What is a Gym Gerbil? Well I’ll tell you. First, let’s begin with the definition of a gym rat. A gym rat is defined as someone who frequents the gym and is passionate about lifting. So, how do we define what is a person that rarely frequents the gym and has no passion about lifting? A Gym Gerbil. I’m not sure if that’s the real definition but that is what I decided. That’s what I am.

Why even go to the gym?

At the beginning of October, my friend Jordan and I decided that we would get started lifting together. He is what we call a gym beast, well past gym rat. He knows tons of different lifts and is strong as an ox. I figured he could help me learn a thing or two in the gym and build up some strength for injury prevention. He agreed and Day One for me was the first Friday of October. Let me tell you, I didn’t expect to be so sore the next day after lifting such little weight.

There is research out there highlighting the importance of cross training and how a little muscle can help reduce injury. Passing into my 30s, I figured I would like to strengthen my back and neck from lingering pain. Luckily Jordan had a lot of great ideas which I will share later on with how I did completing those exercises.

I also vainly asked Jordan if we could work towards developing my core with the idea of achieving a six pack. That wasn’t much for running benefits, more so to vainly impress Janel. After watching what he does for his core routine (I’m sure Jordan has a chiseled 16 pack), I figured some dreams may be a bit too big for your Averagerunnerpaul. I also love fried food a bit too much. Long story short, you won’t see me on any magazines and hopefully Janel is happy with my one pack.

With the plan in place to build back and neck strength, we got started. The first thing we had to do was see what my maxes were.

Baseline Attempt: My Maxes

A max is what they call the maximum weight that you can lift in a single exercise. Maybe you can do 20 pullups in one go, curl 100 pounds with your biceps, or lift up a truck. All those are impressive maxes and deserve the term max. My maxes were much lower and Jordan gave me the silver lining that I was just focusing on my technique. I had terrible technique and you pretty much can’t go much lower than the five pound weight on my first attempt (my gym’s lowest weight is that).

Anyways, let’s see how each exercise went!

THE PULL UP MAX

Believe it or not, I just told you my pull up max. If you look closely at the above title, you will notice I didn’t put a ‘S’ at the end of pull up. That’s right folks, I did one.

To be fair, we warmed up with a weight assistance device on the pull up machine. I didn’t even know this machine existed in the gym until Jordan pointed it out. It was honestly in an area I hadn’t even seen or gone to. I think the only gym areas I have stopped by were the bathroom and the treadmill. The only other area I notice at the gym is the massage chairs. That is when I longingly glance at those magic chairs thinking how much more fun that would be than exercising. One day I’ll earn that massage chair…

Anyway, back to the pull up. After we did 3 sets of 8 weight assisted pull ups (I think my sets may have gone down to seven or six reps), I went for my max without the weight assistance. My arms throbbed as it lugged up my one pack and legs and my chin barely cleared the bar. I’m sure Jordan looked away out of embarrassment with my heavy breathing and panting. I sounded like a fish out of water and my form looked like it too. As I came down from that one attempt, I decided to call it a day on the pull up machine. It was time for the next lift.

Pull up Max: 1

REVERSE FLY MAX

This one hurt the next day. And the day after that and the day after that. I didn’t even know it existed before I tried it. For what this should look like, think of Michael Phelps in the pool majestically completing his butterfly stroke. Now, imagine looking more human, moving your arms the same way, and adding weights to those arms. And then trying to do the same movement. That’s basically a reverse fly or what it should look like.

For me, it looked terribly different than that and felt terribly worse. I don’t think anyone else, outside of Jordan, knew what I was even doing to the machine. On the bright side, I did manage to do multiple attempts on the machine which naturally assists you. The max for the machine ended up being 3 sets of six reps at 60 lbs. Oooof.

Not to let me off easy, Jordan then had me do this exercise with free weights. I didn’t think it would be that much harder until I tried it. It was much harder. By free weights, I just used the dumbells at 6 times less the weight than Jordan used. I have come to realize that this whole article may turn into seeing how many times stronger than me that Jordan is. The answer is many. Anyways, I did 3 sets of 8 reps. And at least it was more than my one pull up.

Reverse Fly Machine Max: 60 lbs

Reverse Fly Dumbells Max: 7.5 lbs

BICEPS MAX

Last but not least, it was time to further crush my noodle arms. Jordan had one last exercise for me which, on the bright side, was something I was familiar with. On the dark side, I knew what the exercise was and my arms were already saying no. Too bad for my arms because it was going to happen one way or another.

The set count would be three and it would be eight reps per set. On top of that, I was instructed to stand on one leg at a time. This turned out to make the rep much more difficult from a balance perspective and it puts even more effort on the muscle. I gave it all I could.

Biceps max: 10 lbs

That’s a wrap!

The next day, cue the pain. So Much Pain. I couldn’t even figure out which exercise I was the most sore from or pinpoint what exactly hurt. Everything? Yes, everything. Overall though, it was a successful day one of the gym since I managed to survive all the exercises. Jordan stayed a bit longer than me and ripped out a few more reps of everything. I was happy to get home and chow down a jalapeño and cheesy bagel. Mmmm, that’s the reason I work out.

Anyways, your Averagerunnerpaul will continue going with Jordan at least once a week so wish me luck! If you have any favorite exercises you recommend for a runner to do, I’d love to hear them and hope your gym days go better than mine!