went to a commercial gym today. Why? We wanted to see what the competition is doing, check out the equipment, scope out the staff and see if they are any good, and see what is hot on the Group X schedule.
Gotta know what the other guys are doing.
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| Awesome |
Before I go on my rant, let me say the place was spotless, very nice, and the staff was very professional and friendly. They knew who we were and let us walk around anyway. That is why I'm not saying who it was. We even spoke with the Fitness Director who was awesome and friendly. She appears to be an asset to the club.
So with the disclaimer out of the way: as we walk in there is a wall with photos of the training staff. Pretty standard right?
It was a bunch of fairly overfat looking people that apparently never exercised a day in their lives. Some of them were "skinny fat". This is coming from a fat guy. At least I look like I lift weights although I'll never be confused with a fitness guy.
I know you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, but this book looked pretty BAD.
As we were looking around we saw one of the "skinny fat" trainers talking to one of the gym members. The gym member pointed to the leg extension and asked about using it.
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| Never use one of these, EVER! |
The "trainer" asked her if her knee still hurt form the surgery. The member said yes.
What does the "trainer" say when she was asked if this machine was OKto use considering the knee was in pain?
I shit you not, she said "Load it up" and walked away. Steve and I almost puked. I wanted to scream at her.
I didn't.
We then walked around and looked like two mongoloids using a few of the machines. I had no idea how to use them. People were looking at us like we were morons.
At one point I said to Steve "I was voted one of the 20 best trainers in the country and I have no idea how to use this stuff".
We made a quick exit after thanking them for letting us in.
What is the moral of the story?
Beware of "trainers" in a lot of gyms. There are a lot of good ones out there. There are also a lot of really bad ones that make the rest of us look bad.
The other moral of the story is that Steve and I could never work at a Globo Gym because we have no idea how the machines work.
I guess that is good right?
Haha, good stuff, Murph. Are you really surprised? I wonder who was more freaked out by your visit—the gym goers or you and Steve.
ReplyDeleteMurph,
ReplyDeleteI wish your place was around when I was playing football for Everett High and preparing for URI football. Like most at the time I worked out at a well known franchise gym. The only guidance "offered" was watching what others did, and most of them were wrong. The "right" ones were bodybuilding, not training as athletes. Due to improper technique, improper spotting and too much weight I tore my rotator cuff badly and could not compete at URI.
The biggest problem is that this is still going on today. I'm up in NH and when checking out the local franchise gym I saw a lot of young athletes using all machines, no free weight, no core training and TERRIBLE technique. I couldn't help but help some of them.
Now I run my own sports training company that has been teaching athletes the right way to train and the results have been astonishing. I wish I had that was I was younger.
Congrats on all you've done and all of the people you've trained the "right way".
Darrin Nicoli
EHS class of '86
http://www.thenextlevelsportstraining.com
Thanks Darin. I grew up in the same boat as you. Bad advice, injuries and lots of time reading and searching for the "Truth"
ReplyDeleteI got a $10-a-month ad in the mail today from the gym literally a 1-minute walk down my block in Watertown and I lol'ed.
ReplyDeleteBetter to drive to Everett Mary!
ReplyDelete