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Originally Posted by Ozzi
It's not so much a fear of a ripped tendon but the fear they learn incorrect movements, continue these movements and end up in a bad physical state further down the track.
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An example I will use is Olympic squats (aka rock bottom/butt resting on calves). Throughout evolution, squatting down all the way is the most natural thing we could do. When I teach someone how to squat, that's exactly what I tell them. You cannot get it wrong if you start off light enough. Now, I'm not saying they need to sit on their calves for flexability's sake, but at low as humanly possible. That's what we were designed to do! It's really easy to get the hang of BECAUSE of it being such a natural movement.
Same thing with every exercise aside from olympic lifts. There is a learning curve, sure, but it's certainly
not rocket science. I learned everything on my own, and I'm about as sharp as a crayon. And I'm quite confident that if you ask around with everyone in your gym, almost ALL would say that they taught themselves or learned from a buddy. Like I've already said, there's only a very (and I mean very) small percentage of trainees who seek out and use a personal trainer. Speaking of my gym (its a major one), most of the trainees are either trying to lose weight or are women. THOSE people I can totally understand relying on machines with. But for those teenagers who want muscle mass, any trainer who's halfway decent will spend the time to go over how to do those VITAL compound lifts because that's essentially what they are BUYING. Fuck, why would a newbie bother paying for a PT's services so he can learn how to do some cable pulldowns or triceps extensions?? (not directed towards you)
If you really want to continue studying to be a trainer, I highly.. HIGHLY recommend buying:
- Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength
- Dinosaur Training
- Beyond Brawn
- Practical Programming
All those books are by VERY respected and extremely experienced and proven weight trainers in this field. Glenn Pendlay, Mark Rippetoe, Stuart McRobert, ect. Top of the line. Glenn P. is one of the US Olympic team trainers who you can find over at midwestbarbell.com. Everything from those books are pretty much echoed by Eric and myself in our posts (we own the books). So we're not just blowing smoke up anyone's ass.
And IMO, there's absolutely NO EXCUSE for a new trainee NOT to learn those lifts and rely on machines when they have a fucking trainer standing next to them critiquing away!
That would be a clear cut case of either the newbie being lazy, or the trainer. Not saying you, just being frank. I look around at my gym and see all the blue shirts ("PT's") standing next to a cable something watching Joe Newbie hammering away, not a word exchanged aside from "good job". Speaking of myself, I train people who live in my area all the time.. Mainly online, but occationally in the gym (if I'm there lifting). In every case, the only programs I put them on are outlined just like programs such as Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength (basically, look at my sig for a clue
) I always tell them they have no choice but to pay their dues (if they're serious), and they'll achieve what they're after... 100% success rate so far from everyone involved. Some have even told me via email how much they love the simplicity of only doing the free weighted compounds while steering clear of isolations and machines.... Gives them a lot of pride watching everyone else using the pinwheel hammer strength for deadlifts when they are loading the bar without wrist straps. So for many of them, it's a matter of PRIDE knowing they're getting stronger and seeing gains with those lifts vs. hitting up all the machines barely breaking a sweat.
My ONLY regret in life (in the weight room anyway) was that I wasn't taught the same things I'm trying to convey in threads such as this! I started out with a 5 day split (as did everyone back then), tons of volume, a lot of machines, and virtually no squats, just the occational leg press. If I was to do a program like one of Bill's 5x5 routines that are built around frequency and the squat, I would not be sitting here talking to you with a 410 lb Olympic squat!.. Probably not with a 405 lb bench press either. Instead, if I started out when I was 17ish (a newbie) with this program, I'd probably have a 500 lb OLY squat and probably a 435 lb bench, easy. Instead, I was "spinning my wheels" dicking around with 5 day splits, machines, no legs aside from leg extensions and leg press machines, and certainly no deadlifting whatsoever.