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There are a million and one exercises you can do for the legs, from this position and that position -- but in the end, the squat rack is where it's at.
If you do squats and you apply plyometrics three or four times a week your legs will have all the exercise they need to look hawwwwwt.
As a guy who works out, I do not want to be approached during a workout regardless of how hot she is. My suggestion get his number before or after his workout, goodluck.
If you're an attractive woman, you are very, very unlikely to be rejected if you go up and talk to him. Even if you are, he'll probably be very nice and polite.
Women are really wusses, aren't they? They refuse to approach even though their chances of success are high yet they castigate men for refusing to approach even though men are far, far more likely to be rejected and in a callous manner.
First off, KUDOS for working out at the gym rather than treating it like a meat market or using it specifically for flirtation.
Second, Morphous, Snort, Northside and Jays have all given you some decent openings there, all GOOD approaches where approaching guys at the gym is concerned.
As a former gym guy who was ALL about the workout, I can tell you the following:
I do NOT know this guy, I can only tell you based on the fact that you seem to think this guy IS about his workout...
Guys, even those who are intense about the workout, LOOK at women, all the women, but we're taught early on to avoid looking too openly. Women tend to resent it MORE at the gym than anywhere else and no woman alive is worth losing a gym membership over. There are always more women, a good gym close to home is hard to find.
That's why he doesn't seem to notice you; that, or he's gay or taken. This is speculation on my part but I'd suggest it's relatively sound speculation.
You can approach at the watering hole/shake bar; this is perfectly acceptable gym etiquette.
You can play the damsel and ask about an exercise, not bad BUT you don't strike me as the type to be "helpless" when you're not, and I admire that.
If you head down to free weights, you're walking into Guy Zone and will have to put up with multiple.
You can ask another guy you've seen speak with him about him; he WILL find out, but by the same token it opens you up as a topic of conversation all around. They'll get tired of it sooner than women, but you WILL be a topic for a while.
Another approach -- lame, but works -- is to get OFF the treadmill as though finishing up when you see him coming. Get off AND pull out the earbuds or headphones AS you see him getting close. Towel off and LOOK like you just finished something intense (intense guys like women who work out intensely), and since you'll be climbing off as he's walking by, movement will catch his eye (we are hunters at heart, I promise). When he looks, catch eyes and smile big. You'll at least learn whether he's amenable to friendliness. You could even climb off with a "PSHEW" noise when he's right there. That can draw friendly comments.
Or, as he's passing you elsewhere, compliment a bodypart. Guys LOVE that (we do, yes we do). Don't go ga-ga, just say "I think you have really nice (bi's, tri's, delts)." STICK with one of those AND make sure you don't say arms or shoulders -- go with the muscle name, specifically. Don't say biceps, say "bi's"; you CAN say tri's or triceps. Don't say shoulders, say delts. It sounds small but it's a HUGE advantage when complimenting a gym guy, HUGE. If it's his forearms you CAN say forearms. If it's his back you CAN say back but you're better off picking a specific muscle from the back.
Never compliment abs unless they have a seriously nice stomach -- ever, not until you're dating. It swells the head like high-pressure helium. Same with buttocks.
Legs are tricky, best to avoid them until later. Bi's, tri's and delts are your safest bet.
The COOL thing about this particular compliment is you can give it passingly, very casually, and walk away assured you've been noticed from that point forward, and without risking too much because it's related to the gym rather than romantic attention. A guy would think very little about being stopped by a woman who admired a bodypart except to notice her from that point forward and wonder whether she liked him. It's NO guarantee she does, but it's a solid ice-breaker.
Awesome advice. I'm a regular at my gym and know that most women do not know a bicep from a pectoral. If they can name those muscles, it's a huge plus to us weightlifters.
The only free weights I use are dumbbells for my arms.
Any other suggestions?
I go to the gym roughly 5 times a week so I don't know if I should do free weights every day. . . Weights bulk me up. I know this from experience.
You can use machines. They are easier than free weights because whereas free weights obligate you to stabilize the weight during the entire repetition, machines are already stabilized for you.
Don't do heavy weights. Use light to moderate weight with high repetitions, and do cardio after weights - always after. You will burn more fat that way.
You can use machines. They are easier than free weights because whereas free weights obligate you to stabilize the weight during the entire repetition, machines are already stabilized for you.
Don't do heavy weights. Use light to moderate weight with high repetitions, and do cardio after weights - always after. You will burn more fat that way.
You'll never tone your inner thighs (stabilizing muscles) if you don't activate them. Running, jumping and squats are about all you need for your legs.
There are a million and one exercises you can do for the legs, from this position and that position -- but in the end, the squat rack is where it's at.
If you do squats and you apply plyometrics three or four times a week your legs will have all the exercise they need to look hawwwwwt.
I lift weights at home for the time being. I do squats with dumbbells and at the moment I am using the 40lbs dbs and it is getting hard to grip them. I am increasing weight but like I said the heavier weights are getting harder for me to hold at my sides. Do you have any suggestions? Would those lifting straps help?
You'll never tone your inner thighs (stabilizing muscles) if you don't activate them. Running, jumping and squats are about all you need for your legs.
Squats are awesome. I neglected them when I became a regular weightlifter several years ago. I only really began squatting 1 1/2 year ago. My legs are still weaker than they should be, but I now love squats, and (no homo, as gym buffs say) for the first time in my life, I actually have a bit of an ass. I can kind of see it when I wear shorts and am doing planks.
Sorry, I went to bed after dealing with a sick little guy all day long, so I'm just now seeing this after eleventy-seven pages of responses which I've not read.
Okay, he's about the workout AND he's got a social group down in the weights -- yep, that's pretty tough to crack without being obvious, you're right. However, there are ways in (I make NO speculation about his personality beyond exercise, please bear that in mind).
1st off, since he already has a social group there, accept that you WILL be discussed. Guys are no different than women inasmuch as we do talk, the differences tend to lie in HOW and HOW MUCH, and even that's not a sure bet.
Since treadmills are nowhere near the weights and he won't pass your area, you're left entering his unless you want to stake out the water fountain (I don't know what your gym looks like, so you'll have to adjust fire accordingly) or shake bar (if there even IS one). There WILL at least be a water fountain, if not multiple. Simple observation will let you know when he tends to go there routinely. It may take a few days, but there will be a pattern:
- Certain strenuous exercises requiring more effort - An actual routine to his watering (between sets/between bodyparts, etc) - Only after his workout is completed (rare, it's thirsty work)
You get the idea.
If you can get to there after a particularly intense set then you can avoid an open compliment and go with a casual "Hittin' it hard?" It suggests that you can recognize the work he's putting in -- a subtle but appreciated compliment. Probably one of the best compliments I ever got from a woman back in the workout days was when she told me I had a nice body and she could tell I worked hard at it.
It's one of those primitive things; men who work physically like to have the WORK complimented.
If he responds to this positively (make sure you smile, but you aren't required to beam) then as you part ways you can toss in something like "Keep it up, it's working." Be confident enough to hold his eyes for a few seconds when you do this, but even if you look away he now KNOWS. And after that HE will be looking for the chance to catch YOU aside, IF he's interested. No promises there, but it's a GOOD "in".
It's a shame you bulk easily. I can totally relate and I've known a few women who do this. Nothing wrong with it, I LIKE women with some real muscle, but if it's not to your taste (and I can understand that), might I suggest you learn some low-weight/high-intensity (not rep, intensity) routines which will allow you down into the free weights area? It's another opening and can tone-and-tighten without bulking too much, even for a person who bulks easily. Further, you'll bulk initially (or FEEL like you are) but you'll plateau quickly if it's high intensity, and the added muscle will aid in burning fat. It's a cycle, but it has payoff if you can figure it out.
When most people think about intensity in the gym they think about high weights and high reps. Those CAN be factors but they're not necessarily.
A low weight/high rep routine would be, for example, doing incline dumbbells for upper chest with 20's and doing 20 repetitions or more for your sets.
A low weight/high intensity routine wouldn't consist of just one exercise, it would consist of several done in rapid conjunction for a specific bodypart or body area.
Example:
Doing chest, you might rapidly switch between these:
- flatbench dumbbells, medium spread with a slight butterfly motion (switch dumbbells immediately afterward) - flatbench dumbbells, wide butterfly with a lower weight than the medium spread (change bench position afterward) - incline dumbbell press - incline dumbbells, medium spread butterfly motion (return bench to flat position afterward) - drop dumbbells entirely and, with chest flexed and tensed, do rapid butterfly motion WIDE, hands clenched and flexed, empty-handed for fifty reps - FEEEEEELLLL THE BUURRRRRRRNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!
ALL of that with low weight, moderate-to-high rep, virtually NO pause if ANY, between sets. You'd do one set of each, pump all that out rapidly, and you could even refer to completing one cycle of that AS one set, depending on just how intense you wanted to be.
It also gets a guy's attention when a woman picks up free weights and knows what she's about.
Another awesome post. I'm so looking forward to my leg workout tonight (with cardio and abs).
And Urban Sasquatch speaks the truth; men always look when a woman handles free weights and uses them well.
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