personal trainers are STUPID!

[GT2]

At my gym it seems as though ANYONE can become a "qualified personal trainer".

I am sick to death of personal trainers who are half my size, and think they "know everything" about fitness and how to "get big" when they themselves are twigs.

How many of you have experienced the same phenomena?

[will_work]

haha hahaha

yeah i know what your saying...this one p.t used to come in the gym all the time and he was fat with little muscle

he was a big pervert lol but a funny guy

[ottomaddox]

If I was going to go to a trainer, I would make sure his/her qualifications showed through their own personal hardwork and dedication. I wouldn't pick a fat and lazy trainer.

[Diary of a Mad-man]

yeah, I feel ya. I went to highschool with one at my gym; He was a tool then and he's a tool now. He cant be more than 130 lbs, and he reminds me of the waiter at Chotchkies on Office Space, the "hey, can I get you some shrimp poppers? pizza shooters? or maybe some Extreme fajitas?" guy.

The thing is, in highschool, I was a band nerd with symphonic aspirations, and he was a jock. Fast forward 10 years, and I weigh 70 lbs more than him????? What did he spend all of his time doing? I guess, personal training OTHER people? I dont get some people.

(and there's nothing wrong with rope pulldowns for tris, I mix em in with about 3 others after chest).

My old ass parents DO however, benefit from a PT b/c their lack of knowledge and motivation.

[rockinred]

Yea, I understand what your saying... the certificate doesn't mean a whole lot... just remember though, a trainer is not a bodybuilder... they are primarily targeting people that just need some help getting fit...

with that being said they should be the epitome of a fit person... not some big sloppy trainer....lol. Also, they should get paid based on their history and success....isn't that how corporations treat graduates and employees??

the other thing I hate is the ones that act like they are all hot shit know it all just because they are training some one.... I think they should be a little more humble when they look like they never even lifted a weight all their life..

building muscle on a hardcore lifter is way different than a person just getting fit...

Peace!!!

[TJM7275]

I feel you bro and in my experience most trainers fall into that category, not all though. Their is a dud at my gym who is a trainer and he's a short lumpy arrogant little f***. If I was walking into a gym and needed help I would be pissed if i got him for a trainer but what can you do.. Just laugh and be thankful you know your shit...
Oh yeah bro, whats with the anti rope pull downs. I think they work great, always use them and my tri's look like horseshoes on the back of my arm....lol

[DSM4Life]

At my gym it seems as though ANYONE can become a "qualified personal trainer".

I'm 18 yrs old, 5'8 187lb (15% bf), and I'm bigger than 80% of the male trainers at my gym. Most of them don't even lift weights, and yet they are teaching noobs how to "get big"? That's fvck*ng ridiculous if you ask me.

Eg. the other day I noticed a personal trainer teaching a 120lb noob how to workout. He had the noob doing tricep cable pulldowns with a ROPE i.e. an exercise one would perform leading up to a competition to bring out definition in the tricep, not BUILD IT! Getting a personal training certificate through a weekend course at a local gym does not compare at the SLIGHTEST to the knowledge one attains through years of training. I am sick to death of personal trainers who are half my size, and think they "know everything" about fitness and how to "get big" when they themselves are twigs.

How many of you have experienced the same phenomena?

I disagree.

[MFT81]

^^ +1

which is ironic cause you talk shit on P.T.'s yet you sound like you've also got a lot to learn by saying: "He had the noob doing tricep cable pulldowns with a ROPE i.e. an exercise one would perform leading up to a competition to bring out definition in the tricep, not BUILD IT!"

As far as participating in this pissing match of a thread, Im a former Master of Fitness Trainer for the U.S. Army and an Ace cert trainer and am currently working on my cert through NASM. Ive also helped out a bit on this forum (feel free to search some of my threads)

and as far as stats im 6ft 200 lbs at about 11% give or take, so no im not the biggest or smartest out there, but I think i do pretty well for myself. I also think some of the other P.T.'s on this site prob have some pretty strong opinions about this subject.

[gixxerboy1]

At my gym it seems as though ANYONE can become a "qualified personal trainer".

I'm 18 yrs old, 5'8 187lb (15% bf), and I'm bigger than 80% of the male trainers at my gym. Most of them don't even lift weights, and yet they are teaching noobs how to "get big"? That's fvck*ng ridiculous if you ask me.

Eg. the other day I noticed a personal trainer teaching a 120lb noob how to workout. He had the noob doing tricep cable pulldowns with a ROPE i.e. an exercise one would perform leading up to a competition to bring out definition in the tricep, not BUILD IT! Getting a personal training certificate through a weekend course at a local gym does not compare at the SLIGHTEST to the knowledge one attains through years of training. I am sick to death of personal trainers who are half my size, and think they "know everything" about fitness and how to "get big" when they themselves are twigs.

How many of you have experienced the same phenomena?

you have know real clue and you can tell by your post you are 18.

first of not everyone wants to be a body builder. Trainers included. Training someone is about knowledge and motivation. You dont need to be big to do either.

Also im sure you know much more about pre existing health conditions and injuries and how to deal with them.

I was a trainer for years and i never had 1 person that wanted to look like a body builder

[MFT81]

In fact thats the first thing all my clients have said, I dont want to be a bber.....

Further more your comment:

Getting a personal training certificate through a weekend course at a local gym does not compare at the SLIGHTEST to the knowledge one attains through years of training.

Ridiculous, So that means that as long as weve been lifting for say 10 years, theres no reason to further our education or looking into recent studies? We have a trainer thats been bodybuilding since like the 80's and just the other day commented on how much hes learned by taking the NASM classes offered to us.....

You or anyone else cant say that P.T.'s are stupid, I take just as much offense to that as if you said "Black People are Stupid" or "Gays are Stupid"

[gixxerboy1]

In fact thats the first thing all my clients have said, I dont want to be a bber.....

Further more your comment:

Getting a personal training certificate through a weekend course at a local gym does not compare at the SLIGHTEST to the knowledge one attains through years of training.

Ridiculous, So that means that as long as weve been lifting for say 10 years, theres no reason to further our education or looking into recent studies? We have a trainer thats been bodybuilding since like the 80's and just the other day commented on how much hes learned by taking the NASM classes offered to us.....

You or anyone else cant say that P.T.'s are stupid, I take just as much offense to that as if you said "Black People are Stupid" or "Gays are Stupid"

Agreed. I took a functional training seminar a couple years ago by carlos (cant remember last name now) But i learned alot, And he kicked my ass. I was one of the bigger guys there and was dying

[rockinred]

Hope I didn't offend any trainers on here.. My comments and observations are more toward certain trainers in gyms.... I have been to quite a few gyms throughout the states and I see a whole lot of trainers that work for big gyms just kind of bored and passing time. Handing people weight and then looking around as the older person lifts with terrible form,etc...

Not all trainers are like that for sure, but there are quite a few in the fluffy gyms that will give the term "trainer" a bad rap.

Some world class top notch trainers are the ones that do it privately and are in business for themself.... I know four at the gym I workout in and they workout when I am there in the a.m. with weights and look superb... they train people on the side at their gym at home, etc... there are also quite a few on this board and they are the ones helping around here. So I do agree you have to be careful with lumping "trainer" to all.

[DSM4Life]

[MATTMAN01]

Ha ha! nice. Iknow pt who know heaps about bb'ing but just not into it them selves. Dude you shouldn't generalize especially about something about that on a site like this, just not smart.

[GT2]

^^ +1

which is ironic cause you talk shit on P.T.'s yet you sound like you've also got a lot to learn by saying: "He had the noob doing tricep cable pulldowns with a ROPE i.e. an exercise one would perform leading up to a competition to bring out definition in the tricep, not BUILD IT!"

As far as participating in this pissing match of a thread, Im a former Master of Fitness Trainer for the U.S. Army and an Ace cert trainer and am currently working on my cert through NASM. Ive also helped out a bit on this forum (feel free to search some of my threads)

and as far as stats im 6ft 200 lbs at about 11% give or take, so no im not the biggest or smartest out there, but I think i do pretty well for myself. I also think some of the other P.T.'s on this site prob have some pretty strong opinions about this subject.

I think you badly misinterpreted what I said.
If you were training a noob's tricep, what exercises would you make him do?
Dips, skullcrushers, close-grip bench, cable pulldowns WITH A BAR (not a rope). I'm not flaming the rope attachment, but simply stating there are FAR BETTER methods of building one's tricep.

I love it how so many of you jump to conclusions before taking a step back and looking at what I'm saying OBJECTIVELY.

And for the record, I am a classic ectomorph who put on 68lbs of muscle in 1.5 years of training. You can't assume that just because I'm 18 I don't know much, quite the contrary, if I knew so little, how did I put on so much muscle mass so quickly? I obviously know what I am talking about.

Also, I didn't generalise and say EVERY p.t. is stupid, I said ALOT of them are. Read the post properly before you try to flame me and look like an idiot in the process.

[MATTMAN01]

Ha Ha look at your heading!

[DSM4Life]

I think you badly misinterpreted what I said.
If you were training a noob's tricep, what exercises would you make him do?
Dips, skullcrushers, close-grip bench, cable pulldowns WITH A BAR (not a rope). I'm not flaming the rope attachment, but simply stating there are FAR BETTER methods of building one's tricep.

I love it how so many of you jump to conclusions before taking a step back and looking at what I'm saying OBJECTIVELY.

And for the record, I am a classic ectomorph who put on 68lbs of muscle in 1.5 years of training. You can't assume that just because I'm 18 I don't know much, quite the contrary, if I knew so little, how did I put on so much muscle mass so quickly? I obviously know what I am talking about.

Also, I didn't generalise and say EVERY p.t. is stupid, I said ALOT of them are. Read the post properly before you try to flame me and look like an idiot in the process.

Again stop giving advice when you don't know what you are talking about. Using a rope allows you to spread your arms out a little at the bottom of the movement to hit more of the tricep.

[GT2]

Again stop giving advice when you don't know what you are talking about. Using a rope allows you to spread your arms out a little at the bottom of the movement to hit more of the tricep.

Alright mate, you want me to post a before photo? My current photo is my avy.

[DSM4Life]

P.s

X2

[DSM4Life]

Alright mate, you want me to post a before photo? My current photo is my avy.

I don't care what worked for you. You said he shouldn't use a rope and i am telling you that using a rope uses more of the muscle.

[GT2]

I don't care what worked for you. You said he shouldn't use a rope and i am telling you that using a rope uses more of the muscle.

Seems like I'm talking to a wall. Nothing seems to sink in.
Agree to disagree bro. Good to see how mature you acted with this whole disagreement

[GT2]

EVEN IF (in a parallel universe) the rope uses more of the muscle, that exercise doesn't build nearly as much mass as the other exercises I stated in an above post. End of story.

[DSM4Life]

EVEN IF (in a parallel universe) the rope uses more of the muscle, that exercise doesn't build nearly as much mass as the other exercises I stated in an above post. End of story.

Show me proof.

[IronReload04]

I think I could probably argue that tricep pushdowns are not a good stimulus to adapt into a larger arm.

thats just me.

[GT2]

I think I could probably argue that tricep pushdowns are not a good stimulus to adapt into a larger arm.

thats just me.

THANKYOU! (eat that DSM)

[IronReload04]

Show me proof.

Guys that are G-normous, are big everywhere. They are pressing, pulling, and squating big time weight with a muscle size to match. These guys did not get that from cable pushdowns. They got that from moving heavy slag iron and growing their overall body.

tricep pushdowns will get you no where if you are not pressing weight with the best of them

jmo

[DSM4Life]

THANKYOU! (eat that DSM)

Oh, i am going to take Iron's word as scientific proof , hahah

Your funny.

[IronReload04]

THANKYOU! (eat that DSM)

No, DSM has been around a lot longer than you have. YOu are being immature


I am in no way defending you at all. Their was a much smarter way you could have voiced your opinions on pt's. Probably, some people may have agree'd with you. but many are offended



I simply cant stand around and watch people claim that pressdowns are awesome for tri development, I just dont agree.

[DSM4Life]

Guys that are G-normous, are big everywhere. They are pressing, pulling, and squating big time weight with a muscle size to match. These guys did not get that from cable pushdowns. They got that from moving heavy slag iron and growing their overall body.

tricep pushdowns will get you no where if you are not pressing weight with the best of them

jmo

We aren't comparing compound movements VS isolated movements. He said the trainer was stupid because he used the rope instead of the bar for pulldowns. We are only talking about pulldowns.

[GT2]

DSM, go ahead and do cable pushdowns for the rest of your life. It doesn't bother me at the slightest. In fact, I urge you to do them (and therefore waste your time and energy).
I'll stick to my heavy benches, squats, deadlifts, (and ofcourse skullcrushers and close-grip bench) to build titanic triceps

[DSM4Life]

DSM, go ahead and do cable pushdowns for the rest of your life. It doesn't bother me at the slightest. In fact, I urge you to do them (and therefore waste your time and energy).
I'll stick to my heavy benches, squats, deadlifts, (and ofcourse skullcrushers and close-grip bench) to build titanic triceps

Oh i wasn't aware that squats built your triceps. Man i learn something new everyday.
Do what works for you.

Late.

[GT2]

Oh i wasn't aware that squats built your triceps. Man i learn something new everyday.

Oh mate, you take everything so literally it's sad.
Squatting indirectly increases arm size. If you're so "educated" like you seem to think you are, you wouldn't have raised such an elementary issue.

[DSM4Life]

Oh mate, you take everything so literally it's sad.
Squatting indirectly increases arm size. If you're so "educated" like you seem to think you are, you wouldn't have raised such an elementary issue.

I understand that ADHD is hard to live with but we were talking about one movement, pulldowns and thats all. You start talking about squats, benches, deads and you go no where with it.

I had fun killing some time before bed but now its time to go.

[GT2]

I understand that ADHD is hard to live with but we were talking about one movement, pulldowns and thats all. You start talking about squats, benches, deads and you go no where with it.

I had fun killing some time before bed but now its time to go.

I laugh at your defense mechanism. Nearly as bad my 13 year old's sisters. You guys seem to have a lot in common. She has 9 inch arms, and it seems you might to, what with all those cable pushdowns and all. Goodnight dear

[C_Bino]

DSM, go ahead and do cable pushdowns for the rest of your life. It doesn't bother me at the slightest. In fact, I urge you to do them (and therefore waste your time and energy).
I'll stick to my heavy benches, squats, deadlifts, (and ofcourse skullcrushers and close-grip bench) to build titanic triceps

DSM is completely right. Why is the personal training wrong for getting him to do it with a rope? How do you know the previous tricep workout he didnt use a bar? Or perhaps he is teaching him how to perform functional exercises to utilize different tricep heads in order to better develop a mind muscle connection?

In fact you tell DSM to go on and do them forever implying it wont work well...and look at your avatar???

Ok bud well look at my avatar, sure its not a picture of my triceps but I guarantee you my triceps are much bigger than yours and the rope attachment is the main attachment I use while doing triceps.

[southmadejd]

Wow Hamish, you are trying to make a lot of friends on this board huh?? Jk. I think your opening statement just rubbed some people the wrong way. Kind of sounds like you have some sort of a superiority complex whether you wanted it to come through that way or not. And you being only 18 might bother some people also. But now you are getting a little bit off track with your argument with DSM.....the whole point was you thought the majority of P.T.s were ignorant about how to train someone properly. And you may very well know your sh-t. If you really put on 68lbs of muscle in 1.5 yrs then good on you. Especially at only being 18. That is very impressive. But I think your example of why you thought P.T.s were mostly stupid was just a bad example. I mean just because a trainer tells a skinny guy new to weight lifting to do rope pull downs to work his triceps doesn't neccessarily mean he was trying to get him ready for Mr. O in a year.

[IronReload04]

how do you spell pwn again?

[GT2]

DSM is completely right. Why is the personal training wrong for getting him to do it with a rope? How do you know the previous tricep workout he didnt use a bar? Or perhaps he is teaching him how to perform functional exercises to utilize different tricep heads in order to better develop a mind muscle connection?

In fact you tell DSM to go on and do them forever implying it wont work well...and look at your avatar???

Ok bud well look at my avatar, sure its not a picture of my triceps but I guarantee you my triceps are much bigger than yours and the rope attachment is the main attachment I use while doing triceps.

I highly doubt you went from 124lbs to 192lbs (weighed myself again this morning) in 1.5 years NATURALLY at the age of 17 to 18.5...
This is a steroid forum and I don't at all flame people who take AAS, it's their business. I want to take it in the future, hence why I am a member of this board.

However, don't go flaming my avy saying my triceps are small. After 1.5 years of training without ever using AAS or prohormones, you should be commending my achievment, not comparing it to your own "chemically aided" arm development.

At the end of the day, ALOT (notice I didn't say ALL) of personal trainers are incompetent, which was the moral of this thread.

[C_Bino]

It really can just go on and on. There is just no sense in implying the rope attachment isnt as good at building muscle.

You want to induce muscular hypertrophy, the rope allows you to do this well for either 2 or 3 heads of the tricep depending on how you perform the movement. I would say it is one of the BEST exercises actually. It is versatile and allows for stabilizing muscles such as the anconeus to develop further by stabilizing the elbow joint while your arms are slightly supinated from the pronated position.

[C_Bino]

I highly doubt you went from 124lbs to 192lbs (weighed myself again this morning) in 1.5 years NATURALLY at the age of 17 to 18.5...
This is a steroid forum and I don't at all flame people who take AAS, it's their business. I want to take it in the future, hence why I am a member of this board.

However, don't go flaming my avy saying my triceps are small. After 1.5 years of training without ever using AAS or prohormones, you should be commending my achievment, not comparing it to your own "chemically aided" arm development.

At the end of the day, ALOT (notice I didn't say ALL) of personal trainers are incompetent, which was the moral of this thread.

You should take the time to read more pal. Never did I say your triceps were small, never did I say your acheivements werent great, in fact I barely said much about you at all. I just said My triceps are bigger than yours. I have been in this game longer than you and have an extensive background in kinesiology and nutrition from two seperate post secondary instutions.

So I was merely letting you know that at 18 you dont know everything and when you put down personal trainers for thinking they know everything when you dont either it just makes you look like a jackass.

I didnt flame you at all just telling ya straight up how it is.