Internet backs gym bro who gave unsolicited advice to college girl who was working out
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA: The Internet is staunchly supporting a man who upset a woman with his unsolicited advice in the gym. The man, who had the user name u/RevealRemarkable3910, explained that he was working out at his college gym at around 11 pm when he saw a girl struggling while doing a bench press next to him.
"It was just me and this other woman. She was doing bench presses at the bench next to mine with just the bar and was struggling. I took note of this but didn’t think much of it other than thinking that she was probably a beginner and it’s cool she made the plunge to start working out," he wrote in a post on Reddit’s subsection, r/AmItheA**hole. The man said he got worried when he noticed that the girl was loading a 45-pound (20 kg) plate on each side despite struggling with an empty bar.
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‘She had a serious chance of injuring herself’
"I didn’t want to get involved, and if I was in a normal commercial gym I’d just let the staff handle it, but in this case this is a college gym without staff and nobody was there," he continued. Dodging the chance of being labeled gym creep, the user politely asked the woman if she needed him to spot her but she declined immediately. "I felt I had no chance but telling her she probably shouldn’t be going right from the bar to a 45-pound plate on each side. The reason I felt the need to tell her is, she had a serious chance of injuring herself," the man said in his post, according to Someecard.
However, the woman got upset with the advice and told the man that she didn’t feel comfortable with a stranger telling her what to do at the gym. "She did decide against the 45-pound plates though, so I shrugged and returned to my set," the man noted, adding "Thinking about it now, I don’t think I was in the wrong. I was just trying to prevent the possibility of injury, and I didn’t really have any other option in this case but talking to her. I even just tried to offer to spot her first before outright saying that she probably shouldn't be lifting that much."
‘You weren't trying to be creepy’
The helpful man’s post soon garnered immense social media attention, with users supporting him for his decision that saved a woman from suffering severe injuries. Praising the man, one user wrote, "NAH You weren't trying to be creepy or do or say anything inappropriate, and you had a legit reason to be concerned she might hurt herself, but she understandably probably was very nervous about strange men at the gym, especially if she's new."
“NTA - You'd have done the same if some scrawny guy were about to crush his own throat with a barbell, I'm sure,” a second user wrote while the third asserted "NAH. It does sound like she could do with help if she's trying to go from struggling with 20 kg to 60 kg - realistically though, if the bar was heavy for her she wasn't going to get 60 kg off the rack. I think you approached it pretty well: "want a spot" is pretty much the only way I'm down with offering or being offered help."
Another user chimed in saying "I love how there are people here saying to 'leave women alone, every single woman has trauma from a man, you are not allowed to even think about looking at a woman' but if she had dropped that bar on herself and he didn't do anything you'd all be calling for him to be arrested. NTA."
This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.