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No intimidation "gyms"

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Replies

  • Sunrain2018
    Sunrain2018 Posts: 24 Member
    edited November 2018
    newmeadow wrote: »
    This thread is delivering.
    Pizza

    Still waiting for mine dammit

    It’s PIZZA TIME!

  • somethingsoright
    somethingsoright Posts: 99 Member
    Bradcore wrote: »
    My sister in law worked at a Planet Fitness for a while. She would tell me that a significant number of the people who had memberships only showed up for free pizza day and they never missed it.

    I looked it up and google says PF offers free pizza once per month and likewise for bagels. It doesn't seem logical that members would be in it only for the free food if it's only twice a month.
  • L1zardQueen
    L1zardQueen Posts: 8,754 Member
    Bradcore wrote: »
    My sister in law worked at a Planet Fitness for a while. She would tell me that a significant number of the people who had memberships only showed up for free pizza day and they never missed it.

    I looked it up and google says PF offers free pizza once per month and likewise for bagels. It doesn't seem logical that members would be in it only for the free food if it's only twice a month.

    $10.95+ a month for free pizza? I didn't buy it either. It was definitely hearsay.
  • happytree923
    happytree923 Posts: 463 Member
    mph323 wrote: »
    Referencing the OP. It's breth-takingly ego-centric to assume that anyone who has fitness goals that differ from yours is basically a fat lazy slob, especially the part about blaming anyone who isn't up to your standards as being part of what's wrong with the country. I'm not even getting the association between gym environments and body positive movements (even the fringe ones) - if a fat person wants to become more fit that's not OK? Fat people who go to a regular gym should be shamed until they lose weight? If your goal is to maintain strength and not add muscle why even bother?

    For the record, I belonged to a women's only gym for a couple of years long ago (Linda Evens, for you old-timers :) ) It had cardio equipment, machines and dumbbells. My goal was to maintain upper body strength and improve cardio, the environment was low-key and suited me. At the same time, I was riding 100 mile cycling events so I wasn't exactly out of shape. If PF had been around at the time, I might have considered it too intimidating (in spite of the judgey "no judgement" ads).

    When did I EVER say that a fat person wanting to become fit is not okay? Or any of that shaming *kitten* you referenced?

    I said the "no intimidation" gym thing is not okay. First off, it blatantly discriminates against those who have worked for months or years to attain a high level of fitness. The advertising shames those people as absolute morons. Shouldn't those people be looked up to in the fitness world, or at the very least be given a begrudging respect for the work they have put in?

    There is a difference between fat shaming, and giving an honest assessment as to someone's fitness, weight, and health. If someone is in a gym they obviously at least want to give some modicum of a *kitten* about it. Is teaching someone how to properly lift, eat for a goal, and educating them on BMI and body fat%, and telling them "no, 20 minutes on the elliptical did not earn you a trip to dairy queen" evil just because it is bluntly true?

    instead of fostering a mentality of victimization with the whole "intimidation" thing, maybe they should be educated on why the gym bro in a stringer carries a gallon of water (to stay hydrated), and grunts (he's putting out max effort) "drops" weights (you aren't setting a 450 deadlift down without noise), and looks angry (he's probably listening to music to bring out raw emotion he probably doesn't always like that he uses to fuel his lifts). He looks good because he has been disciplined about his training and diet for years - and if that makes someone feel inadequate with their diet and exercise choices, that is something they should face and maybe ask themselves why they feel that way, not go run and hide in a "gym" that those types of people are discouraged from going to.

    Lastly - I say this all as an overweight person. I used to be what you would call a "gym bro" - for a bunch of BS excuses I used to call reasons, I gained near 100lbs in 2 years. I have been back at it for a good while now, but I still have a minimum of 40lbs to go. It is NOT wrong for someone to call me overweight. When I was close to 300 and hadn't trained or ate right in 2 years, it would not have been wrong to call me fat. It was true - and I knew it. About 4 months after I started lifting again, I was complaining that I hadn't lost any weight one day, and someone said to me "Stop whining - I've seen what you used to look like - you know what to do. Clean up your diet, and eat less calories than you burn." He wasn't being hateful, he was being honest. That is not the type of mentality that these types of gyms promote - and I do think that is a problem.

    What does the 'honest assessment' you keep going on about look like in a gym environment? Do you bring a scale and body fat calipers to the gym with you and calculate body fat % for random strangers? Do you follow them home to make sure they don't stop at Dairy Queen? This mythical 'honest assessment' requires detailed knowledge about a person's life that you absolutely could not glean from just going to the same gym. So yes, if you are giving 'honest assessments' to random strangers in the gym you are making a lot of assumptions about their life and it is most definitely unwelcome. People who need guidance can seek that out from books, websites, and paid professionals. They don't need Johnny McSwole bothering them when they're on elliptical.

    I am not talking about me or anyone else going up to strangers...I would have thought that was obvious..Do you really think people do that, cause I didn't think anyone would make that kind of assumtion. I am referencing the trainers at these sorts of "gyms".

    A personal example of this is that I have a friend who's sister is a member of and has been paying for training at PF for close to a year. She started asking me questions as I have noticibly cut weight since she had last seen me. I explained CICO, macro splits, the fact that diet is 80% of results, different types of training splits, him, bf% etc - she was absolutely floored, it was all new information. She was also surprised to hear that I still had to cut a good 60+ pounds, and that would STILL have me at an overweight BMI but at the top range of fit on a BF%. This was pretty obvious (that I am overweight) - and yet someone who has paid for personal training for close to a year knew none of this. This prompted me to do some research, and I found out that many PF locations don't even offer nutritional coaching or information. Nutrition is the most important piece of any fitness puzzle - these gyms put more effort into providing members with free pizza, tootsie rolls, and bagels than on nutrition coaching. After further conversation, she didnt even know her BMI, let alone BF%. What exactly is her "trainer" teaching her then?

    That's what I mean by honest assessments are not given...the person in my story had to go outside of her gym and ask someone else about why she wasn't cutting weight...when she pays for a trainer. Does her "trainer" not understand CICO herself? Maybe, but I think it is much more likely that her trainer works at a "gym" that wont even let her tell a client "your BMI is highly in the overweight category, and your diet is largely bad and you need to eat a caloric deficit to lose weight".

    Oh, so your point is that some personal trainers suck. Groundbreaking.

    Also I am sure most chain gyms do not do this because it can very quickly veer into medical advice territory which personal trainers are not qualified to give.

    To add, most trainers are NOT registered dieticians.

    Yep. I worked with a personal trainer for a little while and even though she was a good trainer, her theories on nutrition were godawful. But she knew she wasn't qualified to give nutrition advice so she didn't try, I just picked up on her philosophy through conversation (mentioning that her mom gained weight because she was inflamed from eating lots of meat lol).
  • mph323 wrote: »
    Referencing the OP. It's breth-takingly ego-centric to assume that anyone who has fitness goals that differ from yours is basically a fat lazy slob, especially the part about blaming anyone who isn't up to your standards as being part of what's wrong with the country. I'm not even getting the association between gym environments and body positive movements (even the fringe ones) - if a fat person wants to become more fit that's not OK? Fat people who go to a regular gym should be shamed until they lose weight? If your goal is to maintain strength and not add muscle why even bother?

    For the record, I belonged to a women's only gym for a couple of years long ago (Linda Evens, for you old-timers :) ) It had cardio equipment, machines and dumbbells. My goal was to maintain upper body strength and improve cardio, the environment was low-key and suited me. At the same time, I was riding 100 mile cycling events so I wasn't exactly out of shape. If PF had been around at the time, I might have considered it too intimidating (in spite of the judgey "no judgement" ads).

    When did I EVER say that a fat person wanting to become fit is not okay? Or any of that shaming *kitten* you referenced?

    I said the "no intimidation" gym thing is not okay. First off, it blatantly discriminates against those who have worked for months or years to attain a high level of fitness. The advertising shames those people as absolute morons. Shouldn't those people be looked up to in the fitness world, or at the very least be given a begrudging respect for the work they have put in?

    There is a difference between fat shaming, and giving an honest assessment as to someone's fitness, weight, and health. If someone is in a gym they obviously at least want to give some modicum of a *kitten* about it. Is teaching someone how to properly lift, eat for a goal, and educating them on BMI and body fat%, and telling them "no, 20 minutes on the elliptical did not earn you a trip to dairy queen" evil just because it is bluntly true?

    instead of fostering a mentality of victimization with the whole "intimidation" thing, maybe they should be educated on why the gym bro in a stringer carries a gallon of water (to stay hydrated), and grunts (he's putting out max effort) "drops" weights (you aren't setting a 450 deadlift down without noise), and looks angry (he's probably listening to music to bring out raw emotion he probably doesn't always like that he uses to fuel his lifts). He looks good because he has been disciplined about his training and diet for years - and if that makes someone feel inadequate with their diet and exercise choices, that is something they should face and maybe ask themselves why they feel that way, not go run and hide in a "gym" that those types of people are discouraged from going to.

    Lastly - I say this all as an overweight person. I used to be what you would call a "gym bro" - for a bunch of BS excuses I used to call reasons, I gained near 100lbs in 2 years. I have been back at it for a good while now, but I still have a minimum of 40lbs to go. It is NOT wrong for someone to call me overweight. When I was close to 300 and hadn't trained or ate right in 2 years, it would not have been wrong to call me fat. It was true - and I knew it. About 4 months after I started lifting again, I was complaining that I hadn't lost any weight one day, and someone said to me "Stop whining - I've seen what you used to look like - you know what to do. Clean up your diet, and eat less calories than you burn." He wasn't being hateful, he was being honest. That is not the type of mentality that these types of gyms promote - and I do think that is a problem.

    What does the 'honest assessment' you keep going on about look like in a gym environment? Do you bring a scale and body fat calipers to the gym with you and calculate body fat % for random strangers? Do you follow them home to make sure they don't stop at Dairy Queen? This mythical 'honest assessment' requires detailed knowledge about a person's life that you absolutely could not glean from just going to the same gym. So yes, if you are giving 'honest assessments' to random strangers in the gym you are making a lot of assumptions about their life and it is most definitely unwelcome. People who need guidance can seek that out from books, websites, and paid professionals. They don't need Johnny McSwole bothering them when they're on elliptical.

    I am not talking about me or anyone else going up to strangers...I would have thought that was obvious..Do you really think people do that, cause I didn't think anyone would make that kind of assumtion. I am referencing the trainers at these sorts of "gyms".

    A personal example of this is that I have a friend who's sister is a member of and has been paying for training at PF for close to a year. She started asking me questions as I have noticibly cut weight since she had last seen me. I explained CICO, macro splits, the fact that diet is 80% of results, different types of training splits, him, bf% etc - she was absolutely floored, it was all new information. She was also surprised to hear that I still had to cut a good 60+ pounds, and that would STILL have me at an overweight BMI but at the top range of fit on a BF%. This was pretty obvious (that I am overweight) - and yet someone who has paid for personal training for close to a year knew none of this. This prompted me to do some research, and I found out that many PF locations don't even offer nutritional coaching or information. Nutrition is the most important piece of any fitness puzzle - these gyms put more effort into providing members with free pizza, tootsie rolls, and bagels than on nutrition coaching. After further conversation, she didnt even know her BMI, let alone BF%. What exactly is her "trainer" teaching her then?

    That's what I mean by honest assessments are not given...the person in my story had to go outside of her gym and ask someone else about why she wasn't cutting weight...when she pays for a trainer. Does her "trainer" not understand CICO herself? Maybe, but I think it is much more likely that her trainer works at a "gym" that wont even let her tell a client "your BMI is highly in the overweight category, and your diet is largely bad and you need to eat a caloric deficit to lose weight".

    Oh, so your point is that some personal trainers suck. Groundbreaking.

    Also I am sure most chain gyms do not do this because it can very quickly veer into medical advice territory which personal trainers are not qualified to give.

    To add, most trainers are NOT registered dieticians.

    Does that stop them from prompting a client to look up some stuff themselves? I understand that you cant give dietary advice without certain certifications - but is there anything against a trainer saying "in order for the exercise to work properly in transforming your body, you need to have solid, targeted nutrition. I am not authorized to give you specific advice, but a calorie tracking app and some research on different macro splits, BMR TDEE, and a basic understanding of the food you consume goes a long way"

    I'm seriously asking...is something as generalized as this not even allowed without a FNS or similar certification?
  • happytree923
    happytree923 Posts: 463 Member
    edited November 2018
    mph323 wrote: »
    Referencing the OP. It's breth-takingly ego-centric to assume that anyone who has fitness goals that differ from yours is basically a fat lazy slob, especially the part about blaming anyone who isn't up to your standards as being part of what's wrong with the country. I'm not even getting the association between gym environments and body positive movements (even the fringe ones) - if a fat person wants to become more fit that's not OK? Fat people who go to a regular gym should be shamed until they lose weight? If your goal is to maintain strength and not add muscle why even bother?

    For the record, I belonged to a women's only gym for a couple of years long ago (Linda Evens, for you old-timers :) ) It had cardio equipment, machines and dumbbells. My goal was to maintain upper body strength and improve cardio, the environment was low-key and suited me. At the same time, I was riding 100 mile cycling events so I wasn't exactly out of shape. If PF had been around at the time, I might have considered it too intimidating (in spite of the judgey "no judgement" ads).

    When did I EVER say that a fat person wanting to become fit is not okay? Or any of that shaming *kitten* you referenced?

    I said the "no intimidation" gym thing is not okay. First off, it blatantly discriminates against those who have worked for months or years to attain a high level of fitness. The advertising shames those people as absolute morons. Shouldn't those people be looked up to in the fitness world, or at the very least be given a begrudging respect for the work they have put in?

    There is a difference between fat shaming, and giving an honest assessment as to someone's fitness, weight, and health. If someone is in a gym they obviously at least want to give some modicum of a *kitten* about it. Is teaching someone how to properly lift, eat for a goal, and educating them on BMI and body fat%, and telling them "no, 20 minutes on the elliptical did not earn you a trip to dairy queen" evil just because it is bluntly true?

    instead of fostering a mentality of victimization with the whole "intimidation" thing, maybe they should be educated on why the gym bro in a stringer carries a gallon of water (to stay hydrated), and grunts (he's putting out max effort) "drops" weights (you aren't setting a 450 deadlift down without noise), and looks angry (he's probably listening to music to bring out raw emotion he probably doesn't always like that he uses to fuel his lifts). He looks good because he has been disciplined about his training and diet for years - and if that makes someone feel inadequate with their diet and exercise choices, that is something they should face and maybe ask themselves why they feel that way, not go run and hide in a "gym" that those types of people are discouraged from going to.

    Lastly - I say this all as an overweight person. I used to be what you would call a "gym bro" - for a bunch of BS excuses I used to call reasons, I gained near 100lbs in 2 years. I have been back at it for a good while now, but I still have a minimum of 40lbs to go. It is NOT wrong for someone to call me overweight. When I was close to 300 and hadn't trained or ate right in 2 years, it would not have been wrong to call me fat. It was true - and I knew it. About 4 months after I started lifting again, I was complaining that I hadn't lost any weight one day, and someone said to me "Stop whining - I've seen what you used to look like - you know what to do. Clean up your diet, and eat less calories than you burn." He wasn't being hateful, he was being honest. That is not the type of mentality that these types of gyms promote - and I do think that is a problem.

    What does the 'honest assessment' you keep going on about look like in a gym environment? Do you bring a scale and body fat calipers to the gym with you and calculate body fat % for random strangers? Do you follow them home to make sure they don't stop at Dairy Queen? This mythical 'honest assessment' requires detailed knowledge about a person's life that you absolutely could not glean from just going to the same gym. So yes, if you are giving 'honest assessments' to random strangers in the gym you are making a lot of assumptions about their life and it is most definitely unwelcome. People who need guidance can seek that out from books, websites, and paid professionals. They don't need Johnny McSwole bothering them when they're on elliptical.

    I am not talking about me or anyone else going up to strangers...I would have thought that was obvious..Do you really think people do that, cause I didn't think anyone would make that kind of assumtion. I am referencing the trainers at these sorts of "gyms".

    A personal example of this is that I have a friend who's sister is a member of and has been paying for training at PF for close to a year. She started asking me questions as I have noticibly cut weight since she had last seen me. I explained CICO, macro splits, the fact that diet is 80% of results, different types of training splits, him, bf% etc - she was absolutely floored, it was all new information. She was also surprised to hear that I still had to cut a good 60+ pounds, and that would STILL have me at an overweight BMI but at the top range of fit on a BF%. This was pretty obvious (that I am overweight) - and yet someone who has paid for personal training for close to a year knew none of this. This prompted me to do some research, and I found out that many PF locations don't even offer nutritional coaching or information. Nutrition is the most important piece of any fitness puzzle - these gyms put more effort into providing members with free pizza, tootsie rolls, and bagels than on nutrition coaching. After further conversation, she didnt even know her BMI, let alone BF%. What exactly is her "trainer" teaching her then?

    That's what I mean by honest assessments are not given...the person in my story had to go outside of her gym and ask someone else about why she wasn't cutting weight...when she pays for a trainer. Does her "trainer" not understand CICO herself? Maybe, but I think it is much more likely that her trainer works at a "gym" that wont even let her tell a client "your BMI is highly in the overweight category, and your diet is largely bad and you need to eat a caloric deficit to lose weight".

    Oh, so your point is that some personal trainers suck. Groundbreaking.

    Also I am sure most chain gyms do not do this because it can very quickly veer into medical advice territory which personal trainers are not qualified to give.

    To add, most trainers are NOT registered dieticians.

    Does that stop them from prompting a client to look up some stuff themselves? I understand that you cant give dietary advice without certain certifications - but is there anything against a trainer saying "in order for the exercise to work properly in transforming your body, you need to have solid, targeted nutrition. I am not authorized to give you specific advice, but a calorie tracking app and some research on different macro splits, BMR TDEE, and a basic understanding of the food you consume goes a long way"

    I'm seriously asking...is something as generalized as this not even allowed without a FNS or similar certification?

    Yes that would be fine but personal trainers have a certification that afaik does not require any nutrition knowledge at all. Many trainers have bad ideas about nutrition just like many people generally have bad ideas about nutrition. To prompt a client to look up energy balance they need to understand its importance themselves.

    As I mentioned above I had a trainer with really bad ideas about nutrition, but she told me when we started working together that I should talk to my doctor or a dietician for nutrition advice. I imagine many trainers don't even bring up the topic to avoid liability or because they genuinely have no clue.
  • L1zardQueen
    L1zardQueen Posts: 8,754 Member
    mph323 wrote: »
    Referencing the OP. It's breth-takingly ego-centric to assume that anyone who has fitness goals that differ from yours is basically a fat lazy slob, especially the part about blaming anyone who isn't up to your standards as being part of what's wrong with the country. I'm not even getting the association between gym environments and body positive movements (even the fringe ones) - if a fat person wants to become more fit that's not OK? Fat people who go to a regular gym should be shamed until they lose weight? If your goal is to maintain strength and not add muscle why even bother?

    For the record, I belonged to a women's only gym for a couple of years long ago (Linda Evens, for you old-timers :) ) It had cardio equipment, machines and dumbbells. My goal was to maintain upper body strength and improve cardio, the environment was low-key and suited me. At the same time, I was riding 100 mile cycling events so I wasn't exactly out of shape. If PF had been around at the time, I might have considered it too intimidating (in spite of the judgey "no judgement" ads).

    When did I EVER say that a fat person wanting to become fit is not okay? Or any of that shaming *kitten* you referenced?

    I said the "no intimidation" gym thing is not okay. First off, it blatantly discriminates against those who have worked for months or years to attain a high level of fitness. The advertising shames those people as absolute morons. Shouldn't those people be looked up to in the fitness world, or at the very least be given a begrudging respect for the work they have put in?

    There is a difference between fat shaming, and giving an honest assessment as to someone's fitness, weight, and health. If someone is in a gym they obviously at least want to give some modicum of a *kitten* about it. Is teaching someone how to properly lift, eat for a goal, and educating them on BMI and body fat%, and telling them "no, 20 minutes on the elliptical did not earn you a trip to dairy queen" evil just because it is bluntly true?

    instead of fostering a mentality of victimization with the whole "intimidation" thing, maybe they should be educated on why the gym bro in a stringer carries a gallon of water (to stay hydrated), and grunts (he's putting out max effort) "drops" weights (you aren't setting a 450 deadlift down without noise), and looks angry (he's probably listening to music to bring out raw emotion he probably doesn't always like that he uses to fuel his lifts). He looks good because he has been disciplined about his training and diet for years - and if that makes someone feel inadequate with their diet and exercise choices, that is something they should face and maybe ask themselves why they feel that way, not go run and hide in a "gym" that those types of people are discouraged from going to.

    Lastly - I say this all as an overweight person. I used to be what you would call a "gym bro" - for a bunch of BS excuses I used to call reasons, I gained near 100lbs in 2 years. I have been back at it for a good while now, but I still have a minimum of 40lbs to go. It is NOT wrong for someone to call me overweight. When I was close to 300 and hadn't trained or ate right in 2 years, it would not have been wrong to call me fat. It was true - and I knew it. About 4 months after I started lifting again, I was complaining that I hadn't lost any weight one day, and someone said to me "Stop whining - I've seen what you used to look like - you know what to do. Clean up your diet, and eat less calories than you burn." He wasn't being hateful, he was being honest. That is not the type of mentality that these types of gyms promote - and I do think that is a problem.

    What does the 'honest assessment' you keep going on about look like in a gym environment? Do you bring a scale and body fat calipers to the gym with you and calculate body fat % for random strangers? Do you follow them home to make sure they don't stop at Dairy Queen? This mythical 'honest assessment' requires detailed knowledge about a person's life that you absolutely could not glean from just going to the same gym. So yes, if you are giving 'honest assessments' to random strangers in the gym you are making a lot of assumptions about their life and it is most definitely unwelcome. People who need guidance can seek that out from books, websites, and paid professionals. They don't need Johnny McSwole bothering them when they're on elliptical.

    I am not talking about me or anyone else going up to strangers...I would have thought that was obvious..Do you really think people do that, cause I didn't think anyone would make that kind of assumtion. I am referencing the trainers at these sorts of "gyms".

    A personal example of this is that I have a friend who's sister is a member of and has been paying for training at PF for close to a year. She started asking me questions as I have noticibly cut weight since she had last seen me. I explained CICO, macro splits, the fact that diet is 80% of results, different types of training splits, him, bf% etc - she was absolutely floored, it was all new information. She was also surprised to hear that I still had to cut a good 60+ pounds, and that would STILL have me at an overweight BMI but at the top range of fit on a BF%. This was pretty obvious (that I am overweight) - and yet someone who has paid for personal training for close to a year knew none of this. This prompted me to do some research, and I found out that many PF locations don't even offer nutritional coaching or information. Nutrition is the most important piece of any fitness puzzle - these gyms put more effort into providing members with free pizza, tootsie rolls, and bagels than on nutrition coaching. After further conversation, she didnt even know her BMI, let alone BF%. What exactly is her "trainer" teaching her then?

    That's what I mean by honest assessments are not given...the person in my story had to go outside of her gym and ask someone else about why she wasn't cutting weight...when she pays for a trainer. Does her "trainer" not understand CICO herself? Maybe, but I think it is much more likely that her trainer works at a "gym" that wont even let her tell a client "your BMI is highly in the overweight category, and your diet is largely bad and you need to eat a caloric deficit to lose weight".

    Oh, so your point is that some personal trainers suck. Groundbreaking.

    Also I am sure most chain gyms do not do this because it can very quickly veer into medical advice territory which personal trainers are not qualified to give.

    To add, most trainers are NOT registered dieticians.

    Does that stop them from prompting a client to look up some stuff themselves? I understand that you cant give dietary advice without certain certifications - but is there anything against a trainer saying "in order for the exercise to work properly in transforming your body, you need to have solid, targeted nutrition. I am not authorized to give you specific advice, but a calorie tracking app and some research on different macro splits, BMR TDEE, and a basic understanding of the food you consume goes a long way"

    I'm seriously asking...is something as generalized as this not even allowed without a FNS or similar certification?

    I find that weird too. But I am calling hearsay. I have had trainers give me advice about my nutrition, so I think your friend's sister has left out some vital information to you. She could have asked, why am I not losing weight? but she did not? Yep, that's weird.
  • mph323 wrote: »
    Referencing the OP. It's breth-takingly ego-centric to assume that anyone who has fitness goals that differ from yours is basically a fat lazy slob, especially the part about blaming anyone who isn't up to your standards as being part of what's wrong with the country. I'm not even getting the association between gym environments and body positive movements (even the fringe ones) - if a fat person wants to become more fit that's not OK? Fat people who go to a regular gym should be shamed until they lose weight? If your goal is to maintain strength and not add muscle why even bother?

    For the record, I belonged to a women's only gym for a couple of years long ago (Linda Evens, for you old-timers :) ) It had cardio equipment, machines and dumbbells. My goal was to maintain upper body strength and improve cardio, the environment was low-key and suited me. At the same time, I was riding 100 mile cycling events so I wasn't exactly out of shape. If PF had been around at the time, I might have considered it too intimidating (in spite of the judgey "no judgement" ads).

    When did I EVER say that a fat person wanting to become fit is not okay? Or any of that shaming *kitten* you referenced?

    I said the "no intimidation" gym thing is not okay. First off, it blatantly discriminates against those who have worked for months or years to attain a high level of fitness. The advertising shames those people as absolute morons. Shouldn't those people be looked up to in the fitness world, or at the very least be given a begrudging respect for the work they have put in?

    There is a difference between fat shaming, and giving an honest assessment as to someone's fitness, weight, and health. If someone is in a gym they obviously at least want to give some modicum of a *kitten* about it. Is teaching someone how to properly lift, eat for a goal, and educating them on BMI and body fat%, and telling them "no, 20 minutes on the elliptical did not earn you a trip to dairy queen" evil just because it is bluntly true?

    instead of fostering a mentality of victimization with the whole "intimidation" thing, maybe they should be educated on why the gym bro in a stringer carries a gallon of water (to stay hydrated), and grunts (he's putting out max effort) "drops" weights (you aren't setting a 450 deadlift down without noise), and looks angry (he's probably listening to music to bring out raw emotion he probably doesn't always like that he uses to fuel his lifts). He looks good because he has been disciplined about his training and diet for years - and if that makes someone feel inadequate with their diet and exercise choices, that is something they should face and maybe ask themselves why they feel that way, not go run and hide in a "gym" that those types of people are discouraged from going to.

    Lastly - I say this all as an overweight person. I used to be what you would call a "gym bro" - for a bunch of BS excuses I used to call reasons, I gained near 100lbs in 2 years. I have been back at it for a good while now, but I still have a minimum of 40lbs to go. It is NOT wrong for someone to call me overweight. When I was close to 300 and hadn't trained or ate right in 2 years, it would not have been wrong to call me fat. It was true - and I knew it. About 4 months after I started lifting again, I was complaining that I hadn't lost any weight one day, and someone said to me "Stop whining - I've seen what you used to look like - you know what to do. Clean up your diet, and eat less calories than you burn." He wasn't being hateful, he was being honest. That is not the type of mentality that these types of gyms promote - and I do think that is a problem.

    What does the 'honest assessment' you keep going on about look like in a gym environment? Do you bring a scale and body fat calipers to the gym with you and calculate body fat % for random strangers? Do you follow them home to make sure they don't stop at Dairy Queen? This mythical 'honest assessment' requires detailed knowledge about a person's life that you absolutely could not glean from just going to the same gym. So yes, if you are giving 'honest assessments' to random strangers in the gym you are making a lot of assumptions about their life and it is most definitely unwelcome. People who need guidance can seek that out from books, websites, and paid professionals. They don't need Johnny McSwole bothering them when they're on elliptical.

    I am not talking about me or anyone else going up to strangers...I would have thought that was obvious..Do you really think people do that, cause I didn't think anyone would make that kind of assumtion. I am referencing the trainers at these sorts of "gyms".

    A personal example of this is that I have a friend who's sister is a member of and has been paying for training at PF for close to a year. She started asking me questions as I have noticibly cut weight since she had last seen me. I explained CICO, macro splits, the fact that diet is 80% of results, different types of training splits, him, bf% etc - she was absolutely floored, it was all new information. She was also surprised to hear that I still had to cut a good 60+ pounds, and that would STILL have me at an overweight BMI but at the top range of fit on a BF%. This was pretty obvious (that I am overweight) - and yet someone who has paid for personal training for close to a year knew none of this. This prompted me to do some research, and I found out that many PF locations don't even offer nutritional coaching or information. Nutrition is the most important piece of any fitness puzzle - these gyms put more effort into providing members with free pizza, tootsie rolls, and bagels than on nutrition coaching. After further conversation, she didnt even know her BMI, let alone BF%. What exactly is her "trainer" teaching her then?

    That's what I mean by honest assessments are not given...the person in my story had to go outside of her gym and ask someone else about why she wasn't cutting weight...when she pays for a trainer. Does her "trainer" not understand CICO herself? Maybe, but I think it is much more likely that her trainer works at a "gym" that wont even let her tell a client "your BMI is highly in the overweight category, and your diet is largely bad and you need to eat a caloric deficit to lose weight".

    Oh, so your point is that some personal trainers suck. Groundbreaking.

    Also I am sure most chain gyms do not do this because it can very quickly veer into medical advice territory which personal trainers are not qualified to give.

    To add, most trainers are NOT registered dieticians.

    Does that stop them from prompting a client to look up some stuff themselves? I understand that you cant give dietary advice without certain certifications - but is there anything against a trainer saying "in order for the exercise to work properly in transforming your body, you need to have solid, targeted nutrition. I am not authorized to give you specific advice, but a calorie tracking app and some research on different macro splits, BMR TDEE, and a basic understanding of the food you consume goes a long way"

    I'm seriously asking...is something as generalized as this not even allowed without a FNS or similar certification?

    I find that weird too. But I am calling hearsay. I have had trainers give me advice about my nutrition, so I think your friend's sister has left out some vital information to you. She could have asked, why am I not losing weight? but she did not? Yep, that's weird.

    I'll give you that - It is quite possible she did not give me the full story. When she asked me the question it was something along the lines of "I've been working out with my trainer at PF for almost a year, I've gotten a little stronger but I can't seem to cut this belly fat" and I simply replied "are you on top of your nutrition? Are you tracking your food? Are you eating a caloric deficit" and when she said no, I told her "nutrition is 80% of results, until you lo ck that down, the change you are going to see is minimal. Also, you can't spot reduce fat."...she looked like I slapped her in the face - that is when I explained all the other stuff.
  • Packerjohn
    Packerjohn Posts: 4,855 Member
    mph323 wrote: »
    Referencing the OP. It's breth-takingly ego-centric to assume that anyone who has fitness goals that differ from yours is basically a fat lazy slob, especially the part about blaming anyone who isn't up to your standards as being part of what's wrong with the country. I'm not even getting the association between gym environments and body positive movements (even the fringe ones) - if a fat person wants to become more fit that's not OK? Fat people who go to a regular gym should be shamed until they lose weight? If your goal is to maintain strength and not add muscle why even bother?

    For the record, I belonged to a women's only gym for a couple of years long ago (Linda Evens, for you old-timers :) ) It had cardio equipment, machines and dumbbells. My goal was to maintain upper body strength and improve cardio, the environment was low-key and suited me. At the same time, I was riding 100 mile cycling events so I wasn't exactly out of shape. If PF had been around at the time, I might have considered it too intimidating (in spite of the judgey "no judgement" ads).

    When did I EVER say that a fat person wanting to become fit is not okay? Or any of that shaming *kitten* you referenced?

    I said the "no intimidation" gym thing is not okay. First off, it blatantly discriminates against those who have worked for months or years to attain a high level of fitness. The advertising shames those people as absolute morons. Shouldn't those people be looked up to in the fitness world, or at the very least be given a begrudging respect for the work they have put in?

    There is a difference between fat shaming, and giving an honest assessment as to someone's fitness, weight, and health. If someone is in a gym they obviously at least want to give some modicum of a *kitten* about it. Is teaching someone how to properly lift, eat for a goal, and educating them on BMI and body fat%, and telling them "no, 20 minutes on the elliptical did not earn you a trip to dairy queen" evil just because it is bluntly true?

    instead of fostering a mentality of victimization with the whole "intimidation" thing, maybe they should be educated on why the gym bro in a stringer carries a gallon of water (to stay hydrated), and grunts (he's putting out max effort) "drops" weights (you aren't setting a 450 deadlift down without noise), and looks angry (he's probably listening to music to bring out raw emotion he probably doesn't always like that he uses to fuel his lifts). He looks good because he has been disciplined about his training and diet for years - and if that makes someone feel inadequate with their diet and exercise choices, that is something they should face and maybe ask themselves why they feel that way, not go run and hide in a "gym" that those types of people are discouraged from going to.

    Lastly - I say this all as an overweight person. I used to be what you would call a "gym bro" - for a bunch of BS excuses I used to call reasons, I gained near 100lbs in 2 years. I have been back at it for a good while now, but I still have a minimum of 40lbs to go. It is NOT wrong for someone to call me overweight. When I was close to 300 and hadn't trained or ate right in 2 years, it would not have been wrong to call me fat. It was true - and I knew it. About 4 months after I started lifting again, I was complaining that I hadn't lost any weight one day, and someone said to me "Stop whining - I've seen what you used to look like - you know what to do. Clean up your diet, and eat less calories than you burn." He wasn't being hateful, he was being honest. That is not the type of mentality that these types of gyms promote - and I do think that is a problem.

    What does the 'honest assessment' you keep going on about look like in a gym environment? Do you bring a scale and body fat calipers to the gym with you and calculate body fat % for random strangers? Do you follow them home to make sure they don't stop at Dairy Queen? This mythical 'honest assessment' requires detailed knowledge about a person's life that you absolutely could not glean from just going to the same gym. So yes, if you are giving 'honest assessments' to random strangers in the gym you are making a lot of assumptions about their life and it is most definitely unwelcome. People who need guidance can seek that out from books, websites, and paid professionals. They don't need Johnny McSwole bothering them when they're on elliptical.

    I am not talking about me or anyone else going up to strangers...I would have thought that was obvious..Do you really think people do that, cause I didn't think anyone would make that kind of assumtion. I am referencing the trainers at these sorts of "gyms".

    A personal example of this is that I have a friend who's sister is a member of and has been paying for training at PF for close to a year. She started asking me questions as I have noticibly cut weight since she had last seen me. I explained CICO, macro splits, the fact that diet is 80% of results, different types of training splits, him, bf% etc - she was absolutely floored, it was all new information. She was also surprised to hear that I still had to cut a good 60+ pounds, and that would STILL have me at an overweight BMI but at the top range of fit on a BF%. This was pretty obvious (that I am overweight) - and yet someone who has paid for personal training for close to a year knew none of this. This prompted me to do some research, and I found out that many PF locations don't even offer nutritional coaching or information. Nutrition is the most important piece of any fitness puzzle - these gyms put more effort into providing members with free pizza, tootsie rolls, and bagels than on nutrition coaching. After further conversation, she didnt even know her BMI, let alone BF%. What exactly is her "trainer" teaching her then?



    That's what I mean by honest assessments are not given...the person in my story had to go outside of her gym and ask someone else about why she wasn't cutting weight...when she pays for a trainer. Does her "trainer" not understand CICO herself? Maybe, but I think it is much more likely that her trainer works at a "gym" that wont even let her tell a client "your BMI is highly in the overweight category, and your diet is largely bad and you need to eat a caloric deficit to lose weight".

    In my area the PF doesn't require trainers to have anything other than CPR certification.

    Actually I took and passed.a PT certification class. Most certifications will allow the trainer to speak in broad generalities regarding diet. You cannot provide specific dietary guidance to a client, however you can inform the client on the US governmental nutritional guidelines.
  • Packerjohn
    Packerjohn Posts: 4,855 Member
    mph323 wrote: »
    Referencing the OP. It's breth-takingly ego-centric to assume that anyone who has fitness goals that differ from yours is basically a fat lazy slob, especially the part about blaming anyone who isn't up to your standards as being part of what's wrong with the country. I'm not even getting the association between gym environments and body positive movements (even the fringe ones) - if a fat person wants to become more fit that's not OK? Fat people who go to a regular gym should be shamed until they lose weight? If your goal is to maintain strength and not add muscle why even bother?

    For the record, I belonged to a women's only gym for a couple of years long ago (Linda Evens, for you old-timers :) ) It had cardio equipment, machines and dumbbells. My goal was to maintain upper body strength and improve cardio, the environment was low-key and suited me. At the same time, I was riding 100 mile cycling events so I wasn't exactly out of shape. If PF had been around at the time, I might have considered it too intimidating (in spite of the judgey "no judgement" ads).

    When did I EVER say that a fat person wanting to become fit is not okay? Or any of that shaming *kitten* you referenced?

    I said the "no intimidation" gym thing is not okay. First off, it blatantly discriminates against those who have worked for months or years to attain a high level of fitness. The advertising shames those people as absolute morons. Shouldn't those people be looked up to in the fitness world, or at the very least be given a begrudging respect for the work they have put in?

    There is a difference between fat shaming, and giving an honest assessment as to someone's fitness, weight, and health. If someone is in a gym they obviously at least want to give some modicum of a *kitten* about it. Is teaching someone how to properly lift, eat for a goal, and educating them on BMI and body fat%, and telling them "no, 20 minutes on the elliptical did not earn you a trip to dairy queen" evil just because it is bluntly true?

    instead of fostering a mentality of victimization with the whole "intimidation" thing, maybe they should be educated on why the gym bro in a stringer carries a gallon of water (to stay hydrated), and grunts (he's putting out max effort) "drops" weights (you aren't setting a 450 deadlift down without noise), and looks angry (he's probably listening to music to bring out raw emotion he probably doesn't always like that he uses to fuel his lifts). He looks good because he has been disciplined about his training and diet for years - and if that makes someone feel inadequate with their diet and exercise choices, that is something they should face and maybe ask themselves why they feel that way, not go run and hide in a "gym" that those types of people are discouraged from going to.

    Lastly - I say this all as an overweight person. I used to be what you would call a "gym bro" - for a bunch of BS excuses I used to call reasons, I gained near 100lbs in 2 years. I have been back at it for a good while now, but I still have a minimum of 40lbs to go. It is NOT wrong for someone to call me overweight. When I was close to 300 and hadn't trained or ate right in 2 years, it would not have been wrong to call me fat. It was true - and I knew it. About 4 months after I started lifting again, I was complaining that I hadn't lost any weight one day, and someone said to me "Stop whining - I've seen what you used to look like - you know what to do. Clean up your diet, and eat less calories than you burn." He wasn't being hateful, he was being honest. That is not the type of mentality that these types of gyms promote - and I do think that is a problem.

    What does the 'honest assessment' you keep going on about look like in a gym environment? Do you bring a scale and body fat calipers to the gym with you and calculate body fat % for random strangers? Do you follow them home to make sure they don't stop at Dairy Queen? This mythical 'honest assessment' requires detailed knowledge about a person's life that you absolutely could not glean from just going to the same gym. So yes, if you are giving 'honest assessments' to random strangers in the gym you are making a lot of assumptions about their life and it is most definitely unwelcome. People who need guidance can seek that out from books, websites, and paid professionals. They don't need Johnny McSwole bothering them when they're on elliptical.

    I am not talking about me or anyone else going up to strangers...I would have thought that was obvious..Do you really think people do that, cause I didn't think anyone would make that kind of assumtion. I am referencing the trainers at these sorts of "gyms".

    A personal example of this is that I have a friend who's sister is a member of and has been paying for training at PF for close to a year. She started asking me questions as I have noticibly cut weight since she had last seen me. I explained CICO, macro splits, the fact that diet is 80% of results, different types of training splits, him, bf% etc - she was absolutely floored, it was all new information. She was also surprised to hear that I still had to cut a good 60+ pounds, and that would STILL have me at an overweight BMI but at the top range of fit on a BF%. This was pretty obvious (that I am overweight) - and yet someone who has paid for personal training for close to a year knew none of this. This prompted me to do some research, and I found out that many PF locations don't even offer nutritional coaching or information. Nutrition is the most important piece of any fitness puzzle - these gyms put more effort into providing members with free pizza, tootsie rolls, and bagels than on nutrition coaching. After further conversation, she didnt even know her BMI, let alone BF%. What exactly is her "trainer" teaching her then?

    That's what I mean by honest assessments are not given...the person in my story had to go outside of her gym and ask someone else about why she wasn't cutting weight...when she pays for a trainer. Does her "trainer" not understand CICO herself? Maybe, but I think it is much more likely that her trainer works at a "gym" that wont even let her tell a client "your BMI is highly in the overweight category, and your diet is largely bad and you need to eat a caloric deficit to lose weight".

    Oh, so your point is that some personal trainers suck. Groundbreaking.

    Also I am sure most chain gyms do not do this because it can very quickly veer into medical advice territory which personal trainers are not qualified to give.

    To add, most trainers are NOT registered dieticians.

    Yep. I worked with a personal trainer for a little while and even though she was a good trainer, her theories on nutrition were godawful. But she knew she wasn't qualified to give nutrition advice so she didn't try, I just picked up on her philosophy through conversation (mentioning that her mom gained weight because she was inflamed from eating lots of meat lol).

    I worked with a personal trainer and he tried to advise me on diet/macro splits. I completely ignored him because I knew his advice on macros wouldn't work for me.

    When I stopped seeing him, he admitted that I was right to ignore him. I had lost about 70 pounds over the time I was training with him.

    As per my earlier post he was most likely exceeding his scope.of practice by giving you specific macro splits.
  • Packerjohn
    Packerjohn Posts: 4,855 Member
    mph323 wrote: »
    Referencing the OP. It's breth-takingly ego-centric to assume that anyone who has fitness goals that differ from yours is basically a fat lazy slob, especially the part about blaming anyone who isn't up to your standards as being part of what's wrong with the country. I'm not even getting the association between gym environments and body positive movements (even the fringe ones) - if a fat person wants to become more fit that's not OK? Fat people who go to a regular gym should be shamed until they lose weight? If your goal is to maintain strength and not add muscle why even bother?

    For the record, I belonged to a women's only gym for a couple of years long ago (Linda Evens, for you old-timers :) ) It had cardio equipment, machines and dumbbells. My goal was to maintain upper body strength and improve cardio, the environment was low-key and suited me. At the same time, I was riding 100 mile cycling events so I wasn't exactly out of shape. If PF had been around at the time, I might have considered it too intimidating (in spite of the judgey "no judgement" ads).

    When did I EVER say that a fat person wanting to become fit is not okay? Or any of that shaming *kitten* you referenced?

    I said the "no intimidation" gym thing is not okay. First off, it blatantly discriminates against those who have worked for months or years to attain a high level of fitness. The advertising shames those people as absolute morons. Shouldn't those people be looked up to in the fitness world, or at the very least be given a begrudging respect for the work they have put in?

    There is a difference between fat shaming, and giving an honest assessment as to someone's fitness, weight, and health. If someone is in a gym they obviously at least want to give some modicum of a *kitten* about it. Is teaching someone how to properly lift, eat for a goal, and educating them on BMI and body fat%, and telling them "no, 20 minutes on the elliptical did not earn you a trip to dairy queen" evil just because it is bluntly true?

    instead of fostering a mentality of victimization with the whole "intimidation" thing, maybe they should be educated on why the gym bro in a stringer carries a gallon of water (to stay hydrated), and grunts (he's putting out max effort) "drops" weights (you aren't setting a 450 deadlift down without noise), and looks angry (he's probably listening to music to bring out raw emotion he probably doesn't always like that he uses to fuel his lifts). He looks good because he has been disciplined about his training and diet for years - and if that makes someone feel inadequate with their diet and exercise choices, that is something they should face and maybe ask themselves why they feel that way, not go run and hide in a "gym" that those types of people are discouraged from going to.

    Lastly - I say this all as an overweight person. I used to be what you would call a "gym bro" - for a bunch of BS excuses I used to call reasons, I gained near 100lbs in 2 years. I have been back at it for a good while now, but I still have a minimum of 40lbs to go. It is NOT wrong for someone to call me overweight. When I was close to 300 and hadn't trained or ate right in 2 years, it would not have been wrong to call me fat. It was true - and I knew it. About 4 months after I started lifting again, I was complaining that I hadn't lost any weight one day, and someone said to me "Stop whining - I've seen what you used to look like - you know what to do. Clean up your diet, and eat less calories than you burn." He wasn't being hateful, he was being honest. That is not the type of mentality that these types of gyms promote - and I do think that is a problem.

    What does the 'honest assessment' you keep going on about look like in a gym environment? Do you bring a scale and body fat calipers to the gym with you and calculate body fat % for random strangers? Do you follow them home to make sure they don't stop at Dairy Queen? This mythical 'honest assessment' requires detailed knowledge about a person's life that you absolutely could not glean from just going to the same gym. So yes, if you are giving 'honest assessments' to random strangers in the gym you are making a lot of assumptions about their life and it is most definitely unwelcome. People who need guidance can seek that out from books, websites, and paid professionals. They don't need Johnny McSwole bothering them when they're on elliptical.

    I am not talking about me or anyone else going up to strangers...I would have thought that was obvious..Do you really think people do that, cause I didn't think anyone would make that kind of assumtion. I am referencing the trainers at these sorts of "gyms".

    A personal example of this is that I have a friend who's sister is a member of and has been paying for training at PF for close to a year. She started asking me questions as I have noticibly cut weight since she had last seen me. I explained CICO, macro splits, the fact that diet is 80% of results, different types of training splits, him, bf% etc - she was absolutely floored, it was all new information. She was also surprised to hear that I still had to cut a good 60+ pounds, and that would STILL have me at an overweight BMI but at the top range of fit on a BF%. This was pretty obvious (that I am overweight) - and yet someone who has paid for personal training for close to a year knew none of this. This prompted me to do some research, and I found out that many PF locations don't even offer nutritional coaching or information. Nutrition is the most important piece of any fitness puzzle - these gyms put more effort into providing members with free pizza, tootsie rolls, and bagels than on nutrition coaching. After further conversation, she didnt even know her BMI, let alone BF%. What exactly is her "trainer" teaching her then?

    That's what I mean by honest assessments are not given...the person in my story had to go outside of her gym and ask someone else about why she wasn't cutting weight...when she pays for a trainer. Does her "trainer" not understand CICO herself? Maybe, but I think it is much more likely that her trainer works at a "gym" that wont even let her tell a client "your BMI is highly in the overweight category, and your diet is largely bad and you need to eat a caloric deficit to lose weight".

    Oh, so your point is that some personal trainers suck. Groundbreaking.

    Also I am sure most chain gyms do not do this because it can very quickly veer into medical advice territory which personal trainers are not qualified to give.

    To add, most trainers are NOT registered dieticians.

    Does that stop them from prompting a client to look up some stuff themselves? I understand that you cant give dietary advice without certain certifications - but is there anything against a trainer saying "in order for the exercise to work properly in transforming your body, you need to have solid, targeted nutrition. I am not authorized to give you specific advice, but a calorie tracking app and some research on different macro splits, BMR TDEE, and a basic understanding of the food you consume goes a long way"

    I'm seriously asking...is something as generalized as this not even allowed without a FNS or similar certification?

    Based on what I learned from the ACE certification what you are saying, perhaps with a suggestion to discuss with their physician would be appropriate