Maybe this type of person is more annoying to the personal trainer than to the average gym goer.

But nonetheless.. I was in a crabby mood at the gym in that I have a cold (boo hoo I know), but this person just annoyed me today.

On with the rant..

While at the gym today, I noticed a girl chatting with her friend while she was performing lunges. Of course her form was flat our horrendous–and she wasn’t even looking straight ahead, but to the side so she could talk with her friend.

If you listened to the tone of the conversation, you may have mistaken her for being out to lunch, while having a nice friendly chat–lunges were the last thing on her mind..

Is she getting any stronger? Not really..

Is she stimulating any kind of fat loss? Not really..

Is she improving her technique so she can progress in the future? NO WAY..

Does she care? Who knows!

Maybe I’m biased because I read about strength training and exercise a lot of the day, and I train clients the rest of the day, but why not try to accomplish something while you exercise??? Even if you don’t consider yourself an “execise nut”.

I don’t get it.

If you can offer an opinion on what’s going through her mind, please let me know by commenting on the blog–ANY IDEAS ARE WELCOME–really.

Technorati Tags: annoying gym goer, exercise-form, training-philosophy

Every gym has an annoying type of lifter. You know - that one person that always seems to be there when you’re trying to get your work done.. And for whatever reason, they ANNOY the crap out of you.

Being a personal trainer, I spend more time in the gym in one day than most people do in an entire week (or month). Combine this with that fact that I can’t help but observe other people’s sessions, analyze their exercise selection and exercise form, and it’s inevitable that there is going to be a lot of stuff that gets under my skin.

This week’s winner is: The Lat Pulldown Guy.

Who is the lat pulldown guy? All I can tell you is that he’s an older gentleman, with a protruding gut who apparently thinks it’s effective to stack as much weight as possible on the lat pulldown and use any means necessary to get the weight to move.

No joke - He actually lifts his butt completely off the seat, grasps the handle, and then flings himself back down into the seat while swinging his body backward in order to move the weight.

Really.

Why don’t you just stand up, grab the handle with both hands, and walk the weight back tug-of-war style?

What is he trying to accomplish? I don’t know.

Does he look strong by lifting three quarters of a stack using the technique of standing up out of the seat and violently rocking backwards? NO

Is what he is doing working in getting him to his goals? NO (remember his gut).

It’s amazing how you I can tell from watching someone perform one exercise, that they are completely wasting their time in the gym. Usually it won’t bother me, but when the gym is crowded and my client and I can’t get on the lat pulldown because lat pulldown guy is showing off how “strong” he is, I get a little bit frustrated, to put it lightly.

There’s also the added bonus that he likes to ignore you when you try to work in with him. Yeah, he just kind of stares straight ahead, pretending to mentally prepare for his next grueling set of violently rocking back and forth.

I mean, if you’re so strong, go do a bodyweight pull-up. I’d pay to see that. Of course, he’d probably grasp the pull-up handles and jump in the air to get up (that is, even if he can jump that high).

So what can we learn from lat pulldown guy? Bear with me here..

Though he is an extreme case, we all may have an exercise where we could benefit from knocking back the weight a little bit, and getting back to proper form. We must remind ourselves the purpose of the particular movement that we’re trying to execute. An article I read recently reminded me how important proper form is on the deadlift, and I realized my form has been a little sloppy of late - so I cut back the weight a little bit and returned to deadlifting with solid form.

WEW! I feel better.

Do you have a particular annoying gym goer you’d like to rant about? Please comment and get it off your chest!

Technorati Tags: annoying gym goer, exercise-form, lat pulldown, rant

Check out this article on T-Nation by Mike Robertson on squatting technique:

10 Tips for Flawless Squatting

The article is geared to the more serious lifter, but these guidelines apply to lifters of all levels–both males and females.

I’ll list the 10 tips below, and you can find further explanation by checking out the link above.

1. Hands In - Working your hands in creates a shelf to rest the bar on, and reinforces proper form.
2. Back Together and Tight -see above
3. Comfortable Stance, Toes Slightly Out - Experiment with the width of your stance. People with longer torsos and shorter legs tend to prefer a wider stance while those with shorter torsos and longer legs are better off going narrow.
4. Weight Balanced - Keep your weight over your mid foot or slightly toward the heel.
5. Chest Up, Low Back Tight - Essential for form and lower back health.
6. Focus on a Spot - Pick something eye-level (don’t look down). You may have to face away from the mirror.
7. Big Breath, Core Tight* - More important for powerlifters; helps stability
8. Sit Back - Activates those glutes and hamstrings!
9. Knees Out - Keeps you in proper alignment, activates hip muscles
10. Speed* - a useful technique for powerlifters

Technorati Tags: Exercise Technique, exercise-form, Squat

One thing I noticed in the gym that is very common is poor rowing form.

While you should definitely have some rowing variations in your program, if not done properly you either won’t make progress, will get injured, or both–not to mention look silly.

What I see is a lot of jerking and rotation about the trunk–rocking instead of rowing. Yes, if you’re doing an aerobic workout on a real rowing machine where the seat glides along with you, it is ok–but not on seated cable rows, chest supported rows, or any other similar exercise–including pull downs.

Rowing is a back exercise–movement should come from retraction of the scapula with your arms acting only to connect your back to your hands. Your spine and core are there to stabilize you while you row–they should not move.

Things to think about when rowing:

1. Back flat–think of how your back would be aligned if you were sitting in a chair with perfect posture. Get a friend or trainer to confirm you’re on the right track here.

2. Chest out–like you’re showing off your pecs. Elevate the chest and ribcage (almost like you’re showing someone that you’re super-confident). The opposite would be rounding your shoulders, which would turn the exercise into an arm curl.

3. Don’t Rock–Again, movement is coming only through retraction of your scapula. This means that you’re moving the weight by pulling back and down and your scapulae are moving toward the middle of your back. If your head is moving at all, you’re doing it wrong.

4. Control the weight on the return–When lowering the weight, (also known as the eccentric phase) you should be steadily easing the weight down. You don’t have to lower it super slow, but make sure that you are controlling the weight; not visa versa.

If you’re consistently having trouble with 3 and/or 4 above, you’re using too much weight. Back down on the amount of weight until you can perform several reps with perfect form–then slowly up the weight as you get better.

Seated cable rows, one armed rows, T-bar rows, and corner rows all follow the exact same guidelines.

So happy rowing!

-DG

Technorati Tags: back, exercise-form, rowing, strength training