For all of my friends out there in the fitness industry, I'm sure you share my frustration on this topic.
When I arrived at the community center gym today after my run, I found a man and his son there. The man was instructing his son (probably in the age range of 11-14 years old) on how to do all sorts of exercises that his dad was doing. Unfortunately, they were totally incorrect, unorganized, and inappropriate for the son's age or fitness level. The most frustrating part is that the man would yell at his son if he didn't have the strength to do an exercise. I wanted to scream at him to MODIFY IT! At one point, the man's friend walked into the gym and the man waved and said "I'm personal training today. Personal Trainer in the house!" At this point I'm fuming and what I want to say is, "Hmmm, do you hold a national certification? Do you have a four year degree in this field? Did you have your son fill out the proper paperwork and risk stratify him in order to design a proper individualized program for him?" But instead, I shook me head and remained quiet. This is where I struggle.
I have corrected people in a gym before on their own workouts, but this was an overbearing father and his son. I wasn't looking forward to an argument with the man on what he was doing with his own son, but I did not want the kid getting hurt. Finally I said, "I think that weight is too heavy," when he was attempting a tricep pushdown with his back bent all out of whack. The son actually looked at his dad and said "Yea, it's a little heavy dad." The dad didn't say much to me, but he did lower the weight. They left soon after, but I can't help but think of all of the things I could have said to correct the postures the son was in and I was angry at myself for not saying them.
I know this is a constant struggle for me as a fitness professional. I am sure many others in this field deal with this all the time as well. What does one do in this situation? Do we step in and say, "Look, I'm qualified to do this job and let me give you some advice" or do we just let people keep on doing things incorrectly? It is particularly frustrating as a woman. At times I do step in and tell people what I see but many times it is the big beefy guys who are doing things all wrong and they look at me like I'm crazy. But then at least I tried to help.
If you were at the gym and you were working out and someone came up and corrected you, would you be okay with it? Personally I think I would if it were a qualified individual but at the same time, you don't always know the background of the person performing incorrect exercises.
It's also hard to get a good focused workout in when you are always trying to help other people. When do you step back and separate yourself in order to enjoy your own stress-relief time at the gym? And is that ever an appropriate thing to do when the bodies, postures, and potentially lives of people could be in danger?
My advice to anyone who is a beginner with exercise would be to do your homework and get advice from a professional if possible. Even if it is just a tutorial on how to use specific machines from the consultant working at the time, it is better than putting yourself in a position for potential injury.
Thanks for reading my frustrations. Enjoy your holiday and be safe everyone!
"It is particularly frustrating as a woman. At times I do step in and tell people what I see but many times it is the big beefy guys who are doing things all wrong and they look at me like I'm crazy. But then at least I tried to help."
ReplyDeleteThis is SO TRUE. Especially as a naturally petite woman (as you well know). I hate how people brush off what you say just because of your size of gender when it's obvious that they don't know what they're doing & are putting themselves at risk.
That's always a tough call, though. I think what you did was good - you called that dad out without making him look like a fool or trying to humiliate him in front of his son. But your message, supported by his son, was obviously heard. I'm interested to hear any insight you have or tricks you learn about approaching this topic in the future!