Jay Cardiello is a personal trainer, and he’s proud of his profession. He’s not, however, proud of some of the jokers who are in it.
In the May archives of Cardiello’s blog, he describes his one-man investigation into the world of personal training. What Cardiello discovered isn’t news — bad personal trainers are in it for the “easy” money, the power trip and the free club membership. But, he says, the real blame lies with the fitness center managers who hire these idiots.
Fitness center managers look at personal training as a profit center, and, according to Cardiello, therein lies the problem. They expect their personal trainers to sell, sell, sell at the expense of actually helping people. But, common sense says that if a good personal trainer attracts lots of clients, making sales is a valid way to judge his or her capability. Right?
Not so, says Cardiello. Bad personal trainers often exploit their clients’ lack of expertise about health and fitness, and bully them into believing that they’re under expert care. When he went “undercover” at a large chain, Cardiello found that one popular (but under-educated and un-interested) trainer was careless and even dangerous with his clients.
Ignorant exercisers often believe that pain = gain when it comes to building muscle and cardiovascular stamina. But, anyone can prescribe exercises that inflict agony (and often injury) with little to no physical benefit. It takes a caring professional to get results safely.
Cardiello lists other reasons for the bad personal trainer epidemic, such as poor pay and unfair standards for receiving health benefits. He says the pay doesn’t inspire commitment, and neither does the fitness facility’s focus on selling rather than serving.
Maybe he’s right. Until fitness centers start setting some standards for who they hire to train their members, the profession will continue to be a haven for confused, lazy wannabes who would rather be somewhere else (unless they’re currently taking advantage of their free club memberships).
Take a look at your fitness center. How do your personal trainers rate, not in sales, but in service and expertise?
2 comments:
This is SO true! I have had two bad experiences with personal trainers but my last was the WORST! She was insulting to me about my weight, not compassionate and had a horrible superiority complex. I cried for 30 minutes in the sauna after she walked away from me at the end of the session while I was in tears. WORST EXPERIENCE EVER!
As club owner I asked a self absorbed personal trainer who was prepared to bring 12 dues paying members to my club this question: "What do you believe is the number quality of a superb personal trainer?" He proceeded to explain knowledge of the human body, nutrition, etc. I shook his hand and ended the interview. THE NUMBER ONE QUALITY IS LIKEABILITY.
Some years later I was hired as Manager at a new national franchise club, responsible for PT sales and training team. The immoral and braggadocios ownership was so focused on revenue that they charged a family representative a fee to cancel the contract of a deceased sibling. I resigned.
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