fat personal trainer

F

flatbelly

Cathlete
I took my son to a personal trainer who I read an article about in the newspaper. He has all of these certifications and had some good advice. My son has lost 50 lbs. and looks fantastic. My son is only 8% body fat and just needed a little guidance re: cardio and weights. The trainer was nice, charged me $100 for the session but he was fat, especially in the gut. I didn't say anything to him of course but when my son and I left, my son said that he didn't trust anything he said because he was out of shape! What do you all think? Should trainers practice what they preach? I do feel a little ripped off!:)
 
To add....my son lost the 50 lbs. before he saw the trainer so the trainer had nothing to do with the weight loss.
 
Just like I wouldn't want someone with bad hair to do my hair or someone who is a lousy pianist to teach me to play piano, I probably wouldn't want to go to a trainer who isn't fit. That may sound bad, but I just don't think I could logically trust what they have to say..."Do as I say but not as I do" doesn't sit really well with me.
 
Did the trainer know what he was talking about? My 2 cents, I was fat and fit for years and years. I may not have looked like I exercised, but I did. My bane is weight control. I took off 40 pounds, now I am fighting to keep it off, and believe me, it is darn hard. So, this person could certainly know a lot about what he was talking about, and be heavy, don't assume he is not working out. Instead, judge him by his information.
 
I have to agree with Dorothy...there are many people who are fit but not slim...just like there are many who are slim but not fit. :)
 
As a personal trainer myself, I feel you should look like you "walk the talk." Your clients will look to you for inspiration, and it IS a reflection of whether you know what you're talking about. I've had several people say, "I saw your arms and I want to do whatever is it that you're doing."

"You can't win them all - but you can try." - Babe Zaharias http://www.clicksmilies.com/s0105/musik/music-smiley-004.gif[/img]
 
HB, you have a point about being an inspiration to your clients. I totally agree when you look at it from that perspective.
 
>I have to agree with Dorothy...there are many people who are
>fit but not slim...just like there are many who are slim but
>not fit. :)

Fitness is a life long process, and not all about what we thought in high school, the goal being thinness. I have accepted that my body type is not one where I look like a model. I have things that work for me and things that work against me. But, my goal is to be as fit as possible at any given time. Some times in my life what's "possible" is much higher than other times. Fitness, however, is my hobby and I could teach people a lot about it. Think about Cedie, she doesn't have a perfect personal trainer body, but she's very fit and I'm sure could teach your average person a lot about fitness. The long and short is he might have a great personality that inspires.

Heather
 
Hi,
He was fat and did not look fit. when he laid down to demonstrate an ab exercise his shirt moved up and I could see all the flab!
 
Advertising and presentation is everything. If they are giving advice to paying customers on what they need to do to look a certain way, it would seem to me that they should look that way themselves. I'm not saying they have to be Mr. or Ms. USA - and speaking of Cedie, I think she looks fantastic and I would definitely pay her for her advice! She's very fit looking. Just my opinion.

Barbara
 
I agree that someone who is selling something should have the "do as I do" as a personal trainer looking fit and healthy.
Remember those gals who sold make-up at Macy's years ago. The ones who wore so much make-up they were comical? I wouldn't have bpught anything from them. Now they look normal and I would buy from them (if their costs were the same as Target, that is)
 
While the trainer may be skilled in exercise technique and knowledge, maybe he has personal problems with the diet aspect of things. Since your son has already lost weight and knows how to handle that part of things, maybe the man's advice on exercise could be helpful.

On the other hand, I would have a hard time being motivated by an out-of-shape personal trainer.

But then again, look at a lot of sports coaches. They are able to take their athletes to a high level of fitness, even though they are not in such great shape (anymore) themselves (again, probably because they don't watch what they eat).
 
Very interesting. First impression is very important. I think we are more likely to hire a trainer who looks good hoping that we'll look that good too if we only do what she/he does.

Since I do personal training too I have clients who came up to me in the past and as for a goal they said they wanted to look like me. It is very flattering, but then you have to deliver. How you look is a combination of your genetics, body type, health etc and your eating of course.

In the past few months I hired a trainer who is an out of season bodybuilder. He is downright fat. But man, he knows his stuff! And he admits, his eating if way out control now! But when season comes, he'll drop the weight and all his muscles will come out of hiding.

There is another trainer in the gym, very good looking young dude, and he does practially nothing with the ladies he trains but chatting and smiling with an occasional swing of a 5 lb dumbbell. Should I have hired him instead of my fat guy because of his good looks? No way!
So the bottom line -- you have to do your home work when it comes to trainers. Good looks is not everything.

On the other hand I make it a very important point to look as fit as possible at my age 49 because my clients are older women too. They want to believe and see that you can look good at any age. I want to be a role model as long as I can. Mari
 
Hi Mari,
Very interesting comments! Maybe he should have addressed his less than fit persona to us, explaining why he was out of shape.. He did mention that he had lost 80 lbs. at one time so he has definitely struggled with weight. But his lack of fitness was the big elephant in the room!
mari, I wish you were in CO because I am the same age and could use a trainer like you!
Lisa
 
He charged $100 for the one hour fitness assessment which included taking measurements, blood pressure (which I felt uncomfortable about since he's not a doc), the body gem for measuring metabolism, stretching assessment and some general talking. the next session was 30 minutes for a printout of exercises, which were too simple in my opinion and demonstration of how to perform them. He tried to set up the next appt. and I said I'd get back to him but no plans to do that.
 
Taking someone's blood pressure isn't all that hard. You don't have to be a doctor. When I was studying health and fitness, I actually received a blood pressure kit and was taught how to take someone's blood pressure. I think any personal trainer is required to know how to take blood pressure.
 
My vote is to have your son become his own personal trainer. Purchase for him and have him study a respected, all-around textbook on the fundamentals of exercise physiology, anatomy, biomechanics, exercise design and what have you, and I'll bet you a dollar he can train himself far better than anyone else can, regardless of whether Anyone Else has been profiled in the paper.

ACE and NASM offer good books as I've described above, as does the Human Kinetics website.

JMHO -

A-Jock
 
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