BLOG: Do You Train Yourself?

Do You Train Yourself?

Time to Fire Your Trainer.

I spend a lot of time in various gyms and I see a lot of things that make me wonder what I’m actually seeing. This is not unusual for me because I’m mostly a kinaesthetic-type learner and I need to try things out before I understand them clearly.

Over time, one thing that I’ve been able to spot immediately is something that is dead-wrong. It’s easy to notice because I get a feeling inside that alerts me to the fact that I’m seeing something that is completely off the grid of what is sensible. There’s a saying in coaching that ‘if something doesn’t look right then it isn’t right’ and you don’t have to know exactly what it is that is wrong when it just looks wrong.

There is more nonsense in gym-workouts that are directed at changing body composition than anything else. If you take a few minutes to look around any gym, you’ll see things that just don’t make sense. The worst part about it is that people are parting with their free time to do this foolishness. It isn’t any of my business, most of the time, so I just watch long enough to get the feeling and then I go back to my workout and allow the feeling to float away.

The only time it gets to me is when I’m drawn in by someone who is asking me for my opinion about their program, or their efforts, only to finally let me know that their approach is great and that I don’t know what I’m talking about.

Being wilfully ignorant is a problem because it indicates that a person has stopped learning, which is fine with me, so long as I am not engaged in the ignorant conversation. However, when someone does ask me how long it will take them to drop ten pounds by doing bicep curls and some light cardio; I find it a challenge to be gently polite.

I tell them that I can’t answer that question because their workout isn’t a program set up by me and I have no prior knowledge of their physical attributes and how the program pertains to their individual weaknesses.

However, if they are interested, I will suggest some proven options for fat loss. Even if they say they are interested they often have tons of excuses why they can’t do squats, dead-lifts or resistance training and why they would never do high intensity interval training. They tell me that eating too much protein is bad for people and that high quality food is too expensive.  They believe that boxed cereal is a healthy choice because the cereal is fortified with nutrients.

Many of these clients tell me that because fish oil is fat, it should be avoided. They contend that the leg press machine is better than split squats because the knee never travels past the toes and that since the cardio class they do with their girlfriend helped them drop five pounds, doing it twice a week should help them drop 10. It goes on and on.

What I find very surprising about this attitude is the high level of  buy-in the client demonstrates.  It doesn’t matter that I look exactly how they want to look, they JUST KNOW that what they are doing is going to be effective REGARDLESS of how little impact it is having on their body. Evidence doesn’t enter into the equation when faced with overwhelming emotional commitment – the feeling that it will work.

I understand there is a lot of psychology involved in all of this, and that these people who desire to change their body composition have, at some level, an emotional issue or two that led them to their larger self in first place. But, the fact that they hold on to their issues during their efforts to change their body composition is regrettable and it is wasting a lot of their time.

Let’s face it, someone who has 50 pounds of fat to lose is very good at one thing, gaining fat and they aren’t very good at the opposite thing, getting rid of fat. But they can’t grasp this obvious relationship. However,  if they could, they would end up in a much better place.

The hard, fast truth about improving body composition is that you need an expert to help you do it.  If you are going to the gym and you are not trained by an expert, it’s time to fire your coach and hire an expert. SST’s individualized programs or the Satellite Program may be exactly what you need. Give SST a call and find out how we can help you!

Larry Jusdanis

Owner, Sports Specific Training

Sstcanada.com

Director of the National Association of Speed and Explosion (NASE)

Larry Jusdanis is the owner of Sports Specific Training Inc.  SST has trained thousands of athletes from a variety of sports. SST’s no nonsense approach to training has been used by thousands of athletes’ from a variety of sports all over the nation!

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