Top 12 Things I Wish I Could Say to People in the Gym

1. Ask me for help!  I'm not going to bite, and I'd be honored!

2. You aren't lifting enough!  If you are still leg pressing the same weight you were pressing six months ago (or one year or five years ago), you aren't challenging your muscles and aren't going to see growth.  Women especially are guilty of this.  They seem to think "Eight pounds is what I curl", instead of "How much more can I curl?"

3.  You're lifting too much!  If you are losing your form (arching your back, using momentum to get the weight up, or otherwise employing bad technique), for Pete's sake, lower the weight and do it correctly!  Not only will you dramatically reduce your risk of hurting yourself and gain better muscle, but you also won't look like an idiot to everyone else in the gym.

4. You aren't going low enough on squats!  Check my blog "Squatting Re-learned" here: http://itallmakesadifference.blogspot.com/2009/12/squatting-re-learned.html to see what I'm talking about.

5. Your back isn't strait enough!  Hunching when you do ANY exercise is bad form.  You're back should feel so strait that it feels like you're butt is protruding.  I see a hunched back most often on Dumbbell Bent Rows and Tricep Kick Backs.  Look in the mirror and check your form!  You should be able to put a 3/4 full cup of coffee on your back and not have it spill.

6. Let go!  When you set the treadmill to an incline and then hold onto the handles and lean backwards while walking, you are no longer at an incline!  Let go and do an incline that you can manage withOUT hanging on!

7. Stop it with the cardio, already!  As I've said in the past, lifting weights does more for fat loss and body shaping than cardio ever could.  Cut your elliptical time in half and come lift weights!  We really aren't scary people at the lifting end of the gym.... really!  (Please refer to #1)

8. Unrack your weights!  Okay, all of you lugheads... Not everyone can take that 45 or 100-pound plate down from a bar that's 5-feet off the ground.  And it's just a hassle to have to put someone else's weights away.  Practice good gym etiquette and put ALL your weights away after you are done using them.  Even if you started with weights that were already racked.

9. Read a book!  Or a magazine...... Pick up some literature on correct lifting technique and setting up a program.  You'll be safer and see results quicker this way.

10. Try something new!   Ever seen the big guys that are in their 50's and played football in College and are STILL lifting the exact same way because "I've always done it like this!"?.  Notice that they don't look like college football players anymore?  This is because they are missing one very key component:  Football!  Look, when you're out there doing the stuff that a sport, particularly football, requires, you don't have to be as comprehensive in the gym because the sport itself is most of your workout.  But when you take the sport out of the equation, you need to change your gym routine to reflect that!  (And they wonder why their bodies never change.)......  This rule also applies to anyone who is not getting results in the gym- You can't do the same routine forever expecting to get the same results, because muscles adapt so quickly.  Keep 'em guessing and try new moves frequently!

11. Ask me to spot you! I may be a female, but my partner is the most muscular fella in the gym.  If I can spot him, I'm pretty sure that between me and you we can get that heavy weight off of you before it falls on your head and knocks you cold or crushes your sternum.  I'd rather spot you than perform CPR.

12. SHUT UP!  Just stop talking and exercise, already! :-D