 sepreate gyms. One for the ladies and one for the men so that gets the women outta the way.  Then there is a seperate room for all the free weights and hammer sstrenght and shit so most old people stay in the room with the machines so there outta the way. and the good thing is most guys that work out there are 18-45 and they all make noise and no one gives a shit.  If u dont like the clanking id say go get a fucking IPOD and you wont hear it.  My theory in life is that there are just some people out there that arent happy unless they are complaining about something.  Ive met plenty of these people in my day and i just tell they to kiss my ass. Thats what is wrong with this world today, the minorities and by that i mean the few people outta many complain and for some reason we confirm to what a few people want instead of tell them to kiss off and if u dont like it go work out at Curves.


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## Newt (Feb 26, 2006)

t.durden said:
			
		

> If you can pick it up and lift it properly, then you should be able to put it down properly. Sometimes things happen but for the most part you should be able to set the weight down. I can press 120s for chest and 90s for shoulders and have never had a problem putting them down. I have a set of 90s at my gym with loose heads on them, kinda makes you realize that dropping weights does damage them and that you could get hurt lifting faulty equipment. JMO


 
That is exactly what I was thinking.  If you can lift them then you should be able to put them down without dropping them.


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## fufu (Feb 26, 2006)

I never had trouble setting the weights down on say a dumb bell press. There was this one guy pressing the 90's and then he threw them to his sides and each dumb bell they fell/bounced 4 feet away from him and it almost hit me in the foot. Didn't say anything either.


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## Newt (Feb 26, 2006)

fufu said:
			
		

> I never had trouble setting the weights down on say a dumb bell press. There was this one guy pressing the 90's and then he threw them to his sides and each dumb bell they fell/bounced 4 feet away from him and it almost hit me in the foot. Didn't say anything either.


 
I would have thrown it back at him.  Or atleast a five pounder !  I can shoulder press 90's but throwing them may be difficult!


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## CowPimp (Feb 26, 2006)

Monster Mayhem said:
			
		

> my gym is sweet because of the fact that there are 2 sepreate gyms. One for the ladies and one for the men so that gets the women outta the way.  Then there is a seperate room for all the free weights and hammer sstrenght and shit so most old people stay in the room with the machines so there outta the way. and the good thing is most guys that work out there are 18-45 and they all make noise and no one gives a shit.  If u dont like the clanking id say go get a fucking IPOD and you wont hear it.  My theory in life is that there are just some people out there that arent happy unless they are complaining about something.  Ive met plenty of these people in my day and i just tell they to kiss my ass. Thats what is wrong with this world today, the minorities and by that i mean the few people outta many complain and for some reason we confirm to what a few people want instead of tell them to kiss off and if u dont like it go work out at Curves.



It's not really about the noise, it's about breaking the weights.  Some dumbfuck snapped one of the ends from the handle on our 100 pound dumbbell not too long ago because he decided throwing them was a good idea.

Also, my gym is located on the upper floor of a mall.  It rattles the shit out of the restaurant downstairs I'm sure.  Of course, they have to deal with it when I'm deadlifting.  Heh.


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## The Monkey Man (Feb 27, 2006)

CowPimp said:
			
		

> It's not really about the noise, it's about breaking the weights. Some dumbfuck snapped one of the ends from the handle on our 100 pound dumbbell not too long ago because he decided throwing them was a good idea.
> 
> Also, my gym is located on the upper floor of a mall. It rattles the shit out of the restaurant downstairs I'm sure. Of course, they have to deal with it when I'm deadlifting. Heh.


 
Well...

You better stop deadlifting then -


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## CowPimp (Feb 27, 2006)

The Monkey Man said:
			
		

> Well...
> 
> You better stop deadlifting then -



Well here's the thing.  When I set down my deadlifts it's not even as bad as some people who drop their weights.  I swear to God some people obviously do it for attention.  The only time I really slam it down is when it takes me 10 seconds to grind out a 1RM and I'm just out of gas mentally and physically.


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## phreak (Feb 27, 2006)

t.durden said:
			
		

> If you can pick it up and lift it properly, then you should be able to put it down properly. Sometimes things happen but for the most part you should be able to set the weight down. I can press 120s for chest and 90s for shoulders and have never had a problem putting them down. I have a set of 90s at my gym with loose heads on them, kinda makes you realize that dropping weights does damage them and that you could get hurt lifting faulty equipment. JMO




word.  i was always taught that if you can pick them up, you can put them down.

assholes who drop the weights are the ones responsible for breaking them as far as i'm concerned.  nobody gives a fuck how tough you are just because you used the 120s for a set; please put them down properly.  there are others who would like to use them too, and can't when they are broken.

thanks


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## Dale Mabry (Feb 27, 2006)

When doing cleans from the floor I do a controlled drop, but they are with bumper plates so it is irrelevant anyway.


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## The Monkey Man (Feb 27, 2006)

CowPimp said:
			
		

> Well here's the thing. When I set down my deadlifts it's not even as bad as some people who drop their weights. I swear to God some people obviously do it for attention. The only time I really slam it down is when it takes me 10 seconds to grind out a 1RM and I'm just out of gas mentally and physically.


 
Isn't that simply lifting to failure?


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## Tough Old Man (Feb 27, 2006)

SubliminalX said:
			
		

> I get this shit every blue moon at the public gym.  And it's always from some old fart with a gut who pretends to be a lifting guru.  My response is always respectful, without raising my tone or acting annoyed.  No need for me to make a scene in public and appear to be the bad guy.  But hell, when you're shoulder pressing 90 pound dumb bells or chess pressing 120s, it's impossible (at least for me) to set the weights down completely softly without injuring yourself.  There's always gonna be a little bounce off the floor, and it's never even nearly enough to cause a big thud that makes everyone turn their heads.  But to some of these geezers, I'm "damaging the weights."  Why would they care!?!?  They never use the heavy weights anyway.  And they're fuckin weights, not dinner plates.  It's dangerous to even have a spotter try to take them off me after a set.
> 
> Most gyms have rules against dropping/throwing weights as part of their safety policies.  But if the employees aren't saying anything about the way I handle weights, then other gym users ought to just mind their damn business and not interrupt my workout to try to lecture me.


your obvious;y some young lad who has no respect for other peoples personal property. If you were lifting in your house and had tile floors asshole, would you drop them. Probably if it was your parents


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## MAC33 (Feb 27, 2006)

I fucking hate people who drop weights. And the people who do drop weights usually have the worst form out of anyone else there but try lifting more weight they'll ever be able to handle, and then on their last rep they'll drop the weights and walk off like they're the coolest mothafuckers there. I hate those goddamn people and if you are one of those people, learn some form, stop being a bitch, and place the weights down properly. Respect your gym equipment. That's just my oppinion though.


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## SubliminalX (Feb 27, 2006)

Davo said:
			
		

> a totally innocent question : if you can control the weight almost to reach the floor then can you not just control it that small amount more all the way to the floor?  Regardless - I think that people understand that if you are lifting heavy then you'll always tend to drop/bounce the weights - what I think the gyms are guarding against is the annoyance caused by people who think its cool to drop the weights - and they are lifting a pathetic weight, not heavy



I guess my end of set technique just sucks then.  On exercises such as the chest presses, I lay the weights on my chest and roll on to the side a little.  This gets the weight maybe to about 6-8 inches off the floor, but anymore I feel like I'm gonna tear my shoulder right out of its socket.


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## SubliminalX (Feb 27, 2006)

CowPimp said:
			
		

> I don't mind a little drop, at least if you try and set them down.  Some people hit lockout and just chuck them down.  That is obnoxious.  However, I rest the dumbbells on my chest and kind of do an explosive situp so they are supported by my quads so this doesn't happen.



Easier said than done from the supine position with a total weight more than your own body weight laying on your chest.  Believe me, I've tried.  Warming up with 50-75% max weights for chest is easy to handle completely silently by sitting up and using your quads to catch the em.  But once you get up there to strength/hypertrophy type weight ranges it's impossible for me.


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## SubliminalX (Feb 27, 2006)

MAC33 said:
			
		

> I fucking hate people who drop weights. And the people who do drop weights usually have the worst form out of anyone else there but try lifting more weight they'll ever be able to handle, and then on their last rep they'll drop the weights and walk off like they're the coolest mothafuckers there. I hate those goddamn people and if you are one of those people, learn some form, stop being a bitch, and place the weights down properly. Respect your gym equipment. That's just my oppinion though.



You hate most IFBB pros then.   

I don't think you'll find anyone who disagrees with you about people egregiously making a scene at the gym.  I'm talking about people who are obsessive/compulsive about the issue.  If the gym employees don't have a problem with someone's habits, then I see no problem neither.


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## SubliminalX (Feb 27, 2006)

Tough Old Man said:
			
		

> your obvious;y some young lad who has no respect for other peoples personal property. If you were lifting in your house and had tile floors asshole, would you drop them. Probably if it was your parents



I disagree about the respect part.  If I had no respect, I'd throw weights around and I'd no longer have a gym membership.  You can make an argument that my technique at the end of heavy sets suck to the point that I can't silently put down weights on certain exercises without injuring myself, I'll give you that.  But I'm trying man.  Bottom line is, if the gym doesn't mind, there's no reason for others to worry about it.


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## SubliminalX (Feb 27, 2006)

phreak said:
			
		

> word.  i was always taught that if you can pick them up, you can put them down.
> 
> assholes who drop the weights are the ones responsible for breaking them as far as i'm concerned.  nobody gives a fuck how tough you are just because you used the 120s for a set; please put them down properly.  there are others who would like to use them too, and can't when they are broken.
> 
> thanks



Throwing down weights is one thing.  No one can agree with that.  But you can't treat weights like they're fine china neither.  Apparently some people think you ought to.


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## Squaggleboggin (Feb 28, 2006)

Tough Old Man said:
			
		

> your obvious;y some young lad who has no respect for other peoples personal property. If you were lifting in your house and had tile floors asshole, would you drop them. Probably if it was your parents



If I were dumb enough to put a weight set on a tile floor, I don't think I'd feel guilty about breaking it.


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## CowPimp (Feb 28, 2006)

SubliminalX said:
			
		

> Easier said than done from the supine position with a total weight more than your own body weight laying on your chest.  Believe me, I've tried.  Warming up with 50-75% max weights for chest is easy to handle completely silently by sitting up and using your quads to catch the em.  But once you get up there to strength/hypertrophy type weight ranges it's impossible for me.



You should definitely be able to do it.  Just rock a little and use momentum if you have to.  I was spotting this fellow the other day who used 100s for maybe 4-5 reps and he weighs like 170.  He got up just fine on his own.


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## CowPimp (Feb 28, 2006)

The Monkey Man said:
			
		

> Isn't that simply lifting to failure?



I suppose, but deadlifting is a Hell of a lot more taxing than DB presses.  Also, I'm not fucking up community DBs when I do this.


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## t.durden (Mar 2, 2006)

Deadlifts are one thing.You aren't going to damage a big ass metal rod and some metal plates. Dumbells on the other hand can be damaged quite easy. It's not about the noise at all, you could scream at the top of you lungs through your whole workout for all I care. But when I see all you "hyooge" guys damaging shit I lift over my head and shit it pisses me off. I honestly think many guys do just to be noticed. Just remember guys, slamming a weight down doesn't make you grow better!


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## JOHNYORK (Mar 4, 2006)

just cuz u could control the weight doesnt mean that u should be able to control it down thats rediculous someone who says that doesnt go heavy n doesnt push themselves hard enough that at end of doing a heavy set of dumbells on shoulder press its hard to control the weight down....as long as u make an effort not to just fling weights down a little drop is def. fine


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## Tough Old Man (Mar 4, 2006)

Squaggleboggin said:
			
		

> If I were dumb enough to put a weight set on a tile floor, I don't think I'd feel guilty about breaking it.


Come on get a grip on yourself. I built my whole hiuse4 myself. When i decide to start lifting, I stoled my wifes living room. My whole house is tiled. Foreman can tell you this. So I learned to set the weights down and not dropped them. IUntil recently when i just finished building a new weightroom, I lifted in the livingroom for 1.5 years and have no cracks or chips in in the tile in that living room.


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## rmcfar (Mar 4, 2006)

This whole weight dropping thing drives me pretty insane. Some punks at my gym dropped weights cause they were way too heavy and now the floor in the one spot has a huge dip in it when you walk over it and they managed to bust half of a mirror by tossing the shit around. Its pretty dangerous actually


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## Squaggleboggin (Mar 5, 2006)

Tough Old Man said:
			
		

> Come on get a grip on yourself. I built my whole hiuse4 myself. When i decide to start lifting, I stoled my wifes living room. My whole house is tiled. Foreman can tell you this. So I learned to set the weights down and not dropped them. IUntil recently when i just finished building a new weightroom, I lifted in the livingroom for 1.5 years and have no cracks or chips in in the tile in that living room.



You could always pay $10 for rubber matts just in case something were to happen. I know I would.



			
				rmcfar said:
			
		

> This whole weight dropping thing drives me pretty insane. Some punks at my gym dropped weights cause they were way too heavy and now the floor in the one spot has a huge dip in it when you walk over it and they managed to bust half of a mirror by tossing the shit around. Its pretty dangerous actually



That's simply ridiculous


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