Is Bravo TV Sabotaging Personal Training?

The fitness industry is slowly making strides to be more inclusive. Ads now feature “real” people, and fitness centers are trying to get away from the bodybuilding image. And then comes a cable TV show that may sabotage all of those efforts.

Even if you haven’t seen the television show Work Out on Bravo, you can imagine what it is like. A bunch of hard bodies who push their clients to the limits, and have tumultuous personal lives (at least that’s how their lives are portrayed on the show). One of the teaser lines for the show is, “3 percent body fat, 97 percent drama.” Three percent body fat! They’re talking about Jackie, the lead trainer and owner of the studio. Even a very fit woman should have more than 3 percent body fat. That, in itself, is a dangerous message to send to the public, but, it gets worse.

Each episode shows the trainers working with clients, often pushing them so far they get sick. To the show’s credit, most of the clients are normal people with normal bodies (although an occasional celebrity will appear). These clients are shown crying, getting sick in the bathroom and generally being made miserable. I know trainers are supposed to push their clients, but this show takes it too far.

If people watching Work Out get the idea that this is how a training session goes, then the industry has some serious damage control to do. The show will turn people off to personal training, who will think that sessions will be too hard for them to handle.

Although Work Out is entertaining, and you get to see some beautiful and fit people, it does a disservice to the personal training industry. For some ideas on how to offer great training sessions to members and clients, read articles on this topic in FM’s article archive .

So, what do you think? IS BravoTV's Work Out sabotaging personal training? Or, do you think it's motivating and/or good for business?

Where Did the Fun Go in Group Exercise?

With all the talk about how having fun is so important when it comes to motivating individuals to work out, what happened to fun?

This issue of fun in fitness facilities really started to gnaw at me when I read an article in my local paper titled “Kick Up Your Heels.” The article talked about how dance classes are the “latest craze” at fitness facilities, specifically mentioning a Cowboy Boogie class offered at the Fontana (Calif.) 24 Hour Fitness facility, as well as belly dancing, salsa and stripper-inspired pole dancing classes at other locations. Well, guess what? Dancing while exercising isn't new.

The dance exercise craze began with Jazzercise more than 30 years ago, and it soon carried over into commercial health clubs in the form of aerobics classes that were choreographed to the hottest new dance songs. That was when exercise was fun! At least, for me. During the late-80s through mid-90s, the fitness center I belonged to offered some great classes that focused on choreographed steps, to great music, that were progressively expanded upon in each class. The more I got the steps down, the more excited I was to go to class each week to show off my stuff. I even remember when Michael Jackson’s newest album, Dangerous, was set to be released, and the instructor had us all salivating for the new choreography he had planned.

But, soon, "dance-exercise" got phased out by “group exercise,” which replaced "fun" classes with “special needs” classes. For instance, group strength classes were introduced to emphasize the equal importance of strength and cardio training. Mind/body programming was introduced for the older adult, deconditioned exerciser or those who just preferred passive exercise. Group cycling was introduced for the athlete. But, did group exercise have to be broadened at the expense of dance-exercise? These days, the most exciting classes I can find at my fitness facility are mat Pilates, group cycling and boot camp. They’re great workouts! But let’s face it, no one looks like they’re having fun. In fact, I see a lot of necks craning toward the clock.

I’m glad to see that some fitness facilities are going back to group fitness' roots by re-introducing fun in their classes with dance steps and choreography. Certain facilities, like Crunch, never stopped. Now, other facilities and suppliers are looking at the similarities between adult’s and children’s needs when it comes to exercise and fun. There are few kids who you can convince to go for a run on a daily basis to keep in shape. But, give them a game that gets their hearts pumping, like Konami’s Dance Dance Revolution, or a bike that offers virtual reality courses, like Cateye’s Game Bike, and exercise suddenly becomes fun. Guess what? Adults like Dance Dance Revolution and Game Bike, too!

Remember Billy Blanks’ Tae Bo? His group martial arts program was introduced when dance exercise was in the first stages of dying out. Now, Billy Blanks is back, and he’s focusing on fun with his new Cardioke program, a mix of cardio hop with group karaoke — designed for all ages, young and old alike. Now, that looks like fun.

I bet there are more fun programming ideas out there that my facility and others could implement. Let's hear about them!

Sleeping in Their Bed

There is a treadmill in my fitness center that has problems with the incline function. It seems to be fine, at first. However, when I change the speed, the incline goes back down. Strange. What’s stranger is that this treadmill has been this way for weeks, and it’s never once been repaired.

I suspect the staff at my fitness center doesn’t follow the sage advice of Miss Manners, the syndicated columnist. She has a word of advice for people expecting house guests: sleep in their bed. Not with them, but sleep in the bed in your guest room to make sure the mattress is comfortable, the clock works, there are hangers in the closet, etc. Maybe you need to take this advice when it comes to your fitness center.

Fitness managers should actually use their fitness centers. Try out each cardio machine, use the weight machines and free weights, take group classes, try the menu items in your juice bar and use the locker room.

If you wait until your members tell you that something is dirty, broken or unsafe, you may have already lost them. It is frustrating for members to keep seeing the same problems over and over. And, if you think that your members will report every problem, think again. They may be in too much of a hurry to seek out a staff member, or they may just not want to look like a whiner.

You and your staff members should follow daily, weekly and monthly checklists that cover your entire facility. But, there are some things you may not notice unless you actually use your facility — like the treadmill at my fitness center.

There are countless other ways to offer great customer service to your members. Look for more ideas in Fitness Management’s Article Archive.

Good customer service means paying attention to every detail. You may actually be losing members to things you don't even think they notice.

Do you work out regularly at your fitness center? Do you have a story about something you found that was broken, unsafe, dirty, etc.? Share it!