Do You Tell People in your Gym When They Are Screwing Up a Exercise?

[curling]

I mean I do I guess. Especially when I see people rolling their shoulders when doing shrugs or when I see people doing being the neck barbell presses. Usually they thank me and I just tell them about how a rotator can screw up their lifting for a while. And tell them the proper way to get big shoulders or traps. etc Arnold presses, lateral raises etc.

What about ya'll?

 

[sysopt]

I try to. The vast majority of the people at my gym don't know jack shit. Some listen to me, others brush me off. They think I'm crazy because what I say is different than what they heard from some stupid magazine or some big guy. If they don't want the advice, fuck em, it's their loss.

 

[riskybizz007]

Bro i gave up on that. I see people doing the stupidest shit, i mean MORONIC!!!! and i just gave up on them. I just laugh at them when they get injured and have to take time off and come back 10 pounds skinnier or fatter. Every single time i've tried to help somebody they say, well i read this in a magazine, or i never heard of that, so fuck them. And i don't even dare to explain shit to the morons who bench w/ their backs all arched or those who swing their whole body like their doing the hokie pokie when they're doing biceps. It's ridiculus but what are you going to do? People want to look cool w/ big weight they are not ready for, or they trust mags more than they do others at the gym.

 

[The mann]

used to...unless it looks like someone that does not want to hear your .02...............

 

[MonStar1023]

I dont just because the majortiy of members at my gym are so stuck up they would get all offended and shit no matter how much bigger and more experienced I am then they are.

 

[Ingram]

I don't say a word.

 

[DaCypher]

Absolutely not. If they want to know something they can ask. I think its not only inappropriate to assume you know more than someone else but its somewhat arrogant as well. I mean, sometimes if I can tell that someone is thoroughly confused about something I might give them some info to help them and I never have any problem explaining to someone that asks me for help.

This is kind of the same thing as giving someone a spot that doesn't ask for one. The other day I was doing barbell military presses on my 2nd rep very slowly (like I always do in HIT style) and some little guy (that doesn't even work there) ran over and "helped" me push the bar back up. Needless to say I was incredibly pissed when I reracked the bar...

 

[riskybizz007]

DaCypher i did that one time to someone i knew lol. I thought the damn bar was gonna plop on his chest and i helped him up w/ it. lol. Needless to say he was incredibly pissed as well.

 

[DaCypher]

I mean, its nice that other people are looking out for each other, just a little verbal communication would have been nice. You got all that adrenaline pumping and someone's got to spoil your fun.

 

[gymratess1]

Believe it or not I've seen guys drop weights in the gym. People try to lift heavier than they can. I think it's ridiculous but if you say anything about their form they just look at you like you are stupid. I am a woman and I have men and women ask me for advice all the time. If they ask I will help but if not I mind my own business. I am in the gym to train myself not babysit others. Although if I saw someone in real trouble obviously I would help. People ask me to spot them all the time and I will do that also as sometimes I would like a spot. Which creates another problem. I can't stand it when you ask for a spot and all the other person does is lift and hold all the weight for you. Do they not understand that Iwill not get anything out of that? I want to grow, not just waste my time. You can't help everyone, everyone has to help themselves. I train as hard as I can and if I need a spot and no one I know is around I do drop sets of as much as I can do.

 

[gymtime]

Absolutely not. If they want to know something they can ask. I think its not only inappropriate to assume you know more than someone else but its somewhat arrogant as well. I mean, sometimes if I can tell that someone is thoroughly confused about something I might give them some info to help them and I never have any problem explaining to someone that asks me for help.

This is kind of the same thing as giving someone a spot that doesn't ask for one. The other day I was doing barbell military presses on my 2nd rep very slowly (like I always do in HIT style) and some little guy (that doesn't even work there) ran over and "helped" me push the bar back up. Needless to say I was incredibly pissed when I reracked the bar...

Absolutely!! In eight years of lifting, I've volunteered information once. And that was to a young kid who I felt was in real danger of hurting himself, that was it. Beyond that, I'm not there to mother anyone.

 

[DaCypher]

gymtime and gymratess1,
Definetly agree with both of you.

Bad spotters bother me, but at the same time it is kind of hard to expect something out of someone else without telling them what you want. When I ask for a spot I make it perfectly clear how/when I want them to help me out. Everyone sort of has their own preference on how they like to be spotted.

gymratess1 - Just out of curiousity, where in Florida are you from?

 

[gymratess1]

DaCypher--
I always explain how I want to be spotted. I like very little help. I believe in forcing the person you are spotting to finish with the least help possible. I guess this is why many ask me to spot them. I am in the Tampa Bay Area

 

[DaCypher]

gymratess1,
I feel the same way. Some guys like the spotter to force out several more reps at the end of the set which I'm not a big fan of. I only really like spots on exercises that you need one for safety reasons. Thats another reason why I like doing dumbell presses vs barbell.

By the way, I'm in Gainesville right now (going to school here, don't actually live here ).

 

[Blood&Iron]

What I find amusing is when someone who just started lifting weights comes up to me and "corrects" my form, or warns me after I've crashed due to failure that 'You're gonna hurt yourself.' Bwahahahaha....

 

[Bigsatan13]

Depends on the person. If we are at the casual aquaitance stage I'll offer my assistance. If it was the cop who just gave my wife a speeding ticket, he can go fuck himself. What really pisses me off is when someone searches out your advice and then doesn't follow it. D Don't waste my time!

 

[Roadblock]

I rather help girls than guys because girls listen.
You tell guys not to throw up the weights, use proper form instead of big weights, not to bench every single time.. but they still do.

 

[booger]

Hell no you don't tell them. If they are screwing up their exercise form then in the long run they won't make any progress and that will make you look better in comparison. If anything you should look around for the people who are using the correct form and telling them they are doing it wrong. Think about it. On planet earth, nature prevails.

 

[curling]

Wow thanks for all the replys. I guess I just have a hard time seeing another person trying to help themselves actually hurt themselves in the process. When I first started lifting some dude told me to stop doing the rolling shoulders bit because it could injur the rotator cup and I appreciated it. Shit I am a big time wakeboarder and that could have knocked me out of the sport for the whole season.

So I guess I rather help people from getting injured cause that is being a good humanbeing then worry about a few dickheads' egos.

Oh and I never spot someone unless they ask. I thought that went without saying. That would piss me off too. I like to try to muscle up that last rep until it takes everything I got or it will fall back on me(heck of a motivation to get it up)

Booger,

LOL dude that was funny.

 

[Lord_Suston]

NEVER[/B] because the will never learn. These pathetic morons who are taking all the plates in my gym and never putting them back do not deserve any help in their pathetic lives. If they do not have enough common sense to see and adjust their form to mimic a good lifters form they'll never learn. I hear all day magazine this and the pros say that and well he does it that way, Do they reall ythink the pros write out there own articles and the other chumps who couldn't lift their own Body weight if the tried are using the latest and most beneficial lifting methods, hahahaha. These fools are just a waste of OXYGEN in my gym........

 

[Preacher]

I will usually help out those who are fairly new to the gym, or "the elderly". I wouldn't want some old geezer who looks like he never touched a weight to crack his back because he performs his squats like they were a bend-lower-back-to-Standing-Calf-raises.

I'll never give advice that is not asked for. My vocabulary in the gym consist of "Grunt", "sweat" and "F*ck, that thing feels heavier than before". People don't talk to me because of that.

you don't have to look like a freak, act like one, and everybody will leave you alone.

 

[diablo135]

I usually don't tell people what they are doing wrong for all the reasons mentioned. There is also one more important one no one talked about: You don't know exactly what they are doing the exercise for. What if, just this one time, they are doing all cheat sets or something. Alot of times, you can tell when a person is doing something exotic or plain wrong, but sometime you can't. We've all done things that look weird to the casual observer because it was tailored to us.

Anyway, one time I did speak up. I was managing a gym so I felt it was kinda my responsibility to help someone who was blatantly doing something wrong. I'm sure you've all seen this b4. A somewhat diminutive girl was working out when a "trainer" (a member of the gym, not really a trainer) offered to help her. She was trying to be nice but kept saying no but he kept following her around. Anyhoo, he was showing her squats which were almost god mornings. He went omewhere for a minute so I talked to the girl. I said, "You know, it's none of my business but that guy is going to hurt you, most likely your back". She said he was kinda weird so I offered to kick him out of the gym and she said no. She came back a two weeks or so later and told me that not only did her backk her almost immediately after her workout, she eventually went to the doctor and found out she had a severe.
strain.

I finally talked to the guy because he was doing this to other people in the gym. I told him, that for liability reasons, he could not train people here with out liability insurance and needed to be employed her.

It finally stopped. As s side note, his body composition never changed in the 3 years he was going there.

 

[FitFossil]

...I finally talked to the guy because he was doing this to other people in the gym. I told him, that for liability reasons, he could not train people here with out liability insurance and needed to be employed here. It finally stopped. As a side note, his body composition never changed in the 3 years he was going there..

Funny how people like Diablo is talking about in his gym can 'talk the talk' but not 'walk the walk'. Someone on another thread said "Never take diet or workout advice from someone you don't want to look like" Now that's good advice!

 

[Photobear]

Preacher,

I'm with you on that one. I hardly talk to anyone in the gym. As far as offering advice, I just don't do it. I do a lot of shaking my head and wondering what the hell people are trying to do, but I'm in there to make me big not them.

I do worry about the guy who swings his whole torso during his lat pull downs. It looks scary, makes my joints hurt just to watch him. I have no idea how he hasn't hurt himself. Talk about ballistic training! Ouch.

 

[riskybizz007]

I told 1 guy he was going to blow his rotator cuff doing this exercise in that fashion. He said to me, "No i don't think that will happen and continued"

A girl comes up to me asks me about abs, I say diet diet diet, you can do a million sit ups and you'll still have a gut if you don't diet. What has she been doing for the last 6 months w/ the flabby stomach? A million sit ups.

I ask Macho man at the gym (a skinny newbie) if he needed help or a spot. Macho man decided he was a bad ass and put too much weight on, the barbell falls on his chest and the plates are falling off as well. I'm standing 2 feet away and all i did was pretend i wasn't seeing it happen, meanwhile everyone is laughing at his stupid ass. He never came back after that.

Point is... i just found it useless to even attempt to help others. Their EGOs take hold and they just become dumb people. It's not about competition, it's about lookin out for one another.

 

[karde]

I saw a guy doing deadlifts, and totally curling his back. I told him he should look up more to help keep his back straight, so he doesn't injure himself. He blew me off.

5 mins later he is on the ground in pain cause he popped a disk.

 

[guards]

I only help when asked. Otherwise I feel i am intruding. The bozo's who try to work out once a week with pathetic form won't be there long enough for me to care about them, so I stick to myself.

 

[Superbabe]

I often get asked if I'd like "help" by men in the gym.....probably cos I'm female.

It's always nice to have someone say (after volunteering to spot) "damn, you're stronger than you look"

 

[18echo]

my gym is HUGE, so you see all sorts of sloppy form. my favorite is the guy who's doing bar or db curls with way too much weight, so his body's rocking back and forth 90 degrees each way, and his arms never extend past 90 degrees or so either. especially funny is when he's using db's so there's alot of side to side sway, too.

then i'm next to them, bigger that they are and probably stronger. but i'm using 95 lbs on a bar strictly,while they're using 135, somehow lifting and doing the fucking roger rabbit at the same time. and they're looking at me out of the corner of their eye, like "yeah, look at that guy. he cant even lift as much as us!"

there are usually two types of people i see doing this. no offense to anyone.

1) high school kids. usually not the serious athletes, but, yes, also sometimes the ones with the football jerseys.

2)average "joe blow" guys who are clearly not very experienced but want to seem like they are. they're usually not big at all, but, while lifting, seem to have their conversations louder than most others. about all the shit they allegedly know.

also funny to watch is guys using too much on lat or front delt raises w/ db's. all you can do is do what you're doing. judging from the way some of these guys act while lifting, me sayin anything is not going to accomplish anything. there is no sucking in pride for these guys. after all, they must lift big to get big!

 

[SoCAmuscle]

Bro i gave up on that. I see people doing the stupidest shit, i mean MORONIC!!!! and i just gave up on them. I just laugh at them when they get injured and have to take time off and come back 10 pounds skinnier or fatter. Every single time i've tried to help somebody they say, well i read this in a magazine, or i never heard of that, so fuck them. And i don't even dare to explain shit to the morons who bench w/ their backs all arched or those who swing their whole body like their doing the hokie pokie when they're doing biceps. It's ridiculus but what are you going to do? People want to look cool w/ big weight they are not ready for, or they trust mags more than they do others at the gym.

True dat! It's so fun to pull the hat brim way down and laugh at some of the things people do....

 

[HansNZ]

At my gym there are a lot of gym staff on the floor. I feel it is their responsibility to correct peoples' form. Most people will take the advice better if it comes from one of the staff.

There was one time where this guy's form was SO ATROCIOUS, I mean I have never seen anyone do an exercise so badly, that I suggested to one of the gym staff that they help him out. If he continued in that manner he would definitely have injured himself.

 

[freshr1]

No. I used to tell people, but you sorta come across as a know-it-all ass and people get defensive. Sometimes people will ask me for advice, which I'm very happy to give.