Fit Personal Trainers……??

Mary: “I’m a personal trainer”

Susan: “Wow you must be so fit & healthy!”

As a trainer I have had this said to me hundreds of times. There seems to be this obvious assumption that if you are involved with the fitness industry you must be super fit and a health freak.

Recently I was flat hunting and when people asked me what I did you would see a look of fear come over their face when I told them. The fear of being judged by me about what they do. I have learnt to read this look very well so now when people ask me what I do I automatically add that I am not a health freak and will not judge them everytime they put something unhealthy in their mouths or don’t do any exercise.

So, to my questions: do you have to be fit to be a trainer? And can you ‘look fit’ without actually being fit?

What is looking fit? What are the stereotypes placed on trainers?

 A client of mine wrote on their screening form that one of their expectations of their trainer was that they wanted them to be fit. This seems like an obvious expectation clients will have. The question is what is looking fit?

Trainers come in all shapes and sizes these days, gone are size 8 female trainers and the male trainers with bulging muscles and a 6 pack to match. Don’t get me wrong there are still some of those trainers out there, but there are a lot of trainers who don’t match the stereotypes.

There have been times where I have been so busy training other people I have had little time to train myself and I would definitely have considered myself to be unfit according to my standards. Does that mean I shouldn’t be training people?

I have also myself looked at other trainers with big bellies and wondered how potential clients would perceive them. Would I want to be trained by someone who looked overweight?

Currently there are some gyms out there who are putting their trainers through a fitness test before they can start training people. I like the sound of that in theory as long as it takes into consideration each person and their individual capabilities.

Do you agree with the saying “you have to walk the talk ”…….

What does ‘Fit’ look like to you? You tell me…..

Would you train with someone who didn't 'look' fit?