Frustrated with my gym... errr!

PinkMartiniPls

I'm so frustrated with my gym!! I have had memberships to a few different gyms and even a couple of YMCA clubs and have never experienced anything like what I've been through with my latest club (which I've been at for about four months).

I am actually starting to feel like I don't have the right to be there. These 'trainers' (I use the term loosely) that they have hired not only lack class but are really uneducated for the most part. I'm tired of being pulled aside after my workout to talk about my technique, when all I want to do is go home! Do the trainers really think that they need to save the fat women of the club, or what??!

I have reasons for being so upset...

1. I have been pulled aside after working out and told that after I had been WATCHED, I was doing it wrong.
2. After being told that I was doing it wrong, I was then told that if I did not exercise in the manner that the 'trainer' suggested, that I was better off not exercising at all, as I was not receiving any benefit.
3. I even had one 'trainer' try to sell me supplements that he manufactured and suggested that if all I was doing was 'walking' that I might as well take up smoking.

I have been exercising on and off for several years (depending on my motivation), I know what I like and I KNOW what I'm doing. If I want help, I'll ask - I'm an adult. I resent any 'trainer' who feels that bullying someone into their philosophy is a valid form of motivation. A true trainer wants a person to come to the gym and participate at any level, because they know the more one works out, the more likely it will become a habit. Discouraging someone from exercise is a disgrace and furthermore, it's NOT what we are PAYING you for.

I am determined to get to my goal and quite honestly, I have no intentions of letting this derail me. Thanks for letting me rant, I am not burying my feelings in cake anymore.

ChrisLindsay9

Maybe you can talk with gym management and explain that you would like the trainers/staff to not provide any unasked for advice or critiques on your workouts? You consider it unprofessional. If it's happening at this one gym, and hasn't happened at other gyms/YMCAs that you've been to, then it sounds a bit like pseudo-harassment.

However, I do think that there is one example in which, I think they are in their right to do this - and that's if they rightfully feel like you may injure yourself because of poor technique. There's some degree of subjective criteria about this, and some trainers might use that as an excuse to approach you. But you can make that call since you've been working out at various other gyms and whatnot.

One other point is more to do with fellow gym members' and what to do about it if they intervene. There seems to be a debate amongst gym-goers about when to intervene when they see someone doing an exercise with what they consider poor technique. There is a page on Facebook called "Awkward Gym Moments" that show videos of people at the gym performing exercises incorrectly. And there always seem to be comments that urge the person who's taking the video to go show him/her how to do it correctly. While others' say that it's not that person's place to do this. So you may encounter these "Good Samaritans" from time to time at the gym and there's not much you can do about them. But you should be able to put the kibosh on the gym's staff/trainers from doing it.

JustJennie1

It doesn't matter that you've been working out forever you can still have bad form on some of your exercises. There have been plenty of times where I'm doing an exercise and I think I am doing it correctly and my husband points out my bad form. For example when I'm doing lat pull downs I don't realize I am leaning back and my husband will say "Don't lean back so far." So in the trainer's defense they probably DO see some error in your form and I would prefer someone to point it out to me so I don't hurt myself. And in a way the trainer IS right. If you are doing an exercise incorrectly there is no point in doing it because you won't get the benefits that you would get if you are doing it right.

I would talk to management about some of the comments that were made to you however -- and don't take this the wrong way -- but perhaps you misconstrued some of the comments that were made? Perhaps there was some joking involved that you missed?

lilpoindexter

They are just trying to sell you stuff. Don't stop for them when they try to stop you...wear headphones, even if they aren't plugged into anything. I go to 24 hr fitness...of course they tried to sell me training when I started, but after that, it's been good. By the way...I watch 100s of fitness videos on youtube...I think I have picked up techniques and form that ( at least ) have prevented me from killing myself. Some of my joints hurt sometimes...maybe it's bad form, maybe the onset of old age, maybe bad genetics, maybe previous injuries...I just try to take it easy on that joint till it feels better.