Give a man a fish and he eats for a day (in this man’s case it would need to be a BIG fish),
Teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime.
What does that old aphorism have to do with the massive fitness industry? I’ll come back to that. As someone that values my own fitness, I am encouraged to some extent by the growth of this industry. But I do have a concern with the general way in which it is run. I may be burning some bridges with a few of my friends who work in fitness, but I am going to make this point anyway because I have seen too many of my friends burnt by this industry. Continuing the analogy I used at the top of this article, most (not the best ones, mind you) personal trainers do not teach their clients to fish for themselves, they just give their clients one fish at a time.
The actual business model of most aspects of the fitness industry is at best conflicted and at worst downright predatory. It takes advantage of people with low motivation or low confidence in the area and fosters dependency so that clients are afraid to outgrow their trainer or gym. As an educator I’m passionate about this because if I did my job this way, it would be unprofessional, but many personal trainers get away with it for some reason. While I have to agree there is definitely an important role personal trainers can fulfil for those with little experience or knowledge of exercise physiology, unless you are working towards a specific challenging goal or you have a VERY good personal trainer, there are limited benefits to ongoing use of a PT. There is also detrimental element which I will speak about later.
Again, I want to be clear, this piece is not a criticism of those who choose to continue to use personal trainers. Nor is it a criticism of everyone working in the fitness industry. After all they have to make a living and if the market only asks for a basic product from them, that is all many will provide. It is more written to point out the limitations of personal trainers and to suggest how you can identify the best among them who value-add to the basic service that the rest of the industry provides.
Let’s be honest. After 12 months of weekly personal training, you should have a pretty good understanding of how to exercise safely and in order to build whichever area of your fitness you want to work on. If you don’t, you should look at changing your instructor. Most information is actually free for you to access on the internet anyway.
If a personal trainer was serious about your development they wouldn’t just be watching you follow a program at each session. They would be training your mental habits and nurturing your confidence and independence to make sure you have the self-belief to successfully take your fitness further, even when circumstances prevent you from getting to training. Eventually from here you should surpass the need for a trainer just as you would learning any other skill.
But when this element is not included (and it is not hard to work into a program), the personal trainer is actually fostering a sense of dependence on them that is great for their business model, but detrimental to their client’s long term fitness. The trainer becomes a crutch that the client thinks they can’t progress without (a very unhealthy cognate for their general mental wellbeing and sense of personal control) and uses their own presence to replace the need for intrinsic motivation- instead of helping the client develop their own.
Let me also add that if you go to a weekly training session and then go away for the week and don’t think about your health for the rest of the week, don’t expect to make a lot of progress. If your personal trainer isn’t interested in what you are doing for your fitness during the rest of the week, fire their ass- they are not really trying to get you fit.
This isn’t written just to snipe at personal trainers for the fun of it. It genuinely bothers me that so many friends of mine waste so much money in this industry, year after year, with limited long term progress to show for it. But I could live with that- it is their choice. What I am more concerned about is the long term effects on the self-esteem of clients trapped in this cycle. When someone quickly loses fitness or puts on weight, when they or their trainer take a break or relocate, the sense of failure and disappointment can be really tough to deal with. I have seen it first hand with a number of friends. It also has a wider more insidious consequence of eroding people’s confidence in themselves in general, which makes them less likely to back themselves to take risks in other areas of their lives. Confidence is vitally important to making the most of our lives, as without it people hide from risks that are inherent in many situations that also provide fulfilment and self-development.
I appreciate everyone’s brain works in different ways and I may not fully understand the value others get from a trainer. I admit I can be a pretty stubborn person who can push myself to do things when I don’t want to. I have had this conversation with several people and they have argued, “Not everyone has the same self-discipline as you, so some people need more help.” But self-discipline is not as simple to quantify as people might think and has a lot more to do with our motivation, which is tied to our perceived likelihood of success and its value to us. Moreover this actually makes my point that people relying on personal trainers need more help uncovering their ability to access their own self-discipline, because they do not believe in their own ability to achieve their goal without help.
I will make a separate comment in relation to large group training sessions and bootcamps. Obviously these rely less on the facilitator and more on the strength of the group, but it still the organiser takes everyone’s money despite it being unlikely that they are able to provide effective supervision of the exercise. What are you paying them for then? Yes, the group sessions provide motivation, but so does finding a training partner or joining a running or cycling group.
OK, here is how I will make the point. If you have been going to a trainer or part of a bootcamp for over 12 months and you still don’t believe you can keep fit on your own, here is a sincere offer: Get in contact with me and I will train you myself- for free. We will work on building up your fitness, your knowledge of how to maintain it and your self-confidence so that you develop the capacity to train yourself without relying on anyone else.
If anyone reading this is a personal trainer, congratulations on learning to read, (joking- let it go). Seriously I hope you don’t take this as an undifferentiated criticism of your profession, as I do believe you have an important role and many of you are making an important contribution. A lot of people need considerable support when they first begin their journeys towards improving their health and fitness, and personal trainers are extremely helpful- in some cases vital- to setting them on the path to success. I just invite you to reflect on how you can best holistically help your client in developing them to be successful in reaching their goals further into the future. If you are someone who goes to a personal trainer, I invite you to consider whether you are getting everything you want from them. If they are helping you improve your fitness that is great, but if you have been using them for more than 12 months and you still are not confident you could maintain your fitness without them, I would be adding that to the goals you are working towards with them.
Why do I care?
This is not being written from a position of bitterness. I enjoy working towards fitness goals and love hearing about my friends achieving theirs. I just have concerns at how much money some of my friends waste to do so, and the impact it has on people’s self-esteem when they so quickly lose their fitness, whenever circumstances force them to stop seeing a trainer and rely on themselves. I would love to see them being nurtured to develop the confidence to beyond the need for external motivation or constant instruction.
The actual business model of most aspects of the fitness industry is at best conflicted and at worst downright predatory. It takes advantage of people with low motivation or low confidence in the area and fosters dependency so that clients are afraid to outgrow their trainer or gym. As an educator I’m passionate about this because if I did my job this way, it would be unprofessional, but many personal trainers get away with it for some reason. While I have to agree there is definitely an important role personal trainers can fulfil for those with little experience or knowledge of exercise physiology, unless you are working towards a specific challenging goal or you have a VERY good personal trainer, there are limited benefits to ongoing use of a PT. There is also detrimental element which I will speak about later.
Again, I want to be clear, this piece is not a criticism of those who choose to continue to use personal trainers. Nor is it a criticism of everyone working in the fitness industry. After all they have to make a living and if the market only asks for a basic product from them, that is all many will provide. It is more written to point out the limitations of personal trainers and to suggest how you can identify the best among them who value-add to the basic service that the rest of the industry provides.
Let’s be honest. After 12 months of weekly personal training, you should have a pretty good understanding of how to exercise safely and in order to build whichever area of your fitness you want to work on. If you don’t, you should look at changing your instructor. Most information is actually free for you to access on the internet anyway.
If a personal trainer was serious about your development they wouldn’t just be watching you follow a program at each session. They would be training your mental habits and nurturing your confidence and independence to make sure you have the self-belief to successfully take your fitness further, even when circumstances prevent you from getting to training. Eventually from here you should surpass the need for a trainer just as you would learning any other skill.
But when this element is not included (and it is not hard to work into a program), the personal trainer is actually fostering a sense of dependence on them that is great for their business model, but detrimental to their client’s long term fitness. The trainer becomes a crutch that the client thinks they can’t progress without (a very unhealthy cognate for their general mental wellbeing and sense of personal control) and uses their own presence to replace the need for intrinsic motivation- instead of helping the client develop their own.
Let me also add that if you go to a weekly training session and then go away for the week and don’t think about your health for the rest of the week, don’t expect to make a lot of progress. If your personal trainer isn’t interested in what you are doing for your fitness during the rest of the week, fire their ass- they are not really trying to get you fit.
This isn’t written just to snipe at personal trainers for the fun of it. It genuinely bothers me that so many friends of mine waste so much money in this industry, year after year, with limited long term progress to show for it. But I could live with that- it is their choice. What I am more concerned about is the long term effects on the self-esteem of clients trapped in this cycle. When someone quickly loses fitness or puts on weight, when they or their trainer take a break or relocate, the sense of failure and disappointment can be really tough to deal with. I have seen it first hand with a number of friends. It also has a wider more insidious consequence of eroding people’s confidence in themselves in general, which makes them less likely to back themselves to take risks in other areas of their lives. Confidence is vitally important to making the most of our lives, as without it people hide from risks that are inherent in many situations that also provide fulfilment and self-development.
I appreciate everyone’s brain works in different ways and I may not fully understand the value others get from a trainer. I admit I can be a pretty stubborn person who can push myself to do things when I don’t want to. I have had this conversation with several people and they have argued, “Not everyone has the same self-discipline as you, so some people need more help.” But self-discipline is not as simple to quantify as people might think and has a lot more to do with our motivation, which is tied to our perceived likelihood of success and its value to us. Moreover this actually makes my point that people relying on personal trainers need more help uncovering their ability to access their own self-discipline, because they do not believe in their own ability to achieve their goal without help.
I will make a separate comment in relation to large group training sessions and bootcamps. Obviously these rely less on the facilitator and more on the strength of the group, but it still the organiser takes everyone’s money despite it being unlikely that they are able to provide effective supervision of the exercise. What are you paying them for then? Yes, the group sessions provide motivation, but so does finding a training partner or joining a running or cycling group.
OK, here is how I will make the point. If you have been going to a trainer or part of a bootcamp for over 12 months and you still don’t believe you can keep fit on your own, here is a sincere offer: Get in contact with me and I will train you myself- for free. We will work on building up your fitness, your knowledge of how to maintain it and your self-confidence so that you develop the capacity to train yourself without relying on anyone else.
If anyone reading this is a personal trainer, congratulations on learning to read, (joking- let it go). Seriously I hope you don’t take this as an undifferentiated criticism of your profession, as I do believe you have an important role and many of you are making an important contribution. A lot of people need considerable support when they first begin their journeys towards improving their health and fitness, and personal trainers are extremely helpful- in some cases vital- to setting them on the path to success. I just invite you to reflect on how you can best holistically help your client in developing them to be successful in reaching their goals further into the future. If you are someone who goes to a personal trainer, I invite you to consider whether you are getting everything you want from them. If they are helping you improve your fitness that is great, but if you have been using them for more than 12 months and you still are not confident you could maintain your fitness without them, I would be adding that to the goals you are working towards with them.
Why do I care?
This is not being written from a position of bitterness. I enjoy working towards fitness goals and love hearing about my friends achieving theirs. I just have concerns at how much money some of my friends waste to do so, and the impact it has on people’s self-esteem when they so quickly lose their fitness, whenever circumstances force them to stop seeing a trainer and rely on themselves. I would love to see them being nurtured to develop the confidence to beyond the need for external motivation or constant instruction.