Overweight gym staff
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Ex-fat dietetic tech here. My weight was NOT a reflection on my lack of knowledge. My weight was a reflection of my struggle with my relationship with food. I helped out PLENTY of people in their weight loss journeys. I was just at a different place in mine.0
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If the advice gets the results we want, that's the most important thing. Totally agree.
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I chose my PT from a local forum recommendation...I then checked his website ...I had no idea what he looked like before our first consultation
Would I have put my fitness / health / weight aspirations in his hands, paying him the amount I pay him on a weekly basis if he had been out of shape? No I don't believe I would have
Do I attend group classes with instructors who are not in peak condition ..yes
Was I fat? Yes
Do I have fat friends, family members, colleagues? Yes
Do I value them or me less because of weight ..no
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If I was thinking of a PT then its only natural them being in shape is a plus. At first sight people are going to pay more attention to someone who cna manage their own physical health.0
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ExRelaySprinter wrote: »Maybe I missed it, but did OP confirm if he's talking about gym staff (non-trainers) or actual trainers? Also, unless we're talking about someone who is very obviously overweight/obese, not everyone has the same perception when it comes to body type and thinness. Someone you think is overweight, I may view as normal.
The OP is talking about Gym Staff/Gym Advisors...not Personal Trainers (so the thread kind of went slightly off topic there.)
On the previous page, the OP confirms the staff are Obese.
Thank you. General staff's weight is not something that matters in my opinion.0 -
I agree with the OP. Why would you take health and fitness advice from someone who is overweight/obese (and not improving)........they would kind of come across to me as hypocrites. No different than "Never trust a skinny chef".0
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I don't use a personal trainer or anything, but here is how I would look at it: I have medical issues that make it harder for me to lose weight than for the average person to lose weight. Sometimes, it just seems plain impossible to lose weight and I get quite jealous of all the people I see (usually on these forums) that are losing weight so easily.
Maybe the trainer has similar challenges to what I face. If not, then s/he should not be overweight if s/he knows how to lose weight. If s/he does, in fact, have challenges to losing weight and they can't figure out how to get past them, then how can s/he help me get past my issues?!
If you can't even train yourself, you can't train me.0 -
ExRelaySprinter wrote: »Maybe I missed it, but did OP confirm if he's talking about gym staff (non-trainers) or actual trainers? Also, unless we're talking about someone who is very obviously overweight/obese, not everyone has the same perception when it comes to body type and thinness. Someone you think is overweight, I may view as normal.
The OP is talking about Gym Staff/Gym Advisors...not Personal Trainers (so the thread kind of went slightly off topic there.)
On the previous page, the OP confirms the staff are Obese.
Thank you. General staff's weight is not something that matters in my opinion.
Neither should a personal trainer. Should I go find a overweight 10% body fat personal trainer Or should I go for the the obese powerlifter who has no muscle definition. I am sure they both might know how to accomplish my goals.
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yopeeps025 wrote: »ExRelaySprinter wrote: »Maybe I missed it, but did OP confirm if he's talking about gym staff (non-trainers) or actual trainers? Also, unless we're talking about someone who is very obviously overweight/obese, not everyone has the same perception when it comes to body type and thinness. Someone you think is overweight, I may view as normal.
The OP is talking about Gym Staff/Gym Advisors...not Personal Trainers (so the thread kind of went slightly off topic there.)
On the previous page, the OP confirms the staff are Obese.
Thank you. General staff's weight is not something that matters in my opinion.
Neither should a personal trainer. Should I go find a overweight 10% body fat personal trainer Or should I go for the the obese powerlifter who has no muscle definition. I am sure they both might know how to accomplish my goals.
I don't care either way since I don't belong to a gym now and never used a PT. I can only really relate to the gym staff, that's all.0 -
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yopeeps025 wrote: »ExRelaySprinter wrote: »Maybe I missed it, but did OP confirm if he's talking about gym staff (non-trainers) or actual trainers? Also, unless we're talking about someone who is very obviously overweight/obese, not everyone has the same perception when it comes to body type and thinness. Someone you think is overweight, I may view as normal.
The OP is talking about Gym Staff/Gym Advisors...not Personal Trainers (so the thread kind of went slightly off topic there.)
On the previous page, the OP confirms the staff are Obese.
Thank you. General staff's weight is not something that matters in my opinion.
Neither should a personal trainer. Should I go find a overweight 10% body fat personal trainer Or should I go for the the obese powerlifter who has no muscle definition. I am sure they both might know how to accomplish my goals.
I don't care either way since I don't belong to a gym now and never used a PT. I can only really relate to the gym staff, that's all.
It was a sarcastic comment. If I think about it though my friend is the overweight 10% body fat person who I call my fitness guru and teacher. He is a MFP user.0 -
Sorry, but if you are a professional, if you don't follow the advice that you give, I'm not interested. I don't want a doctor that smokes, a dentist with bad teeth, or a personal trainer who is out of shape.
In the case of a PT, I want someone that will lead by example; I think there is a place for experienced trainers that have been injured or are getting well past their prime and may not be in optimal shape anymore, but I could never rationalize paying a 20-30 something year old PT that is out of shape to get me in shape. Perhaps that is judgmental, but when it comes to spending my money, political correctness goes out the window, and I judge.0 -
Assessing knowledge based on a person's body fat composition...it isn't very bright.0
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fitfor30th wrote: »I don't want to be mean or rude, but it is bugging me. One gym I go to a lot of the staff are quite a lot overweight (and not losing). They walk around with 'Health Maker' on the back of their T-shirts and it bugs me. They also give out bad advice. I heard one of them telling a lady the other day she shouldn't aim to get big muscles, just do low reps on the weight machines.
Should this bug you? Lots of things bug people, so I don't really think it matters if it should or not. Overweight gym employees would not bug me, but bad information would.
The more significant question is whether it should (or does) influence whether you wish to be a member of the gym. Aside from how much it may bug you (being too bugged is a valid reason for choosing a different gym), my concern would be whether it affected my own experience. Personally, the staff at my gym are mostly in good shape, but I don't think I would care whether they were or not, because most of them have nothing to do with me. I care about the trainer I use (and her knowledge, not specifically how in shape she is, but sure depending on the circumstances her results might make a difference to how much I trusted her exercise/fitness knowledge, although that might include whether she'd lost lots of weight, what her goals were, what I was hiring her as an expert in, so on). I also, I guess, care about the instructors of group classes I take, but there I am more focused on whether the classes are good. So you have to decide what matters to you.
If the gym doesn't meet your needs, change gyms.
I hear some dumb bro-science stuff at my gym sometimes (not nearly as much as at my prior gym), but mostly I don't care because it's more about nutrition and I don't get nutrition advice from my gym, and also mostly from people who aren't advising me specifically.0 -
It almost seems like it's a no win situation. I've also heard people complain about fit PT's, nutritionists, and dietitians. Some people make the judgement call that if the person is fit and at a healthy weight then they won't relate because they never had the same issues as the people they are helping.0
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Dentist with bad teeth is a great correlation0
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isulo_kura wrote: »ExRelaySprinter wrote: »Overweight Gym staff with "Health Maker" on their Shirts, trying to advise me how to get fit & healthy - wouldn't fill me with too much confidence.
That's like going to a Dermatologist who's face is covered in Spots!
What a terrible metaphor just because someone has spots would not mean they are a bad dermatologist. They could have a condition that is difficult to treat by anyone no matter how good. Maybe they became a dermatologist due to their issues. In the same way someone may work at a gym because of their personal issues. I've seen over weight and unfit looking Olympic coaches that have trained people to Gold medals. How someone looks is not an indication of their knowledge.
How about a dentist with horrible, rotted out teeth?0 -
crazyjerseygirl wrote: »I'm just throwing out there that the comparison between medical staff and gym staff is most likely false. Medical staff has years of training for stupefying hours.
Gym workers...get hired by a gym. I'm pretty sure you can get hired sans Degree.
A chubby nutritionist or doctor at least has that degree as proof that they learned something about the topic they are practicing. I don't need to see their bodies or habits, I need to see their degrees.
Gym workers? I dunno. Do they have advanced degrees in health or sports medicine or nutrition? If I ask to see their resume before I hire them what will I see? Their physical body might be the only evidence I have that this guy knows what he's talking about.
Does anybody know what advanced education (if any) is required to be hired by, and give advice at, a gym?
It depends on the gym. My local university gym only hires Sports Science graduates so they do all have a degree, but I appreciate this is not standard practice.
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madhatter2013 wrote: »isulo_kura wrote: »ExRelaySprinter wrote: »Overweight Gym staff with "Health Maker" on their Shirts, trying to advise me how to get fit & healthy - wouldn't fill me with too much confidence.
That's like going to a Dermatologist who's face is covered in Spots!
What a terrible metaphor just because someone has spots would not mean they are a bad dermatologist. They could have a condition that is difficult to treat by anyone no matter how good. Maybe they became a dermatologist due to their issues. In the same way someone may work at a gym because of their personal issues. I've seen over weight and unfit looking Olympic coaches that have trained people to Gold medals. How someone looks is not an indication of their knowledge.
How about a dentist with horrible, rotted out teeth?
I would find out who their dentist is and avoid them.0 -
As my husband says are you going to take lifting advise from a fit person or someone who looks like they never touch a dumbell? There is a reason people look to my husband for lifting advise. Same rules apply I am not going to take a fitness class or use a personal trainer who in my opinion is out of shape.
Also coaches and trainers are two different things. All the professional teams have trainers not coaches telling them how to lift and workout. The coaches are for the fundamentals of the game. Trainers should be able to spot you if you need, not just tell you what to do.
Are you really ok with someone saying do as I say don't do as I do. I am not.0 -
madhatter2013 wrote: »isulo_kura wrote: »ExRelaySprinter wrote: »Overweight Gym staff with "Health Maker" on their Shirts, trying to advise me how to get fit & healthy - wouldn't fill me with too much confidence.
That's like going to a Dermatologist who's face is covered in Spots!
What a terrible metaphor just because someone has spots would not mean they are a bad dermatologist. They could have a condition that is difficult to treat by anyone no matter how good. Maybe they became a dermatologist due to their issues. In the same way someone may work at a gym because of their personal issues. I've seen over weight and unfit looking Olympic coaches that have trained people to Gold medals. How someone looks is not an indication of their knowledge.
How about a dentist with horrible, rotted out teeth?
I would find out who their dentist is and avoid them.
Nope...dental care is based on taking personal responsibility for the state of your teeth...not something a dentist gives you...regular brushing, flossing and dentist visits...if you can't be bothered doing that why would I visit you as a dentist?0 -
It matters to me.
I asked the person at my gym with the best abs and torso how she did it. I asked politely and she actually shared a great deal with me and helped me get to 33 jeans size over the last 6 months.
I look to people that have done it. People that are in shape and go to the gym regularly. Lifestyle people that know and do the right things.
Same thing with cycling. I seek info from and ride with good riders that ride regularly and safely in the draft. I don't want to be in a big crash going 25 mph down a hill.
My Dr is overweight but he is very specialized in reversing Type 2 diabetes and helped me do so. I don't pay him to look pretty. Kind of his problem. He has asked me to talk to other patients. Funny.
In the hospital the large numbers of severely overweight staff seems ironic.
For fitness related help, I seek fit people.
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It's like when a member/poster who is 19 with a profile picture of a rapper throwing a sign and answers threads with a know it all snarky attitude, I ignore his knowledge/advice
So ya, wouldn't take the gym staff seriously with their advice
Judging a poster's advice by their profile picture seems really silly and I'm unsure why you felt the need to turn the discussion into an attack on another poster anyway . . .
I'm pretty sure someone can like rap and also have solid knowledge to offer on fitness/weight loss.
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Overweight gym employees may actually have more insight into weight loss issues, if they are working on losing weight.
In college I ran sprint-length triathlons, & I have significant medical training since then. So even though I'm fat, I know a lot about aerobic exercise (and spew it around the fora frequently). In my case, orthopedic injury and thyroid failure got my weight where it is today.
You'll notice I don't talk much about weight training because I don't have serious experience with it--I only speak up when what I do know is pertinent to someone's question:
If you are gaining muscle strength, bulk or not, you are increasing your muscle-based metabolic burn rate. At some point you can't gain more strength without gaining more bulk, but I suspect few people truly reach that point. What I was taught is, if you want strength with less bulk, use lower weights with more reps. If you want strength with more bulk, use higher weight with fewer reps. Neither is wrong, they just achieve different things; you just need to train in the way consistent with your goals. You don't have to visibly bulk up for weight training to increase your BMR.
But I'm open to being corrected by a serious weight-trainer if I'm propagating myths.0 -
I know a lot more about specific medical conditions than many primary care physicians because do independent research...clearly not more than specialists but I have had to correct hospital generalists before, or double check their prescriptions ...I've been proved right on a number of occasions
This is very true. If you have a medical condition and have read up on it, you may be more informed than a generalist practitioner on the topic.
Sorry for the thread-shift. Back to your regular topic, carry on...
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janejellyroll wrote: »It's like when a member/poster who is 19 with a profile picture of a rapper throwing a sign and answers threads with a know it all snarky attitude, I ignore his knowledge/advice
So ya, wouldn't take the gym staff seriously with their advice
Judging a poster's advice by their profile picture seems really silly and I'm unsure why you felt the need to turn the discussion into an attack on another poster anyway . . .
I'm pretty sure someone can like rap and also have solid knowledge to offer on fitness/weight loss.
Although I don't base my opinion of posters on their avatars, it makes every bit as much sense to do that as it does to assess knowledge based on someone's body composition.0 -
Sometimes those that can't do, teach...but that doesn't mean their teachings are bad...unless they are actually bad...then I'd change gyms :P0
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It's obvious that people look for different things in their trainers/coaches/etc... Whether you would relate to someone who is overweight, or whether someone more fit is what you need for motivation... It doesn't make anyone wrong that they have a preference.
I have a friend whose trainer tells her "no carbs, no alcohol, clean eating, blah blah" and I personally wouldn't work with him. I know that mentality isn't going to work for me. It doesn't mean it won't work for others.0 -
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