Arrogant Trainers
Being physically fit is only one facet of discipline and the number of trainers who think that their fitness level makes them inherently better than other people is absurd
I was recently at my daughter’s swim lesson and I was talking to a couple other parents. The subject of exercise came up and one of the moms said that she had just gotten a free personal training session at her gym. The trainer did the usual consult which included a bunch of high tech scanning machines that are supposed to give you accurate measurements so that you can track progress. For about half an hour her trainer proceeded to use the data he gained to make her feel atrocious about herself. The machine basically highlighted every single (debatable) flaw she had and made her feel like garbage. Not only that, but her trainer proceeded to act like, without his help, she’d be garbage forever.
There’s so much about this story that annoys me , so I apologize if this is more of a rant than an informative post.
I keep hearing about these new high-tech ways of measuring all sorts of performance metrics. When I first heard about them they seemed awesome, especially for elite athletes who are trying to measure every aspect of performance. But the more I’ve looked into them the less I’m convinced they’re all that accurate to begin with. The bigger issue I have, however, is that while a bodybuilder preparing for a contest probably needs to know if they’re 5% or 6% bodyfat, your average gym-goer does not. I don’t care whether I’m 14 or 12% bodyfat. I just look in the mirror and think “Eh, time for a cut” or “Ok, that’s good. I’ll focus more on getting bigger now.” Beginners especially generally know if they need to lose fat, want to get stronger, or both if they’re in the gym in the first place. Does it really do them any good to know they’re exactly 43% bodyfat? Between a scale, the mirror, and the weights they’re using, they can almost always tell if they’re making progress.
When she told me what the trainer told her, my jaw dropped and I said, “He was negging you?!” For those of you who aren’t aware (and bless you if you aren’t), negging is a concept invented by so-called “Pick-up Artists”. The idea, basically, is that by telling an attractive woman something mildly insulting, she will crave your attention and admiration. It sounded to me like this trainer was basically insulting her in an effort to make her think she needed his specific brand of training. The first thing that made me angry was that this woman was already in good shape. Maybe there are things she wants to improve, but she very clearly exercises. So I can immediately rule out some kind of tough love sales pitch (and it would still be completely unacceptable). The second thing is that this was so demoralizing for her that she not only didn’t want to hire him, but she didn’t want to go back to the gym. Needless to say she didn’t hire him.
I am tired of personal trainers and influencers whose only responsibility is fitness, have only been training a couple years, can still drink themselves stupid and never get a hangover, and have never suffered an injury acting like all of this is so easy, especially to people who often have kids, full time jobs, mental health issues, serious life difficulties, and more responsibilities than they can imagine. Some of these trainers sincerely believe their abs define who they are. Depending on your life situation, this is hard. It’s absolutely worth it, but acting like it is fun, easy, and needs to be your #1 priority does not help anyone.
There are so many different types of discipline, and the fact that someone is disciplined in the fitness world does not make them inherently better than anyone else. I want to devote a much longer segment to this idea, but this sort of situation highlights how absurd it is. I know this woman and I can almost promise you she has more discipline than her trainer. She has kids which she is very involved with, has multiple advanced degrees, owns her own business, was a marathon runner before having the kids, and still makes the time to stay in shape.