I used to hear that while you were working out you should be able to talk. The gist was that if you could still talk while you were working out then you were not over training. This always seemed strange to me, because as a competitive ice hockey player I could never talk, let along think about talking while clearing the net or skating at full throttle. And that was athletic fitness. Well today at the GLOBO I saw a trainer training a pair of clients. He trains them at least 3 days a week (read as they are paying big bucks to get a summer ready body!) I've noticed them, I've also noticed them noticing me doing CF, but I digress. So, I've often noticed them working out. He runs them through what appears to be a boot camp. The trainer has them lunge, sometimes swing a kettlebell (half ROM however, I guess the risk is too high to hold a KB over your head, LOL), pushups on stability device, etc. He usually trains them quite far (relatively speaking) from me, but not today. Today, while I was executing Tabata Something Else in the stretching, warm-up area he was also training his clients there. Whatever, they didn't bother me and I didn't bother them. But, as I was leaving, I walked past them. Today he was running a chipper of sorts: one of the two dudes had to do a minute of box steps (they are either not able or willing to do box jumps, but I've never seen them do box jumps) while the other did a sequence of push-ups and lunges. When I walked past the guy doing box steps and the trainer I was aghast to hear the two of them having a conversation about what they were doing this weekend. I even heard a chuckle! WTF!?! I realize it's Friday and sunny and ... WTF!?! These dudes are so getting ripped off. Not least because they've working out with this trainer for at least a month, but I think actually 3 months and as far as I can tell have made minimal, if any gains in fitness, but because the trainer is obviously not bringing any intensity to the game. I don't even know where to start with this: it would be one thing if they were talking about the workout. If the trainer was demonstrating or verbalizing proper execution of the movement, the ROM, or intensity. It would be one thing if the client was saying, I can't go on, and the trainer responded "yes you can!" However, it's a completely different thing to be talking about the evening's activities and laughing about it. Another GLOBO travesty.
Unfortunately, these types of things, these bastardations of fitness, training, and simply good practice get me thinking and writing. At this point, since receiving and even before receiving my L1 Cert, I've noticed (heightened perceptions to such things) "travesties in trainings at the GLOBO!"
So, today's "travesty in training at the GLOBO" = the trainer allowing his clients to talk while working out. What exactly are the fitness faux pas with this? There are several:
1) if you are talking, if you are able to talk, then your intensity cannot be at a level conducive to production of good fitness outcomes and results.
2) if your trainer is holding a conversation with you that does not revolve around discussion of your movement, your ROM, or your intensity, then s/he is not doing their job and you should ask for your money back. If your trainer is talking to you then s/he does not have your best fitness interest in mind. You are simply a paycheck a $ and you should, quite frankly, be insulted that they are insulting your intelligence and want of good training.
3) if you are talking while being trained, able to talk during a WOD/exercise then you are probably not being trained well. If the trainer allows you to perform things at such a low level of intensity then your results are probably not his/her highest priority. Rather, again, you are probably just a $
Take these 3 points as evidence that the GLOBO has one thing in mind: MAKING $$$. They do not have your fitness in mind. Rather, they design programs, they design and sculpt trainers, to be sales people and not trainers of fitness. They treat their clients as bodies and in most cases I think the GLOBO Gym would prefer their clients don't even come to the gym. The GLOBO stand to make a lot more money by selling memberships and hoping their members do not show up. That way they can bill your account every month, but if you don't show up then you are not producing any wear and tear on their expensive machines (expensive to buy and maintain!) But if you are one of those rare (I don't actually know the statistics, but would love to) that actually show up at the GLOBO, then they try to sell you personal training. Here they walk you through a series of over priced programs "designed to make you reach/attain your fitness goals." But it's a sham, isn't it? Because I have only seen one client trained by a GLOBO trainer that has shown any improvement in fitness. I've even heard the trainers talking, in the locker room about how this client or that client is not really into the training so they just take them through the motions. TRAVESTY! Why are you a trainer if your goal is to not make people healthy and fit. If you don't care about that, then why'd you become a trainer and get your certification? If you are happy with substandard "taking people through motions" you should go flip burgers! Your clients are not burgers! They come to you for help! They NEED your help! They trust your help! They trust that what you tell them to do is correct. They trust that your advice, training, and "expertise" is utilized to its fullest potential to help them, as an individual, reach their fitness and/or health goals. To not know that, to not treat them like a superstar, to ignore what your discipline is designed to do, and to take for granted the fact that you somehow have people's respect without ever having to gain it is a chronic travesty! I would disabuse the clients about this, but I've already been threatened that I can't even train my own wife. I can only imagine what would happen (my membership would probably be revoked) if I started telling clients that they are not getting their money's worth! Ha!
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