where have all the Gym instructors gone?

E

Elan

0
I have just re-joined the gym after 2 years out and I have noticed that the biggest change is the lack of staff.

The gym ‘Instructors’ seem to have turned in to ‘fake friends’. It seems as tho they have been told that they must smile and say hello to everyone on the way in and say goodbye on the way out.
Surely a gym instructor is supposed to walk round the gym instructing people.

Every evening there is some idiot trying out squats for the first time ever with half a tonne on the bar, practically dying trying to get up after 2 reps. Or fools throwing weight up in the air with their spine curled. Some people are doing 100 hammer curls as fast as possible and ½ the people in the gym are using too much weight on the bench press and only doing half a rep.

My problem is that the gym instructors did once spend all their time helping people and stopping them from hurting themselves. However... now that the gym has paid for them all to become ‘personal trainers’, they totally ignore everyone who is not currently entering or exiting the gym.

Is this because they are not getting paid? Is our £50 a month no longer enough to pay for access to this secret information?

I asked a gym instructor to spot for me doing a dumbbell shoulder press today. Just for my final set as I was using a heavier weight than usual. So i wanted him to pass up one dumbbell and take it after. He looked like I had just slapped him.

I’d really like to hear everyone’s opinion on this, even more so if you work in a gym.
Plus, i hope I haven’t offended any gym instructors out there.

Elan.
sorry i dragged on a bit.
 
I think it depends on the instructor to members ratio. I also think it depends on many factors such as the location, size of gym, and placements of things. Also, I think it's expecting a bit too much to get instructors to tell you what you're doing wrong. I mean it's sort of like an "implied" knowledge. I would expect you to at the very least know your limitation and wouldn't pick up weights that you can't or do things you have no idea about, and that if you so have a question about what you're doing right or wrong, that you would at the very least ask. We live in a "DIY" era of improvements, so everyone is doing it themselves, and sometimes it works and other times you lose a finger or three. That's just my 2 cents.

Like at my gym, everyone cares enough and yeah, they'll help you out easily if you ask. But if you're just doing, they're not going to tell you what's wrong unless you ask.

Everyone one has his/her own idea on what's healthy and fit, so if you see some chump lifting weight half reps, just lol.
 
Yeah its an LA Fitness.
I totaly understand what everyone is saying. But some people ar ereally killing themselves.
It just feels like the instructors really dont want to help unless your paying.
And the problem is, if you someone is paying for a personal training session, there isn't any in the gym to help out.

Just seems very unsafe.
 
As a Personal Trainer and Group Fitness Instructor I am anal about form. I am one of the few instructors that actual goes in to a class to TEACH instead of get my own workout - if I am able to do both, it is a bonus, but NEVER expected or anticipated (unless it is a spin class). I figure these people are spending their time and money to come to my class - they might as well be doing things properly.

As for correcting in the gym area - that is a tough one. If I see someone that is doing something that will hurt them (or others), I will correct. Otherwise, it is a case-by-case situation -- depends on how well I know them, how long they have been lifting, if they are "plugged in" (as NBS 4life said), etc.

We have several members who have been told time after time, but still choose to do things incorrectly, so there is a time you stop telling. Sometimes I need to just stand back and shake my head :speechless:
 
I'm not a trainer, I just smell like one ;)

With no surprise, each instructor/trainer is unique unto themselves. While the newer/younger instructors seem a bit more eager and helpful, the more senior ones are so exclusive that if you aren't training with them, you don't exist in their world. Beyond that, there's burn-out and the economy on the whole.

I've chatted with my personal trainer (who comes to my house and trains me and my wife 'on the side'). From what I gather the trainer often becomes like a bar-tender, listening to problems, issues and having to deal with people who whine, don't want to put-in the honest effort or just expect amazing results in a weeks time.

Anyways, staying on point. If an instructor were smart, they'd spend the time being helpful and trying to quietly demonstrate how training with them would be beneficial enough to warrant the expense...in other words, every question or opportunity to help is an open door to a potential client. Then again, with so many people having so many questions....it's tough.
 
BikeSwimLaugh said:
Anyways, staying on point. If an instructor were smart, they'd spend the time being helpful and trying to quietly demonstrate how training with them would be beneficial enough to warrant the expense...in other words, every question or opportunity to help is an open door to a potential client..
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Thats a really good point.

Personally I would just like to see an instructor walk round the gym every 15mins making sure there is nobody trapped under a barbell, or snapped in two.

today I was in the gym for an hour and the only instructor on was standing talking to the receptionist the whole time. You'd hope that with all the financial problems, people would at least be trying to hold on to their jobs.
 
blackbeard said:
You getting to sound a bit insecure I would think, like a granny would when she hears her grandson has started going to the gym and wants to know if whey protein is dangerous.
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Maybe your just reading it that way as a reflexion of your own personality. But pointing it out make you feel better about yourself i bet.
good one.

The whole point of this topic was to point out that I used to pay £25 a month for my gym membership and get as much help as i wanted and gym instructors were always happy to spot.
Now im paying £38, all the equipment is 10 years old and if i need a spot or a 30kg dumbell passed up to me for a shoulder press then I have to ask another gym user.
 
blackbeard said:
This is the bit that makes you sound like an insecure granny with irrational fears. Really in all the time you have been in the gym working out, how many times do you find people under a barbell or snapped in two?
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Like all the time.
I park my space hopper outside. Say hello to buggs bunny on reception, walk past and high five daffy duck at the bar. The when i go in the gym there is always at least one person trapped under a barbell. And more offen than not, some guy whos arms have doubled in length when he forgot to let go of the dumbbells.

Not to mention all the people going round and round on the treadmill belt.
 
I didn't even know that there are gym instructors until this post but then I workout at 24 Hours.
 
At the gym I go to the staff do the same, say hello and goodbye at the door, not really traveling the floor to check on anyone. Sometimes if weights are sitting around for awhile they'll run out and put them away.

What they do have at my gym are classes that you don't pay extra for (I think many gyms have this these days). But in addition to the workout classes they have whats called an "Essentials" class, where each person gets a clipboard and a sheet with the names of all the machines. In groups of four these classes get taken around the gym, shown the machines and how they work, they try them, and they take notes on the clipboard (on form, if they have to adjust the backrest to a certain number for themselves, what weight they did in the demo, etc). I think at my gym its assumed you either know what you're doing, or you would use this class to learn. I see a lot of people carrying those sheets around while they work out - its in grid form so you can keep track of your weight and reps once you've learned to use everything.
 
Elan makes a good & valid point....and it's a bit out of line and inappropriate to accuse him of being an insecure grandma, I've seen several gym members coming close or actually getting injured. I've pulled a few barbells off people too. Fact is, gyms are just businesses and they're really there to make money. While they really should have a roaming staff whose job it is to council and assist members, they generally don't....what you're seeing are private trainers doing their thing with clients or just socializing.

Most gyms give you a membership that allows you the use of the facility, they also generally give you 1 or 2 "free" sessions with a trainer. While most people, myself formerly included, are inclined to figure this is where they give you a run-down on using the equipment and perhaps set you up with a routine..this is far from the purpose of the "free sessions". The free session is to give the gym a shot at convincing you that you need to spend $60-$110 per session to have a certified instructor guide you through your personal development to achieve your goals (which they set after evaluating you). It is a sales pitch, NOT a orientation on using equipment or gettring started on your own. Far from it. It's all about money, PERIOD.

Who are trainers? Well...at the risk of offending a few people here, I've found (having worked with several) that most trainers are very flaky and think nothing of not showing-up or canceling sessions at the last moment. Most trainers are also people who were kinda/sorta set on some kind of career, got side-tracked and in some manner of speaking fell into training as a pit-stop or fill-in vocation until they figure something else out. Most of them are burned-out, tired and have other ambitions in life. Many of them turn the relationship into a personal thing where they tell you about their problems or clients end-up telling them about theirs. Many trainers also spend too much time chatting with other people while in-session...I myself will never give more then a nod when I see a trainer I know training with someone and I certainly don't appreciate when my training session is interupted for more then a few seconds.

At the same time, many trainers are sick of hearing their clients bitch, moan and groan and not want to put-in the effort to make a change. So I'm suggesting their burned-out on account of all the saggy meat they have to drag around the gym...and the job itself gets old. There's usually gym politics, a general manager under pressure to make sales and lots of push to sell more sessions, etc, etc.

So...in all it's a cluster-F of interest, but make no mistake: trainers get paid to do sessions and mistaking a trainer for being a staff member who is there to help the general gym membership is generally a huge mistake; they're almost offended you would ask them any question..like your mooching or stealing their time.

BUT are trainers good? YES.....as much as we like to think our form is solid and we're doing the right thing, it's very difficult to self-assess ourselves.
 
blackbeard said:
If you really feel that way then talk to the trainers or their manager at fitness first or LA fitness then. I'm sure they will welcome the feedback, they are a business afterall. Its no good having a rant on the web.
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Why do you even bother to take part in forums?
I simply wanted other peoples opinions as to why gym instructors seem everless present and helpfull.
I have experianced this, and wondered if it was due to them all now having a PT qualification and wanting to be paid for there time.

fairly simple i think.
However you come along and start putting people down and turning the thread into just another trollish bunch of crap which only interests the 2 or 3 people involved. This means that even if someone has a good opinion to add to the thread, they prob wont bother becasue they can see that its turned in to an argument rather than a group discusion.
 
blackbeard said:
what do you seriously expect people on the interwebz to do huh? :laughing2:
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Now I fully understand.
Just like the gym, this forum has the potential to be a great tool and a help to many people. instead, it is ruined by people like yourself who would much rather pick holes.
I was so wrong to expect you not to be an arsehole.
 
I haven't seen drama like this since they unveiled that Professional Wrestling was fake!

Come on guys, no need to argue or bicker. Lots of misunderstandings can be lost in the text, you both seem like good guys who are getting caught-up in semantics.

Less fighting, more being entertaining, informative or funny....please
 
BikeSwimLaugh said:
Less fighting, more being entertaining, informative or funny....please
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That would be great, its just annoying when this guy comes along insulting me and giving me 2 lots of bad rep for the same post. now my rep is like -7 and everyone thinks im the arsehole.
 
I have spoken to them.

But this is a FORUM, and i wanted to get other peoples views. Everyone else has managed to do this. You are the only one who seems to have a problem with me.
 
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