overweight personal trainer?

Someone being overweight doesn't necessarily mean that they are a bad PT and someone being slim doesn't mean they are a good PT. My weight shape or size is no ones business. If I were a PT and someone thought I was too fat or unhealthy to train with - they have choices

I've also worked with people who have been on steroids (to get their physique bigger than it would be naturally). The gym knew

I don't mind if a PT is overweight as long as they had accurate insight into why they were overweight - so admitted to struggling with chocolate or overeating when stressed, tired or whatever. If they claimed to have weird genetics or a different metabolism or claimed to only eat 1000 calories a day - then no. I want them to know what they are talking about.

I'd want a pt to look as fit as fuck

Years ago,I had dietician who must have weighed at least 20 stone advising me on what to feed my DD to help her lose weight.

Some clients might be looking to put weight on. Not every person goes to PT looking to lose weight.

Part of the reason I put weight on when I worked at pure gym was because back then they didn't pay their staff - we were on self employed contracts only. You had to work 15 hours on the gym floor. For nothing. Teach classes and try and find clients. My own training fell by the wayside as I didn't have the same time spare.

I had a class instructor for a while who was overweight but aerobically incredibly fit. She did the class several times a day and we could barely keep up with just one hour.

Are you sure the male PTs are actually overweight or are they just big? The people who compete in things like world’s strongest man aren’t lean and muscular, they are solid and wide

My last PT was really good but he wasn't all big and muscular, he was quite a petite man. He was a swimmer and cyclist though and knew his stuff.

I've had a trainer who was all rock hard abs, 6 pack, martial arts champion, he was bloody brilliant at motivating me (I couldn't have achieved what I had without him). He used to take the piss and laugh at me when I always did the same thing wrong every week, he cheered when I got it right though.

My favourite trainer at my gym, is a runner and quite muscular. But he has a cheeky smile which always makes me more motivated.

My point is they come in all shapes and sizes.

We don't have many female PTs at my gym, the two there are are both quite petite ladies.

My husband is a PT, doesn’t look like the typical young fit PT you see in the gym. He’s in his late 40’s with no 6 pack, not overweight but is bigger than he was in his 20’s. He is always fully booked. Mainly because his clients see him as approachable, feel comfortable with him and know that he understands the obstacles that people with jobs, families and busy lives have to overcome to prioritise themselves.

Really??? 🤔

You expect "most Physical Trainers to be overweight/ have an obese BMI" Why??

You’re bang on correct. For strongmen competitors having the extra weight and body far is actually an essential!

Fitness can never be one size fit all, and so PT’s should never be either.

But not everyone has a body type where they look like they work out. And some PTs are slim and never work out - I know who I would rather go to

Two questions in one there!
Do I think a PT needs to look in great shape? No. As long as they have the knowledge to support my training, I don't care. The relationship is about my fitness, not theirs.
Do I think that women are held to different standards? Yes, probably. We are with everything else, expected to excel to be considered the equal of a mediocre man, judged on our appearance etc. No reason to think this would be any different.

I have been. In a large gym chain.

I wouldn’t go to a fat PT. Same as I wouldn’t go to a dentist with rotten teeth (wonky is ok, but not rotten) or a hairdresser with horrible hair.
A pt who eats crap and doesn’t work out is not inspiring at all to me. I want them to look like they work out!

Absolutely. It can be terrifying to walk into a gym if you are overweight. I have been that person more than once - and I have a lot of fitness qualifications.

My brother is a PT as I've said before. He's done strongman competitions. But according to BMI, he's overweight because he has a BMI of around 26, even though his body fat percentage is very low.

There was a guy at my local gym who I actually did my gym instructor training with. He's very big, definitely carrying a lot of extra weight. He does strong man competitions and can lift a ridiculous amount of weights. He's got the fitness for the events he competes in even though he's obese.

This is interesting. I’m a qualified athletics coach and used to coach (voluntary) 3x per week. I’m still qualified but don’t actively coach at the moment and I’m visibly overweight now. I didn’t used to be. I’m now worried about going back to coaching!

I absolutely agree you may have a point on the sex split here, would an overweight female PT be employed? Too small a sample to be sure but social norms would suggest no.

That was my first thought too.

Actually, I suppose that's the thing, you need someone to inspire you and that's going to be different for everyone.

I'm as strong af and over the years have lost weight in many different ways but if you want someone who can post gorgeous butt shots on IG, then I'm not the one for you.

It's the relationship that counts really, bit like therapy.

‘slim’ does not equal ‘healthy’ necessarily!! We now know that we are genetically all shapes and sizes and the culture of everyone striving to look a certain size is misinformed and toxic. It’s judgements like those that fuel weight cycling and disordered eating/ exercising culture in some people. In a similar way that social media etc have set the bar of what features are “attractive” leading to young women injecting filler into their lips and cheeks etc so they end up all looking the same!

I wouldn’t say a heavier person couldn’t be a PT because all different people look into PTs for all different reasons. Someone with a low body fat percentage could be a very poor PT. For me personally if I was going to hire a PT I would want someone who has a similar life experience to me I guess so I wouldn’t want a man in his twenties who has lots of free time to work out but also wouldn’t necessarily prefer a person who has struggled with obesity and whose only experience is with that- I’d be more interested in someone whose life experience includes children, menopause, and professional experience includes maintaining at target weight, weight training to complement running and for supporting health in 40s/50s - but the person I have described might not suit other clients. Everyone has different things to bring to the table.

Eddie Hall is surely obese? but I bet he'd be a bloody brilliant personal trainer especially if your goals are heavy lifting

May be they're rugby players.

BMI is notoriously unreliable as a measure of health for certain sports. I'd take health and fitness advice from Hannah Botterman long before I took it from the waif at the gym who said, "Ooh, you don't eat wheat, do you?"

It wouldn’t bother me. A lot of the fit looking pts at my gym are too busy staring at themselves in the mirror. It put me off using one of them. As long as they are knowledgeable and can teach well I don’t see the issue?