workout observations and a question

So I've been in the gym almost daily for a couple of weeks now and 3x per week a couple of weeks before that, and I have a couple of things I've noticed, and have come up with a question.  

• I have yet to experience a "stall" that I keep hearing about. I have however stopped losing weight three times since December (observation bias here- I only weigh on Fridays). Every time I notice I'm not losing weight, I have observed that is when my body experiences the most radical physical changes.  My last period of not losing weight I lost 2 inches around my waist and 3 around my chest.  I'm continuing to monitor for alterations to that pattern, but I've decided that while I care about my weight as long as I'm following my plan the scale can kiss my butt. (politely, of course)
• I'm shocked at how few people are willing to work out in the early morning.  I expected it to be packed.  Some days I have the joint to myself, and most others there are less than 7 of us. 
• I'm more shocked at how quickly I became "one of the guys".  Even with the super-fit guys/ladies that are in the gym literally 4 hours a day I'm totally accepted.  When I miss a day for travel, they completely give me a hard time like we've known each other for years.  It's weird to me that the people I'd normally avoid outside of the gym because of concern for them being judgmental are easily the most accepting of me in the gym.  I really can't understate this enough, because it is a HUGE motivator for me that the men and women in this gym recognize my commitment and make a better effort to befriend me than I ever would have with them. By the way, I've learned none of these people respect men with the flashiest coordinating workout clothes, women who wear makeup, or showoffs of either gender.  I look like a complete scrub when I walk in, and they do too.  We bond over how we all look like crap before we start sweating.
• Everybody hates the guy that won't wipe down the equipment, or only does so with the same towel he just wiped his nasty self with. 
• I hate going to the gym until I leave the gym.  Between my sense of accomplishment and the endorphins, I feel like a million bucks.  I spend my entire drive in trying to rationalize skipping the gym today.  I spend my entire walk to the office after the gym reminding myself sometimes I'm so smart I'm stupid, and I need to quit talking to myself before I get to the gym. 
• My co-workers have come to love the fact I go to the gym, and hate it when I skip the gym.  My mood is apparently markedly different.  On a related note, I have always been a person *****sponds to stress well- I eat stress for breakfast with my protein shake.  Days I go to the gym there is absolutely not a thing in the world that can stress me out, even better than before.  Days I don't I'm a clock wound too tight and people tend to avoid me.  Someone literally said they look for my gym bag in my office before they'll bring me bad news.
•  There is no time of the day that is harder for me to remember not to "gulp" water than the 5 minutes after my workout.  Speaking of, if I get 24 oz of water down before a workout and 24 oz down again before lunch, I am unlikely to hurt, burn, or feel bad after a workout. I'll be sore in all the right places, but I don't hurt.  Sore feels good (I know, I'm weird). 
• Nobody, and I mean nobody, can use a hip abduction '/ adduction machine and NOT look like a complete dork and wanna be porn star at once. This is the only machine I have not been on a second time.  The people at the gym call it the "newbie detector". 
•  

So with the observations out of the way, here's the question.  When I use machines, I tend to move the weight slowly through each rep both up and back, pausing at the apex of the rep.  This is what I remember from high school sports training.  Someone else in the gym says for "strength" I need to put as much weight on as possible and "jerk" the machine to really 'tear the muscle'.  This doesn't seem to make sense to me, but considering he's ridiculously fit and I'm still the consistency of room temperature butter I have to consider it.  Also, my high school coach was kind of mean.  He said if you didn't puke once in a workout you didn't work out you just played around, and then he'd throw a football at anyone'd head that wasn't 'pushing hard enough'.  So maybe his workout was a bad idea too. 

Any thoughts? 

My trainer had me doing slow, smooth, consistent reps of the highest tolerable weight to get through a set. For example, my last upper body workout had me doing lat pulldowns easily at 70 lbs. I did a slow set of 12. We super-set that with a set of rows to work traps, also at 70 lbs x 12 reps. When I went back to the lat pulldowns, he increased me to 80 lbs and I had to work to get through reps 10-12 for the last 2 sets. Same thing with the rows.

Consistently, he has had me work with weights that are heavy but not impossible. And, he stresses form and smoothness/consistency. It kept it do-able but believe me I felt it afterwards. I'm not sure I'd subscribe to the basic training style of rapid, quick movements or do-it-till-ya-puke style intensity.

Hope this helps. Can you grab a trainer at your gym for a session or two to work out form?

Laurie

Thanks for the input.  That's what I've been doing (technique wise) so far and I'm seeing benefits from it. I have no desire to kill myself on this or tryout for the local sports teams, so slow and steady makes sense. Unfortunately our trainer has all but admitted he doesn't know how to handle bariatric patients (or anyone not female, c cup,

Hey Laurie - not to hijack Mike's thread here, but what did you decide about your trainer/gym issue? 

I am SO not shocked that you quickly became "one of the guys".  I absolutely enjoy reading, and look for your posts- love the humor and intelligence that shows through.  You are doing great.  Can't wait to see the picture (and I know it's coming one day) where you wrap that belt of yours around your waist twice!  Smiles your way, today!  Bonnie

Being accepted - I found the same in cycling - I always thought the spandex clad, super-fit folks would be pretty snobby about newbies, but in fact the opposite has been true.  They love anybody who gives it a try and the enjoy helping, encouraging and having new blood join the sport.  I'm guessing most athletic activities are this way, and the worries about not being accepted are all in our heads.  

As far as "jerking" weights... I've had very professional trainers in my life, and that would be completely against anyting I've ever been taught.  I suspect it *could* be a te*****ue used to generate lots of hypertrophy, but I don't think that's what you're after at this point.

I think having a goal - like fitness/fat loss will guide your workout style.  If your goal is giant, competition level musculature, then your style will be different.  You'll get advice that mixes things up... because it's based on someone elses goal...

Yeah, I'll stick to fitness and fat loss at this point.  I've been a giant once, not going back there :) 

Thank you sir!

For my workouts (resistance stuff) I'm doing mostly body-weight and very high reps: 3 sets of 15 push-ups,  100 lunges, 40 squats, etc.  Plus some dumbbell stuff, some flexibility stuff.  Cycling punishes extra weight brutally -  so big legs and little tyrannosaurus Rex arms are the way to go...  but for overall health I want to be a bit more balanced...  The nicest part is I can do 75% of my workout in my hotel room if I'm traveling.  

I'll probably join a real gym next year - so I can access the newbie detector!

I love doing the weight machines. I do my reps where I raise it on count of 2 and bring it down on the count of 4. I see guys doing the machines super fast...what a waste of time! I was a nautilus machine trainer. Slow and steady wins the muscle and strength race. I leave the machine area with my muscles fatigued. Feels good! 

Yeah, tell that idiot to mind his own business. You are doing fine stick with it! The approach you are taking is called time under tension and that is what really builds strength. If you are going for bulk then the more weight/less reps knock it out approach works well.

All valid observations BTW and don't tempt fate with the stall talk.

Sounds like you might be ready for some new exercises. Do they have any free weights at your gym or is it all machines? Also can you say BURPEE?