WARNING! Dangerous Personal Trainers

The personal training industry is embarrassing. There's no other word for it.

Here's an email I received from a good personal trainer that realized something was "rotten" at her gym. 

At the heart of the problem in this industry is putting the focus on "trying to entertain the client" over "getting the clients results with safe and effective training".

That's why stories like this are not uncommon...

*** 
Dear Craig,

At our fitness center we are at the end of a month-long indoor rowing challenge. Our members are putting in increasingly more and more time on the rowers: 2, 3, 4 hours per day, trying to out do each other. As staff we keep reminding rowers to listen to their bodies, to stretch regularly, and to stop all together if they feel pain.

But I am beginning to question the benefits of these type of
challenges altogether. They really don't seem to serve much purpose. You're right! No one is losing weight! Rowers who spend hours on the machines are rowing at such a light pressure, I don't see how it could be improving their fitness levels either.

*****CB's comments...

Thanks for your email.

I don't have anything positive to say about the gym's rowing contest.

Does anyone know what the one of the main rowing injuries is? It's herniated discs from repeated spinal flexion.

Encouraging this type of activity is legally negligent on behalf of the gym. I wouldn't recommend a repeat of this contest to the gym's management.

Interesting observation about the fat loss, or lack thereof. It's not surprising, of course, but thanks for your info. 

**** 
So is common sense optional for trainers?

It's funny, yet extremely sad and frustrating at the same time, to see uneducated trainers taking their clients through dangerous, ineffective workout routines.

And you can see the fear and confusion in the client's eyes as they perform these circus acts without benefit. But the poor client thinks, well, the trainer is the one with weekend certification, he or she must know what they are doing.

Yep, the whole scene is a joke.

I mean, isn't it ridiculous that you only need a weekend course in order to be responsible for another person's health and fitness?

I try and stay out of commercial gyms now, but in the past I used to see grown men and women being instructed to hop on and off inflatable "balance" gym toys or stand on these balance boards and do dumbbell curls with 10 pounds in each hand.

And to think I use are the basics...maybe I need a new weekend certification?

But these poor trainers are unable to help their clients get any benefit from the workout because they really just don't know anything about strength. And the clients are afraid to question the almighty holder of the weekend Personal Trainer certification.

Heck, I was writing better programs at age 16 - after reading my first muscle magazine. And I tell ya, if a 16-year old kid straight off the farm can figure out how to gain muscle and lose fat, than one of these $100 an hour trainers with the weekend certification in the big city of Toronto should be able to figure it out too, shouldn't they? Shouldn't they?

But no, they keep bouncing on their expensive gym toys, and helping their clients get weaker and make ZERO change in their bodies.

There is something terribly wrong with the personal trainer industry.

And that's why day by day, workout by workout, we're going to clean it up. If you are committed to better workouts, join the community at www.TTmembers.com. You'll get a professionally designed program every month, as well as interviews with fat loss experts that I've handpicked as the best of the best.

I spent 6 years in University learning my trade, and I'll be darned if I'm going to let a bunch of weekend certification courses ruin this industry. Come learn from the experts at www.TTMembers.com - where you'll learn more in a weekend than 99% of all trainers that go through these "so called" certifications.

You want a laugh?

Check out the 4 worst exercises I've watched in gyms in Toronto...

And I guarantee you (with a 100% money back guarantee), that you will get more muscle definition and far more functional strength with my TT Bodyweight Workout than you would standing around on any gym toy.

Don't be fooled by those with the words Personal Trainer on their shirts and the weekend certification on the wall,

CB

Another reader writes in...

"You are espousing valuable information and insight into the disinformation world of personal training and providing the right alternative and assistance for people looking for quality/accurate information.  You are educating people appropriately." 
Dr. Darren Burke, St. Francis Xavier University, Antiogonish, NS

Thanks Dr. Burke.

And did you know one of those BOSU balls costs at least $170? What a waste of your hard earned money...For over $20 LESS you can become a Platinum Level TT Member and get access to year's worth of real, PROVEN fat loss and muscle building workouts.

Join the best fat loss, bodyweight training resource on the Net

Remember, no more fitness B.S.!

"Craig, I am so impressed with how you conduct your business, your

professionalism, quality and responsiveness is really unequaled.

You are truly the best kept secret in the fitness world."

Bobby Logan