The gym tour from the seventh circle of hell.

[CuriousElf]

So, my boyfriend and I went to a gym called World Health to see whether we wanted to get a membership. The facility was pretty cool, but the guy giving the tour pulled a few lines that really got me annoyed. I had specifically mentioned I was interested in learning powerlifting, gaining muscle, etc, and assured him aesthetics were not important, being healthy and strong was. And the guy STILL said later on, "With females, I like to do lots of high reps with low weights" to avoid getting them to bulky. I disagreed (I don't tend to bulk up) and he said he would put me on the guys' plan but cautioned me I might gain "5 to 10 pounds that you won't want". Throughout the tour he kept comparing the gym to the one at my university and saying how the university gym staff didn't know what they were doing (many are kenesiology grads, however). I tried to stay polite till the end, and agreed to do a workout, but I finally realized I couldn't stand to listen to the guy any longer, so I said I changed my mind, I was going to head home. He was very pushy and wanted to know what I didn't like about the gym, so I tried to explain how it was just like the gym at school that I had access to for free. After this he began calling me by the wrong name, told my boyfriend not to let me change his decision, and said to my BF in an attempt to get him to stay "I know you're all worried that you'll get fat, and lose your girlfriend." (We had established earlier I work out more than my BF, but what that trainer said was untrue and out of line.)

Needless to say I did not like the crowd or atmosphere at the gym and won't get a membership there.

Phew, needed to get this off my chest.

Anyone else had an experience like this?

[smazzon1]

Holy shit what a complete douche. A sexist, ignorant douche at that.

[katscratch]

Wow, wow, wow. So many inappropriate comments from that guy! I can't even address them or I'll just go off on every little thing he said

I've only been to 24-hour gyms where I badge in, usually during unstaffed hours, for the very reason that just the thought of dealing with an employee stresses me out! The only time I encountered a trainer that wasn't in the middle of a session, it was while checking out a new location that was super busy-- I ended up leaving and said I was going to my regular gym where the squat racks were always empty and he said something very pro-lifting like Go Heavy! so I've gotten lucky or I probably would have quit going entirely!

edit: what Smazzon said!

[MuayTyson]

The gym industry is going through some real bad changes in the United States. Frankly money corrupts everything. As gym owners noticed Personal Trainers could make a good living they decided to hire ill educated poorly trained trainers. What they do is charge $100 an hour for personal training and give the trainers about $15 out of that no good trainer worth his salt would settle for this but the poor trainers do. The gym makes a lot of money but clients get poor training and trainer turn over is high. Gym could care less about trainer turn over they just hire more jokers. They could also care less about members because they only want money on the front end they usuall do not care about retention or use.

Find a smaller gym or community center. If you are looking for a trainer I posted something a while back on what to look for. Unfortunately the YMCA does these tricks as well.

[CuriousElf]

I wasn't looking for a trainer, (too broke for that anyways, damn tuition ) but they give a tour to anyone who requests a trial, which is understandable. Also, I know it was probably just this one guy who was like that and that not all of the trainers at the gym were like that--I've had some great coaches and trainers when I did boxing back home. I just couldn't get over how he was perpetuating that whole "girls don't want to/shouldn't bulk up" notion: people who consult him might figure he is right and go along with it. I wanted to pull out that article about Spezzy to show him. I had to assure him like 5 times aesthetics didn't matter until he mentioned that yes, there were instructors who taught weightlifting technique, and like I said he qualified it with that whole you-might-gain-weight-you-don't-want thing. Grr.

[MuayTyson]

CuriosElf, Please don't be afraid to challenge him. I love when people challenge me gives me a chance to get on my toes and defend my point or learn something new. But yeah I understand he was just a turd the ruined your punch bowl.

Lift Hard take no prisoners!

[Lefeux]

Here at Globo Gym we're better than you, and we know it.

[Ninja]

This is why I refuse to hire a personal trainer, or at least one from any commercial gym. I'm sure there good ones out there, particular the more well known ones I imagine you could hire over the net but the ones at any commercial gym around here are just dudebros who look like they were on the baseball team in high school. Not that I have anything against baseball players I love baseball just that they are in general fit and "in shape" but they aren't the type I'd want advising me about squats and deadlifts. If you want to do endless "curls for the girls" and want new ways to do them then I guess they are useful for that. I've never looked at a personal trainer at a commercial gym and thought to myself, yeah that's the guy that's going to get me squatting and deadlifting 500 pounds with perfect form.

[tats4life]

Here at Globo Gym we're better than you, and we know it.

LOL, I was so thinking about that movie as I read curiouself's original post...

But yeah, gyms can be so intimidating, especially when there's a whole bunch of staff that act like their s*it don't stink, along with some of the people that go there. That's why I signed up at a locally owned gym. Now I'm not gonna lie, the atmosphere has changed a little from the last time I was a member there in HS, but the staff hasn't changed. They actually respect me & never fail to greet me at the door which I think is a big factor, because it shows you that they view you more than just the person who's giving them the money.

[Rostov]

Seems to me that there are a number of industries in which too many people think the way to impress a potential customer or client is to tell them how awful and wrong everyone else is, and how only they are properly competent and/or have the secret ingredient or combination or expertise or the latest research or whatever. I remember one gas engineer who regailed me with tales of horror about shoddy work from big name rival companies, and how everyone else who had ever done any work in my house was either a cowboy, a charlatan, lazy, or negligent. Or all of the above. I think this is a problem with health and fitness too - people selling stuff need to claim that they offer an edge or a secret and that their rivals are incompetent. It would be refreshing just once in a while for one of them to say, 'yeah, we've got the same stuff over here as they've got over there, we know the same stuff, but we're a bit cheaper, have longer opening hours, but have a slightly less shiny foyer.'.

[andygates]

Echh, nasty. Out of interest, why not the university gym? They tend to be geared more usefully toward athletic prowess than toning and ferns.

[CuriousElf]

You guys made me feel so much better

Also, Andy, to answer your question, I have a free membership at the University gym, but my boyfriend doesn't because he's taking extra courses elsewhere to get into a degree program he likes. He wanted to come with me, so we decided to see if the memebership was cheaper at the other place, if it was less busy, etc. Basically just to check out if the other gym would be OK for us to go together until he re-registers at uni next semester. But we're definitely not going there after that guy was very blatantly rude to him. The thing I like about NF is that nobody belittles other people for being new to working out, or a certain sport etc.

[smazzon1]

Here at Globo Gym we're better than you, and we know it.

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