High volume know-it-alls...How do u get them off ur back!!!

[CYNDROME]

Hey everyone...would like to get some views on how to deal with morons??

I'm no expert myself and Until about just few months ago I knew nothing about nutrition or weight lifting...so I'm very new to this and am always keen to learn. I have learnt a lot of new things from IA's programme and was expecting lots of traditional ppl to disagree w me in terms of volume and diet etc. Today I met one.

IA's changed my routine a lil bit as I'm short of a spotter, so I went in and asked one of the trainers to show me some of the stuff in there...smith machine bench etc..

the trainer looks at my routine and starts to ask questions. Who gave u this routine?? this is for ppl who want to build muscles...how long u been doing it..blah blah!!! He gave me a long ass lecture on high volume work out..He sat me down... he said look if u want to lose weight and tone up this isnt wat u shld be doin...I said I dont want to lose weight I want to get stronger...Looked like he almost had a heart attack.OMG a skinny girl like me??? Never!!!lol

This is the so-called gym-assistant/trainer my crappy gym hires..I had to differentiate between weights loss and body-fat loss..how my goal was to lose bodyfat and gain muscle. I had to explain to him I was on a high protein diet i.e.timed carbed diet was and wen I referred to low GI, he had to confirm whether that was glysgmic index or not. I found myself lecturing him in all this stuff and he was pushing me so hard to do more reps...I swear I wanted to just knock him out if I didnt need him to show me the training stuff...He was helping me with the bench and he wouldnt lemme get up w/o doing few more reps...In the end I had to do 3/4 extra reps to get him off my back.
He wasted @least 20 min of my time.In my head I was thinking wat a moron...I just wanted someone to show me technique not chnage my routine. See my strength is like zero at the min...if I was a lil bit stronger and lift decent I could just ignore him completely maybe even knock him out 4 real...lol :D

[threenorns]

<shrugs> morons are a fact of life.

when he started off-topic, that was the time to interrupt him firmly but politely with "i'm sure your theories are fascinating and i'd love to go over them with you when i'm not so pressed for time, but for now, can you please demonstrate the proper use of the smith machine."

statement, not question.

he works for you - you don't owe him anything.

[Ninja R]

Thankfully, I work out in a place mostly devoid of that crap. People look at me weird when I deadlift or squat because "it'll hurt your back and give you scoliosis."

But if I were in that position...hm. He might be just trying to earn his paycheck or something. If you use a journal, you're able to show the progress you've made. If not...well, I guess you should just ask 'em to leave you alone...you're paying money to use the gym and not be harassed.

[boog]

good lord I really wish I knew the answer to this

[evilpointingmonkey]

Duuuuuuh look at me, I'm a stupid guy who thinks that every body should
do 10 reps of everything. Duuuuuuuuuh I wanna chocolate chip cookie and
a tippy cup of milk. Duuuuuuh wheres my helmet? I need water wings to
take a bath. Duuuuuuh 10 reps or its too heavy. Tell this guy to read a book
on training for strength and that theres no such thing as toning up. Tone is
a partial state of contraction maintained by the spinal cord where some motor
units are contracted, fatigue, then the spinal cord contracts a second batch
of motor units. This guy knows his science like I know how many hairs are
on my scalp.

[ShortMick]

LOL!

Bottom line is no one can force you do a program that you don't want to do. When I run into these types (which is admittedly less often since I started training at a private powerlifting gym), I do my best to not get bottled up, and sometimes I'll try to hear them out. The reasons are 1) even the biggest idiots sometimes know *something* that I don't; and 2) entertainment value (I'll sometimes post a synopsis of the conversation on the forums if it's a really amusing one).

At the end of the day, I'd suggest thanking them for offering to help, and politely decline their advice. Then let your results speak for themselves.

About two weeks ago, I had a guy come into my store (I sell high-end fitness equipment) looking for rowing machines. In a very condesceding tone, he explained to me that "Piston-drive rowers will build a lot of size and strength, whereas the cable or belt versions are only good for a lot of cardio." With as straight of a face as I could manage, I thanked him for explaining that, since I obviously know very little about developing strength or muscle tissue. Amusingly, that seemed to get the point across.

[threenorns]

.........bwahahahaha!!!!!

oh, come on, please - set up a live-to-net video feed so we can all share in the fun!

[DEANO]

Mick, did that guys also happen to weigh about 150 soaking wet?? LOL

DEANO

[ShortMick]

Mick, did that guys also happen to weigh about 150 soaking wet?? LOL

DEANO
LOL, he may have been about 170, but he was also about 6 feet tall and probably couldn't squat to parallel with a 45lb bar.

Good call, hahaha!

[Master Of Puppets]

LOL!

Bottom line is no one can force you do a program that you don't want to do. When I run into these types (which is admittedly less often since I started training at a private powerlifting gym), I do my best to not get bottled up, and sometimes I'll try to hear them out. The reasons are 1) even the biggest idiots sometimes know *something* that I don't; and 2) entertainment value (I'll sometimes post a synopsis of the conversation on the forums if it's a really amusing one).

At the end of the day, I'd suggest thanking them for offering to help, and politely decline their advice. Then let your results speak for themselves.

About two weeks ago, I had a guy come into my store (I sell high-end fitness equipment) looking for rowing machines. In a very condesceding tone, he explained to me that "Piston-drive rowers will build a lot of size and strength, whereas the cable or belt versions are only good for a lot of cardio." With as straight of a face as I could manage, I thanked him for explaining that, since I obviously know very little about developing strength or muscle tissue. Amusingly, that seemed to get the point across.
Same thing happened to me the other day. I was trying to buy a squat rack, and the guy selling it to me was smaller than ME (5'8 160 :D) and he was trying to sell me a smith squat machine. he started showing me all these crap cable exercises on it that I would've never used anyways. :D Guys like that just make me laugh. :D

MOP

[evilpointingmonkey]

Ohhhhhh,,mannnnnn,,,I loooooove the Smith Machine. Go real slow on
the negative and you can really feel the pump. Free weights are dangerous.
Don't squat more than 200. Do curls on them as well. (Machine falls).