Is my trainer wrong?

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  • nikkohli
    nikkohli Posts: 311 Member
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    Try not to dread tomorrow - go back, give him another chance by clearly explaining (again) your plan and goals and maybe you'll mesh better this time. If not, get your money's worth from your 3 sessions, learn proper form and either try someone else or keep learning on your own. Sometimes people just have a bad day and he may rethink what you originally asked and may be more helpful.

    Thanks for the positivity! He just cancelled our session which made me paranoid he is on here.... :embarassed: But I am still going tomorrow and will do my best by myself! I think your grown-up approach of explaining my concerns and asking more questions is worthwhile. Maybe I am misunderstanding or maybe I am not expressing myself clearly. But now that I know I am not completely off-base, I feel better about speaking up and saying "This doesn't feel right". Yesterday I felt very intimidated because I wasn't sure if what I thought I knew was on point. I know I have a lot to learn but I should trust my gut too!
  • shayjay91
    shayjay91 Posts: 20
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    FORM FORM FORM FORM........there is a guy in the gym when doing curls swings his body. If he had proper gurantee he wuldn't be lifting as much. Thats a reason why he hasn't shown any progress in the last 6 months. FORM IS KEY!!!
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
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    What is your goal? Strength only, or hypertrophy and aesthetics? If it's the former, you are correct. If it's the latter, the trainer is correct and this isn't the most efficient and safe program for you.

    Strength. I mean, I would like to lower my body fat a bit so you can see the muscle I am building but that will be diet-focused, right? But even if you train for size, don't you get stronger?

    there is a matter of maximization. When you train for size you get maximal size, and strength. When you train for strength you get maximal strength and then increased size comes as a product of that.

    SO much to learn :) Thanks for explaining that. I always thought the difference between size (besides how heavy you lift to grow the muscle), was how low you get your body fat. I didn't realize training for strength was a different animal than training for size.

    well, to be honest with you, i think more often then not one will mistake the definition gained by losing fat for an actual increase in muscle size.

    people's preceptions of what kind of muscle mass is naturally attainable is pretty warpped by pro bodybuilding, pro wrestling, and actors who've built careers out of being large muscular men. That kind of physique isn't attainable without drugs (for over 95% of the population at least). I'd take that a step further and say that most men probably aren't very far away from thier full genetic potential muscle mass simply by being active and not being mal-nurished.

    my point being that i think most guys would be very happy with thier muscularity if they could just keep the muslce they already have and drop significant amounts of body fat.

    this is not meant as an excuse not to lift, as you will have a tough time keeping your muscle while losing fat without lifting, nor is it a suggestion that training for size is pointless, as one lbs. of muslce can have a dramtic effect on a body with low BF%... its just a reminder to keep things in perspective.

    this is a chart that was developed by researching natural body builders. Its supposed to give you an idea of what the average person would weight, at a given height and bf% after ten years of training without steroids

    http://www.builtlean.com/2011/03/30/how-much-muscle-can-you-gain-naturally/

    Well that is true. I do want to put on a lot more muscle though. It more of me being a competitor and going after the strongest in my circle of friends group. The champ at the time has some very good genetics but he also has been weight training for 12 years of top of that.
  • No_Finish_Line
    No_Finish_Line Posts: 3,662 Member
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    FORM FORM FORM FORM........there is a guy in the gym when doing curls swings his body. If he had proper gurantee he wuldn't be lifting as much. Thats a reason why he hasn't shown any progress in the last 6 months. FORM IS KEY!!!

    seems rare to see anyone not rocking back and forth doing curls these days, especailly if they are under 30
  • martinel2099
    martinel2099 Posts: 899 Member
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    FORM FORM FORM FORM........there is a guy in the gym when doing curls swings his body. If he had proper gurantee he wuldn't be lifting as much. Thats a reason why he hasn't shown any progress in the last 6 months. FORM IS KEY!!!

    Totally agreed, form is very very important. I'd rather lift less rather than sacrifice form.
  • kessler4130
    kessler4130 Posts: 150 Member
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    Fire your trainer, if anyone should be doing any movements at all, it would be dead lift, squat and bench press, I also say standing overhead press.... but never see anyone but me do it lol. Anyways, visit the following you tube channels, they have a lot of information to offer. Candito Training HQ, Strength Camp, Physiques of Greatness.
  • kessler4130
    kessler4130 Posts: 150 Member
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    FORM FORM FORM FORM........there is a guy in the gym when doing curls swings his body. If he had proper gurantee he wuldn't be lifting as much. Thats a reason why he hasn't shown any progress in the last 6 months. FORM IS KEY!!!

    seems rare to see anyone not rocking back and forth doing curls these days, especailly if they are under 30

    There are a lot of professional body builders and trainers alike who promote cheat curls as a formidable movement, usually superset with seated controlled curls followed by drop sets. You must find a happy medium between load and form, if you sacrifice progressive overload for form and vice versa you are doing it wrong.
  • willrun4bagels
    willrun4bagels Posts: 838 Member
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    Try not to dread tomorrow - go back, give him another chance by clearly explaining (again) your plan and goals and maybe you'll mesh better this time. If not, get your money's worth from your 3 sessions, learn proper form and either try someone else or keep learning on your own. Sometimes people just have a bad day and he may rethink what you originally asked and may be more helpful.

    Thanks for the positivity! He just cancelled our session which made me paranoid he is on here.... :embarassed: But I am still going tomorrow and will do my best by myself! I think your grown-up approach of explaining my concerns and asking more questions is worthwhile. Maybe I am misunderstanding or maybe I am not expressing myself clearly. But now that I know I am not completely off-base, I feel better about speaking up and saying "This doesn't feel right". Yesterday I felt very intimidated because I wasn't sure if what I thought I knew was on point. I know I have a lot to learn but I should trust my gut too!

    You paid for a service, which you weren't happy with (I wouldn't have been either!). I wouldn't even care if he was on here and read this, you've done nothing wrong. If anything, he should be glad you wrote this here and not on a review website about his services, because he gets to remain anonymous on here lol whereas a negative review IRL is a lot more visible to future clients. I get not wanting to fire him right off the bat etc. since this is something you've already paid for, but you deserve a trainer that will help you meet YOUR goals, not whatever he thinks. This noob right here had never even seen an olympic barbell up close, let alone even know what a deadlift was prior to a few months ago. I started SL without a trainer and am fine. It's a perfectly fine program for beginners!
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
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    FORM FORM FORM FORM........there is a guy in the gym when doing curls swings his body. If he had proper gurantee he wuldn't be lifting as much. Thats a reason why he hasn't shown any progress in the last 6 months. FORM IS KEY!!!

    seems rare to see anyone not rocking back and forth doing curls these days, especailly if they are under 30

    There are a lot of professional body builders and trainers alike who promote cheat curls as a formidable movement, usually superset with seated controlled curls followed by drop sets. You must find a happy medium between load and form, if you sacrifice progressive overload for form and vice versa you are doing it wrong.

    There is a time for cheat curls and partial reps. It is all about how much workload you put on your body. Cheat curls and force reps can help you get stronger.
  • xoxmariahxox
    xoxmariahxox Posts: 33
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    Your trainer is absolutely right. You need prior strenght training so that the proper muscles are activating when you're doing strong lifts. For example, I was pretty fit, but when I first started with my personal trainer my upper back was so weak, that my lower back was constantly kicking in when it shouldn't, to compensate for my lack of strength in my upper back. My lower back was super muscular and firm because it had been compensating for other lack areas of my body for so long (also my core). Until we did strength training all over for a few months, and I had a chance to build up my muscles where they were lacking, there was no way I could properly do strong lifts. Be patient... You want to have a good solid foundation before you start heavy lifting. Think of it this way - if you build a nice big house on a cracked foundation, well it's screwed forever. That's what your doing when you start strong lifting without strength training first.
  • No_Finish_Line
    No_Finish_Line Posts: 3,662 Member
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    FORM FORM FORM FORM........there is a guy in the gym when doing curls swings his body. If he had proper gurantee he wuldn't be lifting as much. Thats a reason why he hasn't shown any progress in the last 6 months. FORM IS KEY!!!

    seems rare to see anyone not rocking back and forth doing curls these days, especailly if they are under 30

    There are a lot of professional body builders and trainers alike who promote cheat curls as a formidable movement, usually superset with seated controlled curls followed by drop sets. You must find a happy medium between load and form, if you sacrifice progressive overload for form and vice versa you are doing it wrong.

    theres a big difference between using some over load techniques and constantly using bad form as a matter of course because you think lifting bigger dumbells makes your shlong appear bigger
  • shadowofender
    shadowofender Posts: 786 Member
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    I didn't read through everything so sorry if a repeat:

    I went to a gym to see about a trainer and I told her my goal was to eventually be able to "powerlift" which I know is a range and blah blah but I just said I want to ultimately lift heavy, but I still have 80lbs and 20% body fat to lose and have no idea form. She outlined an entire plan after doing on assessment. Basically, she said I need to start with core and stability work because without that how am I going to pick things up? She also watches form carefully. I felt comfortable with her and with that because it makes sense to me, it pushes me, but it's not pushing me too hard. Basics first, right?

    That's what a trainer *should* do, in my opinion. Figure out where you are compared to where you want to be, not to where he thinks you should go. See if you can switch to a different trainer.
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
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    Regardless of what you are doing, proper form is a must!

    Form, form, form.

    I know--that's why I got the trainer!!! :smile: I am just not sure if he is right and I shouldn't start with SL, or if I am ok doing SL as a beginner as long as I pay attention to form.

    So should my back hurt immediately after a deadlift? Is that a sign of poor form or just weak muscle and I should move my weight down until I build strength? I am not worried about being weak or looking dumb....I just want to do it right and not get hurt!

    Your back should NOT HURT after deadlifts. Could be a form issue, especially if your back was rounding. Could be too heavy for your lower back. The most I've ever felt in my lower back was tightness during the lift from the muscles working to keep my back from rounding. It fades as soon as I let go of the weight.

    I feel deads mostly in my glutes. I feel some stretch in the hamstrings at the bottom of the lift. They are definitely getting worked, though - they're super tired if I run afterwards. I felt it in my hamstrings much more when I was doing deficit stiff-legged deadlifts.
  • Alannamaria30
    Alannamaria30 Posts: 3 Member
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    I just started working with a personal trainer two weeks ago. We did dead lifts in my first session with low weights and in my fourth session we worked on straight leg dead lifts with increased weight.

    It is odd that your trainer is saying you shouldn't be lifting. It seems like he is mostly concerned with form which is, from what can tell from my training, the most crucial aspect of strength training.

    My trainer gradually increases the weights without sacrificing form.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    . Basically, she said I need to start with core and stability work because without that how am I going to pick things up?

    because that's what EVERY trainer says.

    How are you going to pick things up?

    by practicing picking things up.

    You don't get better at picking things up by planking.
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
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    Your trainer is absolutely right. You need prior strenght training so that the proper muscles are activating when you're doing strong lifts. For example, I was pretty fit, but when I first started with my personal trainer my upper back was so weak, that my lower back was constantly kicking in when it shouldn't, to compensate for my lack of strength in my upper back. My lower back was super muscular and firm because it had been compensating for other lack areas of my body for so long (also my core). Until we did strength training all over for a few months, and I had a chance to build up my muscles where they were lacking, there was no way I could properly do strong lifts. Be patient... You want to have a good solid foundation before you start heavy lifting. Think of it this way - if you build a nice big house on a cracked foundation, well it's screwed forever. That's what your doing when you start strong lifting without strength training first.

    I disagree. If you do the lifts with correct form, you're good. Continue steadily increasing weight.

    If your stronger muscles are taking over, then your form cannot be good - maybe you good morning out of a squat, for example, or your bench is lopsided. Then you drop the weight until you can do the lift with good form and work back up from there. Try using dumbbells if you have a weaker side, or can't lift the bar. Your weaker muscles will get stronger, you stall until they do.

    If you have to drop the weights completely and start with bodyweight only, you do that.

    If you can't do them with just bodyweight, then you modify the exercise until it is easy enough you can manage it.

    Until you've done all of that, there's no reason you can't start with Stronglifts.

    There is nothing wrong about (temporarily) adding in accessory work to address an obvious weakness. But there's no point to waiting to do Stronglifts until all of your ducks are in a row, when you could be at least going through the motions and learning form.
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
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    . Basically, she said I need to start with core and stability work because without that how am I going to pick things up?

    because that's what EVERY trainer says.

    How are you going to pick things up?

    by practicing picking things up.

    You don't get better at picking things up by planking.

    17-i-lol.jpg?1318992465
  • zavrrr
    zavrrr Posts: 27 Member
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    so I had a first session with a trainer earlier this week, and while mine was not this negative about SL, I could tell that she definitely would prefer to be tailoring some sort of custom program. this first session was really just a fitness assessment, but we obviously talked about my goals, and I had also been specific when I submitted my paperwork and payment that I wanted to work on lifting.

    we are meeting again next week, so when i emailed her to confirm the time, I put in a link to the SL program and wrote something along the lines of "I've done a lot of research, and feel that this program is a very good match for my personal goals and my lifestyle. I'm happy to have you teach me any other exercises that you think would be beneficial, but I want to be sure that we spend time in this session working on form and starting weights for these five lifts."

    if you can't email the trainer, maybe write something like this out and practice a few times before meeting with him again? i am very bad about standing up for myself in these types of situations, and that always helps me.
  • martinel2099
    martinel2099 Posts: 899 Member
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    so I had a first session with a trainer earlier this week, and while mine was not this negative about SL, I could tell that she definitely would prefer to be tailoring some sort of custom program. this first session was really just a fitness assessment, but we obviously talked about my goals, and I had also been specific when I submitted my paperwork and payment that I wanted to work on lifting.

    we are meeting again next week, so when i emailed her to confirm the time, I put in a link to the SL program and wrote something along the lines of "I've done a lot of research, and feel that this program is a very good match for my personal goals and my lifestyle. I'm happy to have you teach me any other exercises that you think would be beneficial, but I want to be sure that we spend time in this session working on form and starting weights for these five lifts."

    if you can't email the trainer, maybe write something like this out and practice a few times before meeting with him again? i am very bad about standing up for myself in these types of situations, and that always helps me.

    I like your approach, very good way to handle it.
  • shadowofender
    shadowofender Posts: 786 Member
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    . Basically, she said I need to start with core and stability work because without that how am I going to pick things up?

    because that's what EVERY trainer says.

    How are you going to pick things up?

    by practicing picking things up.

    You don't get better at picking things up by planking.


    But I *want* to get better at those things, I should have specified. I'm not comfortable lifting a barbell right now because I can't, and I can't with proper form.

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