Would you Train with an Overweight Trainer?

I posed this question as part of anonymous poll. To my surprise, the responses varied.

Here a few of the answers I received:

“Unfortunately, I wouldn’t. The gym is the one place where results are shown and being vain is probably the easiest way to determine who is healthy in and outside of the gym. It’s pretty hard for me to take instruction from someone who doesn’t necessarily practice what they preach. If I am working on in hopes of seeing results, I only hope that while you are training others several times a day that some sort of results would also be shown from your end as well.”

“No, I need someone whose body inspires me. I wouldn’t train with someone too bulky either, that would probably intimidate me.”

“Yes! More motivation for me NOT to look like that person.”

“Maybe. If the person was really good at what he or she did, I would consider it. But I definitely would have to see other clients they worked with. You can’t judge a book by his or her cover!”

Would you work out with an overweight trainer? Tell us why or why not!

*Bonus* If you haven’t heard the amazing story of Drew Manning, the personal trainer who packed on 70 pounds over a course of a year, in order to see what it was like being overweight, it’s worth a read!

After hearing his clients complain that he didn’t understand what it was like to carry so much weight around, he decided to walk in their shoes … literally. He told Deseret News:

“I don’t have the energy I used to.My wife feels like I’ve become lazier. I don’t help out as much. I’m lethargic. I’m more self-conscious, nothing feels like it fits right. I’m uncomfortable in my own skin.”

Read more about his journey here!

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4 Comments

  1. Ms. Information

    Thats like going to a drug addicted therapist for drug therapy…no thanks…

  2. No, I wouldn’t train with an overweight trainer because I’m not going to take pointers and guidance from someone who won’t even take their own advice. But as a former 215 lb. woman, I would train with someone who’s been overweight/obese in the past because I do think formerly overweight people are more likely to understand just how hard it is to get fit after being overweight, as opposed to a trainer who has been thin their whole life and has only had to maintain their weight or build muscle.

  3. Funny! My spin class instructor is a bit….rotund. I totally give him the side-eye *at least* 4 times during any class. I’m sweating my tail off and he’s shouting through the mic, “harder,faster,stronger” while casually sipping a diet Pepsi. Sir, hush.

    • @Rikkiyah M: Honey Hush! No he can go somewhere with that!! But if he were to be up there hitting it with you and was really encouraging, then I would be down. I think that is why many people have friends they run or work with who encourage them for real but are willing to do the work with them!!

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