So the other day i stopped in at a local fitness facility to get some soft-tissue work done. Terry Fletcher is a great guy, and one hell of a massage therapist, so I don’t hold it against him that he works out of a traditional “big box” gym!
When I showed up Terry had to finish up a thing or two before starting, so I stayed on the floor for a couple minutes to see what people were doing.
I kid you not, in the 2 minutes that I stood waiting for him here’s just a quick “taste” of what I saw:
- Weighted Side bends
The gentleman doing these had one of those rubbery bars that weigh about 8-10 pounds on his back. For the ENTIRE 2 minutes I stood there, he teetered and tottered back and forth. I’d hate to be this guys lumbar spine!
- Behind the neck pull-ups
These were performed by a kid that couldn’t have been more that 14 years old and 110 pounds. He was flailing all over the place, making a bad exercise 10x worse. Let’s just say when shoulder experts like Eric Cressey and Bill Hartman tell you to stay away from an exercise, well, I listen.
- Da Curlz!
Yes, I saw at least a half dozen guys performing some form of curls. All in the same two minutes!
- Floor press combo thingamajig
The final exericse was not only the most creative, but definitely caught my eye. Let me set the scene a little bit for this one.
A guy was lying on the ground doing floor presses. Now obviously it caught my eye because you NEVER see guys doing floor presses in a gym like this, but it was even stranger because he had a huge mat underneath him and he was not anywhere near a rack. He only had 135# on the bar, so I didn’t think much of it.
So anyway one second I look over and he’s doing floor presses, no big deal. I turn away, and when I look back he’s still holding the bar at lockout but now he’s actually doing reverse crunches with it!
Now he’s definitely got my attention.
He cranks out about 5-10 reverse crunches, and then proceeds to straighten his leg and do a 1/2 battle flag to finish the set.
At this point, I don’t know whether to be shocked, awed, or slightly amused. I guess a little bit of everything. This guy at least had my respect, because his core strength must’ve been pretty damn good.
It was all good until I looked over 20 seconds later and he was catching a street pump with some dumbbell curls
As I’ve mentioned numerous times, if you’re serious about losing fat, adding muscle, or flat out getting strong, you owe it to yourself to find a facility that can help you do that. I know I’m preaching to the choir a bit here, but stick with me.
How many of you reading this are training in a great facility? One that actually cares about you getting results?
Big box and corporate America gyms are a dime a dozen nowadays. On the other hand, a gym like IFAST, Cressey Performance, Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning, Results Fitness or a host of other gyms across America are smaller and customized to your needs. I spent some time with Lee Taft yesterday and he has a kick-ass gym in his 500 square foot garage!
Why continue to spin your wheels?
Why continue to get sub-par results?
This is my call to action – don’t allow yourself anything less than the best going forward.
Find a great gym, join it immediately, and watch your strength and physique flourish.
Have a great weekend!
Stay strong
MR
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I agree with most of what you say regarding training atmosphere and quality of the gym environment, but unless money is no object, the financial side of this is huge. I live in the town next to where Cressey Performance is located and I inquired about pricing for sessions, and for a non-athlete, it's outrageous. I know Eric is the best of the best, and for those with deep pockets it's more attainable, but I can't rationalize to myself (or to my wife) why I would need to spend $300 for 4 sessions per month when I can buy Maximum Strength and do my best at a Gold's for $20/month (what I'm currently doing).
Now, I AM specifically asking for the month's block of sessions at CP for a Christmas present this year, as I do want to take advantage of living so close to one of the facilities you mention, but I think for the vast majority of people, the pricing for regular training at one of these places (especially at a place where you HAVE to have a trainer, if I could "join" CP and train there by myself for a more-reasonable monthly fee, that would be different) is just too steep.
I LOVE practicing my lifts, picking the brains of the trainers & learing new things @ Elite Sports Performance /Apollo Gym in Footscray, Victoria, Australia.
Any Aussies out there, do yourself a favour & check it out – you will be pleasantly surprised with their price points too.
Man-oh-man!!
I cannot stand it when people use the squat rack for bicep curls. In fact, I am so incensed by "curling in the rack" I wrote a whole blog post about it (http://bodybydrock.wordpress.com/2009/09/11/your-guide-to-being-a-complete-tool-in-the-gym/)
I have nothing against curling as an exercise, but do it some place besides the power rack. Me and my clients have so work to do and we need the safety rails!
Quick question on weighted side bends. I've seen you advocate the use of various weighted side bends in the past (Saxon side bends for example). Are you suggesting that weighted side bends (even assuming proper form) are categorically bad for the lumbar spine, or was this guy just using really bad form? I use weighted side bend variations and that comment got my attention…
I totally agree with you on getting into a quality facility and your right you don’t need a lot of space. However if you can’t find one in your area you don’t have an option. So my approach has been to insure that I have great workout partners. We bust our ass in the gym and most people stay out of our way. Whenever you want to expand to the DC area you let me know! I’ll put my money where my mouth is.
I am a licensed massage therapist in Austin, Texas, which is also home to the University of Texas. I am considering expanding my practice to include both discount services and facilities for our UT athletes or at least, being able to find and recommend one as part of my massage therapy services. Thanks for the great information, Mike.
LOL!!! This is the funniest damn post I’ve read in a long time! And…unfortunately…so perfectly true of a typical day at the gym.
Your description of the “floor press combo thingamajig” was so freagin’ hilarious I almost wet myself.
My buddy (until very recently) was a trainer at Equinox out in Santa Monica, CA – land of super narcissists and delusionally creative lifters. While visiting him recently out west I saw one guy attempting — and I @#$% you not — attempting some bizarre form of a squat on a god-d@#$ yoga ball!
Was like, Chris man, is that NORMAL around here?
Unreal.
(Still rolling)
I finished an internship out at Athletes Performance a couple years ago. As soon as I returned home I got a job at a “box gym”. I was totally out of place. I would try to help some of the members do things that would be a little more productive. like, maybe instead of dumbbell curls, trying pulls ups; instead of leg curls doing single leg deadlifts. That did not go over very well at all.
The 80′s have never left these gyms and they may be forever stuck in “the old ways”.
I love that there are people out there who actually know what is going on.
Keep it up Mike
Mike,
I totally agree with you, but last time we emailed each other, you didn't know any gyms in the SF Bay Area. Sad day for us Bay Area folks… but I'm doing the best I can do at my big box gym!
Open an iFAST gym in the Bay Area, and I will so much creative and widespread marketing for you (not that you guys need it), you'll have to relocate here!
David.
I have read a lot of your T-nation articles (especially on Squats) and enjoyed them thoroughly. I am also using I/O and MM and have found them useful. The soft tissue and dynamic stretching takes at least 30 min but hopefully, it prevents injuries.
I am here in Memphis, TN (one of the most obese city in USA) and have struggled to find the kind of facility you mentioned. It is very frustrating. Hopefully someday I can find a facility like that or just fly for a week to Indy. For now I am pretty much on my own. BTW, I wanted to ask if you have a good beginner book(s) in mind for strength training conditioning. I am familiar with Squat, deadlift, bench press and will like to read something on programming side.
Thanks so much and keep up the good work.
Mike, Thanks for the compliment about my Massage Therapy (MT) abilities and YES I am constantly amazed at how things are done around the ‘big box’ gyms and how relaxed the environment is with the Personal Trainers. Of course I also agree with all of your bloggers, you need to open more iFAST locations. The problem you would have is that people come to your shop because of you and that’s hard to clone.
There was also a point I want to make about comparing massage versus ART versus cold laser therapy versus all the other stuff. I think some people miss the point about when and why you would use MT. I have many clients that come to me because they need help and that’s great.
The person that I believe receives the most benefit from the MT is the person who uses Massage Therapy to improve Sports Performance. It’s more of a proactive versus reactive approach and that’s what you do.