Will Trainers Ever Get It Right?

Once again, I heard a trainer giving bad advice.

Today, one told a client to pull his belly button in while he was doing dumbbell bench presses. But that's outdated, and incorrect, information. If only she'd read the New York Times earlier this year, which in article said, among other things, "Critics, including personal trainers and specialists in the spine and biomechanics, are now saying that drawing in may not make sense while, say, lifting weights or performing a crunch or running a race. In fact, some say, drawing in may even be counterproductive."

What are you supposed to do? Brace your stomach, just as if you would do before someone was about to it.

By the way, last week I watched two trainers working with someone on squats. The person didn't do them correctly -- he never got down far enough yet kept on adding weights. The trainers stepped in to show him how to do it. They didn't go down far enough either. Remember, on the squat, go down until your thighs are parallel to the floor.