(This is cross-posted at BlogHer.)
If you entered a gym and asked for a session with a personal trainer, what would you think if the person who walked up to you was overweight? In this scenario, we’re not talking about someone who’s carrying a few extra pounds, but someone who is noticeably overweight. This person looks like they never visit a gym…you might even think they could use a personal trainer themselves. What would you be thinking? Would you go through with the training or walk out the door?
Personal training is definitely one of those professions where you’re expected to look a certain way. Even if you’re at the very top of your game, and know exactly what you’re doing, and have way more experience than the competition, you’re bound to receive second looks (or questioning looks, or disbelieving looks) if you don’t “look the part.”
The question of whether personal trainers should (or “have to”) look the part was brought to the forefront again when Paul “PJ” James, a trainer and former underwear model from Australia, decided to gain a bunch of weight so he could better empathize with his overweight clients’ struggle to lose weight. His goal is to go from 180 pounds to 265, and as of a few weeks ago he was already at 233.
Even though this is a drastic move, I’m sure it’s been good marketing for him. He’s been getting a fair amount of press, and I’ve heard that he might be doing a documentary. Also, in his favor, he has a good excuse to give if anyone questions his rapid weight gain. If you think about it, the only other people who are typically given the go-ahead for so much weight gain are pregnant women. And while I know that plenty of pregnant women worry about their ability to get back to their pre-baby weight, I’ve never heard this guy question his ability to lose all these extra pounds. (He also has the advantage of having both resources and knowledge at his fingertips when he decides it’s time to lose the weight.)
Personally, if I were looking for a trainer and someone came forward who didn’t look the part, I’m sure I’d think it was a little strange — at least initially. However, it should also be pretty easy for that person to prove themselves and their training ability if they really know what they’re doing. After all, you don’t always have to practice something yourself in order to know how it’s supposed to be done, or to successfully motivate someone else.
As someone who likes to stand out only when she wants to stand out, I think the biggest issue for me would be facing the inevitable judgment. For instance, let’s say I weighed over 250 pounds. Would it be more socially acceptable for me to tell people that I’m a personal trainer or that I have a desk job? Even if the truth was actually the former, and I knew I should be proud of my training abilities, I might end up lying from time to time just so I wouldn’t have to deal with the questions or disbelief. (I know! Isn’t that horrible?)
It would be nice if we were judged solely on our merits, but it’s certainly true that looks matter — especially in fitness and entertainment professions. Has anyone worked with an overweight personal trainer (or been one personally)? What was your experience?
Related Reading:
Charlotte at The Great Fitness Experiment asked, Does it Matter What Your Personal Trainer Looks Like? She makes a good point: some clients “might prefer a trainer who has trudged a mile in their [shoes] both for the sake of empathy and to rule out freaky model genetics.” She had this to say about PJ James, the personal trainer who’s currently gaining a lot of weight:
My gut reaction to this story was “how sweet!” Anything that furthers better understanding between people is all good in my book. And it is great progress from those personal trainers who just tell their clients to do something because it worked for them. But I do worry that he is setting himself up for some health problems, at the very least. Not to mention it all feels a bit… publicity whore-ish. I’m conflicted.
Pasta Queen wrote about her experience attending an aerobics class with an overweight instructor.
As I walked in the room I saw a woman with a battery pack belted around her waist doing audio checks on a microphone headset. She was fat. Not just overweight, but probably obese by BMI standards. And she was the instructor. My first thought? Awesome! I know some gyms don’t like to have overweight fitness instructors because they think it sends a bad image, but my philosophy is that if you can lead the workout then it doesn’t matter how fat you are. If you can do the job, you have every right to do it. And she did.
FitSugar asks, Trainer Gains Weight to Better Understand Clients: Cool or Not?
The difference between James and his clients is that he is gaining weight by choice, while many people at an unhealthy weight have not exactly chosen their bodies. He’s loading up on doughnuts, fried chocolate bars, pizza, and pasta with creamy sauces, but many overweight individuals eat because of emotional issues and the food serves as a source of comfort.
Working as a personal trainer in San Francisco, Michael Behnken thinks that an overweight trainer is just as good a thin one: “The shape…means nothing. Just because my rocket scientist math teacher in college was good at calculus didn’t mean he was a good teacher… He sucked, I failed.”
Tawana Cain, “a health and fitness enthusiast and figure competitor,” refuses to be “one of those people that talk a good game but are really just all talk. Ever see an overweight personal trainer counseling someone ELSE on eating right as they lean on a weight machine drinking coffee and munching on a muffin?”
ABC News: Hunk Gets Chunky: Personal Trainer Vows to Get Fat
14 Comments
I have several spin instructors who are a little chunkier than you’d expect. But, even with that extra weight, they sure can beat the hell out of us.
That said, I think a personal trainer needs to be a model for what they teach. I had two weight lifting trainers in the past. One was a slightly built guy in his 50’s who’d been training guys for about 20 years.
The second training was a currently competing powerlifter who worked out daily and used the training to help pay the bills during the competition season.
The powerlifter not only able to inspire me with his impressive work ethic and attitude, but he was also able to impart wisdom to me that only someone had endured that kind of training could offer.
The other trainer was knowledgeable, but he could offer me the “i’ve been where you’re at, I know how to get through it. Do what I tell you and you will.”
Make sense?
Your opening sentence reminded me of the gastro-enterologist whose belly came in the door at least a second before the rest of him. I had expected an expert on the digestive system, just not quite in that manner…
i wouldn’t hire a trainer that was fat. and when i took gym classes, i didn’t like taking them from fat teachers.
They have to look the part to some extent- just by looking at a person you can tell if they care about their health and are active and eat nutritiously, so if they don’t do those things then I’d be asking why they are in that profession. But I also wouldn’t want them looking like they’re hyped up on steroids or something- it’s gotta be a lifestyle attitude!
My first reflex was to say “yes! They have to be in shape” but I started to think about it and now I’m not sure. As long as they know their subject matter and their weight doesn’t actually hinder them from doing their job then I guess it’s fine with me.
I don’t like trainers in general, but a heftier one would not bother me as long as he or she knew what she was doing! I once tried a personal trainer and when I reported that I wasn’t feeling the exercise where she said I should be (my arm, but all the effort was coming from my necks and shoulder), she told me that I was fine. Uh….
we had a discussion kinda like this about what you look for in yer guru at mizfit and SURPRISINGLY only one or 2 people said AESTHETICALLY FIT!!
I really like fitsugar’s point. It’s not a good experiment as he is gaining the weight (and losing it) under contrived and unrealistic circumstances.
Your point about the pending documentary sure puts things in perspective tho;)
just found your blog searching for tmi thursday and like it so far.
i definitely think PTs should look the part.. i don’t mind a few extra pounds but noticeably overweight is bad marketing! unfortunately, like lots of professions in this world, PTs have to brand themselves, especially since it’s an image-based profession. being overweight is not going to help that..
I guess you could compare it to a doctor who is overweight and unhealthy… or who smokes. But I personally would want a trainer who was in shape and took their job seriously. I’m not sure they could motivate me as much with their “do as I say, not as I do” attitude.
As for this PJ, I think it should be much easier for him to lose the weight since he was already really disciplined before he put on the weight. He’s gaining weight because he wants to, not because he can’t control himself.
Yes, it would bother me. They don’t have to be ripped or look like stick figures, they just have to look “healthy.” I would be like seeing a dentist who had really bad teeth, or a cardiac doctor on a smoke break.
A great post and topic for sure. It is one that is really important to me. I’ve always carried extra weight and worked as a personal trainer and exercise instructor for years. Even at my most fit I would have been considered overweight by many in the fitness industry. At many gyms I was welcomed and I feel like my own struggles with weight truly helped other people because they could relate to me. More so than if I had the perfect body. I do remember some gyms where I looked for jobs in the summer that pretty much snubbed me bc I didn’t have a perfect body though. Oh well, probably wasn’t the “were in it for health” atmosphere I was looking for anyway.
There was a woman who taught spinning at a place I frequented that was very overweight and people absolutely loved her for her energy and attitude.
Obese would bother me, but not overweight. Not everyone is designed to have what society considers to be the perfect body even if they are quite fit.
First, you absolutely cannot tell by looking at someone whether they have a healthy lifestyle. I know some very fit people who look obese. Second, would those people who wouldn’t want a fat trainer want a thin trainer that never exercises herself and eats nothing but french fries? Is it really all about the appearance, and who cares whether they are actually fit themselves?
Personally I think people should judge trainers by their skills as a trainer and mind their own business when it comes to the trainer’s personal life. What if a trainer used to be fit but now is a single mom who has a hard time finding time for her own workouts? Should she quit her job because she doesn’t have time to work out? It’s just isn’t anyone’s business what they do in their free time.
That said, I would never go to this guy who is purposefully harming his own health for marketing purposes. That doesn’t show ANYTHING about how he relates to his clients. All it shows is that he is stupid. That is like a family law practitioner purposefully marrying someone distasteful just to get a divorce to show her clients that she understands what divorce is like. I would never hire someone who would put self-promotion over good sense in that way.
I don’t have an issue with a trainer/fitness expert that doesn’t look like a proto-typical trainer at all. Like a lot of commentors, if they are qualified to teach/train/lead the class, who cares? What I do have a problem with is when they don’t act like trainers. For instance, the time I saw the trainer at my gym leave the bathroom stall and not wash her hands. That one behavior made me lose all respect for her because all I could think was, gross! If she’s that careless with personal hygiene, how can she possibly be concientous enough to be a trainer??