Then they use them for lifts that don't benefit from bumper plates like bench press. amirite?
Printable View
I have been to all three Lifetimes in the Phoenix area . . . all three have done what melody describes.
The LT by my house went thru the same ordeal that hector describes . . .
Step 1 was they got a lot of Kraiburg bumpers (no platforms) and some 'nice' bearing bars.
Step 2 they kept the bars/bumpers locked-up . . . so idiots could not use them.
Step 3 stopped locking them up.
Step 4 got the (5) nice platform/squat rack stations
Step 5 now, all the gym bros curl in said stations w/ full diameter 10# technique plates and girl's 33# bar . . .
still have the hex plates tho . . .deadlifting over 405?, you have to use the hex plates or mix-match.
I go to New York Sports Club. Have probably been to 12+ different ones in Manhattan and Queens. Maybe 5 had a power rack. 3 have bumpers and oly platforms. The best one is in Forest Hills Queens. 2 power racks (unheard of for this company) and they just ordered 2 platforms. I found out why at my meet on Sunday. 3 of the personal trainers there ACTUALLY lift and were in the meet as well.
Yes, the whole thing is quite a paradox? if that's the right word.
At my Lifetime, they'll round up a bunch of soccer mom's and outta shape middle aged men . . . in, I guess, is a enmass PT session. They will ATTEMPT to teach these people how to power clean. Which on one hand is inspiring/shocking . . . and but on the other, is unproductive and wasting the clients money:
#1- the Lifetime PT's can't teach the pwr clean, 90% of the PT's can't do it themselves.
#2- the time is wasted here, would be better of squatting, or working or their squat.
#3- none of the these people have the mobility for it.
they can't even get into the proper starting position, and none of them even come close to racking it correctly . . . all wrist/hand catches, etc.
. . .but the PT's/Corporate see it as a gold mine I guess . . . keeps the clients coming back that they are doing something 'Crossfitty' looking.
at least I get to use bumpers for cleans and snatches now, as a side effect of this of circus.
When I occasionally go to our Lifetime, once it's 135 or more (2 bumper 45s), I'm inclined to do the opposite: walk 35 feet from the platform I'm using to get hex 35s or 25s, instead of the bumper 35 or 25. Easier to put on and off for DL and clean...and less ostentatious than filling a bar with bumpers that are...well...not 45s.