Do you wince?
 

When you see someone at the gym using really bad form do you wince? Or sigh?

If it is radically unsafe sometimes one of the trainers will mention it but not always.

But if it is just a sloppy waste of effort they usually wont. Like the girl walking on the treadmill today at incline of 15 holding on to the console so tightly that the only thing getting a workout was her biceps.

Yes. And I wince even more when background exercisers in fitness vids have really bad form. That just kills me.

Oh man, one time I saw a guy who was working out with his friend who was in pretty good shape. His friend turned his back to talk to someone while the guy started using a machine and he had the most horrible form I've ever seen and I kept hoping his friend would turn around and set him straight but he just kept doing it....yanking way to much weight all hunched over and stuff, using one side of his body more than the other....I almost got off the treadmill to go slap him and tell him to stop it....but his friend turned around and just said "What the **** are you doing?!" haha

Oh yes, I wince and sometimes I literally have to look away because it's too painful to watch (lat pulldown being yanked behind the neck, elliptical on tiptoes). Sometimes it's funny (heavy weight, two inch range of motion :rofl: ) Sometimes it's OMG! (crosstrainer with no bra -- boobs flying in opposite directions :fr: ) But when I worked in the same gym as a personal trainer, I quickly learned that very few people (especially men) take kindly to being corrected on their form, even if they're about to injure themselves. Since I was met with so much hostility when I tried to help as a gym employee, there's no way I'd say anything now. But it was a good teaching tool! When I was training a client and he/she was resting between sets, I'd quiz them on what different people were doing wrong on exercises. They got really good at picking out exercise no-no's (and hopefully learned about proper form!) :lol:

There's *other people* around??

----suddenly self-conscious-----

Better watch my form, huh?

There is a guy who recently started working out at the same time I do who does every single exercise using his entire body and as much momentum as possible. i.e. a bicep curl starts slightly bent forward and ends with his back so arched he is looking at the ceiling. About a week after he joined he brought an older man with him and started training him saying specifically "get your back into it" :yikes: A few days later another guy joined with them. Then a woman. Then another woman. He is "training" them all.

My favorite bit was when one of the gals on the assisted pullup machine said "To go higher, you go lower right?" and he said "No, to go lower you go higher". :dizzy:

Not surprisingly his gym ettiquette is also lousy.

I work out as the same time as a physical therapist that I know pretty well. He will correct some form, usually on people he kind of knows and mostly to make it work better.

But not when people are posing as experts. He knows that to correct someone like that is pointless and potentially dangerous. My exercise buddy and I made eye-contact at the "put your back into it" comment and after I whispered "hey look, future patients"

Clients used to tell me that they "learned" how to do an exercise from watching other people work out. I'd tell them it's a terrible idea because 75% of people are doing exercises incorrectly and potentially dangerously. I shudder at your story about the doofus "training" other people but sadly, I see it all the time at my gym too.

The head of personal trainers -- a guy with almost 20 years of experience -- would still be blown off by members he was trying to help. He said that if he saw something really awful, the only approach that worked was inquiring about what exercise the person was trying to do and then asking if he could demo it. That worked some of the time. :dizzy:

The only thing that really makes me wince are guys on elliptical machines going about 1000 miles per hour at zero resistance- one of these days it WILL fall apart mid stride.

Have you ever noticed that lot of those guys who use whole body momentum look really good? They have huge muscles. They must be do SOMETHING right, but I can't figure out what. :rofl:

I haven't seen too much wrong other than that. It does bug me to see someone leisurely flipping through a magazine or book on the bike or elliptical, mostly because I can't imagine doing so myself. I work out at an intensity level that is way too high to be able to read. But then I have to remind myself that what they're doing is better than sitting on the couch. It just seems rather inefficient. (Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. :D)

While I might wince at bad form, I wince even more at people (usually women) who fall victim to fad exercises/gimmicks and spend hours in vain trying to achieve a certain look that requires a very different approach ;)

Maybe I'm a weirdo, but I would love it if someone interrupted my exercise and told me if I was screwing it, lol! I have horrible back issues and I'm actually considering spending the money of a few personal trainer sessions just to learn proper form. I think it'd be a wise investment.

A few of the things that I see all too often: runners holding on to the treadmill handles, and people on the stair climber hunched over the machine, letting it hold them up. Ugh! The trainers just walk past because people really don't want to be corrected. They think they are doing everything right. Not that people should feel self conscious working out, but if you aren't sure how to do something correctly, ask! Most trainers will welcome the interaction, as long as they aren't working with a client at the time.

Pam

When I went to a gym, I didn't pay much attention to anyone's form but my own. Unless they made a loud grunting noise that got my attention.

No joke on this. Those machines have breakable points...of course, they can break during normal use too (says the girl who actually had an elliptical fall apart on her midstride).

One time, a guy came up to me one time and showed me how to properly do whatever it was I was doing. It made sense after he showed me. Then he told me I was cute. :D

I think if you show yourself to be approachable the trainers will approach. It's hard for me to say because I am kind of friends with one, so he will approach me, but usually to say "You know, if you do this variation it will be killer more difficult" I love/hate that! :D

I had my tricep kickback corrected by a trainer who was brand new to the gym and pretty much trawling for clients. It was very helpful.

I haven't seen her around lately. I don't know what happened there. Either it didn't work with the clients or someone didn't like her approaching individuals. I don't know.

Lol I used to that. But in my defense, the stair climber is HARD. I would put it on the fat burn mode and when it got really fast, I did that so I could complete the workout.

Good going for at least doing the stair climber, Norcal. I shouldn't be critical. Everyone is doing their best and deserve props for getting into the gym. BTW, when I'm on the stair master, I think of all the fire fighters trudging up the twin towers carrying all of their gear on 9/11. I think given what they went through, the least I can do is make it a few more flights... :(

Pam

I worry less about cardio form (after all, how someone gets their heart rate up is up to them - if they're working at the heart rate they want to, who whether they are doing so with a high incline and handrails or a low incline and no handrails is sort of irrelevant, you know? Unless they have a trainer forcing them to increase pace and they cheat that prescribed pace, who cares?) than weights form, since it's a LOT easier to hurt yourself with weights.

True. I think it was the combo of 15% grade and totally bored non working expression that got me.

And your earlier post made me giggle because of course my "put your back into it" guy grunts like he needs to take some metamucil you cant NOT notice him.

At the time of day I go to the gym there are a lot of teenage boys trying to impress, they use wayyyy too heavy weights with no form whatsoever... it's very hard to watch...

Does anyone else have a Cardio Wave machine at their gym? This thing get the worst form users ever at our place. People get on it going fast, like they're running (with no resistance), and it kills me. I'm usually on it on level 2 like i'm skating through thick grass and up comes ms. incorrect & hops on the one beside me like she's doing the 100 meter dash!

I also see trainers on a daily basis showing people how to use kettlebells incorrectly too.

This is one of the reasons I hate going to the gym and have been going down to the local track instead. Although you'd be surprised, there are people everywhere that don't know what they're doing. I'm always seeing people stretch by bouncing their muscles and it always makes me wince.

When I was a regular at the gym I used to see a girl work on her love handles. She would place a long broomstick over her shoulders and the twist side to side... for 30 minutes.... every day. LOL.

It would be nice if there was an attendant on the gym floor. To calmly walk over to someone "putting their back into it" and explaining how it should be done. It should be in the gym contract "if you sign up to this gym you will be monitored by an attendant while you exercise." Also it would be nice because more often than not I see a lot of people walk up to machines totally confused, not knowing how to operate them or for how long. I think a gym really needs to be responsible for showing people how to do these things correctly lest there be some injuries.

I have the ultimate "doing it wrong" story for you all this morning.

A woman, 70-ish, works out faithfully at our gym. She hunches badly over the stair climber, but she's there, and I'm impressed. Today, after hunching badly over said stair climber, she got off the machine and wiped her face with the hem of her shirt...at which point it was rather obvious she was wearing no bra!! Full exposure to the entire gym. And a lengthy exposure too. She either had no idea or was just at the age where she doesn't care. I can't imagine working out with no support, personally.

BWAHAHAH Eliana! That is hilarious. There is a woman at my gym (about the same age) who wears a swimsuit & track pants to workout in. Swimsuits do not provide support.

Wannabeskinny - I actually went to a gym where they would NOT let you work out until they had taken you around to show you how to work all the equipment. That had its problems as well. 1) if you were a newbie getting 900 pieces of equipment thrown at you in one day is pretty useless. 2) the employees werent always right

I like the thought of trained employees actually stopping people who were going to injure themselves.

There's this one guy at the gym who makes me wince and freaks me out. When he's on the treadmill, he looks hard to the right and downward the whole time! It's almost like he's looking down at the right side of his body. At first I thought maybe it was a physical handicap of some kind, but when he gets off the treadmill he walks normally. So I don't know what that's all about. :?:

Another thing that makes me wince (and kind of amused) is the people who put the treadmill incline so high or the speed so fast that they HAVE to hold on to the handrails. It's like, "come on, do you hold on to something when you're walking around anywhere else?"

:lol3: @ braless lady, every gym must have one... We have an older hippie looking lady who wears no bra to do aerobics :faint: I swear they must slap her in the face :rofl:

Yep, we have one too -- and she wears a sheer white wifebeater to work out in. You have to avert your eyes. :lol:

There is a lady in our running club who wears running tights commando. Not at all unusual, many runners run commando. However I think she must have been much younger and thinner when she bought these tights. They are ok when she is running. Not so ok when she ties her shoes.

I've got your braless lady beat...older gentleman w/no underwear under his short shorts while on the bike. Stuff falling out...and dude is either too overheated to notice, or thinks the underwear in his running shorts are holding him in.

Either way, it wasn't nice! Someone told the staff, but nobody wanted to go up to the old dude and say "excuse me mr., one of your buddies keeps flopping out when your leg goes round and round".

But how do you not notice that??!!

Just like braless ladies...don't you feel that flopping? the rest of us arent just wearing bras for OUR benefit, they are to be kind to others as well :lol:

Ack vonnie! I hope he sanitized the seat well after that!

I got my first view of a man's genitals as a freshman in high school as a fellow drummer sat on the ground, legs spread, in Umbros and no underwear. Dads need to teach their boys young!! :rofl:

And this woman I saw...the word "torpedos" comes to mind. I told my friend to please let me know if I ever care that little!

There are Cardio Waves at my gym and when I was first given my induction my instructor warned me about the amount of people who use it totally incorrectly.
There are only 2 of these machines so time is of the essence when on them, and I often have to wait for one to become free. I use it for 6-10mins max.
There is however one man, he seems to go most mornings, and insists on going on one of the machines for 45mins and uses it totally wrong. His legs hardly move up and down, just going really fast, and he never breaks a sweat! It used to really annoy me because he hogged the machine and didn't even use it properly, but now I just smile to myself and feel sorry for him, he is obviously not getting any benefit from it.
When used correctly that machine is a killer....

This whole thread just makes me happy that I go to a Crossfit gym. How well I remember the days at the "regular" gym, though. :brr:

ACK - this is exactly what the "put your back into it" guy was coaching his posse to do today. ACK ACK ACK.

^ ^ ^

Ennay: He must be stopped.

Who will take on that mission?

Is there any trainer at the gym brave & committed enough to step forward?

I was hoping and praying that the Physical Therapist who was working out would walk in and see it (only trainer there at that hour) but alas they had finished that nonsense before he was done with his cardio.

This thread is both why I am too scared to go to a gym (people gawking at me and critiquing my every move is just not my thing) and why I think it might not be so bad once I finally work up the nerve (I definitely won't be letting any of my lady junk hang out all over the place, I don't grunt like I'm constipated, and if I don't know how to do something I certainly wouldn't just wing it and hope for the best). Luckily -- or unluckily depending on the perspective -- for me, the nearest gym is an hour away so it's not like I'd be able to utilize it often anyway. *sigh*

There is a woman who sings (very badly) at the top of her lungs at my apartment gym while she runs. She is not well supported and is buxom, but after initial "really? You're going to sing that loudly in a full gym?" sort of thought, I turned up my iPod and didn't worry about it anymore. At least she's working out.

But to all the people who are paranoid about going to the gym - don't stress about it. Just go. Your chub or inexperience is no match for the ridiculousness of some humans.

Seriously, if this guy was just hurting himself I would not notice or particularly care. Its the commandeering the gym, training 5 newbies to hurt THEMSELVES and overall bad etiquette that is wince making. 4 of the people he is training are elderly and never lifted before. These are not people who are going to rebound quickly from injuries he creates in them.

I dont mean to scare anyone away from the gym. This guy has just been in my way now for a couple weeks. I keep waiting for him to volunteer to train me. That would be fun.