At this moment in time I have no other choice but to work out at a mainstream fitness facility, which is fine because I stay focused and get my training done the way it needs to.
I am actually not going to rant about the mainstream fitness facilities because I think enough people have done that already (I might in the future when there is nothing to post about).
The thing I want to bring up is watching some people in mainstream gyms working out and I can't help but notice that their form is just awful. Because my life revolves around basketball and performance/strength training, I know I look for any minor thing but this is far from it since people are on the verge of injuring themselves every time they pick up a weight.
Today while I was training I saw a lady doing back extensions with some weight and hyper-extending her back to an extreme. After she was done with the set she looked like she was tight in her lower back (I wonder why?) and thought that stretching her lumbar spine and putting it in extreme flexion would do her some good. The worst thing was that there was a personal trainer right next to her that did not say anything! But that it is a story for next time....
Another example:
The other day I saw somebody deadlifting and their lumbar spine was in so much flexion I though they were doing the cat/camel stretch. And the weight they were using was not small since it was around 300 lbs or so (actually they were deadlifting of some plates to get extra ROM when they couldn't even hold a neutral spine with the regular deadlift).
Now this time I couldn't just stand there and watch without saying something and watch the man fracture a vertebrae, so I politely asked if he doesn't mind a bit of advice. He said he doesn't and I explained why he shouldn't do that and what it is causing and even though he might not feel anything right now, there is a big chance it will cause problems in the future. To make a long story shorter, he was grateful for the advice and he asked if we could schedule a time to go over the proper lifting techniques, some corrective exercise, etc..... Happy end right?
Why do I say should we say something?
Because I have done this before and I have gotten many negative responses from I know what I'm doing leave me alone!, to what do you know! and even..........I'm a personal trainer I know these things! So after getting a lot of negative reactions, one asks if it is worth it.
Well is it?
I think it is. I am not on a mission to go around and correct peoples form but when I see somebody that really looks like they are going to hurt themselves, I will make an effort to educate the person about how they should do it in a safe way. If I get blown off then let it be but as a trainer I cannot stand by and watch somebody set themselves up for a possible serious injury!
