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Saturday, December 22, 2007
Why (most) Personal Trainers Suck
WARNING: The following post is hostile. (I have been out with an injury for 6 weeks....no jiu-jitsu for me)
Sorry, I need to let off some steam!!! If you are a trainer offended by the title, its because you suck!!
Personal Trainers are coaches. Coaches are meant to coach, right? When I watch most trainers work, there is one huge element missing.... THEY DON'T COACH!! They sit there and look around the gym, look in the mirror at themselves, they watch the tv and so on, and even worse they watch there client and say "Good Job" while they are executing horrid form! If you are not coaching someone (using coaching cues and teaching the exercises) then how in the world are they doing the movement right? And why are you saying "Good Job" to someone doing something wrong (and potentially dangerous)?
Personal Trainers are coaches. Coaches are meant to coach, right? When I watch most trainers work, there is one huge element missing.... THEY DON'T COACH!! They sit there and look around the gym, look in the mirror at themselves, they watch the tv and so on, and even worse they watch there client and say "Good Job" while they are executing horrid form! If you are not coaching someone (using coaching cues and teaching the exercises) then how in the world are they doing the movement right? And why are you saying "Good Job" to someone doing something wrong (and potentially dangerous)?
"Good Job?"
First of all, I watch trainers (from here on out we will refer to them as the "Lazy Trainer") not progress their clients with common sense. They give them exercises that they are absolutely not ready for.
Second, they tell them "Good Job" when the exercise obviously looks like a friggin' train wreck! There is a perfect quote that I heard from Mike Boyle: "Your athletes/clients are your mirror and the window that people look through". OUCH!!! Hey Lazy Trainer, think about that the next time you are training someone!
The Lazy Trainer is notorious for making people do stupid stuff. Jumping and standing on bosu balls, standing on a balance device with one leg chucking a medicine ball back and forth, pulling a sled without teaching them how to even lunge right!! Okay, I'm done............wait....no I'm not, I have actually seen this: Doing barbell complexes with middle age house wives when that cannot perform one of the exercises in the complex correctly!!!! And the reason being, "To get her heart rate up"???!!! If you do not know what a barbell complex is, just trust me, it is very very advanced and something that 95% of people should not consider. Especially middle age house wives!!!
The thing that is the worst here, is the fact that these clients are doing ridiculous and very difficult exercises when they cannot even do simple things like glute bridges, push ups, squats and lunges right. And don't give me that bull**** that you need them to feel like they got a workout!! That is a cop out and nothing but you being a lazy, thieving ass!!
The Lazy Trainer may be able to sell some training sessions but they will get very few renewals or referrals. The reasons being:
- You hurt your clients (you probably hurt a bunch of clients but they didn't tell you....Bonehead!!)
- Your clients cannot perform a single exercise correctly (this is why the other potential clients that are watching you train will not train with you.....You make your current client look like an idiot)
- You never get your client to do anything that they can ACTUALLY do!! Come on man, P-R-O-G-R-E-S-S-I-O-N!!!
- You Suck!!
So next time that you say "Good Job" ask yourself, "Is it really?" And remember, "who is watching you through the window?" :)
Oh yeah, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! New Years resolution? "DO YOUR JOB!"
DN
