Need some gym advice. I have been lifting at Lifetime Fitness since March with my son who is 14. We have mostly been doing a powerlifting workout (squats, DL, bench) but also do a good amount of shoulders, back, arms…etc to support the PL lifts. Lately there has been a trainer there who watches us and as soon as she see him doing something wrong either she or she sends another trainer over to us correct his form. I have been lifting on and off for close to 30 years in about a dozen different gyms. I don’t claim to be an expert but I know good form when I see it and I know bad form. Now I agree my son’s form is not always perfect and there things he needs to work on…that is true with everybody even these damn trainers. I try to make corrections but his form for most lifts is good enough to go a little heavy. Note, I am with him and spotting him on every single lift and correcting any non-symmetries and such. We spent the first few months only working on form. If we only work on form or I correct every little thing he does, he will get bored and aggravated quickly as would anybody. So sometimes I just let him lift.
Just last night he was doing sumo DL. This is how he always does DL, he said it was more natural to him than conventional DL. The trainer who watches us sends over one of her coworkers to show my son how to do sumo. What he showed was terrible technique with an overly arched back. Granted my son needs to get his shoulders back and his hips a little lower and closer to the bar, but it was not that bad. I use Krzysztof Wierzbicki as my gold standard of sumo technique. My son’s form was much closer to Wierzbicki’s technique than this trainer’s.
How do I get these trainers to leave us alone? They always say they don’t want to see him get hurt. He is 14, I am more likely to get hurt than him. If I see him doing anything dangerous, I stop it.
Just last night he was doing sumo DL. This is how he always does DL, he said it was more natural to him than conventional DL. The trainer who watches us sends over one of her coworkers to show my son how to do sumo. What he showed was terrible technique with an overly arched back. Granted my son needs to get his shoulders back and his hips a little lower and closer to the bar, but it was not that bad. I use Krzysztof Wierzbicki as my gold standard of sumo technique. My son’s form was much closer to Wierzbicki’s technique than this trainer’s.
How do I get these trainers to leave us alone? They always say they don’t want to see him get hurt. He is 14, I am more likely to get hurt than him. If I see him doing anything dangerous, I stop it.