Good Riddance to Bad Personal Trainers

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?

Striptease Exercise too Sexy for Tennessee

From gun stores to smoke shops to adult video stores, city governments have banned certain types of stores ever since someone first realized that this stuff sells. Based on moral grounds or to “protect the children,” some of these laws are there for a good reason, and have helped to “clean up” neighborhoods that were going downhill.

However, some cities take these laws too far. One of the best examples of this is in Bartlett, Tenn., where the city won’t allow an exercise studio to open because code enforcement says it’s an “adult business.”

Eccentric Studio planned to offer "Strip to Fit” classes, which use stripper poles and striptease dancing techniques. But the city of Bartlett did not approve of the studio, and issued a stop work order on the business.

Studio owner Rachael Vint rightly says that her facility is not a sexually oriented business. No men would be allowed, and women would remain clothed at all times.

Striptease exercises classes are growing in popularity across the U.S., and anyone who is unsure about what it is can surely find this type of class in a near-by fitness center or on DVD. The powers that be in Bartlett took their “moral ground” too far, and are hurting Bartlett citizens by denying them what could be a successful business — both financially and in the way it could help women get fit.

When Vint tried to explain her business to the city, mayor Keith MacDonald told her that it would take a court order for her to be able to open.

This whole thing seems like a joke to me. I don’t know anything about Bartlett, but I’m sure its citizens wouldn’t object to a small fitness studio opening — even one that offers a new type of exercise that includes stripping-type moves. Heck, many traditional group exercise classes could be thought of as provocative! (In fact, in some places, they are.)

So, as the common argument goes, where will this stop? Will the city of Bartlett outlaw all fitness centers that have “suggestive” classes? Will children be barred from fitness facilities? Bartlett leaders need to get off their “moral” high horse and allow its women the option of getting a great workout — even one that involves holding onto a pole.

Compensation vs. Recognition

Today, July 14, 2008, is the official deadline for entries to the 15th annual Nova7 Facility Awards competition. While, each year, the number of entries rises and declines, no doubt due to a variety of factors, I sometimes wonder if facility operators really recognize the importance of this type of award for their facility’s employees.

So, my question for you is, what do you believe motivates your employees more: compensation or recognition? My guess is that the majority of your responses will be split somewhere near the middle. This dissension seems to be caused by a disconnect between what managers think employees want, and what employees really want: cash or other tangibles, such as trophies/plaques and public expressions of gratitude.

The debate between compensation vs. recognition has been ongoing. While many companies realize the need to recognize employees for a job well done, many others take the easy way out by throwing money at employees instead. But, money isn’t everything, especially when it comes to job motivation. That said, everyone has to have a sufficient amount of money to meet their needs. But, rewarding someone by bribing them with cash is hardly an incentive to make them want to excel at their jobs.

The reality is that money pays the bills and buys extras, but it doesn’t make people feel good about themselves. And, everyone wants, or rather needs, to feel good about themselves. Feeling good about their accomplishments is what makes employees want to excel, and then continue to excel.

An online Maritz Poll survey, conducted in October 2005 of 1,002 randomly selected, full-time employed adults (502 men and 500 women) ages 18 to 65-plus from throughout the United States, found that employees who were completely satisfied with their company’s recognition programs were significantly more satisfied with their jobs, more likely to remain with the company and more likely to recommend their workplace to others. Specifically, 55 percent of those surveyed agreed or strongly agreed that the quality of their company’s recognition efforts affects their job performance. Yet, at the same time, only 10 percent of them strongly agreed that they are completely satisfied with their company’s employee recognition efforts.

According to a MotivationNetwork article, “Webster defines compensation as ‘that which is given or received as an equivalent for services, debt, want, loss, suffering, etc.’ Clearly, compensation is linked to security and safety, for no one feels safe unless sufficiently compensated to meet their needs. Recognition, on the other hand, is defined as ‘acknowledgment and approval, gratitude, etc.’ Recognition appeals to the higher levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, especially social and self-esteem needs.”

Establishing recognition programs can often be time-consuming, especially for independently owned facilities whose owners/managers are already wearing umpteen hats. That’s why I initially asked whether facility operators really understand the importance of such awards programs as the Nova7 Facility Awards. This, and other industry awards, such as the IDEA Health and Fitness Awards and the ICAA Active Aging Awards are meant to take the burden off of you, while, at the same time, provide a service to you. You’re off the hook for developing your own recognition programs, and your employees are recognized not just within your facility, but nationally among the entire industry with trophies and plaques, and, even more importantly, with words of praise in industry publications.

If you didn’t get your staff involved in entering one or more of these awards programs this year, I strongly encourage you to do so in the coming years.

Full Disclosure

Brianna Godfrey was miffed when the personal trainer she’d hired at Gold’s Gym was replaced with no explanation. Wilfredo Rivera was, by her account, a true professional. “He was very motivating, very encouraging, he knew what he was talking about — really a good guy,” Godfrey told a KUTV reporter.

She was even more miffed when she found out why her trainer went missing. Rivera didn’t call in sick or quit. He was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and rape.

This news was upsetting, to say the least, but what upset her most was that she didn’t hear the truth from Gold’s Gym. Instead, she found out her trainer was a wanted criminal — captured thanks to a nationwide manhunt called “Operation Falcon” — from a story on the local news.

Perhaps Gold’s Gym management hoped that by keeping its mouth shut about the circumstances of Rivera’s absence, they’d avoid the fallout. Instead, the club lost a customer and its reputation.

It’s possible that management was embarrassed. Indeed, they should have been. Not only was one of its personal trainers arrested for a violent crime, but he had previously served time in a federal prison for drug and weapons charges.

Gold’s Gym had the chance to prove itself as a forthcoming, up-front business when Rivera was arrested. Management could have stepped up and been honest about the circumstances of his disappearance, and reassured members that the charges weren’t brought by another member. Instead, management kept its mouth shut, leaving Godfrey feeling confused and betrayed.

And why’s that? Apparently, Gold’s doesn’t hire its trainers. Instead, it contracts them through a separate agency called Professional Fitness . “A spokesperson for Gold’s Gym said he was assured background checks were being performed, and that every trainer had come up clean,” reported KUTV. “Now he says they are evaluating if they will continue their relationship with Professional Fitness.”

Um … evaluating? Is that a joke? How about terminating its relationship with Professional Fitness? That seems a more appropriate response to the situation.

But then, I think we can all agree that there was nothing appropriate about how Gold’s handled any of this.

Everyone makes mistakes; but, informing your membership when an employee has been arrested on suspicion of committing a violent crime? That’s a no-brainer.