It’s been a little over a month now that I’ve been training in a commercial gym. See, a person gets pretty sheltered training at a facility like WFAC.  The majority of people I coached there who moved away would call or text me when they arrived at their new digs and say, “Find me a gym like WFAC.” My response? “It doesn’t exist. Deal.”

So now I’m following my own advice and dealing with it. There are two gyms here in in town where I can get in my strength and conditioning work in. My Weightlifting training has taken a hit but that will come back fine when we get our gym up and running with the proper equipment and set up. No worries. Though I haven’t seen any of the personal trainers at one of the gyms I’ve been to, they have five (yes, 5!) gym dogs (big dogs) which makes the place awesome.

The training sessions at the other gym are painful to watch. Most of the trainers work out with their clients. Uhhh, people…don’t let them do that. You’re paying them for their time and hopefully their expertise. I can guarantee you that if they are so lazy in their own training that they don’t do it off hours, they’re lazy about yours. Expect, no, demand for more. Also know that if they are training with you, the exercises you’re doing are for them. Obviously. You are doing what THEY need to do that day.

The next thing I’ve observed is the randomness of the sessions. One of the most egregious of all personal trainer fails is their insistence that YOU keeping a log is unnecessary. They’ve got it alllllll figured out in their head. I”m not going to get into the utter bullshit about the fads of muscle confusion and machine circuit training in general but if you’re not keeping a log, how do you know you’re getting stronger? Because they say so? Uh uh. Doesn’t fly. A good strength coach or trainer will require you to keep a log. You’ll review your programming and your log on a regular basis. You’ll see where, or why,  you’re struggling with a certain lift or the program in general. But KNOW THIS, you need a program to follow for long term progress. (Not results. We don’t use the term *results*. It’s stupid and non-productive. Anyone can get a result if enough immediate stress is applied. We want progress. We need to be doing this the rest of our lives for progress.)

Anyways.

The glaring error in the personal training I’ve observed is the complete lack of knowledge they possess in most things strength related. The conversations I hear range from how many girls they banged the weekend before; to why people suck; to why their lives  are so awesome/awful; but never why form needs to be adjusted. Or why we’re lifting the way we lift. Or why our program needs to be tweaked. Or how the diets of clients need to be tweaked. Remember, you’re paying these people for their “expertise.” So make them SHOW IT! If they’re treating you like their own personal sounding boards, guess what? They give one shit about your progress (although they probably use the word ‘results’) and more about hearing themselves talk 8 hours a day.

Expect more! With less! Less bullshit, more knowledge. Less random exercises, more detailed program. Less their workout session, more yours.

Deadwood Quote of the Day:

“… Ma’am, listen to the thunder.”

Wild Bill Hickok