Would you trust an overweight trainer?

Reaverie

Depends? How was he before? I would trust an overweight trainer who has worked hard to reach that weight from a greater weight than a ripped trainer who has always had a high metabolism and never suffered from obesity.

horsesdontjudge

riffraff2112 wrote: »

One of the trainers at our gym is not in great shape, in fact your could say he is substantially overweight. While I do not know his training schedule for sure, he seems to be pretty active with clients and from what I have seen says all the right things, is encouraging and knows how to deal with the level of person he is working with.

Anyway I overheard some member say something like "why would anyone take advice from him?"

It kind of struck me as strange. On the one hand, a great coach doesn't need to be a great player, just like a great teacher doesn't necessarily have to be the best mathematician/writer etc to be good at inspiring or instructing in their job.

On the other, I can see how someone who is suppose to be giving advice on being your best, should model that same behavior and life habits.

What do you guys think?

I think it depends on where you are in your journey. As someone who is already fairly active and my goal would be higher intensity cardio and increasing muscle I'm more inclined to go with someone who is in good shape because I would feel like they could really give me what I was looking for.
However, my sister (for example) is very overweight and if she were to go to a trainer it'd probably work best if they weren't in great shape because it'd be less intimidating/overwhelming. It'd be really inspiring for her to work with someone who doesn't look like they already have everything in order necessarily.
Also, even though exercise is important, so is diet. This trainer could exercise well, but then have a very poor diet. So, as you said, he might have great advice to give in exercising.

ieroen

I'd definitely take advice from someone who's not in great shape. This dude has clearly been there and knows what he's talking about. A guy who has a great physique might be someone who relates much less to me. Maybe that guy is a natural born athlete with godlike genes, who's been effortlessly sporty all his life. I'd rather hear from the dude who's a struggling mortal like me. I'll judge his competency by what comes out of his mouth, not by his appearance.