I am a member of an all ladies gym. I have been going now for a month. My intentions were to focus on just a weight's program. I have the Body For Life book, and i am very keen on either following that program, or something similar, so i can grow muscles and lose fat.

I am allowed 1 personal training session a week in my package. On my first session we talked about what i wanted. I made it very clear i was there to learn how to use the free weights, and learn all the different exercises, and to use some weight machines. I dont know all the names of the machines im using but im going to make a note of it and reply again later with what i am using.

The first few sessions, we were using mainly free weights and the bar with weights, i dont know what the exercises were called, but there are about 4 which we continuelly kept doin. Then after a few sessions, she got me doing alot of Lunges, sometimes with weights, usually without, we have done skipping, and boxing with the pads on her hands and i punch her hands for 5 minutes then run up the room and run back. The last few sessions we have used no weights are doing about 1 minute of crunches and attemping push ups, but i have so far not learnt many free weight exercises. Each session i attend i ask, are we doing weights today, and she says, no we are skipping, and im say, hmm ok....

I saw that she has a list and the list says things like...legs,chest arms, back.
So she is really only following whatever plan the gym tells her to do with her clients. She is really nice, but i think she is inexperianced, she is 18 and she talks constantly about getting drunk and clubbing. She says she goes clubbing every wed,thurs,fri,sat night. Thats all well and good, i go clubbing too and i am 20 but i dont go 4 times a week. Im not very interested in hearing about her drunken stories when i am trying to do my training or lack of it. I have spoken to her, and said id like to incorperate more weights into our sessions, and she says, oh yea ok, but then it doesn't happen. I am stuck as to what to do? I have noticesd area's in my sholders and upper arms that feel a little harder, but i dont feel much underneath my arms. I was talkign to my b/f and i was asking him what i should do for that area. He said i need to do tricep exercises and he was asking me if i had been doing this or that and im like no, and he said, well thats why your not seeing a difference in that area because your not working it.

So not only am i not doing weights for all these different area's, but the gym chucked me on a weight loss program. They kept pushing me to buy their slim shakes (meal replacements). I told them i do not believe in meal replacements and they said, oh they are meal suppliments and you will lose weight heaps fast. I then told them i wasn't interested in fast weight loss, i was interested in slow and steady weight loss, so i will keep it off for longer, and i was more interested in building muscle. I got some baffled looks from thatt. I am ment to see this "nutritionist" once a week, and each week she asks me the exact same question..."why will i not try the shakes, would i like a sample etc". And of course i keep saying, no thanx im not interested.
The meal plan they are sticking me on which im not following anyway, is 1200calories, its Very high carbs, moderate Protein, Very High Fibre, and extremlety low in fat. When i lost weight in the past, i was having 1600cals a day, and i was having, sort of highish protein, moderate carbs, high bibre and moderate mono-unsaturated and omega3fats. The lady isn't happy im not following their program, i didnt even know i had to go to this program thing when i joined, all they said was this package was suited to those who want to lose weight, i assumed it was through traning, not a stupid diet they never told me that.

I cant cancel, costs too much, i want to transfer, i have advertised it in the classifieds, but i doubt ill get any takers. I would love to join another gym, which is mixed, i know some of the trainers there, the reaosn i didnt join there in the first place is because it's much further out.

Basicaly, i want to be doing weights at the gym. I do a 10minute cardio warm up and cool down, i know about my stretching so im fine with that. I have 2 tredmils and 2 bikes at home, so i do my cardio at home on the days im not at the gym. I need some idea's on how i can approach my trainer and bring this matter to light again.

Btw my gym only has 1 weight bench, it doesnt have the thingy for the bar to rest on, i cant ask someone to spot me coz i have asked a few of the workers if they could come and help me on a few machines before and they say they will be over shortly and they never come. I have asked for help a few times now and they just dont come. They dont even walk around the gym, they are just stuck behind the reception desk or are cleaning the bathrooms.

I dont know what to do, i feel stuck.

Dear Flutter,

First off, congrats on sticking to your guns and sticking to your plans and sticking to what you know works for you. Others might have caved in; you're doing great!

Now, about this gym. Sounds to me like you're going to have to stick with it as well if you can't sell the membership. What to do?

What are your options? Are there other personal trainers on the staff? If so, can you request one of them? Is there a supervisor you could approach? I'd try, first, for another trainer is that's possible. And I'd tell the manager/supervisor why you want to make the switch.

If she's the only one there, then she needs to hear you. One possibility is to not do the program that she's outlined and insist she show you some exercises with free weights. Some of what she has you doing sounds fine, but you should be able to learn what you want to learn.

I'd just skip the session "nutritionist" if I were you. It sounds to me like the "nutritionist" is really just a saleswoman. It also sounds to me as if you know how you should be eating. Nuff said.

As to the spotting you ... you just may have to make a pest of yourself. A polite pest, but a pest. Stand and wait until someone comes to help. And again, is there a manager to talk to?

Finally, there are lots of learning options on the web. I can't find the links right now, but I'll bet someone will come along after me and give you several sites at which you can see exercises demonstrated; learn the names; and get some great tips. Never was it truer that knowledge is power.

I hope Mel will drop by as well. She works in a gym and may have some other insights.

Hang in there!

Hi Airegrrl,

There are more personal trainers, my trainer is also one of the receptionists, so she doesnt take alot of PT sessions, so if i were to ask for a new trainer, she would find out. Also, the manager is not a very friendly lady, iv had no run ins with her, but she has been very rude to some people who go there. I am going to see what my trainer does with me tomorrow, and im going to bring up the body for life thing and see what she has to say about that.
My mum wants me to scrap the nutritionist appointments as well. This lady has told me some ridiculas things, like, she said if i drink more water, my bladder will permanently expand and then afetr i while i wont need to go to the toilet as much from drinking lots of water. LoL. She has also told me all fat is bad, whether its mono unsaturatyed, omega3 or whatever. Of course i know mono unsaturated and omega3's are the good ones, and its just saturated which is bad if we have alot of it, but this lady is really anti fat. Mum told me to just explain that i am doing my own program and dont need these nutritionist sessions.

Flutter -- As airgrrl has said, congratulations on sticking to your guns!

Here are some web resources for you to check out:

A superb site for women's weight lifting -- programs, form and more: http://www.stumptuous.com/weights.html

A great site for demos of the various exercises, and lots of useful info on training with weights: http://www.exrx.net/

If you don't have a rack for the barbell when doing bench, one thing you could do is dumbell bench press. It's not so necessary to have a spotter for that; if the weight gets to be too much, open your hands and drop the dumbells. When I started doing dumbell bench I practiced that a couple of times to get used to it. The weights don't roll too far, it doesn't make too much noise, and unless someone is standing real close you're not going to hurt anyone doing it.

I agree with Airgrrrl about talking to a manager. Bring the BFL book in and show him or her what you want. If they won't come up to snuff on the training, you might be able to make enough fuss for them to let you out of your contract without paying the penalty. I've been able to do that on a couple of things, when what I was told I was buying was not what it turned out to be.

Good luck!
Linda C.

EDIT - P.S. Posts crossing in the aether. If your trainer is refusing to do what you want, I'm not sure I would care if she found out you requested another trainer. You've asked her repeatedly to show you what you want to learn and she's just not working out for you (uggh, bad pun. ) If she confronts you, just tell her you wanted to try a different style.

I have a question - if you're paying your membership dues, WHY should they care about what plan you're doing or if you're using their menus or whatever? Of course to lose fat, you DO need to count the calories and watch the nutrition, but why should you have to use THEIR plan? Are they trying to sell you supplements or nutrition sessions?

The "trainer" sounds like a real winner - NOT! I bet she took an 8 hour training session through the gym and rec'd a 'certification' from them - not the same thing as, say, an ACE or ISSA certification, not at ALL. We have some of those trainers at my gym as well as 24 Hour Fitness, I believe, requires their trainers to take their certification course, but quite a few of them also have 'real' certifications (at least that's what I'm told - not having used the PTs at my gym in YEARS).

Your post actually just kind of emphasizes IMO what's wrong with many "women-only gyms". The lack of free weights, benches, and other equipment that you would find in a co-ed gym is pretty standard in 'women-only' gyms, based on my own personal experience. Last time I belonged to a women's gym, it was all weight machines except for their very small collection of free weights that (as I recall) went all the way up to 15 lbs...hoo boy...this was back in the late 80's/early 90's though.

Don't be surprised if, when you bring up BFL, the trainer either disses it or has no idea what on earth you're talking about!

Wow, i wish i could bring you all to my gym and you girls can tell em where to go LoL

It's a very very very expensive gym so i should be getting what im paying for. Thats a great idea, ill bring in the book with me. I know my trainer doesn't work thursday afternoons, so i could say im not available any other afternoons anymore and see if i can get a new trainer that way without it pissing her off, then i could approach the body for life subject with my new trainer.

Thankyou for those links, i have been to the first link before, that site is really great. I am checking out both of them now, thankyou.

Mrs Jim, in Australia, a personal trainer needs a Certificate 4. I asked the manager before i joined if they had certificate 4 and she said all their trainers are either 3 or 4's. Strange thing is, on my first ever session with my trainer, she had been handed a personal training test to do and she was telling me how shes got this pt test to do, and i was thinking, ok thats strange, so i think she would have to be a level 3.

Iv been counting calories like last time when iv lost weight before, this time im aiming at around 1400, last time i was doing 1600 and i still weighed the same, im not fussed really, betwen 1400-1600 is ok with me right now.

Yea im a bit worried what shes going to say about BFL but iv got 3 1/2 months till my 21st and iv gotta look great and i believe doing bfl will do this for me.

I think im just going to head down to Rebal Sport and buy myself a weight bench and buy some free weights, get a bar thing, and ill just use the gym for the classes, like swiss ball and pilates and then use my pt sessions for skipping and lunges and crunches, haha thats mainly what we do, and then do my weights at home. Arrrrrhhhhh....

I used to belong to a woman's only gym and it was great. They had tons of weight machines as well as free weights and benches and smith machine, etc. That was when I lived in California but when I checked out the women's only gyms here, they were subpar.

Flutter here are some websites that can help you doing your own thing..
http://www.stumptuous.com/weights.html
http://www.exrx.net/exercise.html
http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/

I do something like this - I go to Curves (an women's-only fitness center that has a single circuit of resistance machines) for a little cardio, and I lift weights at home. I have a weight bench (50 cents at a garage sale!), a curl bar, dumbbell handles, and some weight plates. I don't have a rack, which makes some things difficult and I don't lift to failure on very many exercises (I'm on the second floor of an apartment building, so I can't just drop the weights), but I have made some good strength gains with just a small amount of equipment. I will eventually join a real gym, I think, but for now am constrained by finances as well.

Anyway, good luck, and I'm sure you can make it work!

Don't forget dumbells -- they are an acceptable sub for barbells and weight benches, and they don't cost as much or take up as much space!

I don't know if these are available in Australia, but Kathy Smith's Lift Weights to Lose Weight video series is great. She also has an older set of tapes called Secrets of a Great Body. Even if you don't do the routines at home all the time, you can learn them and do them at the gym. I started out with these at home, and worked out for several months before I joined a fitness center. The trainer I worked with when I started was impressed at my abilities and my form based on using those videos.

If the trainer is not concentrating on the areas you need get another trainer. If the trainer says these exercises will help then that is something else but I know my trainer and i have very specific goals. it is to the point that the first set of execises is something I asked her to incorporate.
Also if you think your trainer is inexpereinced asked them about their education. I like trainers that actually have a degree in sports fitness as well as certifications. There are way too many certifications that are crap.

good luck

The gym she's attending is an Australian chain of gyms called Fernwood. I used to go there many moons ago during one of my failed attempts. The Fernwood chain really pushes their members to lose weight QUICKLY and if you don't, they start getting real *****y and mean! They wouldn't let me do the rower fer goodness sakes! They are of the "ladies shouldn't lift" brigade and are quite ridiculous! In the three months I was there, I barely made any progress with weights. In the three months I have been at my current gym, I've been kickin' ***!

I'm glad you posted your problem here, Sweetie, they are very very helpful in here and I like that suggestion about contractual agreements. If they can't meet 'em, go to the ACCC and say "blah de blah they can't commit to these agreements" and they might be able to let you out of it. If not, stumptous.com is great (that's the site I was thinking of but couldn't spell LOL) ... head on over, and if you get stuck ask someone here for help

Good luck!!!

Oh and PS ... do the Body Pump class they let you lift in that class!

Ok, i had my personal training yesterday, i spoke to her and said i would like to be doing weights today for our session because i am interested in doing the bfl program. She then said that we are only doing cardio today but she promises that next week we can do weights. I didnt want to argue with her so i said ok. I did have a good cardio workout even though thats not what i wanted to be doing. So next week i will be doing weights, and i will be able to talk to her more about what my needs and wants are.

Today i had my slimplicity appointment, very strange, the lady who does slimplicity had gone home, even though she had an appointment with me at 12:30, and that was also the only time she could fit me in this week. The week before she cancelled so this was the rescheduled time. I didnt mind, someone else weighed me and they were really nice. They did talk a bit about the food program and how it was going, and i just said i am sorta doing my own thing, some of the foods they want me to eat i am eating anyway so yuo could kind of say i am "doing it" even though im not lol.

Weird ... a chick at work joined Fernwood about a month ago, and EACH PT session she's been to she's done both cardio and weights. Real weights too - 45 degree leg press, barbell work, dumbell work ... I spose it varies from gym to gym but your PT really needs to listen to you. I get the impression that she doesn't know jack sh** about weights and doesn't wanna look dumb :P

Prehaps she doesn't, i hope she does though.
Im looking foward to her teaching me some new stuff.