Are Personal Trainers Putting People OFF Fitness?

Are Personal Trainers Putting People OFF Fitness?

I read a post on Facebook the other day and it really struck a chord. I’ll share it with you at the bottom of the article.

Personally, I can’t bear the ‘aggression’ when it comes to exercise and training, as if somehow pretending to be angry or using violent metaphors makes your workout harder or better.

You’re just training. Get over it.

The thing is, many of the worst culprits I know of the bizarre phenomena are personal trainers themselves. The very people who are there to educate and make fitness inclusive are doing the absolute opposite – they are turning people off exercise.

Think about the perception of a personal trainers…

This perception is so wrong, yet it’s a myth that has perpetuated around fitness and personal training. The reality of personal training is that as with most things in life, there are horses for courses. Not all personal trainers shout and scream at their clients – I don’t and most of my friends who are personal trainers don’t. Of course there are exceptions, but more than ever these are becoming the minority.

Many people who hire a personal trainer are already feeling self conscious in some way – the last thing they need is their personal trainer drawing more attention to them in the gym by yelling ‘motivational’ nonsense.

I work with a problem-solving approach. I find out what my clients would like to achieve. Next, we work on what is holding them back or preventing them from achieving what they want. Then we put together a plan to achieve their goals. Finally, we execute that plan.

You know what, it works. Look.

This ‘angry trainer’ syndrome is part of what turns people off exercise and personal training in general. It also make personal trainers out to be idiots who only have one approach to helping – yelling at people and making them feel like crap.

Good personal trainers don’t have to scream and shout to get their message across. Coaching isn’t about shouting, it’s about communication. The two are very different. I recently read an article written by a strength coach I rate, Tony Gentilcore, about his introvert personality and how he works with it in an industry that, from the outside at least, seems to be full of over-enthusiastic extroverts. Check it out here.

So if you are thinking of hiring a personal trainer. Do so. Don’t worry about being screamed at – this isn’t the 1980’s and things have moved on. If you do hire a personal trainer, get screamed at and don’t like it, bin them off. There are personal trainers out there who are good enough at their job that they don’t have to shout at you to get results.

A philosopher of fitness, Dan John, wrote a great book called Never Let Go. It’s well worth a read and gives an interesting insight on fitness. You may change the way you think about it having read this book and understand why you should incorporate fitness into your life, without some idiot telling you that you should, lest you be a horrible waste of space.

Oh, and I promised you the article that inspired this blog post. It’s fantastic…http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/lifting-weights-doesnt-make-you-badass/

P.S. I’m giving away a FREE eBook ‘101 Health and Fitness Tips’ to everyone who subscribes to my VIP email list. By joining the list you’ll have access to exclusive content, discounts, offers and products from both me and selected partners. Click here to download!