I’m wary of trying to correct squat or bench press form. People get testy about range of motion. I’ll happily correct a deadlift though. There are so many kids at my gym that just don’t know any better…and I’d hate to see them fuck up their backs because of it.
I think it depends on the temperament of the person; If he/she is serious & curious for training knowledge if you give them training tips, etc. that is great & can help them on their way… nothing like having some gems of workout advice to share.
I give the caveats however that “what works for me might not work for you” & “everything works & after time nothing works”. This gets them confused 
After all, I’m just a guy in the gym, I’m not going to get paid to tell you this, it is no sweat off my brow if you listen or not…
Lately, however I’ve held my tongue & only given tips or advice when outright asked by someone that approaches me…
I seomtimes find it disheartening when you give some people some strength tips & advice and the next week you see them - doing squat rack curls… but like I said, to each their own. Some guys actually will smile, ignore/humour you, & go right back to their horrific form/poor choice of exercises thinking, “Well, this is how I’M going to do it” Those types are a lost cause, best to leave them to their world. You can’t run around saving everyone from idiocy or ignorance, nor can you judge/assume. Maybe he really is trying to get some “shreded mass on those arms with those 15lb tricep kickbacks…” Guys like that deserve the arms they have - I actually had a guy tell me he was there “just to get some muscle tone, he didn’t want to get too big”
It is nice & affirming though when you run into another lifter that knows his/her shit. walks the walk & talks the talk & you can engage in some enlightening discourse about training methodologies, exercise variations, quality spotting, diet, etc. but for me that has lately been few & far between.
Rant warning - ***WHAT IS TRULY MIND BOGGLING is how many young guys go into the gym & have no fucking clue where to start/how to start a lifting program DESPITE having the world at their disposal via the internet - when I was young & naive about lifting I had to go to the library, wait a month’s time for the new issue of MM2K, MuscleMag, etc. No online T-Nation for me at that time…
Yet, despite the digital resources online we still have kids that can kill you in .2 seconds in Halo 3 yet do not know what a proper squat looks like let alone perform one… RESEARCH, people, research…
Sorry for the rant… but yeah, if you can give meaningful advice, go right ahead.
It’s what they do with it that matters to them in the end. You can give all the tips and advice in the world but if they’re not motivated, it’s your time wasted.
I don’t give out unsolicited lifting advice any more. But if someone approaches me with a question, I will be more than happy to help them.
I also help the weiners in my gym to become men by hiding the pussy pads.
I think also that if you are muscular and train properly people will pick technique and ideas from watching you. When I see a guy bigger than me and in better condition, I watch what he does.
Yeah I mean if I see a guy who’s smaller then me or it looks like it’s his first damn day in a gym. I’ll help him out. Just the other day I helped out a 60+ old man on the hack squat machine. I swear he just threw 3 plates on each side without warming up. Came over asked me for a spot lol
I just looked at him, the weight and said this might turn ugly. +he had like shoes on you’d wear to church or something.
I gave him the benefit of the doubt and let him try it out. His form was horrible. weight was all on his toes and he was squirming, twisting his whole body almost to get the weight up.
I showed him my wrestling shoes and told him flat soled shoes my be better for him. I stripped 90 lbs off the machine. Showed him how to use the machine properly. toes pointed out comfortable stance, weight on heels and get decent depth. His face lit up and he thanked me alot. I told him I’m glad to see people of his age in the gym.
Made my day and I’m sure his to…he had the xactlys tho. (his breath smelled exactly like my ass, so I stood like 5 feet away most the time).
[quote]ouroboro_s wrote:
I rarely say anything. Mostly because I enjoy watching the circus around me. In addition, most people in the free weights area are men and I think they’d prefer a punch in the nuts over lifting advice from a woman. I could be wrong though.
One time a woman was in the rack next to me squatting and doing atg but her form wasn’t the best. I just picked one thing: don’t look down/at yourself in the mirror and you’ll come out of the hole more easily. I positioned it that she looked strong and could move significant weight if she tweaked a couple of things. She actually did look pretty strong. If you give a list, it could be overwhelming for most people.[/quote]
Isn’t this the truth. It’s hard for me to pick the one thing that can help someone out of all that wants to come blabbering out of my mouth, so even when people ask I’m sure I don’t help much because I probably overwhelm them.
I’m sure this partly comes from the dynamic that I know what works for me but I’m not yet educated or experienced enough to be able to distill what I know into specific advice for others whose shoes I’m not in, aside from screeching Put Down The Breadsticks And Pick Up Some Weights! Our culture doesn’t really respond to that kind of advice very well.
[quote]G87 wrote:
People around me do stupid fucking shit all the time. Regardless, I hold my tongue. Until I look more impressive, I don’t think people will listen to me, so why stick my head out? I see people giving me dirty looks when I front squat ATG or bench press to my chest, so FUCK IT. I’d feel too self conscious.
[/quote]
I agree. I’m definately not that big, but do have a lot of knowledge in the subject since i’m about to get a BS in kinesiology. I see people do stupid stuff all the time and i just kind of laugh to myself and go back to what i was doing.
I’ve had a lady tell me i shouldn’t do squats too low because i’ll hurt my knees. I was nice to her and said oh, ok, then went back to doing real squats. It’s reasons like that why i have my headphones in.
[quote]jaybvee wrote:
Rant warning - ***WHAT IS TRULY MIND BOGGLING is how many young guys go into the gym & have no fucking clue where to start/how to start a lifting program DESPITE having the world at their disposal via the internet - when I was young & naive about lifting I had to go to the library, wait a month’s time for the new issue of MM2K, MuscleMag, etc. No online T-Nation for me at that time…
Yet, despite the digital resources online we still have kids that can kill you in .2 seconds in Halo 3 yet do not know what a proper squat looks like let alone perform one… RESEARCH, people, research…
Sorry for the rant… but yeah, if you can give meaningful advice, go right ahead.
It’s what they do with it that matters to them in the end. You can give all the tips and advice in the world but if they’re not motivated, it’s your time wasted.[/quote]
I agree totally with your rant. These guys I’d helped out had no clue where to start what to do or anything like that. At one point I even asked them if they had tried looking up online to find training information. One of them said he had and that all the info he found was contradicting each othere and that the guys on the forum he was on all had huuge lifts but shitty advice. I guess not everyone can find T-Nation.
(a bit of a rant myself)-
Also what annoys me the most is how powerlifting clubs and weightlifting clubs across most countries have tiny membership numbers when compared with “fitness centres”. Even though if you compare prices memberships to the barbel clubs are usually the same if not cheaper than your shitty fitness centre. Now consider paying more for a fitness centre membership where the PTs don’t allow people to deadlift and give the worst advice a beginner could possibly ask for.
Whereas in a Barbel club you’ll have a load of experienced lifters and most likely a few coaches who will all help you out inclusive of the membership fees. At one time (back in the 1950s or earlier) if you wanted to lift weights you had to join a Barbel club and I think that everyone was the better for it. A beginner back in the 50s would’ve joined a Barbel club and at least if he were serious there would have been coaches and experienced lifters to help him out. But imagine if a beginner who is serious about lifting joins a fitness centre and seeks out advice from the PTs.
In fact these guys that I had helped had asked for help before from the PTs and the PTs were the ones who told them to squat “to parallel”. I’m currently in a Barbel club and I told the guys that they should check it out, the membership fee is only 30 quid for students. Hopefully they’ll join and that way they can actually get better and have experienced lifters around who will help them out if they need it.
Sorry end of rant.
PS jaybvee who is that in your avatar she’s distracting to say to least?
[quote]strungoutboy21 wrote:
G87 wrote:
People around me do stupid fucking shit all the time. Regardless, I hold my tongue. Until I look more impressive, I don’t think people will listen to me, so why stick my head out? I see people giving me dirty looks when I front squat ATG or bench press to my chest, so FUCK IT. I’d feel too self conscious.
I agree. I’m definately not that big, but do have a lot of knowledge in the subject since i’m about to get a BS in kinesiology. I see people do stupid stuff all the time and i just kind of laugh to myself and go back to what i was doing.
I’ve had a lady tell me i shouldn’t do squats too low because i’ll hurt my knees. I was nice to her and said oh, ok, then went back to doing real squats. It’s reasons like that why i have my headphones in.[/quote]
lol@ your avatar
“if yall seen the leprechaun say yeaaaaah”
“YEAAAAAAAAAAAAH”