[Chojin]

i had an appointment today to learn how to use the electronic system the YMCA has for its weight room. despite me telling the 60 year old dude there that I was only there to swim today and i just wanted to get registered with the computer and acquainted with the system, he keeps insisting that i go through their circuit.

so i figure what the fuck, i'll at least see what this is like on the off-chance i break my spine and hip in 9 places and need to use some machines.

there's a little LED screen that you have to crane your neck about 60 degrees to the side to see. you can't ever break eye contact with it because it lights up as you go through your range of motion and honks disapprovingly at you if you spend _less_ than 2 seconds moving in either direction. should you complete a full set of 12 reps, it then assumes you are done and don't need to do another. the old man helpfully explained to me then that broscience has proven that performing more than 1 set of a lift is completely unnecessary because you recruit the same muscle fibers each time if you wait between sets; but if you wait for only 15 seconds, you use a completely different set of new magic muscle fibers that will help you lift bigger next time. the more you know!

we're done after a 6-machine circuit. he reassures me that today it might seem like we spent a lot of time in there (25 minutes tops), but now that i know how to use the machines, I can be in and out of there in 15 minutes.

then at the end of this all, i mention to him that there's not enough room in the freeweights section to do olympic lifts or even deads. he recommends i use the squat rack for that.

i guess this is all funnier if you know anything about weightlifting.