Our facility has become quite the haven for the 16-18 year old crowd, so popular in fact, that we limit them to 5am to 7pm. I'll skip the reasoning on that, but you can imagine what a bunch of high school age folks can get into in the evenings. I can tell you that nothing has changed much in the last 40 years - they can get into a lot of "stuff.
I wonder what is going through these children's parents minds when they sign them up for memberships. Do they think it's a hang out place, a club for their kids to just come chill and socialize with their friends? I can tell you that we are not that. We are a fitness facility catering to people who are serious about getting better first - socializing is a distant second. A few parents do come and train with their children which is much appreciated, but if I'm honest, their parents rarely know much about strength and conditioning, so what are they teaching them? What they don't know? Things that make you say, "Hmmm.....".
For the rest of the drop offs and drive ins, who I watch from time to time to see what they're up to, I can tell you that most of them seem to know very little at all, and what they are doing is always what most all of the adults are doing which is "single set work-rest too much between sets of work" schemes, one body part at a time bodybuilding routines that have been around for 50 years. They can be effective if technique is good, load ranges are correct and there is a fine eye tuned to volume and volume increases over time. I'm guessing from what I see, the above concepts have never been discussed with them on any level and even if they were schooled in those concepts they are spending twice as much time in the gym as they need to be or should. And of course, there are a few poor souls who are completely lost, seem to be unable to do any movements correctly and are basically wasting their time and their parents money.
You might think the kids that are performing off-season training for sports might have a better handle on things, coaching from school, right? The answer is possibly, but probably not. I see those kids doing the same kinds of workouts above and not concentrating on the primal movements they need to be doing and therefore spending time and finite energy on movements they really don't need to be doing. Also, like EVERYONE in the gym, regardless of age - wasting a lot of time resting, doing nothing and taking up space that could be used by others.
Do people really think that joining a gym is come kind of automatic "win" in the "I'm getting in shape" column of goals for the year? Seriously? Do people just need an event to post on social media, a selfie opportunity? Apparently this is true. The saddest of sads, but true. But the saddest thing is if they got the right help and put together a program that makes sense for their goals within the time per week they have to train they could go so, so far towards their goals in just a couple of 45 minute sessions per week. Efficacy and efficiency in all things.
People tend to train with friends who may or may not (probably do not) know what they are doing. They watch videos on social media and follow the people with the bodies they are trying to create for themselves. I've seen these programs and listened to some podcasts. Most of these folks couldn't put a program together for somdbody in person, one-on-one, applying a competent health history and movement screen. Why would anyone think they could do it virtually? Probably because they don't know that someone needs to do a competent health history and movement screen and discuss goals in length to program a safe, effective and efficient program for them. If you don't know anything, than anything that sounds and looks good is better, right?
I couldn't give you a percentage of Americans that have any idea how their bodies work, how the organs work together to pump and oxygenate blood, process food, contract muscles, the intricate dance of moving with balance and coordination in space or how the body recovers from exercise and adapts over time. I'm guessing it's less that 10% at best. Yet, the people come to the gym, they spend time doing something. What are they doing and why did they choose to do those things? They are certainly doing some stuff, and resting a lot and taking up space. And not much is getting accomplished. You can probably tell at this point that not having a focused plan and being inefficient annoys me to no end. You have no idea.
This is where we are. Welcome to 2022. The information age has made us twice as dumb as we were 15 years ago, now simply unaware that we have no idea about something. People are listening to anyone and everyone, anything and everything with no sense of who knows what the hell they're talking about and what criteria they might use to make an informed choice. People question very little and in very shallow depth and length of time. It is quite disheartening and on some level maddening, but it is the way of the world these days, is it not? Try jumping out of social media for 30 days, see if you feel better, sleep better and think more clearly. Bet you will.
So, to you parents purchasing gym memberships for your children who know next to nothing about what they will be doing, please consider another alternative. Pair them with a certified strength and conditioning specialist, someone who has worked with that population and enjoys it, someone with patience and the heart of a teacher. Pay the money, make the investment in them. Set the stage correctly for them to learn and experience what it's like, and what it takes, to get stronger and feel better. Set them up for a lifetime of success with health and aesthetic sanity.
I teach the big picture of health and fitness: nutrition, exercise, sleep and rest and attention to accumulated stress. I teach everyone how to develop a personalized "process week" that includes ALL they must accomplish to be successful each week - school, homework, work, activities, family, faith, friends, food, fitness, sleep patterns - so that they can win each week one week at a time, and that in winning those weeks, over time, they can achieve whatever goals they may have. Progress, not perfection. Day by day. Week by week. Repeat and win.
Life is a process, a journey - not an event with a known time limit.
You're the boss, parental units. Call the ball.
Oh, and if you're a parent and the above has angered you instead of possibly movtivating you to think differently then by all means, do not seek me out. You're uncoachable, and you're child probably is too.
Now, get off my lawn.