Stupid Personal Trainer Tricks

[quote]OctoberGirl wrote:

Also did crab walks holding the bar above my head. yep… I did em.

[/quote]

4 arms?

I’ve worked at a commercial gym as a trainer and have seen plenty of dumb shit. Although, the one thing I can not stand is a fat ass trainer – they are a disgrace.

I never face palmed so hard as when I witnessed an overweight client getting trained by a trainer who was even more overweight than said client. To top it off she was teaching him horrible form on then bench press

I honestly am very wary of any PT who is not a successful competitive bodybuilder, or is obviously very fit themselves.

I got “trained” for strength, speed and agility by these supposed awesome dudes when I was a young buck in high school and all I got out of that was losing a lot of strength and size.

I actually walked in to the gym and saw three workers sitting around in the lounge area of the gym eating burger and chips one was a personal trainer and another was the overweight manager, doesn’t set a very good example.

trainer and trainee in the smith machine. she had the chick laying on a bench pushing the bar up with her feet…like a weird smith machine leg press thing.

[quote]brute_fury wrote:
trainer and trainee in the smith machine. she had the chick laying on a bench pushing the bar up with her feet…like a weird smith machine leg press thing. [/quote]

Ive seen people do this as well.

oh, and i forgot to mention Taco Night. Nothing says “I wanna work out” like a huge buffet of refried beans and bad Mexican food at the entrance to my gym–a 24hour fitness. the fragrance wafting from both beans and tooting farts was breathtaking.

[quote]Mr Body Massage wrote:
There are only 2 male PTs at my gym out of ten trainers.

After I finished a nice heavy shoulder workout with some Standing Military Presses they both told me I was stupid for doing shoulder work.

They said you use your shoulders in every upperbody split so theres no need to individually train them.

The closest thing to shoulder work I’ve seen them do are incline benches. They are not big guys.[/quote]

Although, I believe the two clown trainers were wrong, wasn’t it Corey Everson who said she would never do heavy weight on her shoulders again. If I recall correctly, she blew out her shoulder while training for the Ms. Olympia. I have to say the heaviest I go on my shoulders is the incline, but I do put in a shoulder work out. Not a whole lot of exercises or weight, just a lot reps. I can’t though imagine why a trainer wouldn’t incorporate some shoulder work?

It’s no wonder personal trainers are so misguided. This comes straight from the ACSM Certification site. One of the top certifications in the nation. LOL. It’s one of their many “Training Tips”

Says Dr. Len Kravitz.

DON’T: Exercise too intensely. Injuries occur when people do too much, too hard.

[quote]Annihilator wrote:
NinjaTreeFrog wrote:
ouroboro_s wrote:
bushidobadboy wrote:

If that isn’t doing it for you, lol, then ponder a unicycle .
BBB

Squat on one of those bad boys and you’ll feel a few stabilisers activating. Get a helmet first though.

I like where you’re going with this. Can I add balance the unicycle on an upside-down bosu ball?

No, on a swiss ball, on a treadmill. You have to pedal backward in order to make the ball under the unicycle roll forward so it keeps up with the treadmill, all while squatting.[/quote]

Now you’re just getting silly. :slight_smile:

[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:
buffalokilla wrote:
bushidobadboy wrote:
dianab wrote:
My osteopath recommends I start squatting on a SB to thoroughly activate all the leg stabilizers. I told him that I think they are pretty active in a regular heavy squat, so I can’t wait to tell him this one!

Your osteopath should be more careful with his recommendations. See the above girl-falls-off-ball-and-breaks-wrist story, lol.

However, your assertion that a regular squat activates all the leg stabilisers is wrong, sorry. Only single leg squats, etc will truly activate the lateral stabilisers of the hip, knee and ankle.

Even then, it assumes that the person does not have any biomechanical issues, sich as tight hip flexors/inhibited glute med, etc.

BBB

Which muscles are you considering as the lateral stabilizers of the hip and knee? Why is it heavy squatting won’t “truly” activate them?

Thanks in advance.

Glute med, min, TFL/ITB, gracillis, pectineus, adductor group, semimembranosus + tendonosus, fibularis longus + brevis, flexor digitorum longus, fl. hallucis longus, tibialus posterior (co-contracted with tib ant.).

BBB[/quote]

Do you have any evidence that there’s a larger degree of activation between heavy “normal” squatting vs single leg squatting? I did some pilot work with EMG and squatting/deadlifting and noticed lower peak amplitude and lower iEMG (due to amplitude and duration) during single leg squatting, suggesting everything is more active for longer in a heavy lift. Single leg squatting did have more instability in the signals though, suggesting it was challenging from a coordination point of view. Is this maybe what you’re thinking of?

-Dan

[quote]3hitter wrote:
It’s no wonder personal trainers are so misguided. This comes straight from the ACSM Certification site. One of the top certifications in the nation. LOL. It’s one of their many “Training Tips”

Says Dr. Len Kravitz.

DON’T: Exercise too intensely. Injuries occur when people do too much, too hard.
[/quote]

This is also exactly correct. Too much and too hard are relative, and I’m sure Lenny would tell you that.

Reading comprehension is important, even for personal trainers.

As a PT myself it does get anoying seeing trainers let people get away with crap form and pussy weight. Yesterday at the gym there was a smoking hot PT working out a client who was mid 30’s male 6’2ish 200lbs DB benching 15lb DB’s X 8 WTF!!! Same trainer, same client doing 95lb 1/4 squats…why? He didn’t apear to have any outward physical limitations, no knee brace or noticable scars. Another trainer having a lady bench press halfway, it’s really sad.

A PT once came to me while I was doing renegade rows and told me that I should try to “not let the weight touch the ground again” because it’s much more exhausting and also not that loud…After I told him that I couldn’t fly he just walked away…

[quote]gonugs wrote:
I saw a PT load up a Smith machine for a client. They locked the plates on good with some serious looking clips too. I was relieved to see that. I hate it when the plates jump off the Smith machine bar.[/quote]

lol

Me and my friend were on the smith squat machine (no rack available) and we were just getting some leg work in. Then, Mr. Fat Trainer walks by and says “Too bad you can only put 11 plates on there.”
I doubt he can squat 990 lbs on a smith machine lol.

All of the trainers disappeared from my 24 hour fitness in the time I took off of lifting. They probably got fired or something.

A trainer at the gym I work at has his clients do dynamic step-ups on the Assisted Pull-up/Dip Machine. Usually with women about 5’7" so their knee starts about chest level. He tells me he’s working on their “cardio strength.”

[quote]Mr Body Massage wrote:
Earlier this year I started a new job at a gym.

1st thing I saw was one of our female trainers standing on a swiss ball doing squats. She had just learned to do it and was so happy because it was a “true test of fitness” according to her.

She started teaching all her clients to do it and recommended all our other PT’s to do them, made them a big focus of one her classes as well.

Last week she fell off one of the balls doing squats and broke her wrist, needing surgery and 3 pins and some rods put in.

She vows not to stop swiss ball squatting.
[/quote]

Even by her own logic she’s retarded. OK, so it’s a “true test of fitness” to be able to do that, so she did it. Why the hell would she need to do it every goddamn time, especially when it increases the risk of injury.

What a moron. I hope one of her clients sues the shit out of her when they inevitably get hurt.