Personal Trainers are Idiots

Off Topic
1

Okay this is a rant, and i dont know where else to put it. except in “the big waste of time section”.

Today, i entered the gym, got ready for some Dead Lifts. And what do i see? I see TWO personal trainers, TRAINING TWO Trainees. (I mean thats what they do rite? Full body work outs 3-5 times a week… incorporating tricep pull downs, and Step ups with a smith machine FOR MAXIMALLLLLLLL weightloss + MUSCLE BUILDING).

So, i ignore them cause we all know COMMERCIAL personal Trainers can be idiotic sometimes.

And i look over to the Free Weights, and see one of my friends (We shall call him Ecto). Ecto was doing single arm Rows, with i think 25 or 30 pound dumbbells. thats fine and dandy, he is new after all. But what i couldn’t get over, was his FORM.It was a…a… have you seen a Cat when its got its back flaring upwards and hissing at you, or that stretch, i think its called the camels back?

I mean, it was the WORST form i have seen in a very long time. Tbe Gods of the Iron game would have Smited Ecto with the Barbell of Strength…
And the personal trainers could see him. And i bet they did see him, cause they did nothing.

I said to one of the trainers who competed in the Philippines IFBB?
ME: Check his form man.
Idiot: Are you his friend?
Me: Yes, i am… I think his form is bad, you should watch his form and tell him? (in my head; i was asking myself. WHAT THE HELL does this have to do with anything?).
Idiot: Are you his friend?
Me: Yes, i am.
Idiot: ah.

and he goes off, back to his trainee. Ignoring Ecto, who prolly would have popped a disk in his back. Also, he kept giving me glances to check my dead lift Form. I guess he thought i was doing his “job for him”… although he wasn’t doing it at all.

What the Hell is going on? And its not the first time. I see Personal Trainers Ignoring bad form in the gym; but jumping at you as soon as your barbell/dumbbell hits the floor.

Did he expect me to tell Ecto that his form was Sh*t? i mean i aint “Certified” to do that, i aint a trainer. Why would he believe me. And thats the problem i see most of the time now. People ignoring advice, and listening to everything a Personal trainer who Smith Squats has to say.

Also, recently there was a competition (cardio based) one at the gym i go to. they had to run a huge distance, do stupid tasks. But 1 of the tasks was (near the end), was EATING 1KG OF bananas and Drinking a 1.5LTR (or was it 2…) Bottle of Coke.
Keep in mind, this is in the morning and they had “breakfast provided” (a sandwich with egg and MAYO). One of my Friends actually Almost blacked out due to the excessive running and Sugar Spike.
IT was also organized and “regulated” by the Personal Trainers…

Need i say More? Oh, Lunch was provided too. Sandwich some water and the sports drink - 100+.

God Bless Personal Trainers. and Sorry for the bad English =P. I live in SEA, Brunei - Where Cardio is King. and Lifting 1-10kg dumbbells turns you into the hulk. sigh.

2

So why didn’t you just help out your friend with his form and go on with your day?

3

Here in the states, PT’s don’t correct shit form because doing so opens them up to being legally liable in case the trainee ignores their advice, and fucks up their back.

And… gyms make money on fostering community, rather than on changing peoples’ appearance. Hence, the competition I would imagine.

Sorry to break it to you.

4

I helped him out =), and he corrected it. and now is Into Dead Lifting. And Otep, yah. i guess i had an idealistic view of the world =p

Btw, hows the elections in the states? and in Brunei; not many people actually sue. I take sociology, and my teacher says "dont apply anything to brunei. Its in its own wonderland.

And Lawyers here are a diamond dozen, cause no one dares to sue anyone here. Cause the Majority ethnic group wins anyway. + they got their Uncle. So they win again.

5

personal trainers are paid to train their clients, and to a lesser extent make sure the rules of the gym are followed, not to go around giving advice out for free.

6

Personal Trainers are paid to make sure that their clients fail repeatedly, and need to keep coming back. If their clients actually saw change, they might decide they can do it on their own and don’t need the “Dropout High School Football Jock” (I’m not saying all trainers, are but in my area, most are college/HS dropout Football Jocks with no idea how to really train) personal trainer to try and motivate them through an easy workout.

7

wow, a lot of idiots in this thread. Yes, while there is a wide gambit of trainers out there, the same goes for any profession.

Trainers don’t go around correcting people’s form because that’s what we would be doing all day long.

Personally, I’ve found (after just starting in the field), that if you go correct someone, they either A. don’t want your advice or B. will go in one ear and out the other

Now, if I see someone doing something totally unsafe I will step in, but people use horrible form at the gym all the time and don’t injure themselves.

Besides, if I’m with a client, they’re paying good money for my attention, I’m not about to take away from them and instruct someone else on what to do.

Now, just yesterday I did see a Dad teaching his (maybe 13 yr old son), how to do behind the neck lat pulldowns, and I was about to say something but they had just finished. It would take something like that (when a child is involved) or something pretty serious for me to step in like that.

8

[quote]gatesoftanhauser wrote:
Personal Trainers are paid to make sure that their clients fail repeatedly, and need to keep coming back. If their clients actually saw change, they might decide they can do it on their own and don’t need the “Dropout High School Football Jock” (I’m not saying all trainers, are but in my area, most are college/HS dropout Football Jocks with no idea how to really train) personal trainer to try and motivate them through an easy workout.[/quote]

it’s sad that is how some trainers think, but really if they got their client’s great results, the clients would love that trainer so much they would want to come back. that’s one of the differences between a great trainer and an ok trainer

9

PT’s are brain washed IMO.
I used to train with a guy who knew what was up, we’d lift heavy shit for hours a day. He was a genetically superior person and blew me out of the water with his gains. He decided that he wanted to become a PT so he got a job at a “health club” in town.

The gym we went to changed hands and got shitty so I quit it and started at his “gym”.

When I signed up I got a free fitness evaluation and a custom workout so I took them up on the offer. I scheduled an apointment with my friend for the works. He gave me the standard “fitness” test and the standard workout. NO heavy lifting, nothing but machines and tons of cardio?

Needless to say I never did it but it was interesting to see how he’d gone from pretty hardcore to “health club” fluffer. He finally quit the job but I haven’t seen him in years.

10

I think most PT are looking at the clock just like everyone else does. Going to the gym for an hour a day is great, but if I was stuck there 40 hours a week, in addition to my own lifting time, I probably wouldn’t give a shit about someone’s form, knowing that they probably wouldn’t be working out but for a month or so at the most.

11

There was once a thread about bad personal trainers before with a reply that included a story about how dumb they can be. Here is the link to the older thread:
http://www.T-Nation.com/tmagnum/readTopic.do?id=1993211

And here is the link to the story:
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=459322

12

[quote]tayjeremy wrote:
big waste of time
[/quote]

Speaking of which…