One more tip: most of the big guys at the gym are friendly. If one of them asks to work in, let him, and ask him to watch your form during your sets.
Most people at the gym are either itimidated by, or presume that the biggest, buff guys are the most unfriendly.
The fact of the matter is, they have put a lot of time and effort into something they enjoy or are good at and are more than willing to help out with advice.
If you feel you're doing something wrong, or not sure .. just go and ask.
But be aware that lots of people at the gyms (especially including employees) are doing the exercises with bad form, or concentrate on the wrong things (i.e. endless curls, and you almost never see squats).
Get a book like `Starting Strength'. Then talk to the guys in the gym. There are generally helpful---but it's useful to have non-bullshit source to compare their suggestions with.
Good point, results do tend to speak for themselves .. a guy with pins for legs and gorilla arms obviously wouldn't be a good starting point for squat technique
I don't think this is true. My understanding is that steroids speed up your recovery phase - you can work out 7 days/week (and make commensurate gains) instead of simply 3 days + 4 recovery days.
They certainly don't prevent you from destroying your back during a deadlift with poor form.
Looking at your comment history it looks like you're part of the Prague team. Are you working with Earl and Praveen from the MV side, or with Dave and Evan from Maynard?
I actually had chronic RSI (CTS) from the age of 16~ due to studying/practicing music (brass/guitar/piano), and a lesser extent computing.
I'd tried pretty much everything in that list, as well as an operation on my right wrist. I won't say nothing worked .. because I was able to go from not being able to hold a pen .. to not being able to hold a plate :)
I'd actually given up (both therapy, and Music/Software Engineering) due to nothing seemingly working, and by chance started hitting the gym. As a part of my regular workout I integrated some basic wrist exercises (initially, I think it was wrist curls / reverse wrist curls).
So fast forward 10+ years and I now have absolutely zero problems. In hindsight I'm sure it was a combination of all the treatments and building significant forearm strength .. but not one Doctor, or Physiotherapist mentioned physical training as part of the path to recovery/prevention.
I've experienced the same thing in New Zealand, and more recently in Prague .. 'Place holder' advertisements created by recruiters just to get you into their database.
Job sites are more fragmented in europe meaning there usually is a site per country. You might want to be a bit mor precise from what country [countris] you are looking for a job.
A friend of mine swears by Lispworks for its fast, easy, flawlessly multi-platform GUI builder. He says he loves the idea of the open source CLs but could never give up that GUI builder. He also says the price and license is better than Allegro's.
Most people at the gym are either itimidated by, or presume that the biggest, buff guys are the most unfriendly.
The fact of the matter is, they have put a lot of time and effort into something they enjoy or are good at and are more than willing to help out with advice.
If you feel you're doing something wrong, or not sure .. just go and ask.