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

I get what you're saying and I agree to an extent. But I think you are underestimating what I mean when I'm saying 'obese'. Like one of them has trouble getting up the stairs. But even so, yes, you're right - they're qualified and employed to work in the gym so must have the basic knowledge. And as has been expressed on this thread, many people would choose to work with them.

I am overweight myself (one of the reasons I'm going to the gym!) and have no judgement on why or how these men became obese. I know there are lots of reasons that I would have a lot of compassion for and anyway, it's none of my business. But I feel an unfit PT is not the right PT for me.

It's fair to say, however, that either of them might be brilliant at training other people. I don't know. As I say, they both seem to have other issues that would put me off anyway, regardless of their fitness. But it's important to me that my PT be fit, in the same way that I would expect anyone teaching me a skill to have that skill themselves.

That's fair enough. A PT qualification isn't easy to get and a lot of people go much further after they qualify. Btw if anyone is making sexual comments towards you - report it. That's not on

One of the school dads became a personal trainer earlier this year. He is visibly and quite significantly overweight. However, hes quite literally half the size he was a couple of yesrs ago. Hed obviously worked - and still working - incredibly hard to lose weight and get fit, and so I would imagine that this makes him good at his job, and also less intimidating

My ability to train people would be no different whether I was 11 stones or 22 stones. I'm not 22 stones BTW.

What I don't like about discussions like this is that you don't know why someone is fat. I'm currently fat because I broke my shoulder and tore my rotator and then broke my leg within two years of one another. I've also had a really horrible few years in my personal life and I suffer from ptsd which hampered my ability to get in the gym. I may never teach a class again but I'm back in the gym training

(I'm going to leave it there - I think the judgemental comments on this thread have been way too judgemental)

Ps. For the person that said this thread might stop you going back to football coaching - don't let it.

Also. Pts do more or less the same course to get their qualifications - and it's not easy either. People have ability whether they are fat or thin

If folk want to criticise - maybe go and train as a PT yourself - see the graft it takes to get the qualification - and apply it.

I meant I think he would be good at his job in that some (like me, very fat and very unfit) would potentially see him as a sort of 'look, it really works' kind of thing and could relate to him. I know when I (very briefly!) Went to the gym, I was in awe at some of the very toned, muscular trainers and they were incredibly good trainers, but I think seeing someone who was really big and maybe with a way to go yet, would give me an additional boost, in a 'yasssss if he can do it, I might be able to' kind of way'.

My point, clumsily made, was that the size of a PT absolutely wouldn't put me off because they all have to pass training, all obviously work hard to maintain their fitness, but as a very large person, id probably relate on a more personal level to a PT who wasn't in perfect shape.

Thanks all for the discussion. I think I have somewhat changed my view and consider that maybe I am being a bit unreasonable. For me, personally, I felt I wanted a trainer who obviously knows how to train their own body and how they look would be one indication of that - like, the most immediate reference for what they can do as a trainer. But I realise that this is somewhat irrelevant when I'm a woman talking about male PTs anyway - just because they can train their own body doesn't mean they know how to train mine. And the same might apply to a 20 year old woman PT - does she know how to train a body that is perimenopausal with a decades long history of being overweight? So maybe looking at PTs' bodies as highly relevant to their training abilities is actually quite wrongheaded of me.

I can also understand that people might be more comfortable with someone who looks a bit more like they do starting out. I don't feel intimidated by people having fitter bodies than mine, but maybe I would have done when I was younger, and I didn't really think about this until pp mentioned it.

I do think there is probably a limit and if pp actually saw the men I'm talking about, they might be more inclined to agree with my OP! But at the same time, I appreciate that they might be excellent trainers. (Well, one of them I think would be a terrible trainer for me, because of the sexual innuendo in every conversation. But that probably works for some people, too.)

I do still think that it would be much more unlikely to see an obese female PT in a gym. I doubt that a size 24+ woman would be employed there. Maybe I am wrong, but I suspect that if that had been my OP, answers would have been quite different. Anyway, I appreciate the polite and measured conversation here, and how it has changed my perspective. Thanks all.

I absolutely would not train with either an obese personal trainer or one who made sexual remarks!

You might find it difficult by looking at someone to tell if they are obese or not given that anyone with a BMI of over 29 falls into that category

I know a PT who has run her successful business for about 10 years. She’s not not obese but she’s not slim and toned. I don’t use her but she must be doing something right to get results for her clients.

More than anything I can’t understand why she’s larger when she works out so much. Perhaps her diet is bad.

In theory it shouldn’t matter as they can teach others, but in reality fitness is hard to maintain and they’re embodying that so it’s a bad advert for their business. If they can’t stay motivated and embody what clients aspire to, they’ll limit their audience a lot.

Logically there appearance has no relation to there knowledge or ability as a trainer
BUT I want to look at the trainer and think your in good shape you know your shit and if I put the work in I can end up looking like you

only a similar note the woman at the doctors who does the weight management side of things is enormous I wouldn’t be able to take her seriously

I'd happily train with a large framed 'strongman' type woman - I've seen plenty of women in the gym who lift really heavy whilst carrying some extra fat, that wouldn't bother me. But a trainer who lacks basic fitness - no thanks. I want to be trained by someone who lives what they teach!

Surprised some folks immediately jumped to thin. When there is a vast area between thin ar one end and obese at the other, which you’re refering to. There is no indication of thinness, but referred ro fit and healthy. Sometimes you hit a sore spot without realising.

for me, I think a personal trainer should be fit and healthy, a bit overweight, fine, but visibly obese, I would be hesitant over. Yes I’d assume they didn’t take their own advice, but I want the advice I’m given to be achievable in terms of goals, and if they can’t achieve it themselves, it would make me wonder how realistic their approach would be.

I can usually tell. And OP has made it clear that the trainer in question is not just muscly or large. She's used the word obese and trouble getting up the stairs.

I don't need six packs or a muscle bound look in a PT. But why would I take advice from someone larger than I am who has trouble getting up the stairs? I am 53 and have no trouble getting up stairs.

She made that clear quite late on in the thread.

I think people need to stop judging by how people look or you perceive them. Many sports coaches are not perfect body specimens but their knowledge, experience and training makes them great coaches. A PT is a coach. I would rather someone who had seen some life than a 22 yr old in perfect fitness/health and with book learnt diet and food info.

I am happy with an older trainer who has seen some life.

But I don't want to have a BMI of 29 or 30. It would likely kill me, my GP says. If that is judgement, then yes, i am judgy. i don't care what my colleagues look like, but I do care if my PT is practicing what he or she preaches.

I am afraid I don't have the bandwidth to care about the PT's personal issues. Just like no one cares about my personal issues in my job.

Kind of depends what their training goals are. My bf is a gym rat/qualified PT but if he’s bulking he will have a stomach on him because he’s actively trying to gain weight. But if you saw him at another point of the year he’d be very in shape. Quite a few people who are body builders or pts struggle with their weight/eating disorders - spoken to a few that say it’s a daily battle sadly

YANBU - It would make me wonder if they had the discipline or ability that they are trying to teach their clients

But why would that matter?

Their own personal discipline = None of your business.

Their own personal ability = As long as they can teach, again it's none of your business.

I wouldn’t care as long as they knew what they were doing tbh. It wouldn’t put me off someone, I know a few people who were fit and got a bit chubby but I would absolutely trust their advice.

I have been around sport my entire life. I competed from the age of 8 until my knees gave up in my early 30's. I was coached by professional coaches for nearly 30 years and did my own coaching badges.

But because my knees were so bad i put on a lot of weight. How does that effect my knowledge of how to train someone? I managed to transfer my coaching skills to an entirely different sport and managed to get an athlete to compete at world level whilst being overweight.

As always there are good and bad at everything. If these guys you see are just lazy and unable to motivate themselves or their clients then they are kidding themselves and you have a relevant point. However i've seen women who havent got a clue who would look brilliant on the front of a fitness magazine.

You do your homework, decide if someone is able to motivate you and give safe, knowledgeable advice for your targets and you go with them. What they look like isnt really that important.

You can be “fat and fit”, awful phrase I know. I do a lot of running and at various events there’s always people who “look unfit” that are really good runners and people who “look fit” who frankly aren’t. A PT with the right qualifications, knowledge and experience is a good PT.

Disagree. Staying in shape is about discipline. If they can't exercise it, it is my business since I am the one paying. Course trainers are free to say they don't want a judgy person like me as a client too. Works both ways.

I once went to a therapist who turned out to have immense self-created issues of her own. And told me about it. Why would I take her advice on how to fix my life, no matter how qualified?

No idea about therapist??

But sticking to the PT, if they're a good teacher then the client gets what they've paid for.

If they're a shit teacher, the client should pay someone else 🤷‍♂️

Knowing the theory and putting it into practise are two very different things. I know excellent doctors who smoke. They're not about to advise that smoking is good for you.