Personal trainers? I think not!

I just got back from working out and I find I just can't keep quiet anymore - the vast majority of personal trainers I've seen at the gyms I've trained at are FOR SHIT! You heard me - they suck in a variety of apathetic and ineffective ways. I don't know what kind of job requirements they're supposed to meet but, other than my friend mthom & kaia, I've yet to see a trainer that could train a goldfish to float in the water.

You'd think that they would at least know which exercise is supposed to work which muscle and, more importantly, the correct way to perform the exercise!!! Can they not look at their 'clients' and see when they're doing an exercise so badly off form as to be unrecognizable??? There's a reason that exercises with free weights are designed to be done in specific ways - it's to protect the muscles/joints/etc, thus prolonging the health and safety of the person performing the exercise.

Obviously, I'm NOT talking about people who train themselves and adapt exercises to fit their needs. I'm also not talking about physical therapy patients who may do any number of variations on an exercise, depending on their specific physical issue. What I'm just stunned by is the complete lack of attention 'personal trainers' (those permanent fixtures in the gym's t-shirts who wander around aimlessly, refusing to make eye contact with anyone other than another trainer) seem to pay when it comes to making sure their 'clients' are performing exercises correctly.

It makes we want to go out and get a job as a personal trainer. I may not have any formalized training in the area but, OBVIOUSLY, neither do they!