Earlier today I was reading a blog post about gym etiquette (the blog post was titled “What Not To Do in The Gym), and I was surprised by a comment left by a personal trainer:
Do not enter a gym without a pad and a pen. Ever. No matter what. If you are not recording your workout, you are wasting your time.
What a completely asinine comment. So according to that fool, if you’re doing a kick-butt workout, having fun, burning calories, getting fitter, and all of the other countless benefits that come from exercise, but you’re not taking notes about your workout (to track progression), then you’re wasting your time. That’s some seriously twisted logic.
I believe that exercise should be fun, and certainly doesn’t need to be treated like a boring research project where you have to have a pad and pen with you every time you exercise. You can get amazing results from your workouts without taking all of the fun out of it by tracking every excruciating detail of your exercise program. Actually, the more fun you have, the more consistent you’ll be with your workouts, the harder you’ll push yourself when you do exercise, and the better results you’ll get. So leave the pad and pen at home and just try to have fun with your workouts.
It doesn’t surprise me that this came from a personal trainer. I love the stuff that you are putting out, but to be honest some of these so called trainers are useless. There’s a guy at the gym I go to that walks around yawning, carrying a cup of coffee, and barely pays attention to his clients as they struggle through their workout. I think the guy stocked shelves at Walmart last week, know he’s a “Trainer”. That’s why I respect the stuff that you are putting out there. Keep up the good work!