Thoughts From Behind My Desk At Work
So I've been working as a fitness attendant at my college for the past three years. To give you a little bit of background information, Our fitness center moved locations on campus and received a total redesign and makeover. A bigger facility with more equipment, locker rooms, and an outdoor patio area. With this new and improved facility, more and more people have been coming out of the wood work to check it out. We allow students, staff faculty, and alumni to use this facility. With all the new individuals coming in and out, you get to see some pretty interesting stuff working here.
My first fascination is with women and the stair stepper. It sounds simple enough but I can't begin to explain all of the things I see going on with this machine. My favorite is the donkey kick back with every step. I mean, just why? Now don't get me wrong, I love the stair stepper. Its a quick and efficient way to warm up and a great finisher after a lift. But why make it any more complicated? Its a stair-stepper, nothing more. I can't tell you how many times my coworkers or my boss have almost lost their lives to an errant foot while walking past this thing. It kills me every time.
One of the new pieces of equipment we got when we moved to the new center were hip circles, more commonly known as mini-bands. These are elastic closed looped bands that most people will put around their knees or thighs to feel that extra activation in their glutes. I tend to use these bands a lot in my classes as a warm up, as it is important to get those glutes fired up and ready to go, but I'll never use them as a full on work out tool. It's just not necessary. Two days ago during my shift I watched a girl do glute bridges for over an hour with this thing around her knees, and she was doing said bridges with a curl bar. I wonder how sore she was after that, and I couldn't help but wonder if she ever works out any other part of her body. Good luck holding up a muscular ass with no hamstrings or quads.
Pull ups. They're a great resistance training exercise and are one of the seven fundamental human
movements. I believe every program, no matter what, should have at least some form of pull up or vertical pulling. It is essential for the health of the shoulder, elbow, and wrist joints and personally I feel like it's a genuine safety issue if you can't pull your own body weight. I mean what if you're hanging off a cliff or something. But guess what I literally never ever see from the general population? Pull ups. Not even assisted ones. Look, I get that it can be embarrassing, but the only way to get stronger is to do them.
Don't take this as a deterrent for coming to the gym. By all means, come train. Get healthy. Feel good. But please, ask for professional help before you do something ridiculous you saw on the internet. It is a science after all.
My first fascination is with women and the stair stepper. It sounds simple enough but I can't begin to explain all of the things I see going on with this machine. My favorite is the donkey kick back with every step. I mean, just why? Now don't get me wrong, I love the stair stepper. Its a quick and efficient way to warm up and a great finisher after a lift. But why make it any more complicated? Its a stair-stepper, nothing more. I can't tell you how many times my coworkers or my boss have almost lost their lives to an errant foot while walking past this thing. It kills me every time.
One of the new pieces of equipment we got when we moved to the new center were hip circles, more commonly known as mini-bands. These are elastic closed looped bands that most people will put around their knees or thighs to feel that extra activation in their glutes. I tend to use these bands a lot in my classes as a warm up, as it is important to get those glutes fired up and ready to go, but I'll never use them as a full on work out tool. It's just not necessary. Two days ago during my shift I watched a girl do glute bridges for over an hour with this thing around her knees, and she was doing said bridges with a curl bar. I wonder how sore she was after that, and I couldn't help but wonder if she ever works out any other part of her body. Good luck holding up a muscular ass with no hamstrings or quads.
Pull ups. They're a great resistance training exercise and are one of the seven fundamental human
movements. I believe every program, no matter what, should have at least some form of pull up or vertical pulling. It is essential for the health of the shoulder, elbow, and wrist joints and personally I feel like it's a genuine safety issue if you can't pull your own body weight. I mean what if you're hanging off a cliff or something. But guess what I literally never ever see from the general population? Pull ups. Not even assisted ones. Look, I get that it can be embarrassing, but the only way to get stronger is to do them.
Don't take this as a deterrent for coming to the gym. By all means, come train. Get healthy. Feel good. But please, ask for professional help before you do something ridiculous you saw on the internet. It is a science after all.
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