There’s a trainer at my gym who is a good friend—mostly a gym friend, though we’re text-level too. Today, I was squatting in the rack and he put his client on the platform directly behind me.
I was squatting a weight that is doable, but slight scary (90% of 1RM), and it really bothered me to have a person behind me. She couldn’t get hurt, as I was in the rack, but it was just an annoyance. So I said to the trainer, my friend, “hey, I have one more set, can I do that before y’all do anything here?”
He says, “oh, well we’re just stretching, not doing anything …”
So I launch into this description of what I’m doing and my comfort level with the weight and the sound it might make when it might drop onto the metal bars of the rack if I can’t stand it up … and he cocks his head and says, “Do you want us not to work out there?”
Me: “Yes, just for this last lift.”
Him: “Why didn’t you say that?”
… I thought I had, but when pressed, I didn’t just reiterate what I wanted. I qualified what I wanted, when I don’t need to.
They move; I (successfully) complete my reps, finish my workout, and go find the trainer. “Hey, thank you for calling me out.”
Him: “You don’t need to sugarcoat anything with me. I thought you knew this.”
Me: “I did. I do. Which is why I’m thanking you now.”
Let this gym gem serve as a reminder to all fellow faux celebs: you don’t need to sugarcoat or qualify anything you want ever, whether the person is a friend or not. You want what you want, and you get to want it.
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