
Squats, Presses, and Deadlifts: Why Gyms Don't Teach the Only Exercises You Need - omilu
http://startingstrength.com/article/squats-presses-and-deadlifts-why-gyms-dont-teach-the-only-exercises-you-need
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Afton
I have another reason that is less orwellian. Weight machines can be used by
someone with no training other than the pictures on the side. Squatting (of
whatever variety you prefer) requires coaching.

If a new gym member (NGM) comes in and has an initial training session with a
trainer, imagine two scenarios:

1\. The trainer explains that NGM will have to see them for extensive training
for the next 3 months to really get a handle on the 6 exercises (and to work
out/work around the mobility or injury issues that can arise).

2\. The trainer shows NGM a dozen machines, walks through how to use them, and
gives them a handout with two "workouts" on them, and tells them to come back
in a month for a re-evaluation.

Which scenario is more likely to result in the NGM signing up for the gym, and
continuing to see a trainer once a week to once a month? I'd argue that it's
the latter, in most cases. People who even _know_ what the normal weight
training exercises are (except for bench press) are in the minority, and are
unlikely to use a random gym trainer. If they do, they will come in laying out
an agenda for training, and the trainer will probably adapt and train them as
they wish to be trained (regardless of how skilled they are in basic barbell
exercises).

There are a number of terrible disincentives for the trainer-NGM relationship,
and I suspect that this is just one of them.

Shout out to /r/fitness and their faq. Kids today have no idea how hard it was
to get good information when I was a kid.

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Y201K
I think instead of being coached, barbell lifts require _learning_ them, as
opposed to just _doing_ the movements described on the machines' pictures. The
difference means that anyone right now can go to YouTube and look up the
proper form for back squatting or overhead pressing, as long as they want to
invest a bit of time researching and then practicing (that is, you don't
absolutely need to pay someone to teach you).

Agree otherwise, though. I think our culture needs to emphasize the importance
of strength training for health (over casual gym attendance for hypertrophy
and self-esteem).

~~~
Afton
Sure. I mean, that's what I did/do. But I also did lots of precise athletic
training before hand, and I know from experience trying to "coach" people that
there is a _very_ big spread of people's proprioceptive abilities. You'd be
surprised what some people can fail to notice about their own movements.

Besides which, if I had the time and money, I would absolutely hire a good
quality strength and conditioning coach, and I bet I'd be kicking myself for
not having done it earlier, since I've basically fixed all the things that I
can notice and fix by introspection and film.

But basically I think we're in agreement on the big issues. :)

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buckhx
Starting Strength is a great book and program. While this post isn't
necessarily indicative of the quality of the book, he does bring up some
interesting points. His reasoning on the proliferation of corporate gyms using
specialized equipment is intuitive but I wonder if there is any actual
evidence versus marketing which I always assumed was the answer.

It does suck that it's such a pain in the ass to get basic barbell training
equipment at a gym. I'd love to have my own rack or share one, but it would
never work in apartment life.

~~~
rebelcoder
That seems to be a very common reason as to why people who are renting don't
always have opportunity to learn common lifting exercises.

What I might suggest is find a crossfit gym, not necessarily even for crossfit
itself. Some crossfit gyms offer olympic lifting training and fundamentals
classes. The gym may even offer the membership cheaper if you're only visiting
for those classes vs the actual high intensity classes most people associate
with crossfit.

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L_226
I never was really a fan of SS, prejudiced by /fit/ I guess :). I found 5x5
[1] a really good resource for learning basic powerlifting techniques as well
as body mechanics, something that has contributed greatly to my overall
fitness over the past 10 years or so. I always encourage any of my friends who
want to start getting fit/lose weight etc to start with this program.

[1] - [https://stronglifts.com/5x5/](https://stronglifts.com/5x5/)

~~~
Afton
StrongLifts is a perfectly good beginner program, as is SS, as is Ice Cream
Fitness[1]. It's best not to quibble too much about which one is absolutely
best, since for the vast majority of people, it just doesn't matter. The basic
approach is the same, with (essentially) the same set of exercises. I'd
recommend any of them to a beginner.

[1] [https://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/jason-blaha-
ice-c...](https://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/jason-blaha-ice-cream-
fitness-5x5-novice-workout)

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vannevar
If your fitness goal is to lift heavy weights, then sure, these may be the
only exercises you need. But if your fitness goal is to freeclimb a sheer
rockface, or dunk a basketball, or run a 7-minute mile, or be a great skier,
then they probably aren't enough, and may actually be detrimental to those
other goals if you overdo them. People go to the gym for a variety of reasons,
and pure strength is only one of them.

