If you have spent any time in a weight room you will know there are certain ways that things are done – and certain ways things should absolutely not be done. You’ve probably seen them, heard them said or done them and didn’t even realize it. Example: barbell biceps curl in a squat rack? Seriously? I know it seems miniscule and possibly even a little bit nit-picky, but no true lifter in his right mind would ever try such a dastardly thing. After all, it is called a squat rack for a reason.
The same thing can also be said about personal trainers and how they work with their clients. After 17 years of weight lifting, training as a client, and now training my own clients, I have seen and heard some absolutely moronic advice from personal trainers. With that in mind I came up with my top 3 things that if seen or heard by a personal trainer should have you finding the nearest exit and running your little rear end off.
1. “You feel that? Nice.” This definitely tops the list but I’m not even sure this one deserves an explanation because of the basic stupidity behind it. As a personal trainer, we are taught how to design programs to stimulate fat loss and/or generate new muscle synthesis (aka get yourself swoll). With that in mind, no personal trainer worth his weight in gold should ask a client that question. If he does, I’m sure this person can’t even properly do their ABC’s.
Not only does it show complete lack of knowledge of kinesiology and basic anatomy, but it also tells the client that you aren’t quite sure the exercise you have them doing is the right one to help them reach their goals. It also sends them the message that they aren’t doing the movement correctly, thus uncovering your inability to coach them to do said movement correctly, and forever searing in the mind of your client that you are a moron.
2. Unstable surface training. If you see a trainer having his client do more than 1% of a program on a Bosu ball, Swiss ball or other type of unstable surface, the only thing he is having them work on is their next injury.
Don’t get me wrong, working on an unstable surface has its place when it comes to the world of physical therapy and injury rehabilitation. Your clients aren’t paying you to re-hab them, they are paying you to get them leaner, sexier and stronger. Doing Swiss ball crunches does not have the same training effect as a 60 second prone plank hold or set of ab wheel rollouts. Also, if your trainer tells you that by using the ball it will help “strengthen auxiliary muscles”, ask him to stand on one foot and close his eyes. Then proceed to bash him over the head with the pink dumbbell he probably has you using.
3. I have saved the most important one for last: programming. In the most simplistic of terms, a program is the written plan of attack that a trainer creates for his client based on the client’s wants and needs. This is where most trainers fail because they have no concept of programming. Instead, they give their clients “workouts.” In my mind a workout is a set of exercises put together for no rhyme or reason. A program, however, has all the important factors built into it: mobility and muscle activation, core, pre-habilitation, resistance training, metabolic conditioning and self re-generation. It is a written plan of attack to give you the body you want in the shortest amount of time possible. If your trainer says “for today’s workout we are going to…..” I suggest leaving the gym and saving yourself the time and money of doing something that is not going to get you want you want; and that’s results.
