Meatheads are the big guys (this is a predominantly male
archetype, though in recent years girls have been getting into this) you see in certain kinds of
gyms who walk around
like they own the place. They can typically be seen in sleeveless shirts or tank tops and shorts and an unnecessarily grim expression on their face. Many would describe them as "
disproportionate" in one way or another; buzzed or shaved head sitting on top of big shoulders, a neck so large that it might even be completely absent,
meaty forearms, almost invariably under-developed calves but very large upper legs, because they probably don't do a lot of cardio but they usually do a lot of squatting. Not necessarily a six-pack beach body (which they
eschew), but also not necessarily an amorphous,
adipose blob, either - the bodybuilding and strength training procedure "
SQUATS and MILK" came from meatheads. These people are commonly associated with heavy lifting, grunting, the sound of plates oscillating on a
barbell, sweating, and being intimidating. They might ruin your gym experience. They might be the only people in your gym who aren't wasting their time. I don't know, it depends on what you think a gym is for.
These are the guys who can often be observed performing various odd rituals before and during their workouts. These can range from things like applying copious amounts of chalk to various parts of their person to pacing back and forth in front of a bench or power rack while grumbling to themselves, "Come on. Easy weight, easy weight."
You will actually see a lot of guys doing things like this, but unless they are legitimately big (i.e. somewhere close to 200lbs+ bodyweight) and strong (i.e. not the 40 year old guy grunting under 225lbs), they're more akin to nerds. Vaguely obsessive behavior, weird habits, regarded as outside of the social norm - yeah, you get it now. A nerd can eventually become a meathead, but not until he has demonstrated that he understands how to train effectively ... by getting bigger and stronger.
Meatheads may or may not have an actually athletic background outside of the gym. Powerlifters are almost synonymous with this noun. It would be very difficult for you to find a powerlifter who was not a meathead. Many football players can be considered meatheads. I am of the opinion that you need at least some kind of exposure (either actually training for a meet or event, or training with other guys who train for meets or events) to some sport that is heavily gym- or muscle mass-related in order to be considered a true meathead. Otherwise, he is just someone who works out a lot.
For all their weirdness, meatheads are the guys who more or less know what they're doing in the gym when it comes to getting what they want out of it. And a lot can be said about their intelligence level, but let's be honest here, effective weight training requires a fairly good understanding of anatomy and physiology, physics, and nutrition. They believe that the important thing is to focus on the movements in which multiple joints can move the greatest amount of weight, and move as much weight as they possibly can as many times as they possibly can, and consuming copious amounts of food to fuel their growth and training. Some people perceive this as showing off. Maybe it is. But it is also one of the most effective ways to train. These are the guys who talk about the deadlift with some kind of holy reverence and say that they love the head rush that heavy squats can give you. They want to be solid, square chunks of muscle. Meatheads don't care about being fit. Maybe you might find this unattractive. Maybe it appeals to you. It's not about being attractive to them, though. It's about being ugly and awesome at the same time, having the caveman's finesse. They like not having a neck (they call this being "yoked"). They like not being able to find jeans that they can fit their quads in. I can guarantee you that every meathead agrees with the testosterone philosophy of Fight Club, that men are becoming emasculated in modern society and should rebel against that emasculation. Does being masculine equate to being ugly in some ways? Maybe it does.
Is it irrational paranoia? Maybe. Does it really hurt anyone if they fight this little crusade of theirs? Let them have their fun.
Here is the big thing with meatheads: they take what they do very seriously, whether bench pressing 385lbs for five sets of five actually warrants severity or not, because when you get honest with yourself, nobody fucking cares but you. It is hard to understand why they would do this. They don't get paid for what they do. You can't live off powerlifting. It makes them freaks to other people. It's really hard work, and only other meatheads truly appreciate what they're doing. But I guess they believe in what they're doing. To a meathead, pounding the iron in the gym is easily one of the most rewarding things you could do in life, in the same way that a musician might say that making music is the most rewarding thing in his life - seriously though, hear me out here. They put the work in, they make themselves look the way they want, they make their bodies be able to do the things they want, this is easily one of the most expressive forms of art. Everyone else complains about being unsatisfied with themselves, "uuugh, I'm such a pig, I'm so lazy," what does the meathead do?
His movements reflect his wishes.