Do You Tell People in your Gym When They Are Screwing Up a Exercise?

[Preacher]

I will usually help out those who are fairly new to the gym, or "the elderly". I wouldn't want some old geezer who looks like he never touched a weight to crack his back because he performs his squats like they were a bend-lower-back-to-Standing-Calf-raises.

I'll never give advice that is not asked for. My vocabulary in the gym consist of "Grunt", "sweat" and "F*ck, that thing feels heavier than before". People don't talk to me because of that.

you don't have to look like a freak, act like one, and everybody will leave you alone.

 

[diablo135]

I usually don't tell people what they are doing wrong for all the reasons mentioned. There is also one more important one no one talked about: You don't know exactly what they are doing the exercise for. What if, just this one time, they are doing all cheat sets or something. Alot of times, you can tell when a person is doing something exotic or plain wrong, but sometime you can't. We've all done things that look weird to the casual observer because it was tailored to us.

Anyway, one time I did speak up. I was managing a gym so I felt it was kinda my responsibility to help someone who was blatantly doing something wrong. I'm sure you've all seen this b4. A somewhat diminutive girl was working out when a "trainer" (a member of the gym, not really a trainer) offered to help her. She was trying to be nice but kept saying no but he kept following her around. Anyhoo, he was showing her squats which were almost god mornings. He went omewhere for a minute so I talked to the girl. I said, "You know, it's none of my business but that guy is going to hurt you, most likely your back". She said he was kinda weird so I offered to kick him out of the gym and she said no. She came back a two weeks or so later and told me that not only did her backk her almost immediately after her workout, she eventually went to the doctor and found out she had a severe.
strain.

I finally talked to the guy because he was doing this to other people in the gym. I told him, that for liability reasons, he could not train people here with out liability insurance and needed to be employed her.

It finally stopped. As s side note, his body composition never changed in the 3 years he was going there.

 

[FitFossil]

...I finally talked to the guy because he was doing this to other people in the gym. I told him, that for liability reasons, he could not train people here with out liability insurance and needed to be employed here. It finally stopped. As a side note, his body composition never changed in the 3 years he was going there..

Funny how people like Diablo is talking about in his gym can 'talk the talk' but not 'walk the walk'. Someone on another thread said "Never take diet or workout advice from someone you don't want to look like" Now that's good advice!

 

[Photobear]

Preacher,

I'm with you on that one. I hardly talk to anyone in the gym. As far as offering advice, I just don't do it. I do a lot of shaking my head and wondering what the hell people are trying to do, but I'm in there to make me big not them.

I do worry about the guy who swings his whole torso during his lat pull downs. It looks scary, makes my joints hurt just to watch him. I have no idea how he hasn't hurt himself. Talk about ballistic training! Ouch.

 

[riskybizz007]

I told 1 guy he was going to blow his rotator cuff doing this exercise in that fashion. He said to me, "No i don't think that will happen and continued"

A girl comes up to me asks me about abs, I say diet diet diet, you can do a million sit ups and you'll still have a gut if you don't diet. What has she been doing for the last 6 months w/ the flabby stomach? A million sit ups.

I ask Macho man at the gym (a skinny newbie) if he needed help or a spot. Macho man decided he was a bad ass and put too much weight on, the barbell falls on his chest and the plates are falling off as well. I'm standing 2 feet away and all i did was pretend i wasn't seeing it happen, meanwhile everyone is laughing at his stupid ass. He never came back after that.

Point is... i just found it useless to even attempt to help others. Their EGOs take hold and they just become dumb people. It's not about competition, it's about lookin out for one another.

 

[karde]

I saw a guy doing deadlifts, and totally curling his back. I told him he should look up more to help keep his back straight, so he doesn't injure himself. He blew me off.

5 mins later he is on the ground in pain cause he popped a disk.

 

[guards]

I only help when asked. Otherwise I feel i am intruding. The bozo's who try to work out once a week with pathetic form won't be there long enough for me to care about them, so I stick to myself.

 

[Superbabe]

I often get asked if I'd like "help" by men in the gym.....probably cos I'm female.

It's always nice to have someone say (after volunteering to spot) "damn, you're stronger than you look"

 

[18echo]

my gym is HUGE, so you see all sorts of sloppy form. my favorite is the guy who's doing bar or db curls with way too much weight, so his body's rocking back and forth 90 degrees each way, and his arms never extend past 90 degrees or so either. especially funny is when he's using db's so there's alot of side to side sway, too.

then i'm next to them, bigger that they are and probably stronger. but i'm using 95 lbs on a bar strictly,while they're using 135, somehow lifting and doing the fucking roger rabbit at the same time. and they're looking at me out of the corner of their eye, like "yeah, look at that guy. he cant even lift as much as us!"

there are usually two types of people i see doing this. no offense to anyone.

1) high school kids. usually not the serious athletes, but, yes, also sometimes the ones with the football jerseys.

2)average "joe blow" guys who are clearly not very experienced but want to seem like they are. they're usually not big at all, but, while lifting, seem to have their conversations louder than most others. about all the shit they allegedly know.

also funny to watch is guys using too much on lat or front delt raises w/ db's. all you can do is do what you're doing. judging from the way some of these guys act while lifting, me sayin anything is not going to accomplish anything. there is no sucking in pride for these guys. after all, they must lift big to get big!

 

[SoCAmuscle]

Bro i gave up on that. I see people doing the stupidest shit, i mean MORONIC!!!! and i just gave up on them. I just laugh at them when they get injured and have to take time off and come back 10 pounds skinnier or fatter. Every single time i've tried to help somebody they say, well i read this in a magazine, or i never heard of that, so fuck them. And i don't even dare to explain shit to the morons who bench w/ their backs all arched or those who swing their whole body like their doing the hokie pokie when they're doing biceps. It's ridiculus but what are you going to do? People want to look cool w/ big weight they are not ready for, or they trust mags more than they do others at the gym.

True dat! It's so fun to pull the hat brim way down and laugh at some of the things people do....