gurk
Feb-02-08, 07:48 AM
I signed up to a gym near my house, it was my first session today and I was set up with a personal trainer to show me the stuff. I signed up for a month, I plan on keeping with it, chances are ill be a member for a long time.
My first session was pretty bad. The guy sat me down and told me what weightlifting could do for me, commented on my posture and how we could fix it with weightlifting and told me a bit about himself. He was a competition level bodybuilder, he was pretty massive and like 50.
So I went in expecting him to assume I was another idiot teenager who wanted to do biceps curls and bench presses every day... He took me around the machines and got me to show him what I had, first we went to the leg press and he set me up with 10kg, I did like 20 reps and he kept increasing it by 10kg until we were at 50kg, he asked me to do 10 and asked me how I felt and I told him It was very easy. I don't wanna toot my own horn or anything but my legs are pretty strong(31inch vert), I've never done a weighted squat or anything though just yet. He stopped me and told me my legs were pretty strong and that we should just focus on my upper body for a while. At this point im thinking "lol wtf is this guy on about", im begining to seriously doubt his knowledge on training and fittness. Not once did he ask me my background or my goals. (Taekwondo 8 years currently quit, Parkour 1 year, Tricking 8 months, Indoor rock climbing 3 months. Goals: 2x bodyweight squat, increase upperbody strength in general, general strength/sports conditioning exercises).
So off to the Lat pulldown machine... (I looked in the gym, there were a bunch of really expensive treadmills, but I couldn't find a fucking SINGLE pull up bar.) Note : I can do 10~ pull ups. He sits me down on the lat pulldown machine and gets me to do 7.5kg pulldowns. thats like 20lbs. I didn't say anything.
Next, Cable row machine... 10 reps at 15kg/35~lb. Then "shoulder press" machine, (I can do partial handstand pushups against a wall, 4 or 5 partial reps, can't quite do full ROM yet). Lastly he took me to some fucking retarded Ab machine, its like an upright weighted crunch, it was ridiculous. I couldn't even feel it in my abs.
He wrote on a peice of paper the entire time, heres what he wrote.
Leg press
1x 10 x 50kg
1x 12 x 50kg
1x 15 x 50kg
Cable row
1x 10 x 15kg
1x 10 x 15kg
1x 15 x 15kg
Lat pull down
1 x 10 x 7.5kg
1 x 10 x 7.5kg
1 x 15 x 7.5kg
Shoulder press
1 x 10 x 7.5kg
1 x 10 x 7.5kg
1 x 15 x 7.5kg
"Abbs" (yea, thats how he spelt it)
1 x 10 x 17.5kg
1 x 12 x 17.5kg
1 x 15 x 17.5kg
At one point I told him "I want to focus more on my legs, heavy squats, deadlifts, big compounds lifts etc" and he said "You've only got 1 month worth of membership and programs like that take a long time to build, lets see where you are at the end of the month". The entire time I insisted on a heavier weight or something more difficult he was like "you're still 16, you're still growing. Your muscles are tender and not used to this kind of stuff" I was thinking about saying "I do tricking parkour and free running, im sure my muscles are going to be able to handle it." I didn't because he was scary and intimidating. Yes, im a pussy :[
The owner of the gym/health club at the end of my session when I was signing out asked me what I thought, and I said it was alright. He asked me what I wanted to do (I think he realized I wasn't really happy with the program) and I told him I wanted to do big heavy compound lifts, squats, deadlifts, bench press, etc. Make progress on those basic lifts and move onto olympic lifts further down the line, strength/power stuff...
Opinions? What should I do? I've never done a proper squat, deadlift or bench press in my life, I don't wanna be that dumb teenager who drops the barbell on his chest on a bench press.. I dunno how to do it or a routine/split. I used to try and give advice to people, but when I tried to make my own I failed pretty hard.
Is what the trainer dude is saying going to result in anything?...
My first session was pretty bad. The guy sat me down and told me what weightlifting could do for me, commented on my posture and how we could fix it with weightlifting and told me a bit about himself. He was a competition level bodybuilder, he was pretty massive and like 50.
So I went in expecting him to assume I was another idiot teenager who wanted to do biceps curls and bench presses every day... He took me around the machines and got me to show him what I had, first we went to the leg press and he set me up with 10kg, I did like 20 reps and he kept increasing it by 10kg until we were at 50kg, he asked me to do 10 and asked me how I felt and I told him It was very easy. I don't wanna toot my own horn or anything but my legs are pretty strong(31inch vert), I've never done a weighted squat or anything though just yet. He stopped me and told me my legs were pretty strong and that we should just focus on my upper body for a while. At this point im thinking "lol wtf is this guy on about", im begining to seriously doubt his knowledge on training and fittness. Not once did he ask me my background or my goals. (Taekwondo 8 years currently quit, Parkour 1 year, Tricking 8 months, Indoor rock climbing 3 months. Goals: 2x bodyweight squat, increase upperbody strength in general, general strength/sports conditioning exercises).
So off to the Lat pulldown machine... (I looked in the gym, there were a bunch of really expensive treadmills, but I couldn't find a fucking SINGLE pull up bar.) Note : I can do 10~ pull ups. He sits me down on the lat pulldown machine and gets me to do 7.5kg pulldowns. thats like 20lbs. I didn't say anything.
Next, Cable row machine... 10 reps at 15kg/35~lb. Then "shoulder press" machine, (I can do partial handstand pushups against a wall, 4 or 5 partial reps, can't quite do full ROM yet). Lastly he took me to some fucking retarded Ab machine, its like an upright weighted crunch, it was ridiculous. I couldn't even feel it in my abs.
He wrote on a peice of paper the entire time, heres what he wrote.
Leg press
1x 10 x 50kg
1x 12 x 50kg
1x 15 x 50kg
Cable row
1x 10 x 15kg
1x 10 x 15kg
1x 15 x 15kg
Lat pull down
1 x 10 x 7.5kg
1 x 10 x 7.5kg
1 x 15 x 7.5kg
Shoulder press
1 x 10 x 7.5kg
1 x 10 x 7.5kg
1 x 15 x 7.5kg
"Abbs" (yea, thats how he spelt it)
1 x 10 x 17.5kg
1 x 12 x 17.5kg
1 x 15 x 17.5kg
At one point I told him "I want to focus more on my legs, heavy squats, deadlifts, big compounds lifts etc" and he said "You've only got 1 month worth of membership and programs like that take a long time to build, lets see where you are at the end of the month". The entire time I insisted on a heavier weight or something more difficult he was like "you're still 16, you're still growing. Your muscles are tender and not used to this kind of stuff" I was thinking about saying "I do tricking parkour and free running, im sure my muscles are going to be able to handle it." I didn't because he was scary and intimidating. Yes, im a pussy :[
The owner of the gym/health club at the end of my session when I was signing out asked me what I thought, and I said it was alright. He asked me what I wanted to do (I think he realized I wasn't really happy with the program) and I told him I wanted to do big heavy compound lifts, squats, deadlifts, bench press, etc. Make progress on those basic lifts and move onto olympic lifts further down the line, strength/power stuff...
Opinions? What should I do? I've never done a proper squat, deadlift or bench press in my life, I don't wanna be that dumb teenager who drops the barbell on his chest on a bench press.. I dunno how to do it or a routine/split. I used to try and give advice to people, but when I tried to make my own I failed pretty hard.
Is what the trainer dude is saying going to result in anything?...