Last year, I was doing some heavy rows. In the middle of the heavy lift, a fellow gym goer decided that she needed to “correct my form.” As I pulled the heavy weight up, she grabbed my back, and tried to put me in a different angle.
Fortunately for me, as soon as she made contact with my body, I stiffened up, and began lowering the weight. However, the fact that she did this to me, without warning, during a heavy lift, really pissed me off. I didn’t scream at her, or anything rude like that, but I softly said, “Please don’t do that to me, you could have really hurt me.”
Had I been in a more compromised position, she could have caused me to slip a disk, hurt my arms, etc. Any number of injuries could happen from that type of unsolicited action. I’m talking life altering injuries, it’s just bad business.
The point of this post is clearly covered in the title, just don’t do it. I know that some people at the gym think they know it all. Hell, they might be informed and even have good intentions! Now that’s all fine and dandy, but my back is not up for trade in order for you to exercise those good intentions.
If you want to help someone, first make sure that you engage them, see an interest to be corrected, and then with there permission you can try and demonstrate. Never, ever, ever just adjust somebody! Especially if they are not expecting it, and if they are in the middle of a heavy lift!
I’ll repeat it once more, never adjust a gym goer without permission!
Just a life long New Yorker sharing the journey through my lens. Please take note of a post’s date. The views I express here are subject to change and evolving as I grow and learn.
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