Ignore the buff kids in the gym

[KyleAaron]

This is something I had to work on myself in my years in big box gyms. As a trainer, you live and love the fitness lifestyle. So you walk into the gym and over here you see a muscular guy doing pretty good 80kg snatches, and over there you see an overweight woman in her 50s walking at 4km/hr on the treadmill with a slight limp. Who do you want to talk to?

Most trainers will head to the snatcher. But that guy doesn't need your help. He got that far on his own or with some other trainer - probably outside your current gym - he'll be alright on his own. The treadmill woman, though, this may be the first time she's been in a gym in her life, and if nobody talks to her, it may just be her last time, too. She's the one who needs some encouragement and instruction.

As a trainer, especially a new trainer: Ignore the buff kids. Talk to the fat sweaty injured people. Yes, I know this is not what was in the stock photography on the website where you got your online certificate, it was all hot buff young people. But there it is.

Thoughts?

[TheIronAsylum]

i prefer to work with athletes or people looking to improve performance


just cant find the motivation to work with unmotivated people which is a catch 22 because the unmotivated people tend to have the money


i do find how annoying it is trying to constantly sell yourself and everyone is all about it until they have to pay though so many flakes

[jerzyfit]

Question about this. How do you get the motivation to just walk up to people and start talking as a trainer?

[JohnSmeton]

This is something I had to work on myself in my years in big box gyms. As a trainer, you live and love the fitness lifestyle. So you walk into the gym and over here you see a muscular guy doing pretty good 80kg snatches, and over there you see an overweight woman in her 50s walking at 4km/hr on the treadmill with a slight limp. Who do you want to talk to?

Most trainers will head to the snatcher. But that guy doesn't need your help. He got that far on his own or with some other trainer - probably outside your current gym - he'll be alright on his own. The treadmill woman, though, this may be the first time she's been in a gym in her life, and if nobody talks to her, it may just be her last time, too. She's the one who needs some encouragement and instruction.

As a trainer, especially a new trainer: Ignore the buff kids. Talk to the fat sweaty injured people. Yes, I know this is not what was in the stock photography on the website where you got your online certificate, it was all hot buff young people. But there it is.

Thoughts?

I agree, as a job your job is to help people that need it the most. You will enhance their lives , quality of life, better self esteem, a longer life , etc

[Sinix]

Know your strengths and weaknesses. Those should tell you who you should be gravitating towards. Don't discount anyone completely though.

[KyleAaron]

I am talking about member retention rather than personal training. Here I am thinking of the gym instructor role as distinct from the personal trainer role. In a big box gym, with no gym instruction you won't keep members long enough to get personal training clients, and the gym won't be able to stay open anyway.

Around 1/6 gym members will quit no matter what, we never see them so how we behave with them is irrelevant. Around 1/6 will remain members no matter what - but these are the buff ones we like talking to. Around 2/3 of gym members are those who churn through gyms, left to themselves they accomplish nothing and quit fairly soon, these are the ones for whom our behaviour makes a real difference - say, by keeping them as members.

Too many trainers in big box gyms think just of PT client prospects, and forget that these alone can't fund a gym, you need other members to keep the place open. Pay attention to the middle 2/3.

[Luke753]

Here in America, where more than 2/3 of the population is obese or fat, the person you mentioned would be the usual client. Judging by this statistic, your clientele will be mostly these individuals who want to change.

From a business perspective, if you were a trainer who ignored that person you just mentioned, it would be ignoring your target audience and would be bad business.

I'm not a trainer and haven't even been to a gym though. haha I just thought your post was interesting. I'm sure most people quit after frustration with no results or confusion about what the hell to even do, just like you said in the post above.

[Ronin4help]

This is something I had to work on myself in my years in big box gyms. As a trainer, you live and love the fitness lifestyle. So you walk into the gym and over here you see a muscular guy doing pretty good 80kg snatches, and over there you see an overweight woman in her 50s walking at 4km/hr on the treadmill with a slight limp. Who do you want to talk to?

Most trainers will head to the snatcher. But that guy doesn't need your help. He got that far on his own or with some other trainer - probably outside your current gym - he'll be alright on his own. The treadmill woman, though, this may be the first time she's been in a gym in her life, and if nobody talks to her, it may just be her last time, too. She's the one who needs some encouragement and instruction.

As a trainer, especially a new trainer: Ignore the buff kids. Talk to the fat sweaty injured people. Yes, I know this is not what was in the stock photography on the website where you got your online certificate, it was all hot buff young people. But there it is.

Thoughts?

I think most trainers aren't that biased, in that regard anyway. They will typically gravitate to the people the would personally want to work with. Especially if the pay isn't that good. The thought is, 'If I'm only going to make $12 an hour, I might as well enjoy coming to work.' Working with fat, unattractive people isn't very appealing to most trainers and so they instinctively avoid these people. It may not be something they are doing consciously. When I trained full time, I talked to everyone. There simply wasn't enough members to be selective about who you worked with. You talked to everyone or you starved.