I want to cry - Bad Personal Trainers Give Weight Training a Bad Name!!!!!

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dswithers

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I was in the gym this morning and a middle aged, moderately overweight woman was being "trained" by one of the staff personnal trainers. I usually don't pay much attention and just do my own thing, but this morning the gym was pretty empty and it was impossible to miss.

The trainer had her do a couple sets of each:
1. easy bar curls on a bosu ball with a band
2. dumbell preacher curls
3. straight bar low pulley curls
4. triceps pressdowns
5. cybex machine triceps extensions
6. reverse pushups

Except for the last exercise, all arm isolation exercises. This woman will never loose weight or improve her fitness level doing predominantly isolation exercises and devoting an entire exercise session to arms. What will more likely happen is, after a few weeks or months at the most, she will decide that either weight training is ineffective or that it makes you bulky and never try it again AND convince all her friends of the same thing.

It makes you want to cry because this woman is motivated to improve herself and is paying good money to be taught how (to fail). With the same amount of effort put to more suitable exercises she could suceed and become a vehement proponent of weight training.
 
Revenge:


Redemption:
 
how hard is it for those certification people to teach that isolation is bull? I mean, teaching basic things like that really should be.. well, not hard..
 
I want to be a personal trainer some day. I'm in my first year of college right now. They have an associates degree program in personal training. I think I 'll get that, then transfer to a four year university and get a bachelors degree in some sort of related subject. After all of that I will attempt to pass the certification tests. I didn't realize that anyone who wanted to be a personal trainer would give such bad advice. I thought the whole point, at least for me, would be to better inform the general public about how to work out most effectively.
 
Phate89 said:
Just proves that certifications are bs and nothing but regurgitation to pass the certification exams
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Thats not true. I know that my material taught the isolations, but the majority was compound movements and steady progression to unstable loads.

Some certs are bs though. Some gyms will hire douchebags without them.

And D, what the hell is number 1?
 
tonymcclellan said:
Thats not true. I know that my material taught the isolations, but the majority was compound movements and steady progression to unstable loads.

Some certs are bs though. Some gyms will hire douchebags without them.

And D, what the hell is number 1?
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Bosu balls are the half swiss balls with a plastic base, youl know what an ez curl bar is and Im guessing they got a resistance band between their feet or something.


As for the comments about certifications, sure there are short courses and what not but it is working in the industry that teaches you. I started personal training about 18 months ago and I have learnt way more from practical use than I have from the two years I have completed of a three year degree in sports science.

Personal training isnt easy sometimes and to learn we make mistakes although the worst thing is when personal trainers think they know everything before they do it. I read for weeks before I took on my first clients just to make sure I had a good base knowledge.
 
NBS 4life said:
Bosu balls are the half swiss balls with a plastic base, youl know what an ez curl bar is and Im guessing they got a resistance band between their feet or something.


As for the comments about certifications, sure there are short courses and what not but it is working in the industry that teaches you. I started personal training about 18 months ago and I have learnt way more from practical use than I have from the two years I have completed of a three year degree in sports science.
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Yes I was wondering how you incorporate all three into the same exercise? Band around the ez curl bar?

These PTs dont give weight training a bad name, they give us personal trainers a bad name. Why would someone spend x amount of dollars when they dont believe in the knowledge that some have.
 
tonymcclellan said:
Yes I was wondering how you incorporate all three into the same exercise? Band around the ez curl bar?

These PTs dont give weight training a bad name, they give us personal trainers a bad name. Why would someone spend x amount of dollars when they dont believe in the knowledge that some have.
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Yeah exactly if you want to be successful in the industry you have to produce results so reading is where its at in my opinion.

Yeah im pretty sure a ring band ober the middle of the bar and the other end round your feet. You would have to wonder why you wouldnt just do bosu ball cable curls.
 
dswithers said:
It makes you want to cry because this woman is motivated to improve herself and is paying good money to be taught how (to fail). With the same amount of effort put to more suitable exercises she could suceed and become a vehement proponent of weight training.
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Perhaps you should go say something to said personal trainer. You can do this without being a jerk or seeming stand-offish. More than likely, the personal trainer is just regurgitating what they have learned from someone else and doesn't know any better.
 
matt182 said:
thats nothing unexpected considering becoming a personal trainer is redicuously easy and too fast..
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Phate89 said:
Just proves that certifications are bs and nothing but regurgitation to pass the certification exams
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Depends a lot on the country you're in, in the UK it's a 2 week course which shows it's a load of BS but in the US you can even get a degree in the subject which is pretty cool.
 
dswithers said:
1. easy bar curls on a bosu ball with a band
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Standing on a bosu ball doing curls with an easy curl bar with a band around the middle of the bar with the trainer sqauting in front of them holding the ends of the band. I guess that gives the trainer some ability to vary the resistance to keep the trainee working at max effort through the range of motion and through the set...

dswithers said:
Perhaps you should go say something to said personal trainer. You can do this without being a jerk or seeming stand-offish. More than likely, the personal trainer is just regurgitating what they have learned from someone else and doesn't know any better.
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All the "staff" personal trainers seem to do similar things, so I assume that is the facilities required training method and the trainers are just following their employers guidelines.

Another trainer there told a friend of mine that doing anything deeper than 1/4 squats was a waste. or at least that's how my friend interpreted it. I am gradually trying to convince my friend otherwise. It may take a few years, but I am patient.
 
dswithers said:
All the "staff" personal trainers seem to do similar things, so I assume that is the facilities required training method and the trainers are just following their employers guidelines.

Another trainer there told a friend of mine that doing anything deeper than 1/4 squats was a waste. or at least that's how my friend interpreted it. I am gradually trying to convince my friend otherwise. It may take a few years, but I am patient.
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You seriously need to send that place an email with specific situations.
 
tonymcclellan said:
I know that using bands attached to the bars is good, but for curls?
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That's what I was thinking. I've used bands on an extremely limited basis. And one of those times it was just plain ugly for the half of the gym where the bar and weights went flying.
 
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