Opinion on female personal trainers/fitness professionals

[kgarcia7]

Hey,

I am a recently FEMALE certified fitness professional with some questions, for females and any males a like. I am in uni and 20 years young.

1. What is the most difficult struggle a woman will have to overcome pursuing a career in the fitness industry?

2. Speaking from personal experience, what is the difference between working with a female pt and a male pt?

3. How does a woman gain "respect" in the fitness industry (that's male-centered)?

4. Do you know of any great female pt's?

5. Overall, general opinion on female pt's. Are we even taken seriously?

Thanks...any input would be helpful.

[rockangel]

1) most difficult i think is to overcome that women are frail little things that dont know anything about lifting. Sometimes guys think they need to train with the biggets guy in the room, others think they should train with the female cause she's nice to look at (also had women who hired the very attrative male for the same reason). Ive had no one ever ask about trainers certificates or prior knowledge or whatever. Usually they just ask who is the best or who is good *eyeroll*

2) No difference working with either sex, ive had incredibly talented and knowledgable men and women trainers, ive seen incredibly stupid ones from both sexes.

3.) You gain respect by knowing your chit. Dont spout bro science or stupid info (like one told me to fix my saddlebags i need to do hundreds of legs raises with light weight). Train your clients and get them results.

4.) yes

5.) Yes, seen and known lots.

[discdoggie]

Hey,

I am a recently FEMALE certified fitness professional with some questions, for females and any males a like. I am in uni and 20 years young.

1. What is the most difficult struggle a woman will have to overcome pursuing a career in the fitness industry?

2. Speaking from personal experience, what is the difference between working with a female pt and a male pt?

3. How does a woman gain "respect" in the fitness industry (that's male-centered)?

4. Do you know of any great female pt's?

5. Overall, general opinion on female pt's. Are we even taken seriously?

Thanks...any input would be helpful.

Although I do have some very nice gentlemen clients, most of my clients are women. Of those, a few college aged athletes, but mostly my demographic.

I think being a walking billboard for women in my age bracket has been an advantage.


Most of the women I train said they wouldn't WANT to train with a male trainer (there are of course excpetions to this---there are plenty of women out there who really dig themselves and see their time and $ spent working with a PT as just another way to have their ego stroked ) and most appreciate the fact that I am around their age.

If you are not working at a gym where you have clients spoon-fed to you and have no choice in who they are, my advice would be to market yourself heaviest among your peer group. I'm not saying you can't experience both satisfaction and success working with men and/or older women; you absolutely can! I'm just saying your peers will best be able to relate to you, and see you as a source of inspiration.

Good luck.

[Big_Dip]

The fact is that a lot of men who are serious about getting in shape want a trainer who is is stronger and fitter than they are themselves. They know that the guy is living proof that they can reach his level some day. They are unlikely to think the same about a woman who is probably smaller and weaker than them.

[KyleAaron]

I am a recently FEMALE certified fitness professional with some questions, for females and any males a like. I am in uni and 20 years young.
The first thing to say is that while there is sexism in the fitness industry, there is more ageism. If you're young you're clueless, if you're older you can only work with older adults. Being 20yo will be more of an obstacle than your gender.

What is the most difficult struggle a woman will have to overcome pursuing a career in the fitness industry?
All the usual issues you'll be familiar with as a woman. As well, the prejudices are that women training you won't go as hard, will be more chatty and less focused on results, and you'll do lots of cardio and circuits.

Speaking from personal experience, what is the difference between working with a female pt and a male pt?
The prejudices listed above exist for a reason. The general trend of women shying away from lifting heavy sht is a lesser trend for women PTs, but still exists. This is self-reinforcing. When you're a new trainer you don't have a specialty, over time you tend to get certain types of clients, so you study and practice more with certain groups and issues and training styles, and get better at that. It's easy to become what people expect you to become, it's hard to swim against the current and go your own way.

That said, the best strength-oriented trainer I've ever had (unlike most PTs, I have actually had PTs) was a woman. And the best overall trainer I know right now is a woman. Fortunately for her but unfortunately for the industry, she's having a baby in a few months and will probably end up quitting doing PT, or at least end up doing it much less. This is another difference between men and women in many careers, women are more likely to take time away from their careers to have children, which naturally limits their chances of becoming well-known and of learning more. This needn't be so, but it's what tends to happen.

How does a woman gain "respect" in the fitness industry (that's male-centered)?
The same way a man does, by being fcking good.

Do you know of any great female pt's?
Answered above, the two best PTs I've ever known have been women.

Overall, general opinion on female pt's. Are we even taken seriously?
Not very, but neither are the men. We're a bit of a joke as a profession, people mock us.

[kgarcia7]

Thank you everyone for your input, much appreciated. I'm currently working on my health and exercise science degree, directly attending physical therapy school there after. I'm confident in myself that I KNOW my fitness info but I understand that I DON'T know everything. Very eager to learn from older pt's.

I definitely do not shy away from lifting heavy. I want to be the female pt to broadcast this to women, and make them feel comfortable and safe enough that the weight room is not exclusively for men. I feel like that's my biggest struggle at the moment, getting over stares, rude comments and taking on "the pt role" from irrelevant men in the weight room. One story, I picked up a 45 pound barbell at the gym a couple days ago and this gentleman asked me if I was serious with that weight. I told him yes and walked away. I don't want women to entertain when certain men become rude and undermine a woman's capabilities.

Can the men on this site shed some light on this? What is it about seeing a women lifting in the weight room that solicits reactions like these? When I'm working out solo, I have "horse blinders" on, focus on myself, do my sets and pat myself on the back for a bomb as$ workout. 0 time to bother others in the gym on ANYTHING they are doing unless I'm working with a client and it's THEIR session.

[rockangel]

I dont know why you would get those comments, Myself i have never gotten rude comments like that. Any dude who has stopped me has either complimented me on outlifting his friend or told me i worked out hard or something to that effect. Not once have i ever gotten a rude comment.

[KyleAaron]

What is it about seeing a women lifting in the weight room that solicits reactions like these?

Novelty.

Don't sweat it. As well, you'll be best taking the blinders off once you're employed as a trainer. People will talk to you during your workouts. Your training will suffer, but you'll get more clients. Depends whether you want to spend the most effort on your career or your training. You have to put something first. The second doesn't have to be waaaaaay below the first, though.