Stretching class at gym - should it be this painful?

[KLFisgonnarockyou]

I’ve signed up to a gym and admittedly I’m not very flexible. The advisor at the gym suggested I do a stretch class with him. It involved me lying on a bench and him pulling me apart in all sorts of directions. It was just awful and agony and in the end I had to tell him to stop.

Is it supposed to be this hard? Are there benefits of continuing, or is there an easier way to gain flexibility?

This doesn’t sound very healthy and I’ve not heard of it and I’ve been going to gyms off and on for years. I’d imagine the only person qualified to pull you about would be a physio or sports therapist etc. Is the gym staff member something like that?

To improve flexibility I’d suggest just do your own daily stretching sessions. Follow a video on YouTube or find a PDf chart that shows different stretches.

And perhaps take some vitamins for bone health and increase protein, drink more water etc.

This sounds terrible! What qualifications does this 'advisor' have?

Can you invest in a few sessions with a qualified personal trainer. Someone who is experienced in helping older and less fit women.

Also try stretching at home - a few minutes every day. For instance this

Lucy Wyndham Reed has a lot of short, gentle workouts that you might be able to do. Look her up on YouTube. She is lovely!

I’m not sure of their qualifications, but the man is a personal trainer (advisor maybe the wrong word). I just don’t think it should be so painful.

I may watch these videos

Hi @KLFisgonnarockyou when i do stretches it feels good and shouldn't be painful 😕

A good stretch should take to just before the point of pain
everyone has a different level of flexibility
he will have absolutely no way of knowing your level you have to tell him and be his guide to this

personal trainer will have to be qualified for insurance purposes
gym staff have to have gym instructor qualification
one of the first things they ask before they employ you
Give it another go unless you say anything he won’t know

You don't need anybody touching you to stretch.

It sounds like he shouldn't be touching anybody.

There are a fair few men in gyms and the fitness industry who like to "put women through their paces". Funnily enough they tend not to douse the same "techniques" with their male clients.

I'd be highly surprised if a female fitness trainer ever did this "stretching" with a male client.

I'd be inclined to ask to speak to the gym manager about what this class is that is being offered under their roof and in their name.

Give it another go unless you say anything he won’t know

What? She's a gym newbie! He can teach her how to do basic stretches, sure. He has NO need to touch her.

This isn't an olympic athlete working with a specialised physiotherapist!

OP def go back to the gym. Politely decline any stretching "lessons".

No trainer needs to touch you. They can demonstrate things to you, tell you what part of your body to correct. Occasionally - occasionally - they may need to correct you by touching but that should be with something like the outside (rather than palm side) of two fingers. There are different ways of doing that but the point is they're touching as little as possible. And as infrequently as possible.

In a previous life I trained as a personal trainer and group fitness instructor.

It can be good to be passively stretched by someone else, but if you were in pain then this man was doing it wrong. You should be able to feel it is doing something obviously and it might not be comfortable, but it shouldn’t take you past the point where it actually hurts.

Gentle stretching daily at home, twice a day if you can manage it, will do a much better job of increasing your flexibility.

Not quite the same but I saw a cranial osteopath for pain. Rather than the usual treatment, she would stretch me whilst I lay on the bed. It felt lovely. Just enough stretch to ease-out each muscle group. Perhaps find someone like this?

There's a whole host of stretching venues that have sprung up recently in London, a bit like the walk in massage places but all about having a pro stretch you out. So I wouldn't be too hasty to say stretching should not involve touching. It needn't but there's definitely a vogue for being stretched by someone else.

That said, it shouldn't be hurting like that, and there should be plenty of options before you get to telling him to stop. He should be communicating properly and finding out your limits and doing less when it's starting to get too much. Sounds like he's just not good enough at his job and you're best out of it and doing your own stretching alone.

Erm, sounds well dodgy on many levels... Nothing like my gym stretch class which involves an instructor guiding 8-10 people through a series of static and dynamic poses- some a bit like yoga, others a bit like physiotherapy techniques.

She doesn't touch us.

It doesn't hurt- you take each stretch or twist to a gentle "biting point" and no more.

Stretch and tone at my gym does physical adjustments to correct you to get you in the right position
and she touches everyone

guess you’d have to be at the class to see rather than make snap judgments from a few lines of info on a post

Stretching shouldn't be painful; it should reach a natural limit of resistance or discomfort. You can pause at that point and see if you can relax into it and stretch beyond that initial resistance. But it shouldn't hurt.

Partnered resistance is a thing. I've done it in well established yoga classes where we knew our limits and knew each other well. My osteopath also uses resistance where he applies force in one direction and I apply opposing force. It should always be done with consent and with an understanding of where the natural point of resistance is, and never pushing to pain.

This sounds like poor practice, poorly explained and poorly done. It's a high injury risk doing it in this manner and emotionally uncomfortable to do it this way too. Let the management know.

Little and often works well on stretching and there's lots of 5-10 minute pilates/ yoga stretch videos on youtube that are easy to fit in regularly at home.

You don’t need a man to stretch your own body. Do some yoga.

Stretch and tone at my gym does physical adjustments to correct you to get you in the right position
and she touches everyone

guess you’d have to be at the class to see rather than make snap judgments from a few lines of info on a post

Well in that case you shouldn't have anything to say because you weren't there either.

It still stands that a gym newbie who isn't particularly fit (ie not transferring gyms) has zero requirement to be physically stretched out by some man she's just met.

This shouldn't have been osteopathy, physiotherapy or anything else either. Partnered/dynamic stretching is great, but it's not what OP described either.

This sounds like poor practice, poorly explained and poorly done. It's a high injury risk doing it in this manner and emotionally uncomfortable to do it this way too. Let the management know.
Absolutely exactly this.

Quit right that’s why I didn’t comment on the class I gave an example that it’s not unusual

anatomy and muscle group and how it works is all covered When you qualify as gym instructor .
you don’t have to be a physo or osteopath to know there hyper extending or put them in the correct position

correct stretching especially for a newbie is beyond important to avoid injury and improve recovery

there should’ve of been more communication on both sides

you can out someone through a workout and off they don’t stretch and cool down properly there’ll be stiff as a board the next day bearing in mind as you pointed out newbie makes it even more important

Unless he has a specific qualification he shouldn't be touching you to stretch it's not covered by a PT qualification in terms of both knowledge and insurance and most certainly not a 'gym advisor' qualification.

That's every kind of wrong. Stretching exercises should not be carried out by someone else pulling and pushing you into the stretches. It is called passive stretching, and you should really be using active stretching, which is when your body does it, and of course you are then in control and can stop when you need to.

Gym instructor level 2 ( done the course ) does cover anatomy hence muscle groups how it works and gets the best out of stretching correctly
in fitness physical adjustments in workout and stretch is not unusual

That sounds really bad, OP. The trainer sounds like someone who had just a little knowledge, and wrongly generalised from what was right for him and his mates to inflict it on someone for whom it isn't right at all. Passive stretching just can't help you if it takes you to a pain point where you tense up against it.

I would write it off to experience, never let the bloke do it again and book in for some yoga, pilates, body balance type classes where they will remind you again and again that you must listen to your body and just take it to the sweet spot at the edge of discomfort.
Please don't let it put you off, though. You were just unlucky to get in the path of someone who didn't know his own limitations.

Forgot to add every gym/ sports centre I’ve gone for a job have always have level 2 gym instructor as a minimum PT is level 3 you need level 2 to go onto level 3

you can check this as when you do your course you get cips points then you can go on reps ( reg of exercise professionals )
you need this to get insurance

REPS no longer exists it is CIMSPA since 2020.

I teach all sorts of classes - I do not do hands on but any instructor must obtain the client's consent first before touching and the client is free to refuse.
I am able to demo and use verbal cues for all my classes - stretch, yoga, pilates, LBT, step, aqua etc

You were migrated across from reps automatically same thing and your points you get when you do new course maintain your registration

I think every situation is different some people want verbal cues some want physical cues
think we’ve got side tracked my point was people were saying there’s no such thing as a physical adjustment there is

No. I do a lot of Sarah beth yoga videos. It has helped me improve my flexibly a great deal without pain. Soreness? Yes. Pain? No.

Many of the videos say to let gravity do all the work and to let gravity do all of the work. Sometimes my husband and I do partner stretches but it is always gentle. He will grab my leg and gently bounce and press it until I say stop.

The important thing is he stops when I say so!

I'm not sure what your flexibility level is. Some of these videos are very very basic. So you might want to experiment and scroll through their ten minute flexibility playlist to find a video that's at your level. But this one worked for my body's level when I started.

My PT stretches me every session. I do a ten minute warmup on the cross trainer, and then he stretches me before I workout with him. Then he does it again, at the end of the workout. It's my favourite part of my session with him.
I personally have never felt uncomfortable with him doing it. Always thought it was part of his job, and I'm glad that he does, as it probably helps me to not get an Injury while working out.