Clients that make you 'face-palm'..

[HitItHard]

"ugghgh this weight is too heavy! i can't move it!"

~client proceeds to knock out 12 reps and then complains that it was still "too heavy"

fukin stupid bit ches

[Rap_Rocky]

Having a client tell me at our initial consult "I eat a lot of fast food, but I eat like 8 bananas a day to make up for when I cheat"

-dead-

[Rap_Rocky]

"ugghgh this weight is too heavy! i can't move it!"

~client proceeds to knock out 12 reps and then complains that it was still "too heavy"

fukin stupid bit ches

Well if it's a female, then obviously it's too heavy. She needs a weight where she can do no less than 20 reps in order to slim down her body. Anything less would give her ARNOLD-like muscles - every competent PT knows that.

[jentanne]

If I even look at a dumbbell over 10 lbs I get arms like Branch Warren. I try to stick to 100 reps with 3 pounders.

[Rap_Rocky]

If I even look at a dumbbell over 10 lbs I get arms like Branch Warren. I try to stick to 100 reps with 3 pounders.

Heh, I wish I came into a female client that had the nerve to say, "you know what, maybe lifting more weight won't necessarily mean I'll get man-like muscles".

[KyleAaron]

Heh, I wish I came into a female client that had the nerve to say, "you know what, maybe lifting more weight won't necessarily mean I'll get man-like muscles".

You just have to encourage them.

Strength is built in the gym, size at the dinner table.

Yeah, there's the testosterone levels and all that, but the biggest obstacle to getting big is eating big. And most women athletes undereat. Olympic-style lifters eat over 10,000kcal daily. A typical breakfast of one former lifter I know was four lamb chops, a pound of pasta, a pint of yoghurt and a few pieces of fruit. That's the sort of eating you have to do to get really big. Eat like that, and maybe, MAYBE, you can get huge muscles. Eat like a normal person, a good diet of lots of fresh food, and you'll just get stronger.

Women that lift won't get huge, women that don't lift will get huge. Strength is built in the gym, size at the dinner table.

[Mr.ILL]

I have a female client that came to me to get more muscles She competes this October!

I do give the weights won't make you get big manly muscles speech to all my other female clients when we start though.

[Rap_Rocky]

You just have to encourage them.

Strength is built in the gym, size at the dinner table.

Yeah, there's the testosterone levels and all that, but the biggest obstacle to getting big is eating big. And most women athletes undereat. Olympic-style lifters eat over 10,000kcal daily. A typical breakfast of one former lifter I know was four lamb chops, a pound of pasta, a pint of yoghurt and a few pieces of fruit. That's the sort of eating you have to do to get really big. Eat like that, and maybe, MAYBE, you can get huge muscles. Eat like a normal person, a good diet of lots of fresh food, and you'll just get stronger.

Women that lift won't get huge, women that don't lift will get huge. Strength is built in the gym, size at the dinner table.

Hmm, that's a good idea, I should bring in the topic of an Olympic lifters diet next time I'm approached with that type of mentality.

[Rap_Rocky]

I have a female client that came to me to get more muscles She competes this October!

I do give the weights won't make you get big manly muscles speech to all my other female clients when we start though.

Yeah, I have a hard enough time getting them to do chest exercises as it is.....

Oh yeah, I forgot bench presses make their boobies hard and ripped like a 6pack =\

[jentanne]

Yeah, I have a hard enough time getting them to do chest exercises as it is.....

Oh yeah, I forgot bench presses make their boobies hard and ripped like a 6pack =\

This is due to a conspiracy to keep women weak!! They start telling us from birth if we pick up anything heavier than a baby we will get man muscles and even worse....... Man face!!!!!!!!

[BEhave]

There are two things you can do. First would be fire her because she obviously doesn't respect you or your training methods. The second would be give her a chance but sit her down and explain to her that you are considering giving her up as a client, and the reason why. If she doesn't shape up, then fire her.

lulz shes gone

[Rap_Rocky]

This is due to a conspiracy to keep women weak!! They start telling us from birth if we pick up anything heavier than a baby we will get man muscles and even worse....... Man face!!!!!!!!

Lol I wonder where this came from....I think it's from the birth of female bodybuilding.

[Al Shades]

He agreed, deposited the money in my account, and... failed to show for the first session. He made excuses, promised to come next time (he knew he'd just lost his chance for the half-price pack) and never showed again.

So basically he had paid hundreds of dollars just to pretend to himself he was committed. I know people do that with the gym, I didn't know they did it with PT, as well.

lmao. That guy is a winner. Every client should follow his example. "Pay and forget" lmao. Send him a thank you card with a dollar bill enclosed.

[Al Shades]

This is due to a conspiracy to keep women weak!! They start telling us from birth if we pick up anything heavier than a baby we will get man muscles and even worse....... Man face!!!!!!!!

You tell it to yourselves every time you see some slightly-athletic looking female with a vein or two and immediately make catty remarks about her "gross muscles" to your friends.

Women are generally not worth training because they're such a pain in the ass to deal with. Nearly all don't want any muscle, most don't even want to look especially fit, their main driving motivation is not wanting to look fat. And they want to accomplish this by getting as small as possible. Without weight training. Without high protein consumption. Certainly not by eating fat. Just loads of cardio, yoga, gaysercises and high carb diets.

I'd much rather train some cocky 18 year old jock than a typical adult female. The jock will be a PITA to deal with, but you can be reasonably sure that he'll get bigger and stronger after 6 months of training. The female, meanwhile, will either be in the same condition or even fatter. That's male vs female training in a nutshell.

What women need if they want to behave like adults instead of children is testosterone injections.

Women that lift won't get huge, women that don't lift will get huge. Strength is built in the gym, size at the dinner table.

Hate to shatter a convenient myth, but it's entirely possible and even likely that an untrained female will gain noticeable size (as defined by increased measurements) simply by starting a weight training program, with no change in diet. As soon as they notice their measurements increase, it's over for women. They cannot live with feeling larger in their clothes, even if they look much better than they did before.

Women DO gain size easily, because they have much smaller frames than men. They develop at the rate of a 12 year old boy.

Diet only becomes a factor for intermediate and advanced trainees. The vast majority of individuals at gyms, with trainers or without, never leave the utter-newbie-help-me-I'm-clueless-stage, no matter how long they train. So they make their beginner's gains and they're done, nothing but plateaus from that point on. But the main point is that, to make those beginner's gains, diet is pretty much irrelevant. Simply going from sedentary to semi-active usually does the trick. Of course, improving diet would take them that much further, but people don't know that and don't want to know it. The average person, especially the average woman, thinks that anyone who is in good shape (by real standards) must be using PED's or have fantastic genetics. They look for excuses and they always find them. They are constantly buying fashion & beauty magazines and then complaining how "fake" and "unrealistic" the beautiful, fit people in them look.

[WoofieNugget]

It is entirely possible and even likely that an untrained female will gain noticeable size (as defined by increased measurements) simply by starting a weight training program, with no change in diet. As soon as they notice their measurements increase, it's over for women. They cannot live with feeling larger in their clothes, even if they look much better than they did before.

Any good trainer will make a female aware of this before they begin weight training. Of course they are going to experience a temporary increase in size for the first 6-8 weeks or so. If you are with a client long term enough then they will not freak out and trust that you are doing the right thing and take the time to let this shift happen and then move on from it, which is when the inches start to drop off.

Health should be the first priority, then strength and proper movement, then inches. If a person doesn't want to deal with things in that order, then I don't work with them.

[Al Shades]

Any good trainer will make a female aware of this before they begin weight training. Of course they are going to experience a temporary increase in size for the first 6-8 weeks or so. If you are with a client long term enough then they will not freak o"ut and trust that you are doing the right thing and take the time to let this shift happen and then move on from it, which is when the inches start to drop off.

You'll lose them long before that. Doesn't matter what you explain.

Health should be the first priority, then strength and proper movement, then inches. If a person doesn't want to deal with things in that order, then I don't work with them.

In other words, you don't specialize in aesthetics, and thus wouldn't be the person to go to for someone who wanted to improve their appearance.

I know, I know, that's not how you think of it. But believe me, that's how it is. Everyone in this industry wants to have their cake and to eat it, too.

What I mean is that trainers simultaneously try to market themselves to specific niches while also claiming they can work with just about anyone. They want to fit everyone into a pre-determined template, regardless of their goals. An "endurance guy" will always train people according to endurance principles. A BB'er will train them according to BB principles, and so on and so forth. But you ask them and they'll insist they can work with "other groups," not just their own. It's so common and so transparent. Actually, endurance/health/strength guys are much worse in this regard than bodybuilders.

And it's BS. All marketing, as I've explained in numerous posts before this one. Everything in PT is a lie.

The main reason why people go to gyms is because they don't like their appearance. Ergo, they need aesthetics training. The vast majority won't admit it and will deny it if you ask them, but it's true all the same. So they use codewords like "health" to mask their true goals and expect you to decipher the BS they feed you.

"Health" is just a convenient euphemism that people use to mask their perceived vanity. Ordinary people think that training solely for appearance is vain. They're wrong, of course, but that's what they think.

Doctors do health. Personal trainers aren't supposed to. The first thing I tell someone who comes in blabbering about "getting healthy" is that if they have health problems, they ought to see a doctor. I'm a personal trainer and personal trainers don't make people healthy, they make people look better naked (unless they suck - which most do - in which case they don't even accomplish that).

Hearing the term "health" in any context associated with training is an automatic, 100% sure-fire guarantee of bull****ting in progress.

How the hell do you establish the metrics for "health"? How do you quantify it? You can't.

Do you have the equipment to run expensive blood tests on your clients? Because if you don't, you really have no business talking about "health." Health means something different to everyone. No one knows what the hell they're talking about when they say "healthy," but it sounds like a noble goal, so people love it. And marketers love it even more, precisely because it's so ambiguous.

If you get that kind of talk from a prospect, it means they're off floating in some dreamland and have no idea what they want, what they need, or what training is all about. You need to bring them down to reality, fast.

Ask them: "Would you rather 'feel healthy' or would you rather drop 15 lbs, lose the gut, and noticeably firm your thighs and butt?

Or maybe tell them: "I know how to make someone lose 50 lbs, drop 20% BF, gain strength, endurance, flexibility, tone any part of their body and rehab an injury, but I have no idea how to help someone reach a completely ambiguous definition of 'health'".

[xxtwistedxx]

You'll lose them long before that. Doesn't matter what you explain.



In other words, you don't specialize in aesthetics, and thus wouldn't be the person to go to for someone who wanted to improve their appearance.

I know, I know, that's not how you think of it. But believe me, that's how it is. Everyone in this industry wants to have their cake and to eat it, too.

What I mean is that trainers simultaneously try to market themselves to specific niches while also claiming they can work with just about anyone. They want to fit everyone into a pre-determined template, regardless of their goals. An "endurance guy" will always train people according to endurance principles. A BB'er will train them according to BB principles, and so on and so forth. But you ask them and they'll insist they can work with "other groups," not just their own. It's so common and so transparent. Actually, endurance/health/strength guys are much worse in this regard than bodybuilders.

And it's BS. All marketing, as I've explained in numerous posts before this one. Everything in PT is a lie.

The main reason why people go to gyms is because they don't like their appearance. Ergo, they need aesthetics training. The vast majority won't admit it and will deny it if you ask them, but it's true all the same. So they use codewords like "health" to mask their true goals and expect you to decipher the BS they feed you.

"Health" is just a convenient euphemism that people use to mask their perceived vanity. Ordinary people think that training solely for appearance is vain. They're wrong, of course, but that's what they think.

Doctors do health. Personal trainers aren't supposed to. The first thing I tell someone who comes in blabbering about "getting healthy" is that if they have health problems, they ought to see a doctor. I'm a personal trainer and personal trainers don't make people healthy, they make people look better naked (unless they suck - which most do - in which case they don't even accomplish that).

Hearing the term "health" in any context associated with training is an automatic, 100% sure-fire guarantee of bull****ting in progress.

How the hell do you establish the metrics for "health"? How do you quantify it? You can't.

Do you have the equipment to run expensive blood tests on your clients? Because if you don't, you really have no business talking about "health." Health means something different to everyone. No one knows what the hell they're talking about when they say "healthy," but it sounds like a noble goal, so people love it. And marketers love it even more, precisely because it's so ambiguous.

If you get that kind of talk from a prospect, it means they're off floating in some dreamland and have no idea what they want, what they need, or what training is all about. You need to bring them down to reality, fast.

Ask them: "Would you rather 'feel healthy' or would you rather drop 15 lbs, lose the gut, and noticeably firm your thighs and butt?

Or maybe tell them: "I know how to make someone lose 50 lbs, drop 20% BF, gain strength, endurance, flexibility, tone any part of their body and rehab an injury, but I have no idea how to help someone reach a completely ambiguous definition of 'health'".

for a man who stands a foot tall...he speaks the truth. end result of anything is to look good naked and more importantly- get laid. doesnt matter what it is.

[Al Shades]

for a man who stands a foot tall...he speaks the truth. end result of anything is to look good naked and more importantly- get laid. doesnt matter what it is.

That's right. My abnormal height has given me uncommon perspective!

[WoofieNugget]

You'll lose them long before that. Doesn't matter what you explain.



In other words, you don't specialize in aesthetics, and thus wouldn't be the person to go to for someone who wanted to improve their appearance.

I know, I know, that's not how you think of it. But believe me, that's how it is. Everyone in this industry wants to have their cake and to eat it, too.

What I mean is that trainers simultaneously try to market themselves to specific niches while also claiming they can work with just about anyone. They want to fit everyone into a pre-determined template, regardless of their goals. An "endurance guy" will always train people according to endurance principles. A BB'er will train them according to BB principles, and so on and so forth. But you ask them and they'll insist they can work with "other groups," not just their own. It's so common and so transparent. Actually, endurance/health/strength guys are much worse in this regard than bodybuilders.

And it's BS. All marketing, as I've explained in numerous posts before this one. Everything in PT is a lie.

The main reason why people go to gyms is because they don't like their appearance. Ergo, they need aesthetics training. The vast majority won't admit it and will deny it if you ask them, but it's true all the same. So they use codewords like "health" to mask their true goals and expect you to decipher the BS they feed you.

"Health" is just a convenient euphemism that people use to mask their perceived vanity. Ordinary people think that training solely for appearance is vain. They're wrong, of course, but that's what they think.

Doctors do health. Personal trainers aren't supposed to. The first thing I tell someone who comes in blabbering about "getting healthy" is that if they have health problems, they ought to see a doctor. I'm a personal trainer and personal trainers don't make people healthy, they make people look better naked (unless they suck - which most do - in which case they don't even accomplish that).

Hearing the term "health" in any context associated with training is an automatic, 100% sure-fire guarantee of bull****ting in progress.

How the hell do you establish the metrics for "health"? How do you quantify it? You can't.

Do you have the equipment to run expensive blood tests on your clients? Because if you don't, you really have no business talking about "health." Health means something different to everyone. No one knows what the hell they're talking about when they say "healthy," but it sounds like a noble goal, so people love it. And marketers love it even more, precisely because it's so ambiguous.

If you get that kind of talk from a prospect, it means they're off floating in some dreamland and have no idea what they want, what they need, or what training is all about. You need to bring them down to reality, fast.

Ask them: "Would you rather 'feel healthy' or would you rather drop 15 lbs, lose the gut, and noticeably firm your thighs and butt?

Or maybe tell them: "I know how to make someone lose 50 lbs, drop 20% BF, gain strength, endurance, flexibility, tone any part of their body and rehab an injury, but I have no idea how to help someone reach a completely ambiguous definition of 'health'".

I agree with some of this, and disagree with some.

The main part is where you state that people come to gyms because they don't like their appearance, which is definitely true. However, what I find more often than not is simply that people don't like how they look because they feel bad about it for some reason. You can have the hottest woman in the world, and she will still want to "firm up" her butt - mostly because some guy made her feel crappy about her appearance at some point and she thinks that if she has a firm butt this will make it better, which it won't.

This is exactly why when people come to me to lose weight because they want to fit into a dress, make their friends jealous or have more sex with their husband, I tell them to go to another trainer. I'm not interested.

The majority of people I deal with want to exercise because they are sick and tired of being in pain, taking five different medications or because nobody else will try to help them. "Being healthy" is ambiguous, true, but if someone's blood sugar levels stabilize, if they can sleep properly, if they can move without pain then to me that is healthier than they were before, and that's what I ask them to quantify they want. It's simply a different type of goal coming from a different type of motivation.

I don't have equipment to measure blood, or hormone levels or anything like that. However, I do know for sure that if someone can move well and exert a little stress on their body that makes the systems of that body stronger (whether it be muscular, hormonal or cardiovascular), their body will respond in a positive way by being able to do more the next time, which means it has improved. Sometimes it is as easy to quantify as the fact the person can sleep through the night or walk their dog without getting out of breath. I don't need fancy equipment to measure that.

And yes, I think that training solely for appearance is vain and I tell people that all the time. I don't BS people with talk of "health first", that's not the point. I'm just not interested in someone trying to look really good when they have a ton of other crap that should be way more of a priority, and if you don't want to make that a priority first then I'm not interested in working with you because the motivation is coming from the wrong place - simply my opinion, of course.

[Al Shades]

Well, it sounds like you're honest about your approach. Honest with yourself as well as the people you train. There's no conflict between us, in that case. I just can't stand BS and this industry is full of it.

[Mr.ILL]

Well, it sounds like you're honest about your approach. Honest with yourself as well as the people you train. There's no conflict between us, in that case. I just can't stand BS and this industry is full of it.

Oh Hai!!! I missed you!

[WoofieNugget]

Well, it sounds like you're honest about your approach. Honest with yourself as well as the people you train. There's no conflict between us, in that case. I just can't stand BS and this industry is full of it.

Oh, I agree with you wholeheartedly there. I'm attending the Can Fit Pro conference in Canada next weekend that is so full of BS it turns my eyes brown. You want to talk "face palm" - watch a sales rep selling the newest type of vibrating platform machine.

[Al Shades]

Oh, I agree with you wholeheartedly there. I'm attending the Can Fit Pro conference in Canada next weekend that is so full of BS it turns my eyes brown. You want to talk "face palm" - watch a sales rep selling the newest type of vibrating platform machine.

It's only going to get worse. You could get stuck on a desert island for 5 years, come back, and you'd see the same stuff going on like it was yesterday.

Money never sleeps. The wheels of marketing go round and round...

[jmartina42]

Im a client for a trainer at urban active, and some of these stories dont surprise me at all. but i think you have to really want it and be dedicated just like someone that is going to quit smoking. I come in 20 min early every time and hop on treadmill to warm up for workout on my own to reach target heart rate. Im on my 7th session so im still beginner, im doing 3 days a week with trainer and one day without. trainer asked what my goals were i said to get fit. I dont care about big muscles or being skinny fyi im 6'2 and 375lbs i have noticed a huge difference since starting basically in the energy i have. I was sore for about the first 4 sessions but i think its gone and past. For all those people who paid and never showed thats just ridiculous, if i pay i go lol im bought 60 sessions and plan to do a full year using a trainer. The head trainer kept asking me are you really dedicated i replied you have no idea what im capable of once my mind is set. Now the other day i was asking about whey and N.O he informed me whey would be ok but N.O i probably dont need. But i appriciate the knowledge you trainers have cause if i would of gone on my own i would of been doing cardio and not had as much success as im going to have by the workouts that the trainer kicks my butt with now!

[Rap_Rocky]

Im a client for a trainer at urban active, and some of these stories dont surprise me at all. but i think you have to really want it and be dedicated just like someone that is going to quit smoking. I come in 20 min early every time and hop on treadmill to warm up for workout on my own to reach target heart rate. Im on my 7th session so im still beginner, im doing 3 days a week with trainer and one day without. trainer asked what my goals were i said to get fit. I dont care about big muscles or being skinny fyi im 6'2 and 375lbs i have noticed a huge difference since starting basically in the energy i have. I was sore for about the first 4 sessions but i think its gone and past. For all those people who paid and never showed thats just ridiculous, if i pay i go lol im bought 60 sessions and plan to do a full year using a trainer. The head trainer kept asking me are you really dedicated i replied you have no idea what im capable of once my mind is set. Now the other day i was asking about whey and N.O he informed me whey would be ok but N.O i probably dont need. But i appriciate the knowledge you trainers have cause if i would of gone on my own i would of been doing cardio and not had as much success as im going to have by the workouts that the trainer kicks my butt with now!

Glad to hear that you're dedicated, and you made the right choice hiring a trainer to get you started. Also, congrats on the bit of results you're seeing thus far, but keep focused and they'll keep coming and get more noticeable.

Not too fond of the trainer suggesting supps, but eh, to each his own.

[Saurion]

Honestly, going through so much difficulty to work out right, I would always be furious at the fat bastards around the gym parading around like they knew what the hell they were doing-- Or, almost as bad, the pathetic ones who always had excuses, never took it seriously, and would give trainers a hard time. Thats me as a trainee. As trainers, I cant imagine how you guys train people w/ some of the stories Ive seen on this thread--theyre pathetic. If I have a session, I show up-- I do what they tell me-- even when Im in pain. Unless it is a joint or something, I said "lets do it!"- not "I cant handle anymore". I eat right. I get 8 hours of sleep-- I do my cardio. Very simple. Train hard or go home.

[Rap_Rocky]

Honestly, going through so much difficulty to work out right, I would always be furious at the fat bastards around the gym parading around like they knew what the hell they were doing-- Or, almost as bad, the pathetic ones who always had excuses, never took it seriously, and would give trainers a hard time. Thats me as a trainee. As trainers, I cant imagine how you guys train people w/ some of the stories Ive seen on this thread--theyre pathetic. If I have a session, I show up-- I do what they tell me-- even when Im in pain. Unless it is a joint or something, I said "lets do it!"- not "I cant handle anymore". I eat right. I get 8 hours of sleep-- I do my cardio. Very simple. Train hard or go home.

Well that's the nature of the business - most clients are made up of people who are unmotivated, IMO. Not everybody will have that mentality off the bat on the first session.