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About becoming a personal trainer

Today I fulfilled a dream I've had since I went back to the gym last year. Being gym staff, I could finally do it.

I kicked two guys curling out of the squat rack.

I was with a client, we'd just finished his strength work and started conditioning, they stepped in, put the safeties at waist height, and put 5kg on either side of the bar.
"Lads, you're not going to curl in the squat rack are you?"
"What?"
"Are you curling or squatting?"
"Curling."
"Over there is the preacher curl. That's where you curl. This is for squatting. Or chinups, if you really want big biceps. Can you do a chinup? Do you know how to preacher curl?"
"Yeah. We'll curl here."
"No you bloody won't. If you stay here, you have to squat. I'll show you how."
They seemed a bit taken aback. I added, "Curls are for girls, squats are for men. Which are you?"
"..."
"So which is it? Squats here, or curls over there?"
They wandered off over to the preacher curl stand, did a single set, then stood up so they could do their power curls.

I've wanted to do that for years. I wonder if they'll lodge a complaint.
 
Kyle Aaron said:
What sort of places were you going to, Dan?

My experience in restaurants was that the big company-owned places have a formal process like I've described above, the small places with an owner-manager it was less formal, just a chat like you've described. So I'm guessing the places you've gone to were small ones, not part of a chain or council-owned?
Click to expand...

Actually it was the opposite, lol.
I had the casual chat at a larger, chain gym.
The formal interview was at a small, non chain gym.
 
Nice work kicking the curlers outta the squat rack Kyle, haha.

Do you happen to ever get people doing situps on a bench in the squat rack?
 
Danco said:
Do you happen to ever get people doing situps on a bench in the squat rack?
Click to expand...
Not seen it yet. Neither place has a decline bench, that might be why.
hyjak said:
Shoulda banned 'em for 3 months
Click to expand...
Not in my power. However, I would prefer to force them to squat. Anyone who curls in the squat rack or does crunches will only be allowed in the gym at scheduled times under supervision to squat. After they've done five sets of squats, they can do what they want outside the squat rack. As in prisons, so in gyms, let's try to have the punishment make them into better people.
 
Is this a joke?

What exactly is wrong with a person using a "squat" for other exercises?

Does this sort of behavior reflect insecurities?

I have no problem with a person wanting to use something I'm not using, it's all part and parcel of a public gym.

The way to deal with this is to mind your own business and focus on your own workout.

Such kuntyenss.
Posted via Mobile Device
 
There are only two squat racks, and these were two relatively large males. In the evenings, both racks are usually in use by people squatting, including small females who'll be too intimidated by the larger males to ask to use the space for its intended purpose. Typically they'll just go and do something else rather than speak to a gym instructor.

So because these drongos are curling in the squat rack, other people will miss out on squatting.

You can curl anywhere in the gym. You can only squat in the squat rack (unless you expect people to swipe the bench press bars and do Steinborn lifts). Moving the guys out allows others to squat, while not preventing them from doing their curls. That's fair.

If someone were curling or doing squats on the treadmill, I'd kick them off there, too.

I'm there to ensure everyone has a fair chance to use all the equipment for its intended purpose. That's part of my job.
 
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Silverback said:
Is this a joke?

What exactly is wrong with a person using a "squat" for other exercises?

Does this sort of behavior reflect insecurities?

I have no problem with a person wanting to use something I'm not using, it's all part and parcel of a public gym.

The way to deal with this is to mind your own business and focus on your own workout.

Such kuntyenss.
Posted via Mobile Device
Click to expand...

Last night I had to wait a while to get the squat rack because some guy was curling in it. My gym has a dozen setups just for curling, not to mention plenty of mini barbells up to 50kg and EZ Curl bars. He could've used any of those (most were free) but he had to go and do that in the squat rack.

So great work, Kyle!
 
I have a client who wants a sixpack. I don't know why, but it's not my job to give people goals, just help them achieve them. He is not really strong but he is tough. He has an hour, we give him half strength, half conditioning.

The strength is the obvious, squat, deadlift, overhead press. Threw some prone braces and chinups in there during rest times.

Conditioning, I had to be more creative. So I set up two benches
first just step over them, 10 laps
then jump, sort of a big skip, 10 laps
then jump with two legs, 10 laps
then hold a 10kg plate over your head and jump, 10 laps

He found that enormous fun.

Then we set up 4 dumbbells: 25kg, 30kg, 35kg, and 35kg sitting between two weight plates. Sumo deadlift of each one, 25 reps. 5'00" to do all 100 reps. He took 5'10', which impressed me.

Followed it up with Tabata thrusters with 6kg dumbbells. He actually did more total reps than last week. "I guess you just needed a warmup," I said. He actually lost his eyesight in one eye. I hope he recovered it before he drove home.

Maybe I should send him a text message to see if he's still alive.
 
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Back before we were born they didn't use squat racks.

Milo steinborn was the first man to squat 400 pound.

Not much you might say?
It's the way he did it - he placed the barbell on it's end, bent down, placed it on his shoulder and squatted, the opposite to unload.
That's manly squatting.

Don't let bother you; there is no harm in asking; How much longer will you be?
Do some presses while you wait.
Or squat like Milo.
 
Yes, I will be advising all the gym-goers, "Leave the guys curling in the squat rack, just steal this bench press bar preventing someone else from bench pressing, and do a Steinborn lift. You might wrench your back and I guess then you'd sue the gym, but hey, that's not my problem."

That would be a brilliant use of gym resources, and excellent customer service. The curlers, at least, would be happy.

They've got the whole gym to curl in. Later they'll be doing their tandem lift, the two man Upright Row / Bench Press combo.

Fckin' curlers. They're the only ones I hate more than the swiss ballers! :mad:
 
I am having some interesting experiences with honesty.

A couple of days ago I told an overweight woman, "Basically the workouts in the gym or with a trainer aren't going to burn much energy. The bulk of your fat loss will come from cutting junk food and increasing your general physical activity. The gym's just to improve your strength, fitness, and general well-being. Plus once you've squatted 60kg for 20 reps walking to the shops won't seem such a big deal."

The day before yesterday I told a woman, "You want to lose fat, okay. Just realise that you are already a healthy bodyweight and bodyfat. So change is going to be slow. If you're 50kg overweight, the first 10kg will come off quickly, the last 10kg will take a long time. As you approach a healthy bodyweight, change slows. And it takes more and more work. I can help you do it, just be aware it's not quick and takes a lot of work."

Yesterday I told a guy, "No, I won't give you a new split routine going from a two-way to a three-way split. It's a waste of time for you. You've been doing a split for two years and you deadlift 90kg and weigh 72kg. So you want to split it more? No. Get strong and eat lots of good food, mate."
"But I eat heaps."
"Are you doing enormous dumps? Where is this heaps of food going if it's not staying on you?"

Today I told a guy he could not lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. "Lifting heavy you stimulate your body to grow, doing intervals you stimulate it to get smaller, doing both - you're spinning your wheels. So decide which to do first, bulk or cut."

I was told by one boss all this was too honest, I would alienate people. Two of the four hired me as their trainer, another said "Shit, you've given me a lot to think about," the other wandered off shaking his head to do bicep curls. Some people like honesty, some hate it, some are just a bit surprised.
 
If you pull your end of the rope - they have to pull their end if they want results.

Good luck.

Just train people to begin with Kyle, don't lecture them.
Posted via Mobile Device
 
You can't train people without giving them a reasonable idea of what to expect from training. Talking to people is part of training them.
"Do this."
"Why?"
You either say "just do it," and nine times out of ten lose a client - helping neither of you - or you explain. Most of the people I work with are not morons, they get an explanation, they understand it, and work better because they know what's going on.

Honesty works on a lot of people. If nothing else, it has the virtue of being rarely tried. Thus a lot of people spending a lot of energy and money while getting not much results.
 
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You can be honest.
But too much information can be very confusing for a person with no concept of how to improve ones self.

Always ask "why" make them think about what their saying.

I'm not telling you what to do BTW just discussing.

Part of your challenge is to make exercise an intrinsic motivation it seems.habitual.
Posted via Mobile Device
 
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