Please Scroll Down to See Forums Below 
IvanOffelitch
Well-known member
What's your story?
Mine:
Years ago, a friend and I hit the gym for leg day. We've trained together off & on for the last 25+ years, and for the first 15 years, I can't remember him ever training legs once. He's a big dude (6'2, 250+), but had some scrawny wheels. Once he finally started training legs, he did everything under the sun except squats. I badgered him for a LONG time before I finally got him to do them (the big wuss lol!)
Anyhow, the ONLY way I could get him to do squats was in the Smith machine...free weight squats were outta the question (which was probably a good thing). The warm-up sets were relatively uneventful until I loaded the bar with 6 45's. His form and foot placement wasn't "great" during the warm-ups, but when we hit 6 wheels, he got into some weird hack squat-like form...feet WAY out in front, and he was actually leaning back into the machine. I tried (in vain) to get him into proper form, but he would have no part of it.
So there I am, spotting him from behind, and he starts to rep out...only problem is, he's got so much angle on the Smith machine he's actually rocking it back & forth as he did each rep, tipping it at the top and banging it like crazy at the bottom of each rep!
Of course, the other people in the gym take notice, and I tell him to rack the bar before he hurts himself (nevermind the embarrasment!).
After maybe 8-10 reps, he goes to rack the bar...JUST as I'm telling him to make sure the hooks are engaged, he goes to step out from under the bar...yep, you guessed it, the hooks weren't set! (thank GOD we had the stops set just below our ROM)
I managed to slow his descent suprisingly well considering the amount of weight on the bar, but he still went down pretty hard. Once I saw he was OK (save for a seriously bruised ego), I somehow managed to get my heart back down outta my throat. Needless to say, that was the end of that workout.
I don't think he's done squats once since then.
Mine:
Years ago, a friend and I hit the gym for leg day. We've trained together off & on for the last 25+ years, and for the first 15 years, I can't remember him ever training legs once. He's a big dude (6'2, 250+), but had some scrawny wheels. Once he finally started training legs, he did everything under the sun except squats. I badgered him for a LONG time before I finally got him to do them (the big wuss lol!)
Anyhow, the ONLY way I could get him to do squats was in the Smith machine...free weight squats were outta the question (which was probably a good thing). The warm-up sets were relatively uneventful until I loaded the bar with 6 45's. His form and foot placement wasn't "great" during the warm-ups, but when we hit 6 wheels, he got into some weird hack squat-like form...feet WAY out in front, and he was actually leaning back into the machine. I tried (in vain) to get him into proper form, but he would have no part of it.
So there I am, spotting him from behind, and he starts to rep out...only problem is, he's got so much angle on the Smith machine he's actually rocking it back & forth as he did each rep, tipping it at the top and banging it like crazy at the bottom of each rep!
Of course, the other people in the gym take notice, and I tell him to rack the bar before he hurts himself (nevermind the embarrasment!).
After maybe 8-10 reps, he goes to rack the bar...JUST as I'm telling him to make sure the hooks are engaged, he goes to step out from under the bar...yep, you guessed it, the hooks weren't set! (thank GOD we had the stops set just below our ROM)
I managed to slow his descent suprisingly well considering the amount of weight on the bar, but he still went down pretty hard. Once I saw he was OK (save for a seriously bruised ego), I somehow managed to get my heart back down outta my throat. Needless to say, that was the end of that workout.
I don't think he's done squats once since then.
