video of some our clients

[alikaeos]

These are just regular clients. We shot this over the last 3 days. Tell me what you think so far? Curios how many trainers out there do bench presses, squats, pull ups, or dead lifts with there female clients?

http://www.vidilife.com/index.cfm?f=media.play&vchrMediaProgramIDCryp=ADB45D80-4E82-4761-B3FF-D

This isn't the final edit. The real one will be up on you tube in a week or two.

[Keltron]

These are just regular clients. We shot this over the last 3 days. Tell me what you think so far? Curios how many trainers out there do bench presses, squats, pull ups, or dead lifts with there female clients?

http://www.vidilife.com/index.cfm?f=media.play&vchrMediaProgramIDCryp=ADB45D80-4E82-4761-B3FF-D

This isn't the final edit. The real one will be up on you tube in a week or two.

Wow, very impressive. Well I do have this 55 yr old woman who can do about 3 push ups all the way down to the floor. And then from there she can do about 6 more half way. My next goal is to get her to do one pull up by herself.

I did have another mid30's girl whom got up to 2 pull ups by herself. But sadly I had to stop all lat exercises for a while because her elevated/protracted shoulder deviation was getting worse. She can also squat and deadlift 105lbs x 8 reps. She's one of my shining stars. I'm really proud of her.

alikaeos, I'm interested in what these women could do when they first started. One pullup? No pull ups? And what sort of progression did you use? I must say I'm impressed.

[NorwichGrad]

Great job. The ladies are strong, use exercises that has the highest level of neuro muscular activation, and they use perfect form. You trained your clients well!! I would refer my wife to you guys in a heartbeat.

[kman4523]

good stuff. i have a few clients like those, wished every client would work as hard as them. i do all of the above mentioned exercises besides deadlifts.

[alikaeos]

A few of the girls could do 1 pull up but none from a dead hang. For the pull ups it was no secret just repetition and we usually assist them. Slow negatives. No set program. Bench press we stress them to keep tight. Once they start seeing the bench go up they are pretty motivated. It usually goes up 2 lbs a week. We use 1 lb clips to get the in between weights. We use a lot of low rep training and long rest periods. For the squats we usually start with goblet squats or box squats and then move on to regular squats. And the deads we start them in the rack with low weight to get used to the movement. We will have more videos up soon on www.youtube.com/kaeosfitness

[forcefedfreak]

All of my female clients do that stuff with the exception of free pull-ups. All of them are on the "assist" but one of them only uses 15lbs assisting for sets of 8-10.

[samurai_mart]

I would have my female clients doing that sort of thing.
But where I work, the majority of females refuse to do any sort of free weights/body weight training, as they seem to think they're going to get 'BIG MUSCLES'.

Do you have any tips on convincing them it is beneficial?
I've tried telling them they're not going to get huge, but it doesn't seem to work.

[alikaeos]

Do you have any tips on convincing them it is beneficial?
I've tried telling them they're not going to get huge, but it doesn't seem to work.

Explain to them that 8-12 reps is the formula for getting big. That 1-6 reps is for strength. Also the whole testosterone. But most importantly agree with them that lifting weights all the time will get you big through volume but we are only going to this 1-3 hours a week. And if at any point you feel a muscle is too big we will lay off of it and it will tone down. Tell them you want to train them like an athlete who needs to be weighed in so you have no intention of having them gain weight. Also disclaim that they will initially gain 2 lbs because the muscle will retain in laymans terms (water and sugar) to prepare for the next work out. Then if they are light enough below 125 or close to it. Tell them on of your goals is to get them to so a pull up. And when they finally do it they will be much happier with there body than they are today.

[John Prophet]

the pullups and bench r nice. Im not in total agreement with the squats....lots of 'dive bombing' and knees going way out forwards. Id definitely have them doing a bit more of a powerlifter style squat where its more hip based and less knee based.

IMO the depth was just excessive on a few of them. I know that ATG is all the rage right now but to me there is just a point of diminishing returns. I thought the one girl in blk pants with white shirt that went just to parallel had about the most solid form.

Still, its good to see fems squatting etc. U wont really see that in my gym unless it with me training them, lol (unless u count smith quarter squats..which I dont count), I briefly trained a teen softball player and I had her doing good form with 135x5 the first time we squatted and people heard about it and were asking me the next day if it was true, lol...sort of shows how few girls in most commerical gyms actually squat anything.

I cant get the vid to play far enough to show the deads, lol. I recently had 2 girls doing sumo deads for 135x5. At first I just put 95 in the rack around knee height and they looked at me like I was crazy. A lot of women just react to the look of the weight like "I cant lift THAT"...they they easily rep it.

[alikaeos]

yeah girls are stronger than they think you. I use this formula I computed for relative strength: bench and squat (load x 2) - 20 lbs will you give the relative load for a male at the same body weight. So if a girl is 135 lbs and benches 100 lbs it's like a 135 lb man benching 180 lbs. And for deadlifts its just (load x 1.75). Power lifting style squats has its share of negatives as well. We generally allow the clients to squat with what the feel most comfortable with.

[bad tripp]

Interesting to see a much different response from here than on T-nation.

http://www.t-nation.com/tmagnum/readTopic.do?id=2121429

[alikaeos]

Probably cause this post is specifically for personal trainers.

[BobTheBuildel2]

No offense, but it seems kind of stupid to allow clients to use bad form over and over again. Teach it right the first time.

[FreddyKrueger]

I am still learning, but I did see some bad form in those videos. If I train, or help a person I usually teach them form before they touch any weights. Usually have the girls do squats with the bar only and I stress the form. I don't let them touch any weights until they get it right. I get a lot of ladies come up to me asking me how to do a squat correctly at the gym. They watch me show it and they are amazed as to how badly they were doing it.

Since I am not certified and there are a lot of things I need to learn, please take my comments with a grain of salt. I am here to learn and talking to other personal trainers here is great, priceless.

Good job on the video (I am a film major and make movies as my main career). Let me know if you need any tips on lighting or better sound.

Take care.

[alikaeos]

The form is acceptable. The squats are more of an olympic style then a powerlifting style that you may be used to. The deadlifts we teach "thoracic rounding" which you may be confusing as lumbar flexion. The idea also is to get your clients to work and do stuff that will have a positive impact on their bodies. Getting your clients to do stuff is a bigger challange than teaching form. Most of these girls work out 1-2 a week. If you teach them a perfect squat with no weight on monday you will have to reteach it on thursday. The will not see any results and lose motivation. As a trainer you need to draw that line between form and work. Some draw it way to the right some draw it way to the left, I feel we draw it some where in the middle. We terminate plenty of sets here.

[DriverDan]

Some of those deads made me cringe.


The form is acceptable. The squats are more of an olympic style then a powerlifting style that you may be used to. The deadlifts we teach "thoracic rounding" which you may be confusing as lumbar flexion. The idea also is to get your clients to work and do stuff that will have a positive impact on their bodies. Getting your clients to do stuff is a bigger challange than teaching form. Most of these girls work out 1-2 a week. If you teach them a perfect squat with no weight on monday you will have to reteach it on thursday. The will not see any results and lose motivation. As a trainer you need to draw that line between form and work. Some draw it way to the right some draw it way to the left, I feel we draw it some where in the middle. We terminate plenty of sets here.
You're trying to excuse them for poor form. There is NO excuse for poor form. Better they not lift or use machines then injure themselves.

[adoniscomplex]

wow i couldnt believe how bad ct on t nation just that apart

i didnt watch the full video but it reading ct's response makes me feel like i will always be learning

[FreddyKrueger]

The form is acceptable. The squats are more of an olympic style then a powerlifting style that you may be used to. The deadlifts we teach "thoracic rounding" which you may be confusing as lumbar flexion. The idea also is to get your clients to work and do stuff that will have a positive impact on their bodies. Getting your clients to do stuff is a bigger challange than teaching form. Most of these girls work out 1-2 a week. If you teach them a perfect squat with no weight on monday you will have to reteach it on thursday. The will not see any results and lose motivation. As a trainer you need to draw that line between form and work. Some draw it way to the right some draw it way to the left, I feel we draw it some where in the middle. We terminate plenty of sets here.

Great info, makes sense (I guess I am on the left side :) Form first). Thanks.

[BB2K]

These are just regular clients. We shot this over the last 3 days. Tell me what you think so far? Curios how many trainers out there do bench presses, squats, pull ups, or dead lifts with there female clients?

http://www.vidilife.com/index.cfm?f=media.play&vchrMediaProgramIDCryp=ADB45D80-4E82-4761-B3FF-D

This isn't the final edit. The real one will be up on you tube in a week or two.

I was doing those lifts with both male and female clients, other trainers and management frowned on it, they said that was to hard on them. what a joke.

[DriverDan]

I was doing those lifts with both male and female clients, other trainers and management frowned on it, they said that was to hard on them. what a joke.
I hope your clients have better form than those in the videos.

[FreddyKrueger]

I don't see why squats would be a bad excersise for female clients (unless of an injury or a serious problem). They love the burn next day. The three girls I have trained so far have come back to the gym excited to do squats. :)

[Al Shades]

lol, Women are weak.

Good vids. Personally, I wouldn't have women do the big 3 but that's because I'm not a fan of free weight exercises.

[Environ]

That's a great watch. To answer your question, yes. I make all my female clients squat, deadlift, bench and, in some cases, do pull ups (I don't get have the very overweight ones do pull ups).

But, I have to admit that it sometimes takes some convincing talk to get them to do 'muscle building' exercises. Maybe I'll save your vid and show it to them.

[Rodzilla]

your girls are fire.;)

[adoniscomplex]

lol, Women are weak.

Good vids. Personally, I wouldn't have women do the big 3 but that's because I'm not a fan of free weight exercises.

what the **** ?

[DriverDan]

...I'm not a fan of free weight exercises.
They why did you join the thread? Why even bother with this forum at all?


But, I have to admit that it sometimes takes some convincing talk to get them to do 'muscle building' exercises. Maybe I'll save your vid and show it to them.
Use it to show them what NOT to do (form that is).

[Environ]

Use it to show them what NOT to do (form that is).

Absolutely. Some of their form was atrocious, but at least the girls were making an attempt to do these lifts. I am a 'strict form' person and I don't allow my clients to get away with poor form at all. And, I do not accept the explanation that getting them to do it some way is better than not getting them to do it correctly. And, I don't accept that if you have to teach them correctly on Monday, they'll have forgotten it by Thursday. Spend enough time teaching them how to do it correctly, constantly emphasising the teaching points, and they'll remember it. Thoracic rounding? Since when has that been acceptable? If it is, then I'd like to see some references to support it.

[alikaeos]

Absolutely. Some of their form was atrocious, but at least the girls were making an attempt to do these lifts. I am a 'strict form' person and I don't allow my clients to get away with poor form at all. And, I do not accept the explanation that getting them to do it some way is better than not getting them to do it correctly. And, I don't accept that if you have to teach them correctly on Monday, they'll have forgotten it by Thursday. Spend enough time teaching them how to do it correctly, constantly emphasising the teaching points, and they'll remember it. Thoracic rounding? Since when has that been acceptable? If it is, then I'd like to see some references to support it.

from elite fts
Style Issue #2: Round the upper back or don?t round the upper back? The lower back is the biggest concern first and foremost. There must be an arch, and you must know how to use your abs to brace your low back to maintain that arch. Some people have more of an arch than others. That?s not the point though. The point is that the arch must be tight (for that person), and the abs must brace the lower back by pushing the diaphragm down. Rounding the upper back is an advantage for lifters who know how to use it because it shortens the stroke of the lift (it feels almost natural for those with a thoracic spine curve). To maximize this technique, just sink your ribs and round the shoulders forward when you grab the bar on the floor (being sure to keep a tight arch in the lower back). If you compete in powerlifting and pull with an upper back curve and feel comfortable with it, don?t change it. You will tend to pull in a meet the way that you practice. If you have ever seen Konstantin pull any of his 900 plus lbs deadlifts, you?ll see how exaggerated an upper back curve can be. He is also a master of the rib sink/shoulder rolled forward technique that I just described. Take a look! http://www.gometal.com/videot/konstantin_deadlift_430.wmv

the club has about 5000 hours of personal training about 4000 for me before I opend the club another 2500 for my partner. You are thats more than 11,000 hours with no major inuries. (1 calf strain and 1 hamstring pull (during sprints and clients were warned that sometimes this may happen and that they are crossing the line between personal training and sport, they are also told that when they attempt max lifts, and a 1 issue with elbow tendinitus).

A variety of other sports are ranked below, with the number of injuries per 1000 hours of activity in parentheses ('Injuries in Recreational Adult Fitness Activities,' The American Journal of Sports Medicine, vol. 21 (3), pp. 461-467, 1993).

1. Alpine skiing (8)
2. Rowing machine exercise (6)
3. Treadmill walking or jogging (6)
4. Tennis (5)
5. Dancing classes (5)
6. Resistance training with weight machines (4)
7. Resistance training with free weights (4)
8. Outdoor cycling (3.5)
9. Stationary cycle exercise (2)
10. Stair climbing (2)
11. Walking (2)

Statistacly we should have around 46 inuries. Interesting the machines and the free weights are equally dangerous. Our rate is about .4 / per thousand hours.

I'm sure the rate is much higher at the elite and professional athlete level why I still stress form is more so important at higher levels. Speaking from experience and data.

[Al Shades]

They why did you join the thread? Why even bother with this forum at all?

I'm a bodybuilder, not a powerlifter.

I help people change their physical appearance.

[DriverDan]

I'm a bodybuilder, not a powerlifter.

I help people change their physical appearance.
And you don't use free weights? LOL!

[adoniscomplex]

I'm a bodybuilder, not a powerlifter.

I help people change their physical appearance.

so you dont care about proper muscle function ?

you dont bother help people with their posture ?

cause if you are using machines you obv dont care

[FreddyKrueger]

How do you figure you can do body building without free weights? Over 90% of my workouts are exclusively free weights. I wouldn't have it any other way. Every time I've used a machine for heavier workouts I would feel restricted, every time. Plus machine work really depends on the persons body structure. If you are tall and lenghty quite a few machines just would not give you the best ROM. IMO.

PS. I am tall and lenghty.:)