Thinking about hiring a personal trainer

[spatts]

Makedah, my shoulder is doing so much better now, and alot of it was not only backing off to rehab, but finding out what rehab work worked for me. All the literature says to NOT do bb movements with bad rotators, but I found that my joint was much more stable in the rotation with the bb than the dbs. The db's allowed me to move in and out when weak; whereas, the bb kept the motion restricted to front and back.

I rarely work my chest. Maybe once a month, but it's very well developed. I do seated flies (among other things), and I think, from the opinions on this thread, that I must do them differently than everyone else. I tuck my rear end way back into the gap between the back pad and the seat (your machine may not have a gap there), I arch back and get my shoulder blades squeezed together on the back pad, my arms are at shoulder level, elbows are facing out, not down, and my shoulders are back/chest out/head up. I do not let my shoudlers separate during the press portion of the fly. Perhaps this is why I find them to be a great addition for pec recruitment where others who use a different form do not.

In terms of anatomy, do you mean what purpose do they serve in kinesiology or in general?

 

[ZZuluZ]

BTrue, you don't get it. You're asking me questions BASED on the terms I just rejected.

And just BTW, Poliquin lifts MAJOR weights so I suggest we all listen to him.

What does Mel Siff know? He's only the most respected Weightlifting expert in modern history. Then again....he doesn't press 600 pounds!

Again, you still don't get it. There is no correlation between strength and knowledge. Or hypertrophy and knowledge.

This is exactly why people don't read Flex. People who lift big can be idiots.

-Zulu

 

[ZZuluZ]

And BTW, you may not like Poliquin but he makes 300$ an hour off phone consultations and trains MEDAL WINNING athletes.

But what does he know?

-Zulu

 

[spatts]

Why any able-minded and able-bodied person would make a choice between science and experience is beyond me. Without both, well, let's just say that it's easy to think you know it all when you don't know what you don't know.

Zzulu, I was reading back through the thread, and one thing I failed to communicate is that the PLers bench does work the pectorals significantly enough to give PLers (myself included) VERY well developed chests. It's just not the "primary" mover. This would explain why I said bench like a PLer or do low rotation db/bb work. I can't believe I didn't clarify that. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[Hannibal]

And BTW, you may not like Poliquin but he makes 300$ an hour off phone consultations and trains MEDAL WINNING athletes.

But what does he know?

-Zulu

And Louie Simmons trains all of his gym members for free. And if you call him up he will help you without charging you a consultation fee. He trains WORLD CHAMPIONS.

What's your point?

 

[edgecrusher]

Firstly, Louie Simmons and Charles Poliquin, have great respect for each other. I was on Poliquin's webpage recently, and he recomended anyone interested in getting stronger to go see a WSB seminar.

Nextly, as was stated early in this thread, there are no universally true theories for strength gain or bodybuilding. People are to individula, and will respond as such.

Third, you don't need to be able to bench big to teach the movement. My boss is a former strength coach at Penn State, he weighs about a 155lbs and benches about 225. However, he had 4 linemen benching over 500 at one point.

Is science the answer, absolutely not, I have a professor, who has a body like a baked potato, and can barely bench the bar. He tells me everyday that my training methods are incorrect. He has also told me, that some of the results my clients have had where impossible, and where simply an error in measurements. Conversely, experience is not the only way to go either. I have meet head friends who when looking to get stronger, will do 20 sets of bench pressing in a workout. That would probably kill the average trainee.

Anyway, this has been one of the greatest threads I have ever read on Elite. I think the only change necessary, is that some individuals stop being so damn sensitive, and just take these posts for what they are. Questions to gain more knowledge, and see what the other individual is thinking. I mean hey, we can only learn from each other right?

 

[spatts]

If Louie Simmons had to watch most of the WSB devotees on here, he'd either laugh or cringe. We're ALL likely doing modifications, intentionally or not.

 

[makedah]

Spatterson,

Tx for the tip about bbs vs. dbs. I understand what you're saying there - it seems easier to bring a db past the safe range of motion than a bb. I'm not strong enough to press the bench's bar yet, but the gym has lighter pre-weighted bars around - I could try it with that. I'm not experiencing pain yet with the press (unlike with OHPs - OUCH!), but I don't want to court injury.

update: This morning at the gym, I pressed w/ bbs and then with dbs. Based on my brief experiment, I think you're right. The dbs had my shoulders wobbling -- which I don't think would necessarily be a bad thing (learning to stabilize) if it weren't for the bad cuff. I was also a bit achy afterward.

In terms of anatomy, do you mean what purpose do they serve in kinesiology or in general?

Kinesiology. I guess I don't know what "in general" would mean. I'm interested in their role in body movement.

 

[ZZuluZ]

I'm not saying Science is it all.

What I'm saying is that experience is it all either. I disagree with people simply telling others to seek out the strongest most built guy around.

I don't really think we're disagreeing here.

-Zulu

 

[Imnotdutch]

I'm not saying Science is it all.

What I'm saying is that experience is it all either. I disagree with people simply telling others to seek out the strongest most built guy around.

I don't really think we're disagreeing here.

-Zulu

Don't sweat it Zulu......some of us can see exactly what you mean. You would be nuts to dismiss either experience or science.....they work best when put together. Several people have agreed with you in this thread.

Somebody posted the argument that you couldn't tell somebody how to bench 600 until you have done it (It was Bfold I believe). If that were the case, we would never make progress. Everybody would be sitting around waiting for somebody to tell us how to do something new.....