I’m all for being creative and mixing things up in your workout routine, but sometimes our gym buds take it too far. As I’ve illustrated in some of the images that accompany this article, you can see that some strange activities occur in gyms across the country and I wonder what they were thinking in those moments. I generally have a few rules of thumb and they start with common sense coupled with research.

#1 – If you are unclear on how to setup an exercise, get help.

#2 – If you have never used a piece of equipment before, get help.

#3 – If your only goal is to get a cool extreme workout clip to post on social media because you really want to get your likes up…get help!

All of that said, it grinds my gears when I see ego lifting, but it takes my anger to another level when I ego lifting combined with silliness. It’s a sure-fire formula for failure. In most situations, if the drill requires you to end up upside down in a free fall, you might want to rethink the activity. If it asks you to balance equipment on a narrow edge then you balance your body on those edges, I’d say try something else. 

While I’m clear poking fun at the social media-crazed gym fail generation, I do want to warn my readers to be safe and avoid unsafe activities in the gym. Even some of the clips look really cool and fun, the best executed extreme gym moves are done by trainers who understand exactly what they are doing and what risks are involved. in general, I advise everyone to stick to the exercise staples AND, if you must, posting cute gym mirror selfies for the ‘Gram!

Lastly, I have training programs as low as $75/month that will supplement and guide you to your goals.