I am sure there have been posts about this in the past but I am wondering if I should have said something.
Recently there has been a dad in the gym with his teenage(16 or so) son. Clearly the dad is playing the part of trainer and the son is working out. Good for them. But today with 70lbs on the flat bench I noticed the son doing 15 reps with dad spotting. But he had his legs just flailing about aroudn the end of the bench and not set at all in anything close to resembling proper form. I started to say something and make a suggestion more than once but in the end decided against it. Should I have?
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Stats:
38 year old coach to my 8 year old son, 6 ft tall jungle gym to my 10 year old daughter, 184 lb husband to my wife of 15 years and a 11% BF fitness addict best friend to all 3 of them.
Feel the water before you leap in. Excange a couple of words with the dad/trainer and see if they are open for advice. I personally would always appreciate any advice and spotting at the gym. Some people would just ignore you. Others would be offended. You would be discouraged if you met someone that doesn't like your nose poking into his training.
Unless the person is flat out "in danger right then", I say let it be. You're just going to come off like an ass even if you have the very best intentions in the whole world. Even more than usual because now you're making dad look like he doesn't know what he's talking about (even if he doesn't).
The point about his dad looking like he knows nothing is a good one. I would not mind helping the kid out but the dad might see it as insulting.
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Stats:
38 year old coach to my 8 year old son, 6 ft tall jungle gym to my 10 year old daughter, 184 lb husband to my wife of 15 years and a 11% BF fitness addict best friend to all 3 of them.
I am sure there have been posts about this in the past but I am wondering if I should have said something.
Recently there has been a dad in the gym with his teenage(16 or so) son. Clearly the dad is playing the part of trainer and the son is working out. Good for them. But today with 70lbs on the flat bench I noticed the son doing 15 reps with dad spotting. But he had his legs just flailing about aroudn the end of the bench and not set at all in anything close to resembling proper form. I started to say something and make a suggestion more than once but in the end decided against it. Should I have?
I feel like we're in the same gym lol
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"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." -- T.S. Eliot
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit."-- Aristotle
I am an east coast beach bum but live inland so unless you commute 4 hours to lift then I think it is safe to say this is not an uncommon thing.
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Stats:
38 year old coach to my 8 year old son, 6 ft tall jungle gym to my 10 year old daughter, 184 lb husband to my wife of 15 years and a 11% BF fitness addict best friend to all 3 of them.
I wouldn't..... especially in front of the kid. If you decide (in the future) to say something, wait til the kid is off getting a drink or something and say something to the dad then. Don't disrespect a father in front of his son. You wouldn't want that and neither does he.
I also agree that you should make a point of making some conversation with the dad prior to pulling him aside. Just out of the blue might not go over too well. My 2 cents.
I am sure there have been posts about this in the past but I am wondering if I should have said something.
Recently there has been a dad in the gym with his teenage(16 or so) son. Clearly the dad is playing the part of trainer and the son is working out. Good for them. But today with 70lbs on the flat bench I noticed the son doing 15 reps with dad spotting. But he had his legs just flailing about aroudn the end of the bench and not set at all in anything close to resembling proper form. I started to say something and make a suggestion more than once but in the end decided against it. Should I have?
We must work out in the same gym... I just saw this yesterday!!!
I agree w/ the others, I wouldn't say anything. A lot of men make comments to me about squating too low and it always pisses me off......
As a fellow customer in the gym i would not bother unless the kid is in great danger, if not maybe mention it to one of the trainers and let them deal with it.
I know how hard it can be as a PT when you try and help some people with correct exercise technique, and they think they know better. As said above alot of people can appreciate the advice, but on the other hand alot can be total a holes!
Maybe if you get the feeling that the dad is a nice guy and you can get talking on another topic, then maybe you could slip it into conversation.
Saw 5 kids doing straight-leg deadlifts with too much back rounding and a guy telling them "that's good!see how he doesn't round his (upper) back" and asked him if he was their coach. He pointed me to another guy that look as if he would fall of the leg extension machine and would turn to dust. I introduced myself and gave him an invitation to our "Practical deadlifting" seminar this weekend.
As Irony would have it the dad asked me about another lift not long after this and I directed him to EXRX to look up proper form on ALL the lifts they were doing. I prefaced it with tha is what I do before starting any routine. He was very appreciative.
__________________
Stats:
38 year old coach to my 8 year old son, 6 ft tall jungle gym to my 10 year old daughter, 184 lb husband to my wife of 15 years and a 11% BF fitness addict best friend to all 3 of them.
i envoked the ego of many people as i made suggestions at first, i got the, ive been doing this 15 years thing many times
now i just tell them like its not open to debate, and if they want to debate it, i debate it, i dont look at them like im sorry to say something, i look at them like im just doing my job and its not a big deal at all
in that situation, i might say this
"hey hows it goin, can i help yall with anything?"
bla bla bla
"thats cool i did chest yesterday and im feelin it
pause
"hey just so you know i think he's doing the bench press wrong"
(id say it to him directly if he was making eye contact and held himself well)
half a second to let startle and shock set in
"not that i dont mess up myself a lot, but look there is one fundamental thing i want to show you"
motion to bench
sit on bench
"see when you are bla bla bla you cant do this or you can hurt yourself"
pause let them talk maybe debat a while make a few jokes or at least show you are relaxed and not psycho (which i am sometimes)
"hey will good luck tryin to keep up with pops here"
"pat on the back"
i bet the dad wil most likely introduce himself to you and shake your hand
of course, if i come off cocky, i'll probably get a member complaint and it will ruin the rest of your day
so the trick is, do what YOU can do, but always rise to the challenge and be honest and genuine, and you will grow
As Irony would have it the dad asked me about another lift not long after this and I directed him to EXRX to look up proper form on ALL the lifts they were doing. I prefaced it with tha is what I do before starting any routine. He was very appreciative.
As Irony would have it the dad asked me about another lift not long after this and I directed him to EXRX to look up proper form on ALL the lifts they were doing. I prefaced it with tha is what I do before starting any routine. He was very appreciative.
Usually when there is a father son workout routine going on you better be careful about suggesting the father is not teaching his son correctly. I think the father wouldn't like being corrected in front of his son. I would suggest that you start up a conversation and then maybe demonstrate through your example without suggesting anything.
Correcting form
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