Does your gym life have an effect on your relationships?

Just interested to see how your gym lifestyle has changed the people around you.
Have you got a sabotaging partner?
Changed friendship circles?
Jealous friends, friends turned haters?
Or are there people you have completely turned your back on?
Made new friends? Met a new partner?

was talking about this type of thing with a couple of the guys i train with when we went to eat, and came to the conclusion that if your missus doesnt like you being out at the gym however many nights you train, ask her if she would prefer you being out with your mates clubbing/partying etc with all these other girl around, or training in a gym? 99% of the time it will be the gym. depending on circumstances

not really answering any of your questions but its still related to gym life effecting your relationship

I can't have lunch with anyone who doesn't want to talk about lifting or diet.

I can chat with people just fine, I find it hard to befriend those who don't care for physical activity because it is a large part of my life and what I prefer to do.

Hard to bridge the gap when their fav past time is clubbing/drinking and mine is squatting.

I've not had a great number of relationships, but it hasn't been an issue yet. I got my current partner into lifting so... problem solved?

deep said:

I can't have lunch with anyone who doesn't want to talk about lifting or diet.

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lol I'm the same now as well.

Even people who don't lift or care about lifting still have to talk about lifting or I'll just say nothing

i don't really talk to lifting/diet outside of the internet to be honest. Maybe a little bit with one of my friends. I try to avoid talking about it

While waiting to see a movie last week, I was showing my husband tonnes of powerlifting vids of people I know/have met in the last couple of months. I could sense his boredom. He does it to me with shit he finds on eBay.....

buddy said:

i don't really talk to lifting/diet outside of the internet to be honest. Maybe a little bit with one of my friends. I try to avoid talking about it

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yeah same

ill happily talk about it if someone asks how im doin or some shit but generally i try to avoid it coz i feel like im being a big noter/cocky/big headed if you know what i mean lol

lol @ grah, it would be nice to do that hahaha all the conversations would be much more interesting hahahahah

buddy said:

i don't really talk to lifting/diet outside of the internet to be honest. Maybe a little bit with one of my friends. I try to avoid talking about it

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Yep I am the same. Don't talk about it with others and don't want to. Most people dont give a shit, which is fair enough and those that do usually want to know how often you curl or tell you about their imaginary mate who benches 500kg.

Lifting really has almost zero impact on my life outside it.

I get enough talking about lifting at the gym and on here. Outside of that it is just if people ask for my opinion. Not all of us are full on methods like Gryhem and Deep

deep said:

I can't have lunch with anyone who doesn't want to talk about lifting or diet.

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That's kinda sad.....No Truly! (not aimed at just Deep either)

It's advertising that you are still a 'nerd with a good body'.

C'mon ppl. The idea is to become healthier, fitter, 12% body fat
whatever.

But talking only about lifting and dieting.. how pathetic is that!!!

Devante.

I have found over the last couple of years that you need to have a balanced liftstyle....when Iam with my gf I dont talk about training, or anything like that, when I am with mates we may talk about it abit just because some of my mates are into lifting but really we tend to talk about other things....

But then saying that when Iam in the gym its all go...I dont stop and talk to ppl about other things or anything like that...its focused, and intense...

Train hard, eat well, when your in the gym focus on nothing but the lift at hand...but as soon as you step outa that gym relax and live your life....I think its sad to see ppl who are so into their training it affects their relationships, when they go out, the ppl they see etc etc...and at the end of the day what are you doing it for? Coz your going to be Mr/Mrs. O or coz you enjoy training and eating well...

Not pathetic at all, very strong over emphasized word for the situation....
Its a mindset, its living towards a goal and if my interests rub off onto other people then it makes me happy that I have influenced another person.

deep said:

Not pathetic at all, very strong over emphasized word for the situation....
Its a mindset, its living towards a goal and if my interests rub off onto other people then it makes me happy that I have influenced another person.

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What is your goal though???

I can understand if you want to be a top level athlete, bodybuilder etc...yes that needs 100% focus....but if your goal is to look abit better, be healthier and enjoy your training...then you really have to question if limiting yourself is really the best thing...

I lived bodybuilding for around 2 years back in college - I ended up leaving college (not due to bodybuilding) - but I remember for over a year I hardly left the house...

I got up, ate breakfast, went on the net/forums, caught the bus to train, came home, tanned, ate, went to bed...did this for over a year...I wouldnt even work! I wouldnt go see mates really, I wouldnt go out drinking, I pretty much like I said stayed at home and did nothing just so I could train, eat, sleep.....biggest waist of my life.....what did I think I was going to become...Mr.O in a year...

Joel, since my training has reduced to three days a week I actually get out and socialise alot more I dont limit to anything, I leave my friday and saturday nights available to socialising instead of booking at date with the crosstrainer.

Alot of my ladies at work are very over weight so our lunchtime topic always defaults to diet and thier training regimes a the new gym that just opened.

Ive met alot of like-minded people through the gym and my old Tuesday night group fitness, they like to talk about training as they saw my transformation first hand.

On one hand I love to chat to like minded peeps about training, I could blab on all day about it.

But on the other hand, I don't bother bringing it up anymore as I always get some sort of bro science or some shit, and some peeps don't like to chat about training and such as they aren't into it (I was one of those once LOL)

TBH, It doesn't bother me either way, I find the internet is a great way to have my fix on talking weights and shit with like minded peeps. On the other hand, I could care less about talking to others about it, as long as they have my attention in a conversation than I am likely talking about something that is of interest to me.

G

At the moment, because I'm new to the game, it's all I can talk about, and it's mostly all I think about...lol
drives the missus nuts!

I've made tons of new friends through the sport but still mainly interact with my old group of friends who I have known mostly since highschool. None of them are interested in lifting though so it has been good to be able to discuss my passion with others. My wife swaps between supportive and just tolerating, she knows how much I love what I do and does see the benefits but at the same time there is a lot she doesn't understand.

I used to let training rule my life. It definitely alienated me from some circles of friends.

I'd very rarely go out socially. Wouldn't stay out late at night because I needed to get my 8+ hours sleep for recovery.
I would always plan when I was going anywhere so that it would fit in with when my next meal was, otherwise I wouldn't go.
I remember going to my sister's house to visit and I'd take eggs to cook up, how sad lol
If for some reason I was 'late' in having a meal I'd start to freak out and be like "OMG I'm going to shrivel up, all my hard work has gone to waste"
If I did go anywhere I had to take food with me... a can of tuna and salad, a protein shake etc.
I'd never eat lunch with co-workers because I was afraid if I touched a 'bad' carb I'd turn into a fat arse.

Where did it get me? Nowhere. In hindsight it was pretty sad really.

Now I'm a lot more relaxed with everything and funnily enough my training or body composition hasn't suffered, if anything it has improved.

I never bring up the subject of training/diet in discussions with people, but if they do then I'll join in. Often I don't go into a lot of detail with people who don't lift because they don't really understand what you're saying anyway, the type of people who just ask "how much do you bench?".

I'd say it affects a lot of my relationships. Some in a bad way, but that is because of how the other people treat it.

With regards to a partner, I would definitely want to drag them into it somehow, but at the same time, I wouldn't want to train with them. Training is my thing. It would be nice to be able to talk about it with them, but I'm not sure my style of training would ever lend itself to having a female training partner. Unless the gym was really empty and we could afford to each have a separate barbell when doing deadlifts for example. CBF loading/unloading 100kgs every set. I would DEFINITELY want to see eye to eye with them when it come to nutrition though.

Socially, it affects some relationships. My weeknights are virtually always unavailable due to gym 4 nights a week. So if anything comes up during the week, I can't really go.

Brocky said:

I used to let training rule my life. It definitely alienated me from some circles of friends.

I'd very rarely go out socially. Wouldn't stay out late at night because I needed to get my 8+ hours sleep for recovery.
I would always plan when I was going anywhere so that it would fit in with when my next meal was, otherwise I wouldn't go.
I remember going to my sister's house to visit and I'd take eggs to cook up, how sad lol
If for some reason I was 'late' in having a meal I'd start to freak out and be like "OMG I'm going to shrivel up, all my hard work has gone to waste"
If I did go anywhere I had to take food with me... a can of tuna and salad, a protein shake etc.
I'd never eat lunch with co-workers because I was afraid if I touched a 'bad' carb I'd turn into a fat arse.

Where did it get me? Nowhere. In hindsight it was pretty sad really.

Now I'm a lot more relaxed with everything and funnily enough my training or body composition hasn't suffered, if anything it has improved.

I never bring up the subject of training/diet in discussions with people, but if they do then I'll join in. Often I don't go into a lot of detail with people who don't lift because they don't really understand what you're saying anyway, the type of people who just ask "how much do you bench?".

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I used to be like this. Except, it did get me somewhere, I improved considerably. BUT I've made just as much improvement by having some balance in my life and not being so pedantic about what I'm going to eat at other people's places. I still generally do bring my own food though, be it a protein shake, or some veggies or whatever, depending on how long I'm going to be there. But I don't mind eating out or whatever if that is what ends up happening.