The Trainers at My Gym

Off Topic
1

there’s two trainers at my gym. Jimmy Nosleeves and Fatzi.

These are not their real names.

Jimmy Nosleeves clearly gets his mum to cut the sleeves off all his clothes. Even his jackets have no sleeves (and the guy is pretty overweight so it’s not like his arms are even impressive; there’s no definition between biceps/triceps). I strongly suspect it’s his mum who does it, despite the fact the guy is clearly in his forties.

I see Jimmy Nosleeves training clients, and he takes them around the weights machines in the order they are arranged on the floor (there’s no discernible system as to how they’re laid out, just appears to be random). I have never once seen anyone go back for another session with him.

I had the misfortune of witnessing Jimmy working out once. He loaded up the pulldown as heavy as it could go and presumed to do the classic lower back jerk pulldown that’s so popular amongst idiots. I was actually scared to walk past in case his flabby arms came flying out of their sockets and whacked me in the face.

Later I saw him benching in the classic “bro style” with the usual ass-6-inches-off-the-bench and only lowering the bar halfway down. Apparently he’s qualified to coach the Olympic lifts. I pray I never have to see it.

Then there’s Fatzi. I call her that because she’s a fat Nazi. To say Fatzi is a whale is disrespectful to whales, as at least their blubber serves a purpose. Fatzi enforces the gym rules with a chunky iron fist, and has routinely scolded me for having the audacity to move the pulldown bar from the pulldown to a different cable machine (there’s like 3 different handles for the pulldown, moving one does not inconvenience anyone in any way).

Fatzi is completely spherical, I’m not kidding or exaggerating, and her face is usually beetroot red from walking up the one small flight of stairs in the gym.

Fatzi takes the spin class, and it’s hilarious because it looks like a manatee is trying to disrupt the Tour De France. If I were one of the people signing up for the spin class and I saw she was taking it and had done for years, I would be VERY hesitant to attend, as it clearly hasn’t done shit for her.

Questions:

-Could you allow yourself to be trained by someone who was out of shape themselves?
-If you were a trainer in the gym, would you not try and stay in shape yourself?
-What are the trainers like in your gym?

2
  1. No
  2. Would try and be in the shape of the clients I want to train.
  3. Train at home (so I guess I am trained by a somewhat hefty trainer :frowning:
3

The only exception would be an older trainer who just stopped caring as much. If they were that out of shape like Fatzi…probably no way! I don’t see how anyone could have any knowledge or experience and become that bad.

Possible, but very unlikely. I met 2-3 older bodybuilders who look like your older father but I had no idea until I saw former pictures of them in their late 20’s - 30’s. Once you start talking to them though I would let them train me. They sound a bit old school but it wouldn’t be all that bad in my guess. Although, I’m not quite sure I would pay them on second thought.

If I was a trainer though I don’t see how you could keep clients if you aren’t in shape. Only exception is if your other clients are showing great progress and suggest you no?

Unfortunately at my gym I’ve only seen maybe 2-3 trainers. There aren’t that many hardcore members at all, the trainers fall under a few late 20’s guys helping some female clients. I have to say though, they all make great progress. The trainers and clients do fall under what I would call the top members I guess.

4

I trained at a nice gym.
I’ll say good looks and salesmanship are 90% of your success.

5

The gym manager and all trainers are serious weightlifters. The manager is a solid chiseled block and I have never seen anyone as curved and muscled as him. The other trainers are also strong and in very good shape, but the manager takes the cake.

I would not see a coach like you described.

6

It depends on their history, if he was an older lifter and accomplished, and accomplishments I can confirm, then yes. Kind of like fat football coaches.

7

[quote]MattyXL wrote:
It depends on their history, if he was an older lifter and accomplished, and accomplishments I can confirm, then yes. Kind of like fat football coaches.[/quote]

This.

I compare it to any couch really. Wisdom and all around knowledge will go further than someone who may just have been blessed with good genetics.

8

agree with Matty. That would be the only way I would want to be trained by someone who didn’t look/lift great.

If I was a trainer, I would certainly hold myself to a high standard (I feel like I do anyway). I’m 29, I have no excuse not to look and lift better than any potential clients.

As for the trainers at my gym, I’m relatively impressed, because it is a commercial gym, and most commercial gyms I’ve trained at have awful trainers. At the LA Fitness I used to lift at, there were zero decent looking trainers. One in particular had to be, very literally, 120 lbs MAX at about 5’7 (this is an adult male…). He didn’t look like he could be over 20 years old.

Oddly enough, he seemed to have the most clients at the gym. At my current commercial gym, Justfitness4u, all but one trainer is at my level or better. That one trainer does TRX strap group classes, and I guess he trains to a lower standard than most of the other trainers. And even he isn’t THAT bad. Several of the trainers look live guys with 15+ years of solid time lifting, lean and muscular.

Some of the training I’ve seen employed is a bit questionable (bosu ball shit, questionable Oly lifting technique, etc), but for the most part, my expectations are exceeded.

9

[quote]setto222 wrote:

[quote]MattyXL wrote:
It depends on their history, if he was an older lifter and accomplished, and accomplishments I can confirm, then yes. Kind of like fat football coaches.[/quote]

This.

I compare it to any couch really. Wisdom and all around knowledge will go further than someone who may just have been blessed with good genetics. [/quote]

10

[quote]Derek542 wrote:

[quote]setto222 wrote:

[quote]MattyXL wrote:
It depends on their history, if he was an older lifter and accomplished, and accomplishments I can confirm, then yes. Kind of like fat football coaches.[/quote]

This.

I compare it to any couch really. Wisdom and all around knowledge will go further than someone who may just have been blessed with good genetics. [/quote]
[/quote]

Would not use this couch, does not look like it’s comfortable and one of my goals while sitting is comfort.

11

[quote]usmccds423 wrote:

[quote]Derek542 wrote:

[quote]setto222 wrote:

[quote]MattyXL wrote:
It depends on their history, if he was an older lifter and accomplished, and accomplishments I can confirm, then yes. Kind of like fat football coaches.[/quote]

This.

I compare it to any couch really. Wisdom and all around knowledge will go further than someone who may just have been blessed with good genetics. [/quote]
[/quote]

Would not use this couch, does not look like it’s comfortable and one of my goals while sitting is comfort. [/quote]

12

lol at the couch stuff!

Maybe I’m just being shallow and judging people on their appearance.

I could forgive how fat and shit they are if I saw them doing something good with clients.

13

[quote]Derek542 wrote:

[quote]usmccds423 wrote:

[quote]Derek542 wrote:

[quote]setto222 wrote:

[quote]MattyXL wrote:
It depends on their history, if he was an older lifter and accomplished, and accomplishments I can confirm, then yes. Kind of like fat football coaches.[/quote]

This.

I compare it to any couch really. Wisdom and all around knowledge will go further than someone who may just have been blessed with good genetics. [/quote]
[/quote]

Would not use this couch, does not look like it’s comfortable and one of my goals while sitting is comfort. [/quote]
[/quote]

Nope, making the playoffs in one of my goals, so still not in line with them :frowning:

14

[quote]usmccds423 wrote:

[quote]Derek542 wrote:

[quote]usmccds423 wrote:

[quote]Derek542 wrote:

[quote]setto222 wrote:

[quote]MattyXL wrote:
It depends on their history, if he was an older lifter and accomplished, and accomplishments I can confirm, then yes. Kind of like fat football coaches.[/quote]

This.

I compare it to any couch really. Wisdom and all around knowledge will go further than someone who may just have been blessed with good genetics. [/quote]
[/quote]

Would not use this couch, does not look like it’s comfortable and one of my goals while sitting is comfort. [/quote]
[/quote]

Nope, making the playoffs in one of my goals, so still not in line with them :frowning: [/quote]

15

[quote]Derek542 wrote:

[quote]usmccds423 wrote:

[quote]Derek542 wrote:

[quote]usmccds423 wrote:

[quote]Derek542 wrote:

[quote]setto222 wrote:

[quote]MattyXL wrote:
It depends on their history, if he was an older lifter and accomplished, and accomplishments I can confirm, then yes. Kind of like fat football coaches.[/quote]

This.

I compare it to any couch really. Wisdom and all around knowledge will go further than someone who may just have been blessed with good genetics. [/quote]
[/quote]

Would not use this couch, does not look like it’s comfortable and one of my goals while sitting is comfort. [/quote]
[/quote]

Nope, making the playoffs in one of my goals, so still not in line with them :frowning: [/quote]
[/quote]

Perfect!

16

700×405 52.4 KB

[quote]usmccds423 wrote:

[quote]Derek542 wrote:

[quote]usmccds423 wrote:

[quote]Derek542 wrote:

[quote]usmccds423 wrote:

[quote]Derek542 wrote:

[quote]setto222 wrote:

[quote]MattyXL wrote:
It depends on their history, if he was an older lifter and accomplished, and accomplishments I can confirm, then yes. Kind of like fat football coaches.[/quote]

This.

I compare it to any couch really. Wisdom and all around knowledge will go further than someone who may just have been blessed with good genetics. [/quote]
[/quote]

Would not use this couch, does not look like it’s comfortable and one of my goals while sitting is comfort. [/quote]
[/quote]

Nope, making the playoffs in one of my goals, so still not in line with them :frowning: [/quote]
[/quote]

Perfect![/quote]

17

I impressed the trainers at an old gym with my front squats. They’d want me to teach them now that I’ve added 50kg to it since then.

150kg isn’t that much once you finally nail it.

18

I normally lift at home, but was in a commercial gym in Belfast recently and overheard a trainer say that he couldn’t train legs at the moment because he’d dropped a 45kg db down from seated overhead pressing and it had landed on his knee.

Made me laugh for two reasons: 1) The iconic “I can’t work legs because my knees hurt”, and 2) the fact that he was so clearly bullshitting about the weight. He was maybe 180lbs at a push, physique of a low level soccer player

19

[quote]rds63799 wrote:
there’s two trainers at my gym. Jimmy Nosleeves and Fatzi.

These are not their real names.

Jimmy Nosleeves clearly gets his mum to cut the sleeves off all his clothes. Even his jackets have no sleeves (and the guy is pretty overweight so it’s not like his arms are even impressive; there’s no definition between biceps/triceps). I strongly suspect it’s his mum who does it, despite the fact the guy is clearly in his forties.

I see Jimmy Nosleeves training clients, and he takes them around the weights machines in the order they are arranged on the floor (there’s no discernible system as to how they’re laid out, just appears to be random). I have never once seen anyone go back for another session with him.

I had the misfortune of witnessing Jimmy working out once. He loaded up the pulldown as heavy as it could go and presumed to do the classic lower back jerk pulldown that’s so popular amongst idiots. I was actually scared to walk past in case his flabby arms came flying out of their sockets and whacked me in the face.

Later I saw him benching in the classic “bro style” with the usual ass-6-inches-off-the-bench and only lowering the bar halfway down. Apparently he’s qualified to coach the Olympic lifts. I pray I never have to see it.

Then there’s Fatzi. I call her that because she’s a fat Nazi. To say Fatzi is a whale is disrespectful to whales, as at least their blubber serves a purpose. Fatzi enforces the gym rules with a chunky iron fist, and has routinely scolded me for having the audacity to move the pulldown bar from the pulldown to a different cable machine (there’s like 3 different handles for the pulldown, moving one does not inconvenience anyone in any way).

Fatzi is completely spherical, I’m not kidding or exaggerating, and her face is usually beetroot red from walking up the one small flight of stairs in the gym.

Fatzi takes the spin class, and it’s hilarious because it looks like a manatee is trying to disrupt the Tour De France. If I were one of the people signing up for the spin class and I saw she was taking it and had done for years, I would be VERY hesitant to attend, as it clearly hasn’t done shit for her.

Questions:

-Could you allow yourself to be trained by someone who was out of shape themselves?
-If you were a trainer in the gym, would you not try and stay in shape yourself?
-What are the trainers like in your gym?[/quote]

I get that as a trainer you are a coach and a teacher, so knowledge is more important than physique, but that being said I would never go to a doctor who smokes and I once stopped going to my dentist because he had halitosis.

20

[quote]Derek542 wrote:

[quote]usmccds423 wrote:

[quote]Derek542 wrote:

[quote]usmccds423 wrote:

[quote]Derek542 wrote:

[quote]usmccds423 wrote:

[quote]Derek542 wrote:

[quote]setto222 wrote:

[quote]MattyXL wrote:
It depends on their history, if he was an older lifter and accomplished, and accomplishments I can confirm, then yes. Kind of like fat football coaches.[/quote]

This.

I compare it to any couch really. Wisdom and all around knowledge will go further than someone who may just have been blessed with good genetics. [/quote]
[/quote]

Would not use this couch, does not look like it’s comfortable and one of my goals while sitting is comfort. [/quote]
[/quote]

Nope, making the playoffs in one of my goals, so still not in line with them :frowning: [/quote]
[/quote]

Perfect![/quote]
[/quote]

How’d you get a pic of me in my fav club attire?!?