Overweight gym staff

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Replies

  • Ohwhynot
    Ohwhynot Posts: 356 Member
    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.
  • radicalchanges
    radicalchanges Posts: 10 Member
    edited August 2015
    If the advice gets the results we want, that's the most important thing. Totally agree.

    .

  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    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
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
    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.
  • jaga13
    jaga13 Posts: 1,149 Member
    jaga13 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.
  • DerekVTX
    DerekVTX Posts: 287 Member
    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".
  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
    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.
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
    jaga13 wrote: »
    jaga13 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.
  • jaga13
    jaga13 Posts: 1,149 Member
    yopeeps025 wrote: »
    jaga13 wrote: »
    jaga13 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.
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
    edited August 2015
    DerekVTX wrote: »
    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".

    What would their goals have to do with your goals?
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
    jaga13 wrote: »
    yopeeps025 wrote: »
    jaga13 wrote: »
    jaga13 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.
  • Bry_Fitness70
    Bry_Fitness70 Posts: 2,480 Member
    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.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
    Assessing knowledge based on a person's body fat composition...it isn't very bright.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    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.
  • jkal1979
    jkal1979 Posts: 1,896 Member
    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.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    Dentist with bad teeth is a great correlation
  • madhatter2013
    madhatter2013 Posts: 1,547 Member
    isulo_kura 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?
  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member
    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.
  • jkal1979
    jkal1979 Posts: 1,896 Member
    isulo_kura 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.
  • Char231023
    Char231023 Posts: 702 Member
    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.