Gyms Reopened in Sh*t-Hole Northern Ontario Today.

[Matt]

I don't mean to bitch, but [starts to bitch in every post] maybe a proportional response to a pandemic's mortality rate may be more appropriate? 

I'm going to drop to 160-lb to give myself a fresh template to start a clean bulk from. I'm going to then bring my weight up to 175-lb, which is realistically the biggest I can be while being pretty lean, without steroids, supplements, or a super strict diet.

And I will NEVER take for granted open gyms EVER AGAIN.

If Ontario premier Dough Ford is just teasing us again, I'm buying home gym equipment and being done with it.

What a mess.

To my American Getbig friends:

The USA and Canada are both in a race to the bottom for stupid Cancel Culture garbage. But your constitution is much stronger than Canada's bullshit "Charter of Rights and Freedoms" which promises us "reasonable" "freedom of expression".

"Reasonable"...that's so clear. 

The USA has explicit protections for speech and guns, and when you hear that Canada's healthcare system is so amazing - don't believe it.

In the USA, the working poor suffer the most under the healthcare system. In Canada, anyone middle class and higher is worse off than Americans of the same economic class.

In Canada in 2003, Toronto had something like three lithotripters in the entire city, whereas I believe in Chicago [a similar-sized city] had something like 500. Something like that. You could walk into any Emergency Room in the USA at the time and receive immediate medical attention, whereas you would have to wait 3-6 hours just to get stitches in Canada.

Not to say either system is perfect [and both are suffering under batshit leftism, mass replacement level immigration, and Cancel Culture], but...I'm a bit jealous.

Looks like in a weird turn of events, Sweden was the most sane in 2020.  Kwon and Van Bilderass would know.

I'm never going a day without working out EVER AGAIN. on my off days, I'll go just for cardio, just to ensure I stay in the routine.

Lots of lawsuits coming if we ever return to normal though...so I'm under no delusion that gyms will stay open.

Never believe a Canadian who complains about the USA. Without the USA's military support, Canada would fall in an afternoon.

I hope everyone here made it through this scam-demic ok. I've been lucky to have no issues aside from seeing some friends and family scared over nothing but fake news.

Drug overdoses in Canada went up 74% in 2020 - almost a full doubling of the WORST metric by which to measure drug use/abuse, leading me to believe every other form of drug use has increased. I was told that our suicide rate hit a record in 2020 too. Japan's suicide rate went up 16%.

Canada went into more debt in one year than in the previous 28 combined.

But we needed to "keep people safe" and all that. 

My advice:

If you get sick - stay home, eat chicken noodle soup, and don't see Granny. Vince Goodrum did a good video on the vaccine which I suggest everyone watch.

I continue to stand my ground regarding anyone asking me where my mask is, but it's exhausting dealing with nutters who literally drive in their cars alone while wearing a mask.

Hoping everyone here is well. If I can maintain my gym access, you'll have my promise that posts will be kept to under 10,000 words, and that I won't derail threads and stuff.

Honestly, I would love to have a takeaway of how to go about just being better to my fellow person, but we've all been appeasing narcissistic leaders to the point of complete self-abasement. And they won't stop unless we push back. So I'm at a loss.

I'm hoping full facility use will open in time...but I'm not going to complain if not.

To my American Getbig friends: not all Canadians are a bunch of libtard, Trump-hating, freedom-hating anti-Americans, even though a bunch of outspoken Canadians are.

This was the first really good day I've had in a while, and I'm worried that things will just close again - but as someone here said, we can't stay scared over nothing for too much longer. Recall 9/11 - all the "Code Red" scares disappeared on 09/12/2002.

Be well.

[Matt]

Oh for fuck's sake.  That didn't seem like a long post as I was writing it.

Anyway, why do I have to go to an independent YouTube content creator to hear a critical exposition of the COVID vaccine? 

So not ONE PERSON in mainstream has expressed these concerns?? Unreal.

[Mothballs]

Over/under on number of days before Matt is kicked out for not wearing a mask?

I’ll set the line at 2 days.

[Matt]

Over/under on number of days before Matt is kicked out for not wearing a mask?

I’ll set the line at 2 days.

I would have guessed the same. But I noticed at a nearby convenience store that the new mask propaganda signs explicitly state certain people are exempt, and list the exemptions. I guess the smart people are pushing back against the dumb scared ones. It blows me away that police in my city [and others] don't even UNDERSTAND THE LAW. And when I was trespassed from Indigo, I literally had full documentation on me, including A COPY OF ONTARIO LAW UPDATED AS OF THE PREVIOUS 60 MINUTES.

You CANNOT make this up.

And I saw yet another dumb bitch walking while wearing a mask today, lol. This is in freezing -11C [+12F] Ontario weather [warmish here for this time of year].

[LurkerNoMore]

Posting about working out.   

[Taffin]

1  I don't mean to bitch, but [starts to bitch in every post]

2  I'm going to drop to 160-lb to give myself a fresh template to start a clean bulk from. I'm going to then bring my weight up to 175-lb, which is realistically the biggest I can be while being pretty lean, without steroids, supplements, or a super strict diet.

3  And I will NEVER take for granted open gyms EVER AGAIN.  If Ontario premier Dough Ford is just teasing us again, I'm buying home gym equipment and being done with it.

4  If I can maintain my gym access, you'll have my promise that posts will be kept to under 10,000 words, and that I won't derail threads and stuff.

5  ...we've all been appeasing narcissistic leaders to the point of complete self-abasement.

6  This was the first really good day I've had in a while, and I'm worried that things will just close again - but as someone here said, we can't stay scared over nothing for too much longer

7  Be well.

1  Self awareness - confirmed

2  You're a young man - just get it all done in a few weeks by using high amounts of toxic DNP to cut, then blast the Superdrol to max those gains - f**k jaundice

3  Do it anyway - that's what I'm doing this year

4  Don't believe you

5  Speak for yourself

6  Really good to hear it - glad you're starting to feel Spring coming - had me worried there for a while 

7  Go fuck yourself

[Taffin]

Posting about working out.   

Hahaha! - gayer than lifting weights

[LurkerNoMore]

Hahaha! - gayer than lifting weights

Gayer than lifting weights and looking like he doesn't.

[falco]

Lucky Ontarians.

Be well Matt. Good pumps.

[Marty Champions]

Matt dieting to 160 for a fresh template then bulking to 190?

Matt u cant be serious, youre implying that all the food in your life to take you to 175 was sub optimal , what bulk diet is going to bring you to 175 AGAIN and somehow be more superior than last diet?

[Kwon]

Matt dieting to 160 for a fresh template then bulking to 190?

Matt u cant be serious, youre implying that all the food in your life to take you to 175 was sub optimal , what bulk diet is going to bring you to 175 AGAIN and somehow be more superior than last diet?

If only Falcon wrote like this

[Matt]

1  Self awareness - confirmed

2  You're a young man - just get it all done in a few weeks by using high amounts of toxic DNP to cut, then blast the Superdrol to max those gains - f**k jaundice

3  Do it anyway - that's what I'm doing this year

4  Don't believe you

5  Speak for yourself [Thank you! Glad to hear that not everyone is an irrational Karen]

6  Really good to hear it - glad you're starting to feel Spring coming - had me worried there for a while 

7  Go fuck yourself

LOL!!!!! 

But seriously - I am over the moon here.

One gym in town is not doing memberships. They are selling 60 minutes of pre-booked gym time for $10. They are allowed a maximum of ten people in at a time, and are open from 6am to 11pm.

So do the math - $100 an hour for 17 hours each day [assuming they maintain full capacity, which I think they can]. That's $620,500 in revenue for a year. Although there will be some Holiday closures, and Premier Dough Ford may end up closing gyms down again.

But think about the cost under this model:

If I want to work out five days a week, that's $50 a week. With 52 weeks in a year, I'll be paying $2,600 CAD a year for a membership [just over $2,000 USD].

I think the previous cost was $850 CAD per year, and that was unlimited access + access to the sauna/shower. It would be nice to have a sauna after my workouts...not overly concerned about a shower I can take at home.

Not to mention, I will need to register each workout, and might end up having my workouts all over the map.

Also, my gym is not honouring previous memberships. I had a month and 17 days left on my membership, and there will be no refunds.

It's a mess.

I guess I can get by on 3-4 workouts a week if I adjust...and wth only a ten person capacity in the gym, I will have access to more equipment, and I can combine workouts.

Not quite ideal, but I'm not complaining.

And gyms here were closed for the majority of the year...I can't blame the gym owner for not honouring memberships.

But to now pay basically triple for less service I got last year, and way more hassle. That kinda sucks.

What's the gym situation in your neck of the woods, Taffin? Do you have a 330-lb leader scolding you for compromising public health resources?

[LurkerNoMore]

Instead of crying about the gym, spend that time with your kids.  If they are going to grow up to hate you, at least give them a reason.

[Matt]

Instead of crying about the gym, spend that time with your kids.  If they are going to grow up to hate you, at least give them a reason.

It's been nice spending time with family, I guess, but my younger sister lives in England [where they arrested Nathan De Asha], and she said Thunder Bay is the most irrational, insane place she's been to for COVID measures.

What's it like in your state?

[LurkerNoMore]

It's been nice spending time with family, I guess, but my younger sister lives in England [where they arrested Nathan De Asha], and she said Thunder Bay is the most irrational, insane place she's been to for COVID measures.

What's it like in your state?

I'm in FL.  That should tell you everything.  Everything except movie theaters is open.

Even bathhouses and swingers clubs are open and operating.  They started again last August.  There is usually a group out front of those places protesting though.  Nothing new.  It was that way before covid.  (different group of protesters though) News stations lost interest in reporting it back in September because (other than the handful of protesters) no one gave a shit. 

There are some places that are serve yourself buffet style open now.  Nightclubs and strip clubs are jammed packed.   Hotels are hurting.  There are some deals to be had.  Rooms about 1/3 the regular rate now. 

I mean unless you were going to the movies often in the past, nothing else has changed. 

[MCWAY]

I'm in FL.  That should tell you everything.  Everything except movie theaters is open.

Even bathhouses and swingers clubs are open and operating.  They started again last August.  There is usually a group out front of those places protesting though.  Nothing new.  It was that way before covid.  (different group of protesters though) News stations lost interest in reporting it back in September because (other than the handful of protesters) no one gave a shit. 

There are some places that are serve yourself buffet style open now.  Nightclubs and strip clubs are jammed packed.   Hotels are hurting.  There are some deals to be had.  Rooms about 1/3 the regular rate now. 

I mean unless you were going to the movies often in the past, nothing else has changed.

Yep. I took my wife to a brazilian steakhouse for our Valentine's Day celebration.

Basically, it's the same routine, except you have to wear a mask at the salad bar and use hand sanitizer before you get your plates. Tables are spaced out a bit more than normal. And the dudes carrying the various meats to offer you are wearing masks (as are the waitresses and hostesses).

My gym (24-Hour Fitness) closed on St. Patrick's Day last year and reopened three months later in mid-June, initially with the whole reservation thing you had to do on the app. You could only train for an hour; then they closed for 30 minutes (or less) to clean and spray down the place.

If they reopened before the next group was scheduled to arrive, you could go back inside until they showed up. If not enough of the next scheduled group arrived, you could stay. And it's not quite 24-hours still; they close at 9 pm and reopen at 5 am.

[LurkerNoMore]

Yep. I took my wife to a brazilian steakhouse for our Valentine's Day celebration.

Basically, it's the same routine, except you have to wear a mask at the salad bar and use hand sanitizer before you get your plates. Tables are spaced out a bit more than normal. And the dudes carrying the various meats to offer you are wearing masks (as are the waitresses and hostesses).

My gym (24-Hour Fitness) closed on St. Patrick's Day last year and reopened three months later in mid-June, initially with the whole reservation thing you had to do on the app. You could only train for an hour; then they closed for 30 minutes (or less) to clean and spray down the place.

If they reopened before the next group was scheduled to arrive, you could go back inside until they showed up. If not enough of the next scheduled group arrived, you could stay. And it's not quite 24-hours still; they close at 9 pm and reopen at 5 am.

LA Fitness here has been open pretty much as normal for about six months now.  You have to wear a mask when entering, exiting, or moving around the gym.  But once you are actively exercising you can unmask until you leave your area or equipment.  Pool and showers are closed.

Casinos are open.  My gf and I went to the steak house there for Valentines.    We had brunch at Oceanic (on the beach) with friends earlier that day. 

[MCWAY]

LA Fitness here has been open pretty much as normal for about six months now.  You have to wear a mask when entering, exiting, or moving around the gym.  But once you are actively exercising you can unmask until you leave your area or equipment.  Pool and showers are closed.

Same deal with 24-Hour fitness, plus no kids' club; So, I can't bring my son with me. Next year, he may be too old to go there anyway.

Did they do the reservation thing at LA Fitness? And when did they reopen?

During the shutdown, I trained in my garage literally using gallon jugs of water and broomsticks to train arms. For larger body parts (chest, back, legs), I literally put my milk crates of muscle magazines to use as weights. The average magazine was 1.25 pounds. So, a crate with 40 magazines was 50 pounds. Of course, the ones from the late 2000s and early 2010s (with 400+ pages) were nearly 2 lbs. The others from 2014 onward were thin (MD and Flex; MuscleMag had gone belly up at that point), barely a pound. Mags from the 90s (and late 80s) were about 1.5 lbs each.

Those and the handles of my pool brooms became my barbell, with my wife's ice cooler as a bench. From time to time, my neighbor let me use his home weight set in his garage.

Suffice it to say, I was quite happy when 24-Hour Fitnes re-opened (although the one downtown Orlando got closed for good; so it was off to the branch in Apopka, closer to my house but not quite as many benches). They have more squat racks but they're on wooden platforms with those plates that are the same circumference but different thickness. They're also different colors: 10s are black; 25s are green; 35s are yellow; and 45s are blue.

Casinos are open.  My gf and I went to the steak house there for Valentines.    We had brunch at Oceanic (on the beach) with friends earlier that day.

Not necessarily that I had the money, but had I found out in time that the Olympia got moved to Orlando from Vegas, I might have tired to go. The only pro show I ever saw in person was the Xtreme Pro Show in 2004 (which was in Orlando also).

My wife went with my daughter and a friend for tea, before our date. While they were doing that, my son and I were playing video games at the house.

[Taffin]

What's the gym situation in your neck of the woods, Taffin? Do you have a 330-lb leader scolding you for compromising public health resources?

Yeah all closed I'm afraid - and funnily enough, our Public Health guy is also a 300lb chubster 

I'm in FL.  That should tell you everything.  Everything except movie theaters is open.

Even bathhouses and swingers clubs are open and operating.  They started again last August.

[Taffin]

During the shutdown, I trained in my garage literally using gallon jugs of water and broomsticks to train arms. For larger body parts (chest, back, legs), I literally put my milk crates of muscle magazines to use as weights. The average magazine was 1.25 pounds. So, a crate with 40 magazines was 50 pounds. Of course, the ones from the late 2000s and early 2010s (with 400+ pages) were nearly 2 lbs. The others from 2014 onward were thin (MD and Flex; MuscleMag had gone belly up at that point), barely a pound. Mags from the 90s (and late 80s) were about 1.5 lbs each.

Those and the handles of my pool brooms became my barbell, with my wife's ice cooler as a bench. From time to time, my neighbor let me use his home weight set in his garage.

There's something poetic about weight-training with bodybuilding mags as weights 

Not being a d1ck, but was it hard to get hold of actual weights or something?  I'm wondering if there was a shortage, or maybe the prices pumped to unreasonable levels or something?

[evacnam]

Matt, can you put me in touch with your older sister? She's the hottest one, right? Is she sexual? I'd really like to bang her.

did MAtty punt all his facebook accounts? I remember seeing 3 at one point

[LurkerNoMore]

Same deal with 24-Hour fitness, plus no kids' club; So, I can't bring my son with me. Next year, he may be too old to go there anyway.

Did they do the reservation thing at LA Fitness? And when did they reopen?

During the shutdown, I trained in my garage literally using gallon jugs of water and broomsticks to train arms. For larger body parts (chest, back, legs), I literally put my milk crates of muscle magazines to use as weights. The average magazine was 1.25 pounds. So, a crate with 40 magazines was 50 pounds. Of course, the ones from the late 2000s and early 2010s (with 400+ pages) were nearly 2 lbs. The others from 2014 onward were thin (MD and Flex; MuscleMag had gone belly up at that point), barely a pound. Mags from the 90s (and late 80s) were about 1.5 lbs each.

Those and the handles of my pool brooms became my barbell, with my wife's ice cooler as a bench. From time to time, my neighbor let me use his home weight set in his garage.

Suffice it to say, I was quite happy when 24-Hour Fitnes re-opened (although the one downtown Orlando got closed for good; so it was off to the branch in Apopka, closer to my house but not quite as many benches). They have more squat racks but they're on wooden platforms with those plates that are the same circumference but different thickness. They're also different colors: 10s are black; 25s are green; 35s are yellow; and 45s are blue.

Not necessarily that I had the money, but had I found out in time that the Olympia got moved to Orlando from Vegas, I might have tired to go. The only pro show I ever saw in person was the Xtreme Pro Show in 2004 (which was in Orlando also).

My wife went with my daughter and a friend for tea, before our date. While they were doing that, my son and I were playing video games at the house.

No, they didn't do the reservation thing.  They opened with each piece of equipment on the left and right of you sealed off.  So over half their equipment was not accessible.  They stopped that back in September.  All their equipment is open for use now.  Just not showers and sauna.
I have a membership at Planet Fitness through work and go there about once a month, but  they never taped off any machines or areas.  They just put out spray bottles and paper towels for the members to use.  They actually opened up their Black Card area (tanning beds, massage chairs, hydro massage bed) back in November.  The showers have been opened too. 

When the shut down first occurred, I just started riding my bike a lot more.  There was not much traffic on the roads, so I could bike along with beach.  I was getting 40 miles 4x a week in the mornings.  The fitness center where I have rental property never really shut down, so I was able to go over there and work out some too.  It was limited as you can imagine a high rise fitness center would be.   Cable cross over stations and attachments, dumbbells to 50, smith machine, a leg extension / curl combo machine.

[Walter Sobchak]

Matt, can you put me in touch with your older sister? She's the hottest one, right? Is she sexual? I'd really like to bang her.

The least he could do is post up a pic of her funbags!

[MCWAY]

There's something poetic about weight-training with bodybuilding mags as weights 

Not being a d1ck, but was it hard to get hold of actual weights or something?  I'm wondering if there was a shortage, or maybe the prices pumped to unreasonable levels or something?

Not really!! They still had plenty at Wal-Mart. It's just that I didn't feel like spending the money. As mentioned earlier, my neighbor already had a weight set and said I could use it when I needed to do so (as long as I called ahead of time to make sure it wasn't an inconvenience).

I did that, off and on. But, I like having my own and training when I feel like it. So, for chest exercises, I put two crates on opposite end of a shovel handle and did one-arm dumbbell benches. I'd put two crates on either side of my long pool broom handle to do barbell rows for back.

As for lower body, I did old-school hack squats with my makeshift barbell behind the back or between the legs. Stiff-legged deadlifts took care of the hamstrings. Calves were just heel raises with no weights for hundreds of reps.

I did my arm exercises with a broom handle and gallon jugs of water (each weighing 8^1/3 pounds), to do curls and overhead/French press extensions. Upright rows, supersetted with presses, took care of shoulders.

BTW, my wife found a bench that someone was giving away on Craig's List. But, someone snatched it minutes after it posted.

[MCWAY]

No, they didn't do the reservation thing.  They opened with each piece of equipment on the left and right of you sealed off.  So over half their equipment was not accessible.  They stopped that back in September.  All their equipment is open for use now.  Just not showers and sauna.
I have a membership at Planet Fitness through work and go there about once a month, but  they never taped off any machines or areas.  They just put out spray bottles and paper towels for the members to use.  They actually opened up their Black Card area (tanning beds, massage chairs, hydro massage bed) back in November.  The showers have been opened too. 

When the shut down first occurred, I just started riding my bike a lot more.  There was not much traffic on the roads, so I could bike along with beach.  I was getting 40 miles 4x a week in the mornings.  The fitness center where I have rental property never really shut down, so I was able to go over there and work out some too.  It was limited as you can imagine a high rise fitness center would be.   Cable cross over stations and attachments, dumbbells to 50, smith machine, a leg extension / curl combo machine.

I remember years ago, having to use one of those stations at the complex where my girlfriend (now my wife) lived for a few months. I learned the value of pre-exhaust supersets (flyes and chest presses, leg extensions and leg presses, etc.).

As for 24-Hour Fitness, the reservation thing lasted for a couple of months. In late July/early August, they extended the reservation time to 90 minutes. At the particular club where I trained, they could clean the equipment in about 10 minutes officially (actually they started about 10-15 minutes before closing time, wiping down anything that wasn't being used). If they had to close at 6:30 pm, they usually reopened by 6:40. So, you could go back into train if you weren't done and some of the folks, scheduled for 6:30, didn't show up.

By early September, they dropped the whole reservation thing and you just showed your picture on the 24-Hour Fitness App. That way, you could enter without doing the fingerprint scan routine. Shortly afterwards, they stopped closing the gym for clean up and have dudes or gals, going around the club cleaning anything not being used (and doing the mask police thing, of course).

I think it's also because two clubs are closed permanently (Kissimmee and downtown Orlando). So, some of their staff are going to the other clubs, making things easier at those locations.