Post: Commentary On Gym Advice

As I get older, I feel more of a drive to help those around me to not make the same mistakes I did. I want to tell people the type of things I wish someone told me in my past. This is especially true in fitness, but is also true in my personal life.

As documented in the fitness section of this website, I have struggled with shoulder and back injuries in the past. They have kept me out of the gym for about a year over the past 7 or so years. In that time, I’ve taken the time off necessary to improve my technique and incorporate exercises that help to keep me injury free into the future. I stretch, perform physical therapy exercises (given to me by a professional), and constantly interrogate my lifting form.

I’m very comfortable in the gym because I’ve made slow progress and leaned proper technique to stay pain free. This confidence has started to manifest as the convictions strong enough to impart advice newer lifters in the gym.

There are a few important things when considering giving advice to people you don’t know at the gym:

1. Be humble
2. Be relatable
3. Encourage first

First, to be humble is to not come in hot and immediately tell them they’re wrong. It can be easy to point out all that is wrong with someone’s form, but by being humble, you can appreciate why someone may be doing things differently than you. For all you know, it may be an intentional movement for something you aren’t familiar with.

Next, being relatable is an important part of being truly heard. If I ever go up to someone to correct their form, it typically has something to do with what lead me to one of my own injuries. I’ll start off by saying that I used to do the same thing and ended up injuring myself. This gives me some credibility, and puts us on the same team and makes the interaction much more positive and less adversarial (which I learned from actually giving out unsolicited advice at the gym).

Lastly, it is important to encourage the person. I’m passionate about fitness and think that everyone needs a physical outlet to relieve stress. Lifting weights has helped me build confidence and gotten me through some tough times in my life. A new person being told they’re doing everything wrong would be a great way to embarrass them and discourage them from ever returning and finding their own outlet. Encouraging advice also pushes to improve for their own sake. New people in the gym are the most easily discouraged, and I hope to do anything I can to keep them confident in themselves and to keep coming back so they can make progress over time. You can never know the impact of kind words of encouragement can have on someone. Especially someone who is going out of their comfort zone to improve themselves in the gym.