Who taught you to lift?

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rybo
rybo Posts: 5,424 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Reading post after post of the lack of knowledge or the flat out misinformation given out by trainers at gyms and the broscience running rampant, it made me extremely thankful to have had really good teachers when I started out lifting.
My college roomate was a technician and information sponge when it came to lifting & body building. The gyms I lifted at over the summers were hole in the wall, old school, and nothing above a cable machine in them. We had guys with tons of knowledge and some amazingly strong power lifters that freely shared their knowledge and experience. It seems like a completely different universe from the gyms I read about here on the boards.
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  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    interesting question...my brother helped me at first. He read and absorbed as much as he could...he was a skinny skinny kid who wanted to bulk..and boy did he bulk...

    He and I used to go to the gym together 15 years ago...and while I was in the military I had a lot of "instruction" from the guys I would workout with...some good some not so good...

    I have learned to take the good with the bad.

    Since I have started lifting again. I have read a lot of material on my specific program Stronglifts 5x5 watched his videos (not a fan of his methods to be honest....he goes really fast and I have always felt that the negative was as important as the positive)...anyway so then I moved onto the "so you think you can____________" youtube series with Dave Tate...and wow just wow I wish I could go there for a month and learn and be taught...that would be awesome.

    I don't go to a gym so I don't get "recommendations" from trainers...which based on my reading here would be pretty much useless anyway.

    The only other thing I do is video my lifts and post on ETP and my SL group to be critiqued...I take what I am told in those groups quite seriously...for example my squat I was not getting quite down far enough per the critque so I have fixed that...mind you in the same critique I was told to narrow my stance up...I didn't do that as I find it more comfortable for me to have a wider stance atm (1st degree pull in my gracilis)
  • randomtai
    randomtai Posts: 9,003 Member
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    Youtube.com
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
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    Most of my knowledge comes from my friend who is an excellent personal trainer and has been in the business for years.

    The rest of it comes from a combination of talking to folks here and in the gym that are in the know (my broscience alarm has developed quite well over the years), doing fitness videos and doing my own research and training. I've still got a lot to learn though and rely a lot on certain people and/or online sources if I'm unsure.
  • 7213Melissa
    7213Melissa Posts: 57 Member
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    If someone doesn't know about lifting, how can they be sure the advice they are getting even from trainers is good advice? I have noticed at my local Y where I lift weights, all the coaches seem to tell people to do things different and when they do their personal workouts they are lifting different from how they told some of us to do it. I do have some guys in the gym some are trainers others aren't that will walk up and give me advice to correct my lift but they give conflicting advice. All the coaches and random people, both men and women who have done this all look great and don't seem injured. Soooo does that mean there is more than one way to do most lifts? Or whomever is doing it wrong simply hasn't gotten hurt yet?
  • SugaryLynx
    SugaryLynx Posts: 2,640 Member
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    Youtube.com

    ^me too!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,871 Member
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    I started out pretty young. My dad got me started with a lot of body weight work when I was 10 or so. I graduated to barbells when I was about 13; my dad was pretty old school in RE to just doing compound lifts while I really wanted to walk around doing arm curls...but I stuck it out with primarily the compounds as was glad I did.

    When I was in highschool I started doing more Oly Lifting as per my track coach. I was a sprinter and jumper so Oly lifting just made a lot more sense than other forms of lifting. I'd pretty much switch back and forth between Oly stuff and more traditional strength/power lifting.

    I pretty much ditched the weight room in the military and opted for body weight stuff and more stamina/endurance type of exercises...stamina and endurance are more important to survival. I tried to get back into lifting when I exited the military and started school, but just did it off and on and pretty much ended dropping it altogether in my late 20s until about 1.5 years ago when I picked it back up.

    Wish I would have been doing this all along.
  • TheArchyBunker
    TheArchyBunker Posts: 1,967 Member
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    A Drill Sergeant helped me understand the fundamentals of lifting.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    Coming from the pre-internet generation I mostly learned from Mr Trial and Mr Error.
    The error part explains why one of my shoulders doesn't work exactly as nature intended.....

    So much easier these days to get good advice and learn proper technique - I've changed bench press technique twice in the last year having done it the same old way for 35+ years and weights have gone up both times and soreness has also gone down.

    I'm constantly shocked how badly people lift, especially in the more "leisure" type gyms.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    I learned in college from the guy who ran the football teams training program. Our soccer coach made them write us a program and then trained us for several weeks/months a year on the off season.

    Best thing I could have taken away from that experience.

    So that's where the fundamentals came- I have been self taught past that.
  • Dalker
    Dalker Posts: 44 Member
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    Just kinda winged it based on what I'd read online and on youtube. I still don't know whether I'm doing anything properly. Usually end up developing minor pain somewhere, then refining my technique. I'm sure this isn't the best way to go about it but it has been my only option until recently. The gym I joined recently runs the occasional lifting fundamentals session but I have missed them so far. I will get to one soon hopefully and that will give me some more peace of mind. They also do an olympic lifting class which I'm desperate to attend but I want to make sure my basics are right first.
  • 12by311
    12by311 Posts: 1,716 Member
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    In high school, I played sports and we lifted in the summer. That was my basis of knowledge.

    Since then, I read and watch videos, and talk with my friend who is the football coach where I work. We are hashing stuff out all the time. I workout in our school's field house. Another of my co-workers just completed his first ironman and has extensive fitness knowledge.

    I would give almost ANYTHING to go back in time to college though. I put on 24+ lbs in college and lost it all and then some before I graduated. I got really into running but didn't lift as routinely. I would LOVE to go back to that time with all that free time and bust my butt. I know I could've made all kinds of gainz.
  • MartialPanda
    MartialPanda Posts: 919 Member
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    My martial arts instructor who practicing martial arts for years and has been a lifting enthusiast for forever. He's the person that really helped me start eating better and lifting harder. He gave me a lot of initial form tips and from then on out it's been a wild ride. I love learning from everyone that really knows what they're doing. I have been that person that walks up to someone that's doing something new and ask them to teach me it. Form is always the most important thing to so i always make sure i perfect that before doing anything else.

    Yeah i like this topic!
  • LoraF83
    LoraF83 Posts: 15,694 Member
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    I mostly taught myself by watching Mark Rippetoe youtube videos and reading Starting Strength. My husband would come into the gym with me very now and then to make sure my form was good. I also videotaped myself so he could look at it for reference.

    When I recently wanted to learn some Oly lifts, I asked a good friend who is a lifting coach to show me. She walked me through the basics, and then another friend checked my form for me a few times.
  • caseythirteen
    caseythirteen Posts: 956 Member
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    No one. I've just read a lot, watched videos and keep learning as I go.
  • WakkoW
    WakkoW Posts: 567 Member
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    I started lifting before YouTube, so it was books in the beginning (Body For Life). Then somehow I found tnation.com and just used those workouts for a while. I had one introductory session at the first gym I joined, and decided it was a waste of money.

    Looking back, I sort of wish I looked for a good trainer.

    For the last couple of years now I have been practicing the olympic lifts and have coaches. Im not all that talented at the olympic lifts, but, I can finally say, my snatch feels pretty good. :happy:
  • BlueBombers
    BlueBombers Posts: 4,065 Member
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    Years ago: Body For Life Book
    Currently: YouTube & Bodybuilding.com
  • madhatter2013
    madhatter2013 Posts: 1,547 Member
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    Just kinda winged it based on what I'd read online and on youtube. I still don't know whether I'm doing anything properly. Usually end up developing minor pain somewhere, then refining my technique. I'm sure this isn't the best way to go about it but it has been my only option until recently. The gym I joined recently runs the occasional lifting fundamentals session but I have missed them so far. I will get to one soon hopefully and that will give me some more peace of mind. They also do an olympic lifting class which I'm desperate to attend but I want to make sure my basics are right first.

    ^^This^^ and SezxyStef
  • Alidecker
    Alidecker Posts: 1,262 Member
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    My personal trainer was very helpful with correct form, we hae spent a lot of time perfecting form, now that he isn't in the same city as me anymore, he writes my workouts and includes Youtube videos for me to watch. If I am doing a workout and still not sure the form is correct, I have a friend from the gym who helps me and watches to make sure my form is right.
  • ItsCasey
    ItsCasey Posts: 4,022 Member
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    A friend of mine introduced me to the concepts of "heavy lifting" and actual training programs, as opposed to just "working out." He was a college athlete and was well-versed in S&C theory.

    I learned kettlebell lifts just from watching tons of videos and reading tons of blogs on the subject. You learn really quickly who knows their stuff and who is full of crap when you start doing actual research and stop asking random people for advice.

    As far as barbell lifting, I started out doing the same thing. The kettlebell community overlaps with the lifting community pretty well. But I felt like I would benefit from more one-on-one instruction and program development, so I hired a lifting coach.
  • bcf7683
    bcf7683 Posts: 1,653 Member
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    Youtube.com

    This^ and Bodybuilding.com. Their exercise guides are invaluable if you're learning on your own.

    And when I started deadlifting, I would pick the most credible looking dude in the weight room (that wasn't super busy) and ask him to watch my first few reps and tell me if I was doing anything wrong. As weird as it sounds, people are usually willing to help.

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