That barrel-chested weight lifter in the baggy Zubaz pants is doing it again.
If you belong to a gym, chances are you’ve encountered some variation of the prototypical grunter. Sure, he’s bench-pressing the equivalent of a Mini Cooper, but come on, does he really need to make all that noise?
As local gyms start packing ’em in with newly resolute exercisers, it’s time to finally address this 800-pound gorilla in the weight room: Does grunting while working out serve any legitimate purpose? Or is it just shameless showboating?
“There are those who grunt as a physiological response, and then there’s the people making a statement,” said Lori Matan, personal training manager for Equinox Fitness Clubs. “There’s a point when that grunt turns into something else. And it’s very, very loud, and it’s usually followed by the person dropping the weights. It does appear to be a cry for attention.
“If I describe them physically, it’s a man, and his proportion is he’s large on top and smaller on the bottom. We have a joke that they never work their legs, they just bench-press,” she said.
There’s little doubt that many gymgoers find the practice incredibly annoying. Some clubs have even adopted strict no-grunting policies to combat what they say is overly aggressive, attention-seeking behavior. In an extreme example, a few months ago a member at Planet Fitness in Wappingers Falls, N.Y., was eventually removed from the club after he responded unfavorably to a manager’s request to tone down his grunts and groans.
An informal survey of Chicago gyms found none with an official stance on grunting. But representatives from a variety of health clubs say the issue can be delicate. Most agree that if the noise were excessive, they would likely ask the individual to stop. But what constitutes excessive?
Before properly examining the issue, it’s important to realize one needn’t own a monogrammed weight belt or a sleeveless Gold’s Gym T-shirt to be a grunter. In fact, deep down, we’re all grunters to some extent.
Grunting is a byproduct of proper breathing during weight training, according to Matan. “When you take deep breath in, you hold it, and when you exert force, you release it,” she said. “Everybody is a grunter, it’s just most of them you don’t hear.”
Evan McDowell, an exercise physiologist from the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, says loud grunting can result from poor form. Some only exhale at the very end of a repetition, which helps build up a large amount of air and can contribute to an audible grunt; others, when performing an exercise such as the bench press, get in the habit of grunting from the moment they push the weight from their chest.
“I encourage people to exhale the entire time they push the weight, as opposed to just at the end,” McDowell said. “As you learn to exercise, breathing is one of the hardest things to get down. If you don’t breathe, you’re going to pass out; that’s how people get hernias. There isn’t a physiological advantage [to grunting], but if the alternatives are between grunting and not breathing, I’ll take grunting.”
Images of the zoo
Some equate grunting with animal behavior; a member at one local gym compared the grunt to a lion’s roar. Others might consider the noises more apelike. But Sue Margulis, the primate curator at Lincoln Park Zoo, says they are on the wrong track.
“They [primates] do vocalize, but it’s very different from the grunting I associate with human exercise,” Margulis said. “With humans, it’s usually a quick start-and-stop type of physical activity. Whereas primates, they don’t usually do that. . . . I would say they [human grunters] are making human-like noises. If you hear an ape make a noise like that, I’m sure it’s not intentional.”
The real problem, according to Matan, occurs when some individuals transform this natural act of breathing into a full-blown theatrical performance. And it’s the uniquely human ability to exaggerate a grunt that sets the stage. Because grunting is usually affiliated with those who lift substantial amounts of weight, conventional wisdom says a power-lifting gym like Quads in Lake View would be the epicenter for grunting in Chicago.
Boasting more iron than an old warship–15,000 square feet of free weights–Quads is a decidedly old-school facility. And sure enough, 55-year-old owner Dave DeYoung has no beef with grunters.
“This is not a library, the last time I looked,” he said. “People come here to work out and exert themselves. The only thing I would have a problem with is if you’re gonna yell out obscene things.”
Although grunting might be tolerated here, Quads members are quick to point out that, because it’s a place for serious weight lifters, any so-called showboat grunting is a definite no-no.
“If you were screaming just to get attention, people would look at you like you were a goof,” said personal trainer Joel Rabb, 30. “When there are times that I’ve screamed, it’s not a manly `uuuuuuh!’ It’s like a bleating goat.”
“Sometimes you have to grunt it out,” added Tracy Frein, 48, a master power lifter. “But you don’t walk up to the bar and start banging your head and screaming and yelling. Years ago I used to have a guy slap me before I did a bench in a meet. But I learned you spend a lot of time and energy doing that, and by the time you get to the platform and do your lift, you’re spent.”
Dr. Sherwin Ho, director of the Sports Medicine Fellowship Program at University of Chicago, agrees there are no real physiological advantages to grunting–one can’t suddenly lift more weight by letting out a scream–but there can be mental benefits.
“I think the grunting or making noise during activities that involve maximum physical exertion have more to do with helping the individual focus,” he said. “Their strength is their strength, but to get to that maximum level requires concentration, and a lot of people need that vocal expression.”
It’s the attitude
So although grunting may be natural and may actually help some athletes focus, the fact is, some will always find it irritating. But according to area trainers, it’s not so much the actual grunting that annoys people; it’s the characteristics and personality of the person behind the grunt.
Ultimately, grunters should look deep inside and ask: Is that grunt an authentic expression of exerting maximum energy? Or am I screaming to compensate for something else?
And as for those guys who think roaring like a lion is going to help them find a date among fellow gym members, Equinox’s Matan has a message: Don’t hold your breath.
“It’s kind of like a peacock walking in: `Maybe I’m going to meet somebody,'” she said. “There are some sexual overtones as well, which is what I think sometimes gets people’s attention. But the women I’ve talked to, their first response is to laugh.”
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Blame it on your glottis
There’s actually a medical term for the inhalation before a grunt; it’s called the Valsalva maneuver, and when performed, the glottis (the space between the vocal chords) closes and increases pressure within the chest cavity by filling it with air.
This helps stabilize the core of the body before heavy lifting. Once that pressure is exerted, the air blasts through the glottis and–uuuuuuuuuh–a grunt may suddenly make its presence known.
–R.O
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There’s a lot of racket on the tennis court
Outside the weight room, another prime grunting locale is the tennis court. In the ’90s, Monica Seles’ loud grunting was synonymous with her power-playing style, and her opponents sometimes complained. After losing to Seles in a 2001 match, Jennifer Capriati claimed that her grunting on each shot was “like interference.”
(At Wimbledon, Seles even inspired the “gruntometer,” the measuring of grunting players’ decibel levels by British newspapers.)
Maria Sharapova, the Williams sisters–today it seems every female tennis star is a grunter. But why do they do it? Does it provide some sort of advantage?
“I don’t think it helps them. But if you ask them to stop grunting, it would require them to pay attention to it, and I think that would interfere with their performance,” said Dr. Gloria Balague, a clinical professor of psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
“In elite competition, you find people who do things because others find it distracting, and anything that can give them an advantage they’re going to use.”
In a BBC News Magazine article from 2005, former Wimbledon referee Alan Mills says some players have begun counter-grunting to try to throw off their grunt-happy opponents. But Balague says just tuning it out is a much better idea.
“In a sport like golf where you need silence to focus, that’s one thing,” she said. “But in tennis, there are lots of noises around. I think people would be better off training themselves to pay attention to something else and not letting something that is out of their control distract them.”
–Rod O’Connor
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To eavesdrop on some bellowing at the gym, go to chicago tribune.com/grunt.
