Bad form in gyms

Dumplin

Do you think people should be told if they are using bad form in the gym, there is this guy in particular ,he looks like the sort of guy that thinks he knows what he is doing as he I over hear him talk to the guys he is with about training

basically he comes in and does no warm up and heads straight for the 40kg dumbells and proceeds to dumbell press with 40 in each hand

You can tell the weight is just too heavy for him because he doesnt go through the full range of movement in the exercise and barely comes down halfway

I see other guys as well trying to do alternate dumbell curls with 20kg weights and they are there with there elbows flared out and using the momentum of the weight to help them lift it, they also spend no time on the lower phase of the exercise just letting it drop.It really is ego lifting at hits highest proportions

I get the feeling that most of them would get offended if they were told what they were doing is wrong so I just dont bother but I think it should be the responsibility of the instructors to do it

Size=everything

Dumplin wrote: »

Do you think people should be told if they are using bad form in the gym, there is this guy in particular ,he looks like the sort of guy that thinks he knows what he is doing as he I over hear him talk to the guys he is with about training

basically he comes in and does no warm up and heads straight for the 40kg dumbells and proceeds to dumbell press with 40 in each hand

You can tell the weight is just too heavy for him because he doesnt go through the full range of movement in the exercise and barely comes down halfway

I see other guys as well trying to do alternate dumbell curls with 20kg weights and they are there with there elbows flared out and using the momentum of the weight to help them lift it, they also spend no time on the lower phase of the exercise just letting it drop.It really is ego lifting at hits highest proportions

I get the feeling that most of them would get offended if they were told what they were doing is wrong so I just dont bother but I think it should be the responsibility of the instructors to do it

Well for dumbell curls I regularly sacrifice form to lift heavier because personally I find it still more effective than lifting lighter with uber strict perfect form. If you ever watch a lot of the pros they tend to do this as well. If someone came up to me and said my form wasn't perfect on my dumbell curls I would probably be a little annoyed because I know what works best for me and know what I am doing. It could be the same with this person you are referring to. The question is does he look big and is he a beginner if he isn't big and is a beginner then by all means point it out but I reckon if the guy has the body of someone who knows what they're doing then most likely they do.

EileenG

For him, it's possible that 40kg is a warm-up weight. Or that he could have run or cycled to the gym and be already warm.

If he seems happy with what he's doing, and seems to be getting results, I'd keep my mouth shut, even if you have to grit your teeth to do it. If he's doing something that looks dangerous, then MAYBE it would be worth saying something.

There have been times I was doing an unusual exercise for a specific reason and I did get very pissed when an instructor tried to tell me off.

mack1

This gets asked every couple of months or so - I would tend not to say anything unless asked as people get very touchy about stuff like this. You are under no obligation to the guy, if he's doing something wrong then he'll learn the hard way - if you see somebody doing something that could be dangerous then perhaps mention it to an instructor at the gym, you've done your bit and people tend to take advice better from the gym employees or at least won't throw a hissy!

Dumplin

it's possible that 40kg is a warm-up weight

well I did mention the bad form

Brian?

I've had people point out my bad form in the gym a few times and I really appreciate it. That could be because I'm a beginner though

Patto

I don't think unsolisited feedback is appropriate. If you see someone doing something very dangerous, I'd report it to one of the gym staff and let them deal with it.

On the other hand I think people should look for feedback on their form more often. Even bringing a camera with you to the gym and recording your own form gives fantastic feedback. I did this for the first time last week and I was shocked by some of what I saw on my deadlifts. So, I'm glad I never corrected anyone for flaring their elbows on bicep curls. Ask feedback from people who you know know what they are talking about, I wouldn't pay too much attention to a random Joe in the gym.

the drifter

ive trained in UL for nearly 5 years now 2 of them powerlifting...the first 3 as a complete ham who knew nothing...since ive started training ive noticed people who do but the time and effort into training appreciate tips and advice as i appreciate recieving them from other serious people who train...but some people are just past helping and dont want to be helped...

Hanley

^^I agree^^

You just need to be VERY careful about picking your battle cos there's an awful lot of d!ckheads out there who think they're the cheese!

PeadarofAodh

As a rower, about 95% of the people I see on the ergometer make me wince...seriously! The amount of effort it takes to hold back from saying anything is pretty immense, especially when I see so many instructors with horrible technique teaching others to do the same.

I started back onto power weights the other week and was corrected on my squatting technique. Far from being pissed off I was actually very grateful and would be more than happy to accept criticism in the future.

Wood

Couldn't agree more man, my legs are very strong but I could barely squat 100kg for 8-10 last sept/oct, i was shown what my form was like and corrected it, and now i'm up to 180kg. The strength was always there, but my other lifts really overtook my squat because my form was horrible.

Now I'm beginning to catch up and i can't emphasise the importance of form on compound lifts. Isolation movements can be given a little sacrifice when it really comes down to it. But definitely not on the big 3.

the drifter

i always keep an open mind when training and will work anything into a 3 week cycle....hell its the only way your going to see if it will benifit you...ive had people spot little things in my form that have made huge differences...for example my left arm used to be bent when starting the pull while my right was locked when im deadlifting...once corrected huge differnces...training in a gym the size and as busy as UL or im sure some of the big gyms the likes of hanley and malt train in...there is the world of different athletes training in them from powerlifters to triathlets to rowers to people who just like doing 54 inch box jumps...and im sure hanley will back me up here once you get talking you will always find something new to try..

Dragan

Westwood in Sandyford has recently become home to an influx of assholes, moron's and dickheads....the one thing they all have in common is poor form and a worse attitude.

They also don't like it when you tell them to clean up after themselves.

Angelica Rocks!

seeing as you're all such experts can anyone tell me the proper way to use the rowing machine???

the instructor told me to sit really straight and just go back and forwards, pulling the handlebar things right into my chest. Is this right?? My neck is always in bits after it, but it could be just because I'm unfit! Instructors in my gym are not helpful at all!!

aye

you see it in tf in sandyford all the time.

guys load up the squat rack, then place the bar across their back, stick their arse out and stand back up.
good squat mate!

then there is a group of lads who spend their days on the bench, bouncing the bar of their chest and kicking out when they lift.
An instructor did correct them on it, but they didnt listen and just sniggered when he walked away.

PeadarofAodh

Bit tricky to explain over the web but this video is quite good: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOFxJUG4VUU

None of them have perfect technique but the criticisms given are very constructive (Given that they're being coached by an olympic champion!) and you'll probably find your own faults are brought up.

Your neck's probably hurting because you're wrenching with your back, a very common mistake with people who haven't been properly taught. This whole 'sit up as straight as you can' idea is also very common as well as uncomfortable looking. Allow yourself a bit of a stretch forward at the catch (Start of the pull), swivelling from the hips, but make sure you hold this position until your legs have nearly completelly compressed. I'll leave the rest up to the video!

t-ha

Rowing - main mistakes people make are pulling with the arms too early, the initial power-off is with the legs & keep the arms straight - like a deadlift. Pull your hands in at the end of the movement. Also, the aim is not to get your stroke-rate as high as possible. Pick a stroke rate and stick with it (18 - 24 is fairly normal for regular rowing), the effort comes in trying to get your power output as high as you can (peronally I use the time/500m display - the faster you're going the lower that time/500m should be. Anything lower than 2:00/500m is passable, 1:30/500m is very good and lower would be a sprint for myself anyways).

Roper

^^^ Just to quickly agree with t-ha.... wait, did I just type that?... oh well, never mind, even a stopped clock and all that.

The great thing about the rower is it doesn't lie. It is very, very hard to put up a good score on it without good form. With a treadmill you can have a dreadful gait but still pound your way to a decent time by sheer effort.

Degsy

Timetogetfit returneth!

Dragan

Degsy wrote: »

Timetogetfit returneth!

Stay on topic or i'll ban you.

Your private war is starting to bore the **** out of me.

Dragan

At top speed on the rower i was able to churn out 500m in about 1:32. When i did my PT course one of the guys was a former World Champ Rower for Romania, two sessions with him and my time was down to 1:27.

Form on the rower is everything, it's a cruel beast.

Roper

Just on squat form etc. I'm always happy to accept criticism from people when I'm lifting and I've picked up some great tips from people I was just working beside. But then again, I went back to my old gym a few months ago and was lifting with a mate, and this guy came over and warned me about going below parallel on my squat (which was weak anyway).
He said "hey guys, you might want to watch out, you're going too low on your squats. You'll hurt your knees" I smiled and just said politely that we meant to do that. He scoffed (an actual scoff like a 19th Century Lord) and said "Well good luck with it, if you went above parallel you'd probably be able to add 40kgs on to that squat right now"
I mean, what do you say to that? So yeah, it's great to receive advice and all, but you have to know how to sort out the wheat from the chaf.

WHIP IT!

Roper wrote: »

Just on squat form etc. I'm always happy to accept criticism from people when I'm lifting and I've picked up some great tips from people I was just working beside. But then again, I went back to my old gym a few months ago and was lifting with a mate, and this guy came over and warned me about going below parallel on my squat (which was weak anyway).
He said "hey guys, you might want to watch out, you're going too low on your squats. You'll hurt your knees" I smiled and just said politely that we meant to do that. He scoffed (an actual scoff like a 19th Century Lord) and said "Well good luck with it, if you went above parallel you'd probably be able to add 40kgs on to that squat right now"
I mean, what do you say to that? So yeah, it's great to receive advice and all, but you have to know how to sort out the wheat from the chaf.

That's bullsh*t right? I always go as low/deep as I can on my squats - pretty much all the way down?

jon1981

i wish someone had of pointed out my bad form in the gym...my rotator cuff is f**ked and 4 months on and im still in phsyio...its a mare!

Angelica Rocks!

Thanks for the rowing advice - and to make ye feel good and fit - my rate is about 3:25/p 500m!!!!!

Roper

WHIP IT! wrote: »

That's bullsh*t right? I always go as low/deep as I can on my squats - pretty much all the way down?

Any motion with bad form is going to hurt you. But a deep squat with proper form is safe, otherwise every athlete would be having knee surgery right now.

Anyway, that lad was an idiot.

WHIP IT!

Roper wrote: »

Any motion with bad form is going to hurt you. But a deep squat with proper form is safe, otherwise every athlete would be having knee surgery right now.

Anyway, that lad was an idiot.

Great - thanks... I do notice that alot of the big large fellas (mostly Easter European) who squat massive weights don't go down as far as parallel. I prefer to go deep as I can and drive it up.

Hanley

WHIP IT! wrote: »

Great - thanks... I do notice that alot of the big large fellas (mostly Easter European) who squat massive weights don't go down as far as parallel. I prefer to go deep as I can and drive it up.

In some cases their legs might be too big to get down... (I'm serious)

Squatting high will provide a great overload to your quads, but at the expense of potentially wrecking your knees and not doing much at all for your glutes, hams or true leg strength!

Dragan

Exactly, there are much better ways to overload the quads than a sudden reversal of force. I never understood how going deep on a squat could be bad for you knee, but jamming all that force through the knees to get a direction change is a good think?

arybvtcw0eolkf

Bad form in gyms...

I seldom if ever give advice to people in the gym unless their doing something down right dangerous.

Why - because people are idiots. People 'tend to ignore free advice and listen to paid advice only.

I was going to record an idiot in TF (Malahide) the other day - he was hilarious. He was unracking 100kgs and using a range of motion no more than 2 inches (I kid you not). A rough guess I'd say he was about 60kgs himself (soaking wet).

Now, I can start my warm up at 100kgs no problem, but if I'd pointed out this guys failure I'd have been totally ignored - but I bet any money had one of the 18 yr old 'personal trainers' pointed this out to him he'd have done exactly what he was being told.

There ya go, people are just idiots mostly.

cowzerp

Mairt wrote: »

I was going to record an idiot in TF (Malahide) the other day - he was hilarious. He was unracking 100kgs and using a range of motion no more than 2 inches (I kid you not). A rough guess I'd say he was about 60kgs himself (soaking wet).

The worst sight in any gym! i've seen the same with a lad with the smith bar totally full doing 1 inch squats, would of got a better workout doing body weight full squats!

Mikel

I saw a young guy in Belfield squatting 170kg around six inches or so.
I thought it was funny until he lost control of it fell back and dropped it, could have killed someone

Hanley

Mikel wrote: »

I saw a young guy in Belfield squatting 170kg around six inches or so.
I thought it was funny until he lost control of it fell back and dropped it, could have killed someone

Never mind damaging a perfectly good bar....

NotMe

Reminds me of this vid:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m6vcyQqx_Q

WHIP IT!

NotMe wrote: »

Reminds me of this vid:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m6vcyQqx_Q

Jesus F*ckin Christ!! How badly wrong did that guy get that?!?! :eek: :eek: :eek:

celestial

WHIP IT! wrote: »

Jesus F*ckin Christ!! How badly wrong did that guy get that?!?! :eek: :eek: :eek:

He must have broken his neck??? 200kg? How the...he's a toothpick!!!

When you think about it, when you go onto a building site you have to wear hard hats, steel toe-cap boots, when you go go-karting you need to stick on a helmet, paintballing requires protective head and body gear, ice skating is the same, in fact any activity with a distinct element of risk requires taking some sort of enforced protection - but in your average gym any Joe Punch-clock can walk in and lift steel bars and plates, hoisting them above their head, more often than not within feet of other people lying prone on benches and nobody says a word or states that any precautions be taken!!!

Patto

Who was doing the video? His spotter? :eek:

Sleepy

I'm not qualified to give advice to anyone but I'm always happy to receive it. If it conflicts with something I've heard from someone I rate more (i.e. g'em, Dragan etc) I'll thank the person for their advice and either ignore it or ask on here or TeamTest about it. If it's something I've not heard before and it makes logical sense to me, I'll take it on board. And if it's something I have heard before and know I should be doing, I'll flush bright red and feel like a gob****e while thanking them for the warning.

Isn't that just manners?

Size=everything

Patto wrote: »

Who was doing the video? His spotter? :eek:

in fairness what could his spotter do if he was there he was ****ED beyond help

celestial

Size=everything wrote: »

in fairness what could his spotter do if he was there he was ****ED beyond help

The way the person holding the camera and the people standing behind him actually LET him try to lift that weight is what the real problem is..

Hanley

He did have a spotter guys... Mr. Smith!!

One of the other disadvantages of thems there machines is that it gives people a completely over the top inflated sense of what they can actually lift. If he had tried to walk that out before squatting it that never would have happened.

arybvtcw0eolkf

NotMe wrote: »

Reminds me of this vid:[/QOUTE]



FACE PLANT





But we don't say "ouch" in Judo

Hanley

I dunno if anyone has seen this vid... but there's a god awful one of some guy in the NFL getting hit in the air. Pretty much turns him completley upside down and he goes head first towards the ground like a missile, and BOUNCES clear off the ground (ie head first into the ground, impact, rebound a good half foot and THEN full body to the floor).

TerrorFirmer

I often sacrifice form to lift heavier weights. So I wouldn't really correct someone unless it was glaringly incorrect in so far as to be dangerous (The 1 inch descent is funny; but not necessarily anything else; the swinging curl actually does my nut in, but I would not correct either. If people want to fool themselves they can go right ahead as far as I'm concerned.) The real one that should always warrant a quick word however would be incorrect form that puts huge strain on your back...so easy to **** yourself up that way. I got too ambitious with a shrug today and my back still aches in an entirely bad way. Not that I would criticize someones back routine, not doing much back work myself, but I would be very grateful to anyone helping me out in that regard on the rare times I do because again, it's just so vulnerable. Whereas the guy swinging the bar isn't generally hurting anything other then his image.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Hanley wrote: »

I dunno if anyone has seen this vid... but there's a god awful one of some guy in the NFL getting hit in the air. Pretty much turns him completley upside down and he goes head first towards the ground like a missile, and BOUNCES clear off the ground (ie head first into the ground, impact, rebound a good half foot and THEN full body to the floor).

Another face plant.

(no dolphins were killed or injured in the making of these face plants)

Smellyirishman

55secs in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYz7Wqssvs8

Plenty of reasons in there why face guarding is such a serious offence now too.

Greatest face-plant ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqgJiC9UbX0

BossArky

Greatest face-plant ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqgJiC9UbX0

[/QUOTE]


!!!!!!!!

Ouch.

Hanley

ODC.... defiantely not suitable peri-breakfast viewing.

arybvtcw0eolkf

At 35sec's...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmi9KmlKkMw

Roper

Clive who posts on here did an animal face plant at a tournament a few months back while he was going for a fancy pants knee bar. That was among the funniest things I've ever seen live. I really hope video exists, but I doubt it.

How did this descend into a face plant technique discussion!

g'em

The OP is a (now banned) re-reg of a banned a/c rendering the thread a little on the null-and-void side. Besides it's a topic that has been discussed, at length, gazillions times before and a quick search could have brought up any of those discussions.

Face-plant to your 's content afaic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLlldMg0cF4