I (21F) was at the gym earlier and I noticed that the 3 highschooler girls were doing the lateral pulldown incorrectly. I approached to them and politely asked them if I can show them how to do a proper form. They all agreed to me showing them a proper form.
However, I noticed that two of the girls were uninterested in learning how to do a lat pulldown. It was only one girl that was interested.
After this incident, I asked myself if I was in a wrong for approaching to them?
I did some Google searching to see if it’s wrong to correct someone’s form and I didn’t know that it’s an improper etiquette.
Please be honest, am I the asshole here?
It sounds like you politely asked if you could help someone, she accepted your help, and then everyone continued on with their day without incident or issue. What exactly are you worried about? There is no conflict here.
I’m fairly new to weights and would personally have appreciated that. I don’t want to get hurt and I want results. I vote NTA. I’m interested to hear from the more seasoned gym rats.
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I’m gonna say NAH.
Personally, I don’t like it when people bother me when I’m minding my own business at the gym. This includes unsolicited advice.
That being said, you were polite and had good intentions, so I don’t necessarily think you’re an AH in this situation.
In the future, refrain from giving unsolicited advice to people working out at a gym.
YTA. Don’t approach random people at the gym unless you work there.
NAH
In general, I don’t recommend approaching people to correct their form (unless they’re clearly going to injure themselves) but since you say you asked politely I think you get a pass this time 🙂 Also, since they were young girls I could see how they might not want to interact with strangers, even if the stranger is also girl close to their age. I think the other two girls were just behaving the way teenagers behave.
As long as you asked first and didn’t do it condescendingly, NTA. The one girl seemed to appreciate it, it doesn’t really matter that the other two weren’t interested.
The issue with correcting form is that a lot of people are assholes about it, and a lot of them are men who come up to a woman in the middle of squatting 185 for reps and start trying to correct her form without being asked. So I wouldn’t make a habit of asking people if you can correct their form, but I don’t think it did any harm this time.
I think you are unfortunately going to get mixed answers here.
I would personally appreciate it but some people like being left alone at the gym. I think a lot of people have insecurity in the gym for multiple reasons and that’s part of why they don’t really want to be bothered. It’s a vulnerable personal space.
I think as long as you ask if advice is appreciated and then respect whatever answer they give you, it’s okay.
NTA. Sounds like you were polite about it. If their form might have caused injury, then you even did them a favor.
I mean I would appreciate someone telling me I was doing it wrong…NTA in my book
NTA. I don’t really go to the gym, but I would want to make sure I was using the equipment in the proper way so that I could prevent myself from not only being injured but also embarrassing myself. I would personally have appreciated it so long as you were polite.
NTA – my Grandma had a saying. ” If it can’t be fixed in 5 minutes with the tools at hand, keep your mouth shut”. This clearly was an example of you having the tools at hand – the knowledge to use the equipment properly and safely, which you conveyed without taking up too much of their time. So what if two girls didn’t listen to you but one did? Welcome to teenagers. The one girl that did listen is now in a position to better assist her friends if they ever want to accept help from her at any point. And you can sleep at night knowing that if they hurt themselves, that’s not on you.
NAH – you asked if you could show them and they agreed.
The gym is (can be) a very solid community, including hte more experienced offering help to the less….assuming everyone is there to learn and do the ‘right thing’ for their workouts. I would NEVER be upset if someone offered, in a helpful, not superior way.
However, just beause they agreed to let you show them (high school girls may be more inclined to go along rather than say ‘no’) it doens’t mean they need to pay attention or do what you say.
NAH. You were polite about it and had good intentions. The other two didn’t ask for your help and didn’t pay attention. Nobody really did anything wrong.