So I was at the YMCA yesterday around noon finishing up my workout when I saw a group of three kids (couldn't have been more then sixteen) trying to bench. The kids couldn't have weighed more than 140 soaking wet with clothes on and they were trying to put up 135 for reps.
The first guy did one decent rep and then his body went all over the bench tryin to get up the next 6 reps. his feet were coming off the ground and it looked like he was just trying not to die. The next kid got under the bar and was not able to do one decent rep. His feet were also up in the air and at one point the left half of his body was at a 45 degree angle to the bench.
The third young man had enough sense to drop the weight down to 100 lbs. He too, didn’t have fantastic form, but he was able to get the 7 reps off without looking like the “Keystone Cops” trying to lift.
My question for my brothers and sisters is this, should I have gone over and very politely offered training advice? I wasn’t in a rush to go anywhere, so I had some time to spare with these young men, I just didn’t know if it was my place to do so. Would you, as an experienced lifter given advice, and to the new lifters, would you have wanted advice from someone you don’t know from Adam?
I personally don’t offer advice to anyone unless asked aswell. But everyone appreciates advice from the more experienced guys. Just say g’day to them and have a chat? By the sounds of those guys, chances are after a couple of minutes of small talk they will ask you a question about training and then you can offer up some advice.
[quote]stockzy wrote:
I personally don’t offer advice to anyone unless asked aswell. But everyone appreciates advice from the more experienced guys. Just say g’day to them and have a chat? By the sounds of those guys, chances are after a couple of minutes of small talk they will ask you a question about training and then you can offer up some advice. [/quote]
This is solid advice no body wants to get told there doing wrong any more or take advice from even obviously older more experienced lifters just crazy of late.
You may have caght these kids young enough though they will take advice. You might even lead by example force seeing good lifting on them one day ask one of them for a spot on a set and break the ice with that
I have only done it once because I thought these kids were seriously going to hurt themselves or someone else. They were on the incline bench and had no idea the weights were sliding off. I am always tempted but usually I just leave it alone. If they ask me something, I am always more than happy to help out.
[quote]Thai_Bxr wrote:
So I was at the YMCA yesterday around noon finishing up my workout when I saw a group of three kids (couldn’t have been more then sixteen) trying to bench. The kids couldn’t have weighed more than 140 soaking wet with clothes on and they were trying to put up 135 for reps.
The first guy did one decent rep and then his body went all over the bench tryin to get up the next 6 reps. his feet were coming off the ground and it looked like he was just trying not to die. The next kid got under the bar and was not able to do one decent rep. His feet were also up in the air and at one point the left half of his body was at a 45 degree angle to the bench.
The third young man had enough sense to drop the weight down to 100 lbs. He too, didn’t have fantastic form, but he was able to get the 7 reps off without looking like the “Keystone Cops” trying to lift.
My question for my brothers and sisters is this, should I have gone over and very politely offered training advice? I wasn’t in a rush to go anywhere, so I had some time to spare with these young men, I just didn’t know if it was my place to do so. Would you, as an experienced lifter given advice, and to the new lifters, would you have wanted advice from someone you don’t know from Adam?
Love
Thai Boxer[/quote]
You could of. I know I usually wont take advice from the really small scrawny guys who can’t lift more than I can. I remember doing my tricep pressdowns incorrectly, guy pointed it out and showed me how to do them properly. Thanked him about 5 times.
Then again, some guy at the gym I am currently going to, was telling how to do curls “properly”. I was curling more weight then him(no I wasn’t frat curling or anything). He was like you need to sit down, curl and use your mind to make it feel heavier, then when you are done, roll your shoulders 10 times in both directions. I looked at him funny, tried them sitting down, didn’t care for them and then just ignored him.
Hmm, if it was just one kid, he may of been having a bad day.
