other people correcting your technique? your opinion?

BeautyFromPain

I am studying to become a Personal Trainer atm, and I see a lot of people doing things wrong at the gym...
eg people swinging with lat pulldown, swinging with bicep curls, people lifting their back up on the bench press whilst lifting the weight.

It all looks like an injury waiting to happen, but would you find it ignorant if someone came up to you and corrected your technique, cause you're scared they may hurt themselves or they will not be getting the most out of an exercise?

wellbert

Whenever I'm doing power cleans, someone comes up and tries to get me to do regular cleans. I'm always nice about it, even if slightly annoyed.


What do you mean people lifting their back? People arching their back on the bench? This is how powerlifters bench.

HauteP1nk

I hate being critiqued...mainly because I hate when attention is on me. And sometimes feels like I am being criticized... That being said, I'd probably appreciate it in the long run - especially if it benefits me!

umachanxo

If I were at the gym and someone noticed my technique was wrong and it could hurt me I would really like it if someone studying to be a personal trainer or a personal trainer gave me a tip. It's all in the delivery, though. If you were to say, "Hey, great job at *whatever*! I love doing those. I noticed that you're arching your back and I wanted to just tell you to be careful because I had an injury/someone had/you could get."

But if I'm doing something that is no danger to me that just isn't 100% correct, then well, I might just feel like you were trying to show off knowledge or something.

VanessaGS

It all depends how you approach the person. You can always start with...Hey Try This. My boyfriend always tries to tell me to do something differently but sometimes I'm not at the level where I can handle it yet. He's a marine so he thinks he does it better, but at the same time I kick him out of the room cuz then by him talking I get kind of unmotivated. So some people might take it good and some people might take it bad. It really depends on the person.

myfitnessnmhoy

Ignorant? No.

Helpful? Yes.

But I'd probably also (in all blunt honesty) find it annoying, even if they do know what they are trying to teach me and approached me politely and are trying to help.

sashanicole88

If I was doing something really wrong that could potentially injure me, I'd definitely appreciate a head's up!

mtaylor33557

Being that I'm a newbie when it comes to any type of strength training, I would welcome the advice.. I don't want to hurt myself, and I worry about that, so I wouldn't mind.

But, I'm sure there are a lot of people out there that would not take kindly to correction.

applebobbrush

Me personally would more than welcome it. I am newer to lifting and love it, but I am accident prone and don't want to get sidelined with injuries. I think a lot of people would think it's rude though. With the little bit of knowledge that I have, I see people at the gym doing stuff that make even me cringe.

lwoods34

Just my opinion but I wouldn't. As a trainer myself, when I worked for a gym and tried to nicely correct a woman's form while she was doing lunges, she almost ripped me a new one and then went to my manager and complained. All I was trying to do what help her with proper form she wouldn't hurt her knees. After that I stopped trying to help unless I was asked.

Mercenary1914

I am studying to become a Personal Trainer atm, and I see a lot of people doing things wrong at the gym...
eg people swinging with lat pulldown, swinging with bicep curls, people lifting their back up on the bench press whilst lifting the weight.

It all looks like an injury waiting to happen, but would you find it ignorant if someone came up to you and corrected your technique, cause you're scared they may hurt themselves or they will not be getting the most out of an exercise?

I never ever say anything to anyone with bad technique...However, I purposely shake my head at them when we make eye contact...I have been known to bust out laughing too...

Kills me when dudes put way too much weight on their lat pull downs and they are trying to use their whole body to pull it down...

or the habitual curl bar rocker...bwahahahaha

Pebble321

I am studying to become a Personal Trainer atm, and I see a lot of people doing things wrong at the gym...
eg people swinging with lat pulldown, swinging with bicep curls, people lifting their back up on the bench press whilst lifting the weight.

It all looks like an injury waiting to happen, but would you find it ignorant if someone came up to you and corrected your technique, cause you're scared they may hurt themselves or they will not be getting the most out of an exercise?

Honestly- I'd be wary if they weren't gym staff - because I would have no idea about their qualifications or experience. There are lots of self proclaimed "experts" out there so it's hard to tell.who knows their stuff and who's talking through their *kitten*.
If you were doing it in some official capacity I'd be more likely to listen.

futuremalestripper

I don't mind as long as they truly know what they are saying. I've had people come up and try to "correct me" and give me terrible advice. I think if you started conversation and worked in a comment like "I was reading if you position..... more effective..." then they might be receptive to it. However, I can see a lot of people not liking it.

suzikay12

Delivery is everything and even then someone could easily take it wrong or be offended.

Personally, I would appreciate someone giving me a tip or two. I can't afford a personal trainer so everything I've learned has been from reading or videos. If someone walked up to me and said "I'm studying to be a personal trainer, do you mind if I give you a few pointers as practice?" I would be happy for the help.

Lesley2901

I would love someone to do this (especially if I was doing something that could result in an injury) but i can understand why you are worried about doing it - not everyone would take it well!

taunto

Unwanted help is annoying. But if you think some form might possibly cause a SERIOUS injury (which even in bad forms alot of workouts don't) then you should approach and say something like "Hey I'm sorry I didn't wanted to bother you but I this form of yours might cause a serious injury" or something like that.

A lot of people have different ways of doing their own workouts. Unless they ask you to help them fix things, don't get in their way. I know a guy who approached me in the past telling me that the 25 lbs. dumbells are too light for a guy like me and I should be using heavier weights. While this might work for most, I do boxing and boxers don't like to lift heavy and they do light weight lifting. It was just annoying. Now if this was something that could have possibly caused a serious injury then you can approach a stranger and humbly ask them to let you help them

Mollydolly10

Honestly, unless you know them or they have hired you as their trainer.. I wouldn't say anything. I would find it annoying.

StrawberryPip

i'm all for it. for the reasons you said!
but i think it depends on the person; it may make some people feel stupid, which is a shame.

bwmiller1

If i see someone doing an exercise incorrectly and I want to use the equipment next, I show them a "different" way of doing the exercise to "work" a different muscle group. In other words, I show them how to do it correctly without telling them that their way was wrong.

Cyphio

I agree with it being how you approach the person, and really you never know how they are going to react or what they are really thinking behind their fake smile. That being said, introducing yourself and first asking if they would be ok with some tips would be a good opener. I also think that coming from a personal trainer versus average Joe at the gym makes a difference for people.

Qatsi

Some people might be open to constructive criticism from a total stranger; others might not take it so well. Once you become a personal trainer, it might be different then because they'd recognize you as a someone who works there, and a "voice of authority". But even then there's a fine line between that and being the "policeman of the playground".

cpuag01

http://youtu.be/_-91_iXATY8

TripleJ3

I personally would love it if a personal trainer came up to me and said,I am so and so and I am a personal trainer here. I notice when you do this you do this. If you do it this way you will get better results and save yourself an injury.

Maybe its also in the approach. Making it more casual. But yes, there is always going to be someone who can't handle constructive free criticism. I would guess you would have to be prepared that some people might not like it, but if you can learn to read who is a newbie they would probably appreciate a professionals advice

brewface811

I'd love for people to give me tips and show me new stuff. I'm not really comfortable with free weights so I wish someone would teach me, but I'm too afraid to ask. I did have a guy compliment my form when doing squats one day That felt good!

mike_littlerock

Depends on delivery, content, and awareness..
delivery is self explanatory and has been covered already.
what I mean by content and awareness, is that the person recommending would need to know what movement you are doing, where you are on training cycle, objective, etc. might also relate to the depth of the training that the person recommending has. For example, what if you are doing a push press, but if they "think" you are doing a military press in a more traditional bodybuilding fashion, they would say your form was wrong and you were cheating. Same could be said about having an arch in back for bench.. would depend on how much arch and how much weight. If you are going fairly light you probably can be pretty flat, but if going heavy you will have some arch and if trained to power-lift will have more arch.

its all relative. I have had people tell me some CRAZY stuff over the years. I just smile and say thanks most of the time. I do get it more often if I am doing something they are not familiar with.. for example an SLDL

I think that if you are new trainer and continue to learn over the years, the advice you give in year one will be greatly different than in year 20 (possibly even directly contradicting the year one advice)

ashreynolds09

I would love for someone to do that for me! However, the b*itch in me comes out in the gym usually. I have my earbuds in and pretty much clue everyone out - just enough that I still see people so I don't take a machine or weights away, so if someone were to interrupt me, I may not be a very nice person about it.

However, if someone came up with i was changing into my street shoes and suggested a few changes, I would probably be very receptive to it.

taunto

Don't be THAT guy at the gym:

http://youtu.be/_-91_iXATY8

rybo

It's a very fine line depending on your tone & approach & the other person's attitude and acceptance to help/criticism. It could go over very well, or very bad.

warmachinejt

you can use your back a little to cheat on curls and other movements as long as you know how to do it properly without injuring yourself. I see a lot of people doing wrong things but i also see a lot of guys cheating properly for the last few reps. I cheat on lat pull downs too when i can't go on so i swing around 2 reps. It will give the muscles an extra burn than just giving up.

LiddyBit

I want to do this ALL THE TIME when I see people stretching at the gym. So many injuries waiting to happen! (My qualifications are - former dancer and dance teacher. But I keep my mouth shut because I don't want to be That Person.)

I have considered asking my gym (small, non-chain) if they would be interested in doing periodic stretching workshops.

RoboLikes

If I truly am doing something wrong, I would rather have someone stop me and correct me then let me continue on and hurt myself.