Empty Gesture

Australian fitness trainer Paul “PJ” James is gaining weight. On purpose. So far, he’s put on more than 40 pounds eating junk foods he’s spent years warning clients away from, and by not exercising.

In a Herald Sun article, James says he’s packing on the pounds to better understand why his clients have such trouble losing weight.

I think he’s full of it.

People who have difficulty losing weight struggle with more than just sweating off an excess of body fat. They usually have other challenges to overcome, such as food addictions, lack of fitness expertise, psychological issues like guilt and anxiety, or physical limitations that make traditional exercise difficult.

James has none of these obstacles. He not only knows exactly how to lose weight, but also how to be fit enough to model underwear.

Let’s call this what it is: a gimmick. Whether or not he convinces any potential clients that he’s walked a mile in their shoes, he’s already a PR success both here and Down Under.

James obviously hasn’t convinced me that he’s throwing away his health in a selfless quest for empathy, but I’m not his target market. Has he convinced you? Is this something you or other personal trainers think is worth your time — and your waistline?

Free Personal Training?

It’s never a popular time to suggest taking a cut in income, especially right now, during what most believe is a recession. But, here goes. I strongly believe that for fitness center operators to keep as many of their members as possible — especially those who lack the knowledge and the motivation to succeed in their health and fitness goals — fitness instruction (a.k.a., personal training) needs to be included in the membership price.

There are two compelling arguments for this. First, in an industry trade show seminar about selling personal training, the speaker, a facility owner, said, “Most of your members know they don’t know how to get real benefits from exercise, and those who think they know, don’t know either.” The point was that most members need personal training to succeed. However, since the majority of members don’t pay for personal training, mostly because they can’t afford it, they’re not reaping the fitness benefits of their membership. Typically, that means that they don’t stay members.

There is a strong perception by the public that fitness centers and their staff simply don’t care about them. All they care about is selling them the membership, and then the member is forgotten. In the majority of cases (no, not all), this really is the truth. But, as Carl Liebert, CEO of 24 Hour Fitness, said in an industry trade show panel discussion titled “Fitness Business at a Crossroads,” the fitness industry’s membership numbers are never going to change until we earn the public’s trust: “It’s about earning people’s business; giving first, and then receiving.” It just seems logical to me that if we can show members that exercise really does work if they do it correctly, they will reward us by staying members and recruiting others.

Second, if you Google “free personal training” on the Internet, 27 million results turn up. Not all of these results actually offer free personal training, but a lot of them do. Free online fitness programming is exploding. How, then, when pinching pennies is a necessity for most people, are fitness center operators going to compete with that if they don’t offer something comparable? The online freebies may not be as good as the hands-on personal training you would get at an actual fitness facility, but tell that to the cash-strapped consumer, especially since it’s free.

There are fitness centers that have set the example for how offering free exercise instruction works. And, it’s paid off for them. A couple of these include two Anytime Fitness centers: one in Wabasha, Minn., and the other in Lake City, Minn, and West Virginia University Recreation Center.

Maybe this isn’t such a popular suggestion right now, but maybe it’s one solution that may get our industry through some tough economic times, and, in the long run, it may be one of the solutions to altering public perception.

Trainer Certifications: The Government May Soon Step In

While the debate rages on in the fitness industry about whether the government should step in to regulate/certify/license personal trainers, California may be one step closer to doing just that. In September, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill into law that creates a statewide certification system for massage therapists.

Now, I know that massage therapists and personal trainers are two different things. However, the reasons cited for this new law for massage therapists can also be applied to personal trainers.

Senator Jenny Oropeza, a Democrat from Long Beach, says that therapists currently are regulated by a patchwork of local regulations that vary between cities and counties. While trainer certifications don’t vary by where they live and work, they do vary by what type of industry certification they have — if they have one at all — where they were educated and how much experience they have.

Oropeza went on to say that the legislation “will help identify legitimate therapists and make sure they have proper training.” Isn’t this exactly why many people argue that personal trainers need standardized testing and/or certification? So fitness centers and clients can identify who is legit?

The time is approaching when states will step in to regulate personal trainers. The industry needs to respond by either self-regulating, which is happening already to some extent, or by getting involved in the process of state regulations so that at least we have a say in what the eventual law will entail.

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?

A Book to Replace Personal Trainers?

There are countless websites, books and DVDs that purport to offer consumers exercise programs that they can do on their own. One recently published book is even titled Dump Your Trainer. Its marketing slogan says the book is a “simple and fun guide to weight loss and fitness without wasting your money on … personal trainers.” What the slogan should be is, “buy this book, use it once or twice, then realize that you need a trainer to motivate you to work out, to answer your questions about form, frequency, etc., and to change your program every few months to prevent boredom and fitness plateaus.”

Personal trainers can’t be replaced by a book, DVD or website. Even seasoned exercisers can benefit from working with a trainer now and then. Take, for instance, professional athletes — almost all of whom have coaches.

I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but only because fitness centers need to do a better job of promoting why personal training — with a real person — is worth it. Since cost seems to be a main reason why people buy books on training instead of buying actual training sessions, you could outline the cost-savings of working with a real trainer: Save money on clothes by stopping a lifetime of weight fluctuations, save money on healthcare costs associated with being overweight, etc. Be creative, and put a dollar amount on the savings. For example, “Stop buying self-help books and save $24.99 per month.” Or, “You’ll save on that $40 co-pay with fewer doctor visits.”

Personal training is much more than a list of exercises. Motivation, personal relationships and individualized attention are just a few of the benefits of working with a trainer. Emphasize these benefits in your facility, and speak directly to those consumers who think they can save money by buying something that may help them in the short-term, but will do little to promote a lifetime of regular exercise.

A Fitness Fortune

A wise person once said, “Personal trainers are like surgeons. How they’re educated matters not as much as how they operate.”

Okay, it was me. I said that. I am, on occasion, wise, and I was speaking from experience when I uttered the above sentiment. Sure, it’s the kind of thing you’d read in a Fitness Fortune Cookie, if there were such a thing as Fitness Fortune Cookies. But it’s also true.

My wise thought occurred to me while reading an article about fitness trends in 2008. “Many people have had experiences with bad personal trainers," said Dr. Thompson. But Thompson says more and more gyms are demanding certified instructors, so this presents a win-win for both client and club.

I’d agree that certification is a win-win for all parties involved, but it’s not the only game worth playing. A personal trainer’s bedside manner, if you will, is just as big a factor in his or her professional success as the degrees on the wall.

Brow-beating, red-faced trainers make good television (see: Sgt. Harvey E. Walden IV of Celebrity Fit Club, and the Biggest Loser trainers), but in real life no one wants to pay someone to yell at them. Those people you see on the screen? The ones taking all that abuse? They’re getting money for that, not the other way around.

On the flipside, a lackadaisical, gum-chewing trainer more interested in his hangnail than the sorry state of my abs is not someone I want to pay, either. Nor is the trainer who smirks when I proffer my weekly food log, barely able to conceal her disbelief in my calorie intake estimates.

Certification is definitely the first step toward elevating the status of personal trainers in a fitness facility. But in an industry where technology has an ever-increasing presence, the small moments of interpersonal interaction members get in a club must be more meaningful. Personal trainers are the keys for clubs that want to go high tech with a human touch. Certification in important, but it’s not the only thing that matters.

Are Your Trainers Harming Clients?

Several years ago, while riding an exercise cycle at my fitness center, I overheard a conversation between a trainer and his client. He told his client that people who work out in the morning burn more calories. What?! Studies have found that people who work out in the morning are more successful NOT because they expend more calories, but because they tend to stick with their programs. And, because most people have more energy in the morning for a workout. But, the trainer simply said that people “burn more calories.”

Misinformation from trainers isn’t uncommon. And, I’m sure this guy didn’t purposely lie to his client – he just didn’t know what he was talking about. Although this instance wasn’t risky to the member, there have been quite a few cases where misinformation from trainers has resulted in injuries and even death.

While fitness center members are becoming more savvy about fitness advice, trainers themselves are taking action, too. A group of California personal trainers filed a class action lawsuit alleging that the organization that certified them was negligent (Superior Court of California, Alameda County, Case #RG05249097). These trainers claim that the organization provided defective training materials and inadequate instruction. The suit alleges that these trainers pose a risk to the public when using the methods endorsed in the certification materials.

The personal trainers received their certification through an Internet distance learning program. Program participants received a 42-page study guide and had to pass a 25-question test to earn their certification. Jeremy Thompson, the spokesperson for the group, said in a press release, “[The] materials were riddled with errors that can lead to serious injury when put into practice.” The suit claims that, by certifying the trainers, the company exposed the public to unsafe exercise practices, and the trainers to personal liability.

While this case may not result in any major changes within the industry, we all know of certifying agencies that offer certifications in just one weekend, or, as in this case, provide a certification after the applicant can answer 25 questions. If change is to occur in the industry, fitness centers need to require that their trainers are educated, certified and competent.

Are your trainers certified? Do you require them to have college degrees? Why or why not?

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?