Form Function and Integrity

Monday night I went to observe a class a friend of mine ran at a local gym. Reason being, I am trying to get ideas about putting together a class many people may enjoy, if and when I obtain a job at a gym. Now, I know my friend is a very talented personal trainer and a person I respect very much. After it was all said and done and I had gone home, he called me to say he felt he was being "critiqued" instead of observed by me. In my defense I said," when you go out to eat, you do not plan on evaluating your server but end up being the critic because you work in the service industry." So in a sense I believe I may have been a bit of a critic but that is in a trainers thought process because that is what we do. We correct/point out/ ask questions about our client's range of motion. During our discussion he made a few statements that I do not necessarily agree with. Now let me set the stage for you....

In the class was about 6-8 women with all of them being at different fitness levels, very unfit to decently in shape (very subjective opinion). These were the exercises he did with them for 2 rounds: 10 staggered push ups, 20 wide squats, 1 min jump rope, 20 sdlhp done with a body bar (he called them squat dead lift high pulls but in my crossfit world they are called sumo dead lift high pulls)20 squat jumps, and 1 min mountain climbers. Not a bad burnout to start out the session. During this session he attempts to coach and demonstrate the movements to the ladies while doing the exercises with them and calling out a couple ladies who may have decided to take a break or who was not performing the movement with the full range of motion that is required. There may have been one of the ladies doing the exercises correctly. So during this class, as I watch, it is driving me crazy that most of the ladies are not performing any of the movements correctly. Almost to the point where I want to say something (and I did mention to him about the sdlhp because I believe IF it is taught as a squat (instead of sumo) dead lift high pull, there is a lot of room for poor form. Because in CrossFit, as coaches, we stop our members/students and correct their form before they can move on, so they do not develop bad training habits or most importantly, not injure themselves. So when the class was done the ladies did seem like it was a tough workout.

Anyways when we had our conversation I made the point that it was very uncomfortable with me to let the women continue doing the movements with bad form even in lieu of getting a "good" workout. He then, said that women , such as the ones in this class, are more worried about getting a "decent" workout and if he would have stopped and corrected these women that they would cease to continue his class and that I would just have to learn to deal with people doing it incorrectly if I decided to create a class..... What?!! That blew my mind!! My stubbornness fails to believe this! For one, I think,who doesn't want to do things right? And does that not shake your integrity at all? It does mine because I believe form is vital for functional living. And many people have no idea how to correctly do that. Now it is a trainer's decision if he can choose to let the people do the movements incorrectly and take the hit in attendance or drive the form home and get great results and let those people refer you as a great trainer that cares for one's well-being (I'm not saying my friend doesn't care). Because hopefully he does practice driving the form home and not worry about being too hard on a client.

But I have to put my ego aside. If I think about the classes that are done at a more popular gym, such as Lifetime, the classes have maybe 30 people in them. I'm sure the instructor does not correct any one person but simply just states what the correct form is and continues the class without any second thought. So I may be wrong with how I believe it should be done.

My final thought is..... I draw the line for my clients and class followers. I want people to respect me because I respect the movements. And when it comes to range of motion, diet, and proper form I will not budge. It is what defines me as a coach/trainer and I believe to be stubborn in those ways will guide me to success!!