overweight personal trainer?

[taylorswift1989]

I recently joined a gym. It's one of a chain and it's great for what I need, but I've noticed that two of the personal trainers who work there are very overweight. All the female staff look fit and healthy, but the male staff look like they are in need of some personal training themselves.

(No one will be able to answer this, but I wonder if the standards are different for men and women. The women look exactly how you would expect fit and strong women to look - a variety of physiques for sure, but clearly they are fit and agile. I wonder if obese women would be employed at this gym, even if they had the qualifications?)

Is it unreasonable to think that personal trainers should look like they have the ability and discipline to achieve the goals that their clients are working towards? I know people come in all shapes and sizes, and a larger person may be very fit and skilled at certain sports, and/or an excellent teacher, so maybe I am being unfair? But we are talking about people who are obese and who do not look fit or healthy. Even if it doesn't affect their skill at training clients, does it make a difference to how much trust you would put in them to be able to help you towards your fitness goals?

YABU - It wouldn't make any difference to me as long as they were qualified and knew their stuff in theory
YANBU - It would make me wonder if they had the discipline or ability that they are trying to teach their clients

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!

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.

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!

I have been. In a large gym chain.

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.

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

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.

Really??? 🤔

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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 mean, they both look like the sport they are suited to compete in would be sumo wrestling. I don't want to be too descriptive about their bodies but I don't know how else to say it!

I'm not at all suggesting that you have to be slim to be fit. But I do think there's a difference between being "big" and being actually obese. A couple of the women at the gym are what I'd call big, with big muscles, stocky etc. I expect their BMIs might put them in the overweight range but they definitely aren't fat.

I appreciate that people are saying they like a variety of types of PT and that's fair enough. I was just curious about this particular situation.

I don't think I have the same sense of being intimidated by people's bodies as others have described - I assume that when you see incredibly fit and strong people, they've worked hard to achieve that fitness and I find that admirable rather than scary. But I agree that someone who looks 'normal' or averagely fit could be an excellent PT and probably doesn't seem as intimidating as a super fit person.

I said earlier on there are people I know who are gym instructors who do strongman comps who are fat by my standards and I'm not skinny - they could bench and deadlift over twice the weight I can. They probably fit the body type you are describing.

I personally don't think it matters - because there are enough people working in gyms who fit the aesthetic some people clearly want - and others will get clients who are happy to go with them

I would not choose to train with either of these men. Their obesity is definitely a factor for me, but it's not just about that. One of the men is just a bit quiet and unfriendly - he may be perfectly nice but he seems unable to make eye contact. The other one has helped me with equipment a couple of times and each time has made weird sexual innuendos about how to move etc and while I can cope with a bit of banter or whatever, I definitely wouldn't want to be trained by someone who was talking about my body/exercise in a sexualised way.

The guy I'd like to train with is very fit indeed, but also calm, respectful, kind and extremely knowledgeable. He's not laddish or blokey in any way and he basically seems like a total geek for anything to do with fitness. If he was less fit-looking, I would still choose him over a fitter PT who wanted to banter with me or who couldn't make eye contact. But he also looks like he has the expertise and experience and is practising what he preaches.

Possibly. I'm not comfortable to go into a lot of description of their bodies so I guess I can't say one way or another. I don't doubt that they are both strong. But neither of them are selling strongman training; both are selling PT for general fitness. (I actually know a strongwoman champion and she is just solid muscle, not fat at all, though probably has an enormous BMI.)

I absolutely agree that it doesn't matter and it's probably good to have the diversity of body types, as a lot of people on this thread have expressed they would be more comfortable with an obese PT. Which is fair enough!

No I agree! What I mean is if they are overweight but understand why (truthfully and accurately) I would have no issue at all. They are human after all. It might even make me identify with them more. But if they had no insight and claimed difficult metabolism or claimed to eat in a way which was clearly not the case or some such - that would put me off.

When I did my PT qualification. I was 46. I was 11 stones 10. And my BMI was 30. (obese). However I was doing thai boxing bootcamps three times a week. Triathlons. Lifting weights in the gym. We did fitness tests on the course and I beat both the other girls on it - who were not unfit and who were a lot younger than me. 18 months earlier I had been 25kg heavier. There were comments made to me on the course by a male instructor - I was a size 14. About my size. He then said sorry after I did the fitness tests

As I said earlier on in the thread - people can gain weight for lots of reasons. As someone who has struggled with her weight for three decades I don't assume why someone might be the weight they are

If someone passes a PT course they are allowed to train other people - and if a gym wants to employ bigger PTs. That's up to them

Over the last three years I've had a shoulder fracture that stopped me from exercising -and then just as I was getting back into it - I broke my leg. Someone might look at me at the moment and think - look at the state of you - but if I were working in a gym just now - it wouldn't bother me. Because my size has no bearing on my ability to train other people. Sometimes life just gets in the way

I've struggled with my weight all my life. I'm a fat person in a slim family. I would need to starve myself to get to the weight I was in my 20s. I actually never had any negative comments as a PT who was a size 12-14.

I think people liked the fact that I didn't look ripped and perfect - and that attracted a certain kind of people to my classes and to people who wanted me to train them. Whereas the folk who did look ripped attracted other types of clients. There's room for lots of shapes and sizes as PTs. I can't think of anyone in the gym I go to that I would look at and think - you look totally ripped - but they all have people who want to train with them