Now that I essentially work in the fitness industry (even though teaching group fitness doesn't feel like work to me, it's amazing fun and I love what I do), I'm interested in hearing from you guys and about your perceptions of the industry.
Here is basically what I'm interested in knowing:
- How do you feel about fitness personnel? Personal Trainers, Group Fitness Instructors, Team Training Leaders, and general staff/management are all included here. Do you feel comfortable or uncomfortable around them? Why? Is this based on a fear, or is this based on a past experience (either of yours or someone else)?
- How do you feel fitness personnel should treat their clients? Should they be aggressive and direct with them, or should they be kind and encouraging? Or a combination of both?
- Have you ever experienced, witnessed, or heard about prejudice directed from an employee of the fitness industry to a client of the fitness industry? Has that impacted your desire/willingness to subscribe to a fitness service or attempt a new activity? Has it affected a current workout regime or ended all possibility of a future workout regime?
I am keen to hear your thoughts.
Anonymous commenting has been enabled, but if you would prefer to email me instead of sharing your stories publicly, you are more than welcome to contact me at mmmarshmallow@gmail.com
And fellow bloggers - share the blog love and link this around. I'd love to hear from as many people as possible on this, from all walks of life, all shapes and sizes, all over the world. If you want to ramble about your experience, ramble to your hearts content.
I am all ears.
![Do an RPM Module [27/03/10]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/Mmmarshmallow/CAndE/RPM_Module_large.jpg){kind=link}
17 comments:
When I first joined the gym, I only really had contact with the group fitness instructors. I was almost intimidated by them, not because of their body shape, but because they appeared so confident and in control. I wasn't at the time... So I aspired to be like them. I absolutely envied the fact that they could be so confident in front of people. To this day, my favourite instructor in the world is overweight but I loved her classes!
Anyone in the fitness industry should respect their clients, where they're at, then and there. Like anything...
Unfortunately, the answer to this next question is yes... Working on reception full time opened my eyes... Not just to do with body shape either.
Scariest moment of my teaching career so far was being told I sit in the essence o balance 'physically' at aim 2... I'd never given it a secon thought before and I hope my participants dont either.
Any questions you know where I am
Ali, thank you so much for sharing :) Really appreciate it!
1. It depends I guess. I know some that are lovely, kind, caring helpful people, and I know some that are assholes. I guess it's like every profession - there are good and bad people. I guess overall I have an impression that people who work in this industry are probably more judgmental than average.
2. I personally don't really see that aggression is warranted. However, I don't see that directness and kindness/encouragement are at all exclusive.
3. Yes, directly and indirectly. At my favourite gym, all the people who worked for the gym itself were just wonderful - kind, encouraging, supportive and absolutely not judgmental. But some of the personal trainers who worked with clients there weren't so good. I overheard a few comments they made about other members that left a bad taste in my mouth. At other gyms I've been to there was certainly prejudice. Some of the comments/jokes among the staff weren't really that good - making critical comments about member's appearances etc. But I did notice something more subtle: there was definitely a difference in how you were treated based on looks. The people with the bodies who looked fit got more attention, help, encouragement etc than the rest of us. I don't think I was imagining it - it wasn't just me, but others where I could see the difference in treatment.
Anyway, the upshot of all of this is that I really have no interest in going to a gym anymore. I used to love my old gym, and I went every day for a few years, but now it's been more than a year since I went to one, and that one I only went about 3 or 4 times because I didn't feel very comfortable there. Also years before that I used to go to group fitness classes several times a week and really loved them. But one bad experience at a particular gym has now turned me off to the point that I can't imagine ever wanting to go to a group fitness class again. Sometimes I miss it, but I think the odds of finding a nice welcoming gym are pretty low, and I'm not willing to fork out hundreds of dollars in membership fees for a small chance of finding a place that treats everyone well, regardless of what they look like.
Anonymous, thank you so much for sharing your experience - I am so sorry to hear that you had a bad experience at that particular gym, and can completely understand how that has destroyed your willingness to be a member at a gym again. You absolutely should never be forking out money for a facility that does not make you feel comfortable there, and I commend you for making the decision not to do that.
Thank you again :)
Many women Get this
Sagging Skin - yes, that's what I believe. There is a reason for me asking for peoples experiences though; since I now am a part of that industry, I would love nothing more than to do my part to minimise the anxiety that people feel about the way they might be treated. That's both by being as best an example as I can be myself, and putting the word out there to others about their behaviours. The more submissions I get, the better :)
I've had quite varied experiences with personal trainers. I have been weight training for years and am reasonably strong and have a pretty good idea what I'm doing. I've had motivating trainers and one who used to text on his phone during a session (wish I'd had the confidence then to not come back. I would now.)
I've had one that started teaching me o-lifting skills because I said I wanted to learn something interesting - best PT so far! And another guy at the same gym who didn't believe me when I said a weight was too light for me. Guess what, it was still too light after 3 sets. And still too light the next session. Those were free sessions with my membership renewal and I didn't go again.
Hands down the most amazing trainers have been at a crossfit gym near me. Motivating, pushing people to do their best but empathetic, always gently correct form, if anything feels wrong with a movement they know the solution immediately.
Unfortunately I've stopped going for a bunch of reasons. Although it's not the main reason, the one that I've been trying not to admit is that I was just tired of coming last by miles. I am a strong but otherwise average, slightly overweight person and was among a bunch of seriously athletic people.
1. I have had pretty good experiences with fitness professionals, although I do feel that many of them should update their knowledge a little bit. Sometimes they keep repeating old cliches that have been dispelled in scientific studies a long time ago.
2. I feel that fitness professionals should treat their clients with respect, like they normally do.
3. Never personally experienced a prejudiced fitness professional, at least not in a work setting.
Hope that helps :)
1. Hard to say. I know some really cool trainers, and some not so cool. Some who don't know as much as they should, and some who are really able to help. Two of my friends are trained PTs. One of them is great, knowledgeable, helpful, the other not so much. The owner/trainer at my gym doesn't even know my name though he's seen me multiple times and exchange pleasantries. At the end of the day, though, I understand they're just people.
2. Fitness personnel should treat their clients the way their clients want to be treated. Sometimes that's aggressive, sometimes that's kind. And if it's not working out, either the trainer needs to change or the client needs to find a new trainer.
3. I haven't personally experienced anything like that, but I'm sure I've heard and read stories about it.
Em, Kris, Anonymous - Thank you both for taking the time to respond, really appreciate it :)
1.I run a sport facility and have over 10 trainers currently working. I've been in the industry for quite some time now and regardless of where I've worked one simple fact for successful trainers in truly their personality.
Some of my best trainers have very little formal education compared to their counterparts with masters degrees but are far more successful financially because they have a great personality.
2. Some of the things I look for in a good trainer are found in my article here http://www.losing-weight-ideas.com/losing-weight-with-a-personal-trainer
3.If I witnessed anything like this I would let them go. Simple.
Losing Weight Team, thank you so much for your feedback, really appreciated :)
I was a gym member a few years ago. I did and still do have a large amount of weight to lose. Sadly, most of the group instructors had no idea what to do with me. Not one of them offered options for someone heavy and when I asked they acted like they didn't want to be seen with me. After six unreturned calls to the Director of Group Fitness I cancelled my membership.
kellyo - I am absolutely appalled that noone was able to assist you. It is critical to provide options for all people; not just for people who are heavy, but injured, struggling with coordination, balance, etc. I'm upset and deeply sorry that you were treated like this.
I am pretty comfortable around fitness personnel. I have had many more good experiences than bad ones. I have almost exclusively been treated respectfully, enthusiastically, kindly and encouragingly by personal trainers, group class trainers, gym staff and owners. Sometimes I have to assert myself because I am obese and they will assume I am new to exercise, but I have rarely had a problem once I made it clear what I required or did not require.
Fitness personnel need to be aware that there is no "one approach suits all" for their clients - what is motivating for one is devastating to another, what is gently encouraging to one is a pointless distraction to another. Either get really good at reading people or ask what approach they want and stick to their choice.
Personally I cannot handle any criticism but will crawl over broken glass for praise, so commenting on what I got right or did well will boost me and motivate me as well as highlight to me the areas that failed to generate praise and therefore need work. I will always attempt to deliver more than is expected of me, and I have discovered that many trainers are used to the opposite in their clients with the result that I have frequently ended up pushing myself a bit too hard in order to live up to something they didn't actually expect me to do. Once they catch on they are more careful and can use this more deliberately to bust through mental blocks. You should always be respectful of people you are working with.
I have dealt (briefly) with a couple of personal trainers who were less than ideal. I extensively interview trainers before taking them on because as well as being obese I have a long complicated history of eating disorders, self harm and agoraphobia. I meet them, tell them flat out that there are some things that they are simply not allowed to say or do, and how they respond to that tells me a lot about whether or not I want to work with them.
One guy, who I ended up NOT going with continued to repeatedly try to sell me his "Nutritional Coaching" program even after I had explained that I would not take advice about eating, or keep a food diary as I was not planning to exercise in order to lose weight, but because I enjoyed it. He could not grasp that his was dangerous triggering behaviour even though I told him so several times. He kept just coming back to "But you know you need to lose weight? I can help you!" In the end I knew he was too dangerous for me to trust myself to.
I have had one trainer who was a small and very fit young woman who just didn't appreciate that body weight exercises are MUCH harder when you have a MUCH higher body weight, and didn't allow for the fact that I was completely new to working out, and ignored the recommendation to avoid certain activities that put pressure on my knees. I tried two sessions with her but we were just not a good fit, so I explained the issue to the gym owner and requested a different trainer and never looked back after making the switch.
I had one terrible experience with a chain gym, I eventually cancelled my membership as I didn't like the atmosphere and when I went in to cancel I was looked up and down and pointedly asked "Why aren't you exercising?" It put me off for a long time and shattered my confidence, but lead me to discover the wonderful world of boutique gyms and personal training.
My last three personal trainers have been AWESOME people who made me love working out and look forward to every session. They inspired me and I still occasionally think about become a fitness instructor one day.
How do you feel about fitness personnel?
I'm not always comfortable around them. Not in every case but in a lot of cases I almost feel a little patronized because I am not as fit as I should be. But this could just be projection.
How do you feel fitness personnel should treat their clients?
I think it depends on the client really different people respond to different motivation. But Direct is definitely the way to go it wont help anyone to sugar coat how they are doing
Have you ever experienced, witnessed, or heard about prejudice directed from an employee of the fitness industry to a client of the fitness industry?
Yeah I have and I do notice that the more fit someone is the better they are treated. As a bigger person who works out I get the feeling they dont want to see me at all. I once got paired with a trainer at a gym that rolled his eyes when he heard I was his client and I could tell through the session he was just phoning it in.Its a bit discouraging and partially why I wont go to a gym not at least until I feel like I wont be made fun of or looked down upon.
I have a personal trainer who is portly but incredibly fit and healthy, well muscled but also rotund. I welcome this kind of figure and many who workl with him appreciate he really knows his stuff. However, he has confided in me that he doesn't make a great first impression and often fails to win new business - which is very sad, but image matters.