Fitness Trainer Injured Highlights Importance Of Gym Safety

Fitness Trainer Injured Highlights Importance Of Gym Safety

Almost one month has passed and the local fitness world is still abuzz with much disbelief. How could such a freak incident happen? The odds were like one in a million.

The headlines scream “Fitness Trainer’s Jaw Shattered By 200kg Weights”.

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Naturally, with such a sensational headline, one would be tempted to read on, right?

A seasoned personal trainer with eight years of experience under his belt, Jonathan was doing leg presses in the gym. Fate has it that when he was about to get off the machine, the weights were believed to have slipped off the locks, shattering his jaw completely.

On hindsight, one would immediately point the finger of blame to the gym club management. Why didn’t they conduct routine checks on the machines to ensure they were in good, working condition?

Without learning the truth about what happened and just reading about it from newspaper reports and the daily tabloids, some would certainly draw the conclusion that the gym is a high risk potential area for everyone and one should avoid it.

Yes, granted that in any exercise which we undertake, if we don’t stretch to warm up prior to it or fail to use the machine as it is designed to be used, then the odds of getting injured is increased multifold.

If you ask me, why do I even bother to write this blog entry about this freak incident? It’s because of the erroneous reports that are circulating.

When I learnt the inside story of what exactly happened that led to the injury, I cannot use the same pair of sympathetic glasses which I had been wearing before this on Jonathan.

To a large extent, Jonathan deserved it. He misused the machine. In fact, he abused it.

A smith machine is designed to allow one to train certain body parts, notably the chest and shoulders. Would anybody in the right frame of mind use it to train his legs?

If there’s anyone who would, it would only be Jonathan. 

It is highly ironic that a personal trainer who had taken courses in gym safety lay on the bench of a smith machine, propped his legs onto the bar of it and moved the bar up and down to train his legs, in particular his thighs and butt.

If this is not stupidity, what is? If you want to train your thighs and butt, do squats, leg presses or lunges.

And if you ask me again, I’m not surprised at all he got badly injured. If we stick to using machines or weights as they are designed, we will be much better off, both physique wise and health wise.

Train well, my friends. And most importantly, train safely.

If you need a pair of safe hands to spot you or professional help to guide you in your gym routines, speak to my team now 🙂