Had to intercede in a dangerous situation at the gym...

[ChessGuy]

Was finishing up my bench presses when this group of high school kids come in and start messing around. The first one started doing half squats without warming up with around 160 lbs. Terrible form.

Then they call a younger friend over and had him get under the bar.. This kid is maybe 15 and maybe 135Lbs and doesn't look like he's ever trained.

Again, without warming up, he manages to get the loaded bar off the rests and tries to do a squat. He gets halfway down and he starts bending forward at the waist while yelling for help. His friends just started laughing. I ran over and told the stupid kids to help their friend up before he got hurt.

After a few choice words I took the rookie aside and wrote down the startingstrength.com web site and the SS3 book. That's all I could do.

First time I've ever interfered with a 'workout'.

[TrendingUpward]

First time I've ever interfered with a 'workout'.

Good thing you did sir.

[WoofieNugget]

Good for you for saving the kid.

I'd also give the gym staff a piece of my mind since obviously they had no idea it was going on. They are fully liable if anything happens. One of my old gyms used to let high school students use it during the summer and it was a total gong show half the time.

[joe8512]

Was finishing up my bench presses when this group of high school kids come in and start messing around. The first one started doing half squats without warming up with around 160 lbs. Terrible form.

Then they call a younger friend over and had him get under the bar.. This kid is maybe 15 and maybe 135Lbs and doesn't look like he's ever trained.

Again, without warming up, he manages to get the loaded bar off the rests and tries to do a squat. He gets halfway down and he starts bending forward at the waist while yelling for help. His friends just started laughing. I ran over and told the stupid kids to help their friend up before he got hurt.

After a few choice words I took the rookie aside and wrote down the startingstrength.com web site and the SS3 book. That's all I could do.

First time I've ever interfered with a 'workout'.

Sounds like every other day at the Golds gym I train at. Tough part is the trainers are on the older side and are misinformed when it comes to form. That or most of them are too busy checking themselves out in the mirror to help anyone out of the goodness of their heart.

I have literally witnessed a kid maybe 15 ask a trainer why his pull-ups didnt feel right. The trainer refused to even watch him do one and told the kid to make an appointment with him. After the kid walked away the trainer snickered to me "I make 60 bucks an hour for that ****".

[Looton]

Good work. My son did the same for a guy on the flat bench - no spotter. He saw the guy failing to get the bar back up to the pegs. Picked it up off the guy's throat for him. Lucky my kid saw him through the window and ran in.

[Simmo0508]

Good for you for saving the kid.

I'd also give the gym staff a piece of my mind since obviously they had no idea it was going on. They are fully liable if anything happens. One of my old gyms used to let high school students use it during the summer and it was a total gong show half the time.

Don't you sign away liability when you register at a gym though? Granted the staff should've intervened too, but personal responsibility and risk of injury at any time is covered during contract sign up. Not all staff can be physically eye'ing every single member at all times.

Ultimately if you know you've never trained before and you load up 60kgs for a squat and you've never known what a squat feels like to perform, that's also stupidity on their part. Have to understand as well that staff at these gyms would have no clue about all member's personal strength levels and what they're capable of.

[joe8512]

Don't you sign away liability when you register at a gym though? Granted the staff should've intervened too, but personal responsibility and risk of injury at any time is covered during contract sign up. Not all staff can be physically eye'ing every single member at all times.

Ultimately if you know you've never trained before and you load up 60kgs for a squat and you've never known what a squat feels like to perform, that's also stupidity on their part. Have to understand as well that staff at these gyms would have no clue about all member's personal strength levels and what they're capable of.

That stupidity is pretty normal in my opinion. It is just lack of awareness. Most people don't know the significance of doing a movement right and avoiding injury.

There's a football team that works out at my gym and they all squat 300-450. The other day I taught them form and for the first time in their life I showed them what warm up sets are.

[JoeCannonMSCSCS]

You did the right thing. Id also inform the manager/owner about the kids. they should have a policy about minors.
joe

[BC02]

I have literally witnessed a kid maybe 15 ask a trainer why his pull-ups didnt feel right. The trainer refused to even watch him do one and told the kid to make an appointment with him. After the kid walked away the trainer snickered to me "I make 60 bucks an hour for that ****".

usually trainers only get paid when training clients so you cant expect the trainer to work for free

[joe8512]

usually trainers only get paid when training clients so you cant expect the trainer to work for free

That's just bad customer service though. He could have at least watched him and said something like "focus on x, y, and z, other muscles will also help you strengthen your pull up, I would love to show you sometime".

If I ran that gym and I knew my trainer had that attitude I would let his ass go.

Maybe my mentality is different because I've never worked for a corporate chain before and I've mostly only worked with trainers who truly want to help.

[slbross]

I think a request for advice on one movement is probably a good opportunity to try to pull the kid in as a client. Ask him to do the pullup, figure out what looks not so good, explain that, give him a few small ideas like what assistance he could add based on where it looks like his pullup is failing, let him know you're often here this day at this time for training sessions if he'd like to sign up and really get them, and any other goals, down.

[joe8512]

I think a request for advice on one movement is probably a good opportunity to try to pull the kid in as a client. Ask him to do the pullup, figure out what looks not so good, explain that, give him a few small ideas like what assistance he could add based on where it looks like his pullup is failing, let him know you're often here this day at this time for training sessions if he'd like to sign up and really get them, and any other goals, down.

Bullseye. I think denying someone help is poor customer service and in the end your screwing yourself because the trainer that actually helps him will land the private