Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Don't Use These Exercises

As I wrote in my workout blog last Monday, I experienced a crazy scene at the gym last week.

A scene that supports my contention that we should stick to the simplest training methods possible, as getting "too fancy" can come back to bite you in the butt, bigtime.

Now squatting, pushing and pulling might not be the most exciting exercises to use, what with all the balancing acts that people see in the gym these days, but they get the job done.

Allright, so I just finished my second set of squats. And I was leaning on the bar watching a trainer train 2 girls. The gym has some neat toys in my opinion, including a sled for pulling and tire for flipping.

But for some reason the trainer decided to have one girl climb on the other's back for some strange combination bodyweight-squat/wrestling exercise.

I can't even explain it properly, as I was trying to keep my focus on my own lifting, plus it was just ridiculous, given the other training options.

But just as I was about to set-up for my final, and hardest set, one of the girls fell off the other during the exercise and started screaming like she had been shot.

This went on for a few minutes, pretty much zapping my mental focus on my squats. Eventually the wounded girl calmed down and managed to hobble over to a therapist's bench for treatment.

I hope she is okay, but it looks like a relatively serious knee injury.

Sounds crazy, doesn't it? Why do trainers insist on coming up with silly exercises to get the job done?

Do you think construction managers sit around and think, "what's the most exciting way I can get a 10-ton beam up four stories off the ground? I could use a crane, but that's not cool enough..."

No, of course not. They use the tried and true methods that get the job done efficiently and effectively.

While we're on the subject of bad exercises, why don't you have a laugh at "The 4 Worst Exercises" I've watched trainers have clients do in a gym.

I see a lot of "fitness junk" come and go, but guys and gals like Alwyn Cosgrove, Tom Venuto, and myself just keep rolling along using the basics in a scientific manner.

And our clients are doing just fine,
CB

P.S. How's your workout?
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