Do commercial gyms hire bad trainers on purpose?

[mbasic]

The real financial value of a trainer to a globogym owner isn't teaching someone to squat in a personal training session. It's having them take newbies around the place, talk some shit to them and make them feel comfortable in the place. For that you don't need to be the world's best trainer. Just don't be a social retard, and don't actually injure them in their first session.

But many of the ones I see ARE social retards. And I include social skills as part of being a good trainer.

Maybe if one (the 'good' trainers you speak of) consider yourself 'good' ; you automatically don't get into the globotrainer applicant pool.

And/or

....if you come off as over qualified and a know-it-all and/or aren't going to Rx what the gym wants in the way of training you get passed over. If I were hired by my globo, I would only windup using about 1/20th of the total equipment on hand. Maybe barbells, dumbbells, and about 4-5 machines, and one or two cardio-mills. That's probably not good for business long term.

and/or

....if you come off as over qualified or too knowledgeable, they see you as a threat. You are just going to amass a client pool and then go into business for yourself. But I'd imagine have some clauses or make you sign something to that effect ("you are prohibited from stealing our clients")

[KyleSchuant]

Maybe they're social retards when talking to you. Doesn't mean they are generally.

But in the end your original post is

I've been really confounded trying to find work in this field, and seeing the guys I get passed over for in action.

"why aren't they hiring me?"

And we don't know the answer to that. We'd have to interview you to find out.

[Culican]

How would a good trainer even train someone in a globogym? Say the client has an appointment at 6:30am (in a gym that opens at 4 or 5am), there is no assurance that any given piece of equipment (squat rack, deadlifting platform, etc.) will be available when the training session starts.

In my observations at my local Esporta (formerly LA Fitness) the trainer looks around, see's what equipment is open, and then has the client use that equipment. Alternatively, they use the "Personal Training Area" that is very sparse on equipment but heavy on bosu balls and other various items of that nature.

[KyleSchuant]

there is no assurance that any given piece of equipment (squat rack, deadlifting platform, etc.) will be available when the training session starts.

Chances are pretty good that a squat rack is free, and a free barbell. The bench is often occupied for hours, but the rack should be good. And the younger ones can clean and press, some can clean and front squat, almost everyone can row and deadlift.

The major restriction is the time. Almost nobody can afford 2-3 x1hr a week, so 2x 30' is most common. You find yourself giving them one barbell lift and then supersetting it with some lighter dumbbell stuff, that and supersetting the work sets of the first exercise with the warmups of the next or vice versa.

[ChasingCurls69]

there is no assurance that any given piece of equipment (squat rack, deadlifting platform, etc.) will be available when the training session starts.

Chances are pretty good that a squat rack is free, and a free barbell. The bench is often occupied for hours, but the rack should be good. And the younger ones can clean and press, some can clean and front squat, almost everyone can row and deadlift.

The major restriction is the time. Almost nobody can afford 2-3 x1hr a week, so 2x 30' is most common. You find yourself giving them one barbell lift and then supersetting it with some lighter dumbbell stuff, that and supersetting the work sets of the first exercise with the warmups of the next or vice versa.

My girlfriend has been going to a globogym and apparently there's been a paradigm shift at globos here; squat racks are almost never free during peak hours anymore.

Getting 2-3x 1 hour sessions is definitely the biggest barrier even working at a CF style gym now. I've never seen the 30 minute sessions done here, or at NYSC when that was the globo I worked for, but it does seem useful to have as an option.

[DCR]

My girlfriend has been going to a globogym and apparently there's been a paradigm shift at globos here; squat racks are almost never free during peak hours anymore.

This has been the case for a few years now. What makes it far more frustrating than the inability to get a bench is that 9 put of 10 (being generous) of the people on the racks are engaging in quarter squats and other nonsense, thereby wasting their own time as well as that of anyone waiting.

[CheekiBreekiFitness]

- has modest goals (like see their abs

The meme gets even better knowing that I wrote my initial rant as a fat man.

[CheekiBreekiFitness]

How would a good trainer even train someone in a globogym? Say the client has an appointment at 6:30am (in a gym that opens at 4 or 5am), there is no assurance that any given piece of equipment (squat rack, deadlifting platform, etc.) will be available when the training session starts.

In my observations at my local Esporta (formerly LA Fitness) the trainer looks around, see's what equipment is open, and then has the client use that equipment. Alternatively, they use the "Personal Training Area" that is very sparse on equipment but heavy on bosu balls and other various items of that nature.

I'm not a personnal trainer, but I have been training a beginner friend in this kind of setting (globogym, busy etc.), and it was never a problem as long as you add some flexibility in the program. Say each day is comprised of a squat-like exercise, a deadlift-like exercise, and a pushing exercise, I'd just have 3 variants for each, and simply go for what is availailable on that day. Then I'd have them try to beat whatever they did the last time they performed the exercise.

Especially if the person is a beginner, having some variety is not a bad thing, since you want them to build a large base.

[CheekiBreekiFitness]

there is no assurance that any given piece of equipment (squat rack, deadlifting platform, etc.) will be available when the training session starts.

Chances are pretty good that a squat rack is free, and a free barbell. The bench is often occupied for hours, but the rack should be good. And the younger ones can clean and press, some can clean and front squat, almost everyone can row and deadlift.

The major restriction is the time. Almost nobody can afford 2-3 x1hr a week, so 2x 30' is most common. You find yourself giving them one barbell lift and then supersetting it with some lighter dumbbell stuff, that and supersetting the work sets of the first exercise with the warmups of the next or vice versa.

Do people really go to the gym to train 30 minutes ? That sounds like so little time to train.

At this rate those people would be better off buying some simple equipment at home and train there.

[GlasgowJock]

Do people really go to the gym to train 30 minutes ? That sounds like so little time to train.

At this rate those people would be better off buying some simple equipment at home and train there.

It's worthwhile if you have a rolling membership I guess - the bulk of my garage gym workouts the past 2+ years have been 30-40minutes.

Works fine* if you phase out all the pointless volume work.

*Relative to goals caveat.

I used to be a gym instructor for 5 years when I was 18-23. Despite a relevant 2 year college diploma the bulk of what I learned was online/ learning how to lift weights at the rugby club.

Being socially well adjusted, the majority of folk just wanted to chat while they 'exercised' rather than 'trained', and I'm totally cool with most folk doing the former particularly if they reach the dizzy heights of exercising consistently, dare I say, 'for fun'.

A favourite saying, 'Don't let perfect be the enemy of good enough'. Just encourage people to do something.

[KyleSchuant]

Do people really go to the gym to train 30 minutes ? That sounds like so little time to train.

It is. This is why you'll see PTs giving people circuits. For example, you could have a single 10kg dumbbell and a flat moveable bench.

Do the following, no breaks in between.
Goblet squat 10kg x10
DB one-armed bench press 10kg x10, once each side
DB one-armed row 10kg x10, once each side
DB one-legged deadlift 10kg x10, once each side
DB suitcase carry lap of the gym, once each side

Allowing one minute for each set or side, and a minute's rest after the full runthrough, and you get 1 minute for squats plus 4x2' for the others plus 1' rest and that's 10'. Do that for 3 rounds and it's a full-body workout. You can progress this over time, for example the person might start with sets of 8, work up to 12s, then grab the 12.5kg dumbbell instead and go back to 8.

But even the above, if the person can do that then they'd have no trouble starting with squatting, pressing, rowing the empty bar, and deadlifting 40kg. And you could work on them from there. Bear in mind that if you can press it you can bench it, and if you can squat if you can deadlift it, so if they just press and squat a couple of times a week and then do some other stuff they should be sorted. That approach certainly won't take them beyond the typical SS novice linear progression results of (for men) 120-140kg squat etc, but a glance at the SS training log forums will show you that most people never go beyond that level anyway.

"We are not training the 600lb squatter, we are training his mother." - Ole Rip.

At this rate those people would be better off buying some simple equipment at home and train there.

Yes. But would they do it? After all, most health departments worldwide recommend a 30'-60' brisk walk daily, and walking is completely free, but how many people actually walk? So even 2x30' pw can have value for people. Hop onto your local secondhand stuff website and see how many people are selling old weights they never used.

That's not to say the 2x30' is ideal or preferable, of course it's not. It's just a natural development of the whole 1:1 thing, and the fact that PTs need to make a living, and at the same time people have only so much money to spend on training. As well, the nature of having a trainer is that you don't know its value until you've had it, and even then it takes about 3 months to be sure either way, this makes people tentative about plonking money down on it.

That's why I train people in small group sessions, up to 6 at once. They need me to watch their lifts, they don't need me to talk shit to them while they're sitting around in between lifts, that's what the other lifters are for. So it spreads the cost among 3-6 people, I get paid the same but they get more time. I started that towards the end of my time at the globogym, the managers didn't like it, we had 6 people clunking heavy weights, it bothered the office workers reading magazines on the ellipticals.

[mbasic]

How would a good trainer even train someone in a globogym? Say the client has an appointment at 6:30am (in a gym that opens at 4 or 5am), there is no assurance that any given piece of equipment (squat rack, deadlifting platform, etc.) will be available when the training session starts.

In my observations at my local Esporta (formerly LA Fitness) the trainer looks around, see's what equipment is open, and then has the client use that equipment. Alternatively, they use the "Personal Training Area" that is very sparse on equipment but heavy on bosu balls and other various items of that nature.

yep, that's a good point. Your example above is kind, as most of the globos I see 6:30am isn't NEARLY as bad as 5-6pm/afterwork. Good fucking luck with that.

Only thing I can think of thats the workaround is "small classes" or group training. At my old globo (LifeTime), they had signs up on a series of 5 squat racks/platform stations saying they were "reserved from 8-11am for group fitness". They would literally kick you off at 7:45 (warn you really) if you were using one of those. The signs were simple 6"x9" white cards with black letters, on one of the interior uprights of the cage. People would be visibly pissed when they got kicked off. Luckily, they had another 5 racks elsewhere in the gym (10 total).

[CheekiBreekiFitness]

@GlasgowJock @KyleSchuant you guys are right, I agree that for most people, doing a little is better than doing nothing, and that most people will just fall of the badwagon (i.e. buy a set of weights and then never use them). It's sad but true.

[Hardartery]

How would a good trainer even train someone in a globogym? Say the client has an appointment at 6:30am (in a gym that opens at 4 or 5am), there is no assurance that any given piece of equipment (squat rack, deadlifting platform, etc.) will be available when the training session starts.

In my observations at my local Esporta (formerly LA Fitness) the trainer looks around, see's what equipment is open, and then has the client use that equipment. Alternatively, they use the "Personal Training Area" that is very sparse on equipment but heavy on bosu balls and other various items of that nature.

yep, that's a good point. Your example above is kind, as most of the globos I see 6:30am isn't NEARLY as bad as 5-6pm/afterwork. Good fucking luck with that.

Only thing I can think of thats the workaround is "small classes" or group training. At my old globo (LifeTime), they had signs up on a series of 5 squat racks/platform stations saying they were "reserved from 8-11am for group fitness". They would literally kick you off at 7:45 (warn you really) if you were using one of those. The signs were simple 6"x9" white cards with black letters, on one of the interior uprights of the cage. People would be visibly pissed when they got kicked off. Luckily, they had another 5 racks elsewhere in the gym (10 total).

I go between noon and 1:00 specifically to avoid people. The gym I am using is walking distance and deserted between noon and 2:00 most days. Not everyone had that schedule freedom, I would probably lift exclusively at home if I was back in N America and punching a clock somewhere. Just put as ide the gym dues into savings and use that to acquire equipment or pay off a bigger purchase over time.

[Hardartery]

@GlasgowJock @KyleSchuant you guys are right, I agree that for most people, doing a little is better than doing nothing, and that most people will just fall of the badwagon (i.e. buy a set of weights and then never use them). It's sad but true.

These people are the key to most of my equipment. I would pick stuff up cheap at yard sales or free from the curb or Craigslist ads or the like and sell the stuff I didn't want to Play It Again Sports to give me money to buy what I did want. I staples a $2 piece of vinyl to a discarded bench and made an excellent return quite a few times.

[asdf]

is their personal training model the same as their overall gym membership model, relying on payments from people who aren't actually even showing up? Do they PREFER bad trainers, because bad trainers have high washout rates for clients, and thus the gym gets the pay for all those sessions, but DOESN'T have to pay the trainers after their clients get frustrated and quit?

Interesting hypotheses. I wouldn't be surprised if you're right about both.

[CaptainAwesome]

This has been the case for a few years now. What makes it far more frustrating than the inability to get a bench is that 9 put of 10 (being generous) of the people on the racks are engaging in quarter squats and other nonsense, thereby wasting their own time as well as that of anyone waiting.

Yep. This has been my curse for I think 2 years now? Just another instance where I have to stand and wait while hitting them with my Iron Sport Gym stare.