General
pick things up and put them down
What does pick things up and put them down mean?
A humorous, deliberately simplistic way of describing resistance training — you literally pick heavy things up and set them back down.
"What do I do at the gym? I pick things up and put them down."
Origin
Popularised by a Planet Fitness ad campaign and widely quoted as gym humour.
Frequently asked questions
What does 'pick things up and put them down' mean?
It's a tongue-in-cheek way of describing weightlifting, poking fun at how resistance training boils down to lifting heavy things and setting them back down.
Where does 'pick things up and put them down' come from?
It was popularised by a Planet Fitness advertising campaign and has since been widely quoted as gym humour.
Is 'pick things up and put them down' a serious phrase?
No — it's deliberately simplistic and used as a joke, usually by lifters describing their own training with self-aware humour.
Study it as flashcards or scroll it in Vocabulary Flow — saved to your collection.
