Today’s Amusing Gym Antics - Take 2

Is it the goal of a personal trainer to make their trainee do the most ridiculous excerises imaginable as justification for charging high prices? Maybe it's a way to convince the trainee that they are getting their moneys worth? After all, who would pay for a trainer to show them how to do the major compound exercises (squat, bench, deadlift, etc) when they can do fun and exciting things with a Bosu ball!

As an example, today I saw a trainer that was having his client do bicep curls....laying on her back....on the cable row machine....while he assisted by pulling the cable down. I am not sure how this was more effective than grabbing some dumbbells and going to town with those. What made it worse was that she didn't even struggle with the weight, even before his assistance.

The only thing I could think of was that this was for a "Wow" factor for the client. She must have thinking to herself "Wow! I would have never thought of doing this on my own! I am definitely going to be signing up for another 6 week training course at the affordable rate of $199!"

I have to admit that I, too, have done a lot of dumb exercises in my lifetime (P90x Crouching Cohen Curl anyone?). It's my goal to try and educate people that going to the gym doesn't have to be about using the fanciest of equipment or coming up with the most interesting exercise to use with a ball.  Working out also doesn't have to be hours in the gym.  Most of my workouts consist of 4-5 exercises and I always incorporate a compound movement into the mix and I am usually in and out in 45 minutes.

What crazy exercises have you seen in the gym lately?