People need training..

One of my huge pet peeves of being a gym rat is the untrained. To be in a gym you should need a license. Yes I have been through training, I understand basic muscle physiology, work out ethics, routines, dieting, and etiquette. No, thats not how its done though. I’ve seen so many favorites over the years.

There are those people that don’t know the first thing about body mechanics, so they either sling, throw, or use their entire body for something that is supposed to be isolation. They could be ripping tissue, misaligning bone, you can really hurt yourself by doing these things. I’ve had words with some of these people, but you’d be amazed at how embarrasment leads to quick anger about telling someone proper technique. Its very sad though to see people who aren’t trainers, and have bad methodologies, passing it along. Bad advice needs to be cinched up with clear instructions.

Ladies and gentlemen both have clothing & accessory issues. Who told men that bannana boats or inversly the giant baggy pastel colored pants were an in thing? Our how about if you’re a woman with dunlap wearing a tight two piece? Makeup and perfume also get on my nerves. Yes that mascara and blush running down your cheeks is pretty, Tammy Faye. Cell-phones while on the treadmill or buzzing in during the middle of a set, a winner every minute. Guys also tend to think they need weight belts, but they don’t. Everyones trying to be a peacock strutting their feathers, those who can sometimes go over the top, and those who shouldn’t…how do they convince themselves that it works?

The final classic I’ll mention in this little tirade is the people who workout and drink anything but water. I’ve seen enough people drink protein shakes while working out to make me cringe. Don’t they know they stomach shuts down and shunts most incoming material to fat? Or that it just passes it? The stomach can’t get the blood supply it needs to think of digesting till the period after we’ve worked out.. Taking a step deep into the black I’ve witnessed a number of people over the years, generally obese, that will drink Cola during a workout (once I saw a two fister). Thats scary! Lets give ourselves something we really need, canned carbo syrup while trying to ride a bike and lose the weight. Good idea / Bad idea? Anyone? Bheuler, Bheuler?

Gyms should be more accountable. Better training equates into longer retention. Well understood results with proper guidance equals a possible lifetime member. Doesn’t it pay to invest? Probably, but that takes work, and we know how much most of us like to work. People chose ‘cheaper’ and ‘faster’ instead of ‘better’ and ‘quality’. A lot of gyms could self improve by just having local volunteers help. I’d be glad to lend a little of my Ace knowledge if I got a free gym shirt that said ‘Volunteer Trainer’. At least then I’d pass peoples embarrasment shields because I’d have some look of semi-authority. Maybe more open methods for housing special interest groups within gyms. The ideas are deffinitly out there.

The Zoo that is Society,
-a