National Teach a Kid to Lift Month
By Shon Grosse
I remember the day I got my driver’s license in 1981. This meant that I could
have the family Vega three nights weekly to train at DuFresne’s Gym. Never mind
that I was only sixteen years old and 135 lbs after a five-course dinner. I was
finally able to go to a real gym and train with the biggest and strongest guys
in town. It also meant that I was also going to be able to buy a DuFresne’s
T-shirt, advertising to all who saw it that I trained with Hatfield,
Pennsylvania’s elite.
Driving into the parking lot and walking into the gym was an event in itself.
Like any new experience in life, I had played out several scenarios in my mind
about what to expect on that first day. I’ll always remember the first guy I saw
leaving the facility as I was walking in. He had on a blue pocket “T,” blue
Dickies work pants, black steel toe shoes, and white socks—training at the gym
in his work clothes. He was also six feet four inches, 245 lbs, with 18-inch
arms and a 50-inch chest (or so it seemed). Entering the gym (actually a
refurbished chicken coup with pink cinder blocks on the outside and no roadside
sign), Bob Dufresne met you, sitting at the counter as always. He had a demeanor
like he was always expecting you, even though you had never been there before.
Bob appeared to be in his late sixties/early seventies. One leg was missing
after a car accident (and more than twenty surgeries) several years earlier. He
looked like the kind of guy who owned a gym—thick with good bone structure and
muscle at about twenty percent body fat. He always wore a checkered,
short-sleeve, button-down shirt. I believe he was a farmer prior to this (the
gym was a chicken coop next to his farmhouse home). Word was that he
could bench press 150 lbs fifty times consecutively at over seventy years old.
I paid my three-month summer membership (I don’t remember the dues—maybe
$50?), bought my T-shirt, and didn’t sign any kind of waiver (I don’t think I
ever held a writing implement of any kind in that place). Then my education
started…
I lifted three days weekly—Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays—usually around
6:00–7:30 p.m. I had a reasonably well-rounded routine as a regular reader of
the old York Barbell magazines. I also copied what I saw in my new
environment. Bench pressing, squats, deadlifts, power cleans, and basic odds and
ends (curls, leg extensions, lat pulls, calf raises) were typical fare for the
day every day. All equipment was homemade by Bob, often out of a combination of
wood(!) and metal. All the basics were covered, and most bars were Olympic bars.
Everything always worked and was never “out of order.” Fans in the summer kept
you cool. In the winter, kerosene heaters were the only heat source. I think
there may have been a radio but definitely no stereo.
What was really great though were the people. Everyone there was helping
everyone else to some extent. There weren’t any attitudes or judgment. Everyone
was on the same path with slightly different means. A professional bodybuilder
who trained there talked to me almost every time I trained, always answering my
questions no matter how basic or stupid. This guy, in his early thirties, was
huge, ripped, and strong. He didn’t have to give me the time of day, but he
always did. Two guys who were on the local college powerlifting team knew my
name. They always gave me a spot and always gave great advice without exception
and with patience, for no other reason then it was the culture of this place and
the right thing to do. There were people who didn’t talk much (like my first
acquaintance in the white socks and pocket “T”), but they lifted a lot of
weight, and you could certainly model from what you observed.
At the end of every night, especially Fridays (which were usually slower), I
hung around and spoke with Bob for 5–10 minutes. I don’t remember any specifics,
but usually some sort of story was told about past gym members or feats of
strength.
I made good gains with a bit of interruption because of a hernia surgery
halfway through. I returned to the North Penn High School weight room in
September that year and continued to progress well based on my “internship” with
Bob’s crew over my last two years of high school. I studied athletic training in
college, eventually getting a master’s degree in physical therapy, courtesy of
seeds planted at DuFresne’s.
Today, I occasionally train at a commercial gym that is reasonable (thick
bars, trap bars, Olympic platform, multiple racks, heavy dumbbells). The
environment is decent with an above average amount of big and strong members.
However, the kids I see lifting there are essentially lost. Their parents sign
them up and they’re on their own, like dropping them off at the mall. Maybe they
meet once with a trainer who shows them the facility “toys” over the course of
one hour. I’ve never seen one high school kid do a pull-up or deadlift in this
facility in the past two years. I’ve yet to see a teenager squat to parallel.
I’ve also yet to see a high school kid weigh more than 200 pounds with less than
eighteen percent body fat. More importantly, I’ve also never seen an advanced
adult trainee who isn’t a paid staff member help these kids either, and I have a
basic idea why.
There’s too much information available to people. This is worse with kids who
have short attention spans to begin with. Fitness magazines, bodybuilding
magazines, fitness infomercials, and freshly minted internet experts provide too
many and mostly wrong choices for a young trainee. The desire to improve is
there, but with too many choices and false promises, desire is squashed. Kids
resort to what they perceive as effective, wallowing in light weights, assistive
exercises, “bro” benching, and program changes as frequent as underwear changes
with no appropriate exposure to classic lifts and the work ethic needed to make
gains.
The majority of adults in commercial gyms don’t know how to train anymore.
This is problematic for a kid who wants to mirror an adult who has actually
accomplished something in the gym. Most adults who train in commercial gyms are
looking to get a “workout” in as painlessly and conveniently as possible. This
entails (usually) the elliptical trainer/treadmill, weight work based on
machines and isolated movements, and (possibly) spinning. This isn’t the “diet”
of exercise required by an adolescent trainee where dividends pay off big time
using compound movements, progressively heavier loads, and decent form.
Year-round competitive sports, early sports specialization, and lack of
unstructured physical activity (backyard play/ sport) helped create a generation
of kids who can perform “tricks” decently (read: play their associated sport
fairly competently) but have no appreciable mobility, strength, or stamina
outside their sport’s demands. I’m not talking about outliers or truly gifted
athletes with great central nervous system wiring and natural ability. I’m
talking about the large majority of kids who participate in a sport as their
only means of physical activity. As such, there has been no time to develop
basic and general fitness capabilities. This only worsens in high school where
well meaning but misinformed coaches push inappropriate weight training routines
to the masses of athletes they serve in facilities that are generally small,
poorly designed, and unequipped.
Most importantly, adults are reluctant to talk to kids in the gym. Actually,
in a commercial gym, no one really talks training anymore. People talk/text on
their Blackberry phones, and they talk about “The Hills,” but they don’t talk
training. This may say something bigger about society as a whole, but I’ll
resist the tangent here. The truth is that the hierarchy and respect of the old
school “gymnasium” is gone. Kids don’t respect adults, and adults are resistant
in giving a struggling kid advice. Honestly, if an adult with 14-inch arms and a
gut bigger than his chest gave me advice on rep speed or exercise selection, I’d
probably be inclined to blow him off just as well. However, these barriers that
have built up slowly and steadily over the past twenty years, especially with
the advent of the 24-hour chain “big box” gym, have permeated all but a few
training environments. This has massively retarded progress for those whose
needs are the most acute—the adolescent male trainee.
Fortunately, I have a solution to all this. Let’s make it a mission over the
next month to teach kids how to train with weights properly. We’ll call it
National Teach a Kid to Lift Month, but we won’t really make it “official.”
Instead, let’s make it simple. If you train in a commercial gym, look for a kid
who is obviously clueless and/or struggling with regards to his training. Don’t
go too far out of your way. Just give him one simple tip per day. When you see
him again, review it and then give him another one. Repeat this for a month and
see what happens.
If a fifteen year old is benching 105 lbs on the flat bench, show him
push-ups and give him a reasonable progression. If someone is leg pressing,
teach him a body weight squat. Next time, put a bar on his back and suggest a
rep scheme that is achievable but challenging. Gradually progress to deadlifts,
pull-ups, and other movements. The list goes on. Don’t become his personal
trainer. Just give him something simple to do that actually works, and I bet he
will listen. I believe kids want work that is hard but tangible. Make it tough
but not so tough that he quits after 2–3 days. Use your judgment. If the kid is
a jackass and tough to deal with, don’t waste time on him. Find someone who
wants and needs help. Just give a nudge, a push in the proper direction.
Doing this will slowly restore the balance in our commercial gyms. Kids want
direction and discipline to some extent. They want to be treated with respect,
but they also want guidance from someone who obviously has been down the same
path and has had some sort of positive result. They are more apt to listen to a
person who can give simple instruction and mild encouragement, not someone who
wants to be their buddy and screw around between sets of benching.
Start with one exercise. Pick one familiar to you. Make sure you teach it the
way it was taught (correctly) to you. Pick a rep scheme that is achievable. Wait
a week and give another exercise and additional simple instruction. Repeat this
for two more weeks. Occasionally ask if there are questions and answer them
simply, both verbally and with demonstration as needed. More importantly, let
the kid make mistakes and muddle through a bit, learning from this. Talk about
progression and additional exercises at the tail end of four weeks when form is
cemented a bit and continue to keep instruction basic and simple.
After four weeks, a burgeoning high school trainee’s program can easily have
deadlifting, squatting, chin-ups, push-ups, dips, and perhaps a clean and press
variation, depending on your experience as a mentor. This is a pretty good start
considering that before this the program was probably leg presses (if lucky),
biceps curls, lying triceps extensions, and pec decks. You have now given
someone things that they can actually build a foundation from so they can
continue gaining throughout their life cycle of training.
National Teach a Kid to Lift Month. Just for one month roughly 1–3 times a
week for four weeks. Make it happen, and make it happen sooner than later. There
are skinny, clueless kids who need and want your help. There are kids who don’t
want to play a sport, who just want to get bigger and stronger. There are also
athletes who need to learn how to properly produce muscular force against a
loaded bar in order to more effectively compete in their chosen sport. I was
one and all of them, and chances are you were as well. This can be done in any
month or on any day within the month, any time there is someone who needs what
you know. We are all up for this challenge because others selflessly did it for
us. Let’s make it our mission for four weeks, and let’s see what fruit we bear
from our efforts.
Shon Grosse PT, ATC, CSCS, is a physical education and allied health
professional who owns a private physical therapy practice/training studio in
Colmar, Pennsylvania. Check out his clinic website at
www.comprehensivecolmar.com. He can be reached via email at
pcomppt@aol.com.
Elite Fitness Systems strives to be a recognized leader in the strength
training industry by providing the highest quality strength training products
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