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 ) Sometimes it's OMG! (crosstrainer with no bra -- boobs flying in opposite directions ) 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!)

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" 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".

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.

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.

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. )

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.

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!