Overweight fitness instructors

BTW, I'm not sure if you are a trainer or not, but having a little empathy for people (especially clients) goes a long way. Maybe you've got things all figured out, but for some people it is a little more difficult to maintain a healthy weight.

Not everyone trains for aesthetics. Some people just want to do be as strong as possible. This doesn't require regulation of body weight. It is basically bigger is better. Mass moves mass.

The conversation that led me to making the thread was that I know several new group fitness instructors who are overweight and are having trouble finding work. They feel it's their weight. I think there's more to it than just their weight (but there's not really a nice way to say that, is there?) I know that a good instructor is a good instructor - but gyms are trying to maintain an image, aren't they?

Depends....Work on a more community/family-centered gym (like a Y) and they tend to be less about aesthetics (IMO). A lot depends on the gym's clientele and who they are trying to attract. I've heard stories from other gyms about very competent instructors being turned down for jobs because they weren't "skinny and in their twenties."

exactly. I may get some flack for stating this on MFP, but being a normal weight is not difficult. It's not. Eating and basic discipline is not a fundamentally challenging thing. ESPECIALLY if you are already IN the gym for 4-12 hours a day. They can't workout for 1 hour and stop shoving food down and just be a normal weight? Looking like a fitness competitor is one thing, being non overweight is another.

I've not reached my weight loss and fitness goals yet. But I am a successful businessman.

You may be fit, but if you are a trainer you're not a good businessman.

Never talk negatively about the kind of people that pay your wages. They can tell, you know.

I wouldn't mind it if they know how to get the job done. They're a fitness instructor after all, not a "diet expert". Now if they start telling me about food and diet, I would make my "practice what you preach" face.

I go to group classes to be motivated to work harder than I intended. From instructors I prefer POWER, PASSION and SKILLS. I've been to classes where she is skinny, but on autopilot. Or the obese instructor trying too hard, ordering us to do red zone intervals lasting for too long. The slightly beer-barreled with wonderful charisma who always manage to whip us into mean machines.

Being skillful at motivating comes in all shapes and form. A little humor doesn't hurt either.

Edit: I do expect instructors to be able to do their own class. If their body or condition prevents them to do that, then I loose respect. But that's my opinion.

BTW, I'm not sure if you are a trainer or not, but having a little empathy for people (especially clients) goes a long way. Maybe you've got things all figured out, but for some people it is a little more difficult to maintain a healthy weight.

No, I'm a normal guy that works 70 hours a week and flies 100,000 miles a year. I understand the difficulties. But as a trainer, looking the part is quite important unless you have a fantastic resume, which most do not.

The trainer should have things all figured out too, no? If they are in the gym several hours a day (EVERY trainer has downtime in the gym) and understand the science and mechanics (they should, the're trainers, right) and it's still "difficult to maintain a healthy weight" (meaning, they can't stop eating)...then their product (their teaching) is flawed. A flawed product shouldn't be sold. Unless you can prove it some other way (fantastic client list)




.

I've not reached my weight loss and fitness goals yet. But I am a successful businessman.

You may be fit, but if you are a trainer you're not a good businessman.

Never talk negatively about the kind of people that pay your wages. They can tell, you know.

huh? I'm not a trainer. Nor was I addressing clients, it was in reply to the expectation of trainers. Like this entire thread.

Talking about being a good businessman....being an overweight trainer is not good business unless you are coaching a niche subgroup like powerlifters. Like I said in my previous post, the fitness world is the only industry where consultants are given a pass on either their resume or their product.

Ok. I've read this thread for a few days now, just feeling it out. I'll tell you my story now. I live in a remote northern community. I love fitness. I am 50lbs overweight. In the last few years, when traveling down south, I discovered the joy of my Crossfit box. I may have been lucky enough to go there 5 times a year, but enough to introduce me to the style of workouts that I love. I bore easily. I need a different workout everyday. I love throwing things, lifting things, hitting things and jumping on things. I go to a gym in my current town and started doing my own WOD style workouts, just amped up. More cardio, more reps. Then, a couple of people from my work started coming with me, we did it every Saturday and Sunday together. Then I started getting asked by some people at the gym to join in on our workouts, because they were harder and more varied than what was being offered at our gym. Well, it got noticed. The owners of the gym asked me, all 195lbs of me to do an advanced functional fitness class every Saturday. I agreed. I'm not trained. I'm just a chick who knows what she likes in a workout. Yay for me if others follow along. Well, the class got so popular, they asked me to do another, then another. So, that's where I'm at. I'm overweight, fierce, and I love me some burpees and box jumps. And I'll be damed, three days a week, 20 other people seem to love it too. My classes are getting out of control. Yes, I'm self conscious, I think of it all the time. But the feedback I've gotten for my instruction is heart-warming. She's hard! She knows her ****. She's strong. She's fast. Yes. I'm all of that. And. I'm not certified or qualified. I'm that chick at the gym doing a mofo brutal workout. You want to come? Hell yeah? Join up, let's sweat together. Maybe one day we won't be so fat.

It's a bit of a turn off for me. I go to classes to lose weight and get fit, so when I see an instructor who does not fit into my idea of fit and healthy, it gives me less confidence in the class I'm doing. It's like, if it doesn't work for her, how is it going to work for me?

There's an over weight guy that covers body pump sometimes that's great very professional but adds humour.. I have really enjoyed his classes
I did however have a cover spin instructor that wasn't over weight but she was red in the face huffing and puffing that did put me off that we were all fitter than she was!!

Being overweight doesn't mean you are unfit... I have completed 4 half marathons, and a Sprint Triathlon in a reasonable time and I am somewhat overweight... I actually feel that having an overweight instructor may put someone else who is overweight at ease... I know I have been to classes where I have been the biggest in the class (although not necessarily the unfit one) and felt very patronized by the skinny instructor.

Far be it from me to judge anybody based on weight. If they are instructing a class I make assume that they are capable of instructing that class - if somewhere along the way I feel they aren't then I may reconsider.

Im not personal trainer or fitness instructor but I can outlift and outrun plenty a skinny person - so I dont think it would put me off, you dont know if they are obese/overweight after being morbidly obese - they might not have finished their journey yet but cant teach because they've come a heck of a long way already.