This week’s Dilemma Friday post comes courtesy of The Creole in DC blog:
You’re looking to shed some weight, so you start trying to eat more healthy foods, and you decide to hire a personal trainer. You look in the yellow pages, and find a guy who seems to be fairly popular.
You call this guy up, and he agrees to train you.
He comes to your house (let’s assume he isn’t an axe murderer) and you discover that he’s actually overweight, and doesn’t look particularly healthy.
What do you do?
Do you go ahead with his services, figuring that he’s obviously a ‘Do as I say not as I do’ kinda guy? Or do you dispense with his services, feeling that you need somebody who can at least visually inspire you?
What would you do?
By the way, anybody interested in submitting a Dilemma Friday post, can do so by emailing me at hairylemony @ gmail. com (no spaces). I’ll be happy to post the decent ones on here over the next few Fridays.
Sparkindarkness
October 16
11:05 am
I’d go with it until I’m confident he doesn’t know what he’s doing.
Just because he’s fat doesn’t mean he’s unhealthy or ignorant of the body, fitness and how to train (it doesn’t even mean he doesn’t have his own fitness regime) – it just means he’s disinclined or unable to lose weight himself.
Shiloh Walker
October 16
1:50 pm
I’d grill him about why he thinks he’s up to doing it. then decide.
Fae Sutherland
October 16
1:55 pm
I’d keep him. I’m vain enough I don’t *want* some hot, buff guy watching me sweat and smell and wear spandex lol. I’d be totally cool with him being fat as long as he knew what he was doing.
Christine Rimmer
October 16
2:02 pm
What Shiloh said. But then again, I really am more shallow than that. I want someone training me who is an example for me and a guy who can’t keep the weight off…well, I can do *that* by myself!
Anya Howard
October 16
2:30 pm
If this guy is overweight and visibly unhealthy, it seems to me taking his advice would be like getting counseling for drug problems from a crack user. I think I’d have to politely just say I have changed my mind and firmly see him to the door.
maddie
October 16
2:49 pm
No, because he obviously does not practice what he preaches, and to me that would be like flushing my hard earn dollar down the toilet.
That like hiring a colorblind interior designer to redo your house.
Anon76
October 16
3:34 pm
I’d give him a chance as long as he wasn’t grossly obese. In that instance I would fear he would keel over on me while showing me an excercise.
Just because he is not what the TV gods consider the “ideal” in body type, does not mean that he doesn’t know his stuff. I mean seriously, some of those perfect bods come from unhealthy practices like steroid use.
Look at Richard Simmons. He doesn’t fit the TV ideal of perfection, but look how many thousands of people he motivated in his time. That’s the type of trainer I need, a motivator.
Charlie
October 16
4:05 pm
My boxing trainer is overweight. But he is also powerful and an expert fighter. So I’d give an overweight trainer a chance. Although I much prefer to have a woman who looks hot in spandex train me if I had the choice 😉
sallahdog
October 16
4:41 pm
I have used different trainers in the past… the best trainer I ever had was a man in his 60s who was fit, but hardly buff… He really knew the techniques and fine tuned what I was doing and frankly pushed me, without injuring me in ways the buffest trainer I had, couldn’t …
I would give him a try, see how intense and sound the workouts were, and then decide…
Melissa Blue
October 16
7:18 pm
Every couch I’ve had hasn’t looked like he should even be teaching fitness. 9 times out of 10 he could put any student to shame. Fit is very misleading.
Melissa Blue
October 16
7:19 pm
Coach, not couch. lol
willaful
October 16
7:37 pm
I suppose I could try him out, but honestly, why? With nothing invested in the situation, why not find someone else?
SamG
October 16
8:26 pm
I’d give him a chance. After all, I have listened to overweight/smoking/unhealthy Dr.’s in the past. Being fit would be ideal, but being knowledgeable is more important.
Sam
Jill Sorenson
October 16
9:53 pm
I used to play soccer, and one of the girls on my team was a plus size (16 or more? not sure). She was a great athlete, very healthy, and she could run circles around me. Sometimes you can’t tell how athletic a person is by looking.
FWIW, I tend to assume that very skinny people are less healthy…
Fae Sutherland
October 16
10:14 pm
I know a guy who’s Samoan, closing in on 300 pounds & 6 feet tall and is about the most intimidating man I’ve ever seen in terms of physical fitness and ability. While the guys with ripped abs and hard bodies are falling over in exhaustion, this guy’s killing the plyometrics that makes everyone else throw up and running training drills that makes the other guys cry. He jiggles, but he’s the one training the hardbodies because he can kill it and they know it.
Looks are very deceiving.
Venus Vaughn
October 17
10:38 am
I would take the first training as a courtesy, after all, he did already show up at my house. And during the training I’d also press him for references. If he has none, then I’ll become “too busy.”
If his references check out (and yeah, I will have to meet the references personally)then we can get back to business. If not, I’m gonna have to value my money more than that.
There are lots of trainers who don’t practice what they preach–boxing trainers come to mind–that doesn’t mean they don’t know what they’re talking about.
Ashley Ladd
October 18
4:48 pm
How overweight and out of shape is he? I’ve seen a few overweight people are in good shape otherwise. Their weight is coming down and they are in the process of getting fit. So I’d need more information and probably give the person a chance. We had a taekwondo instructor who was overweight but very powerful and very knowledgable and an excellent instructor.
anneD
October 22
11:18 am
References – and meet them
Run through a work out with him and see how his techniques stack out and all the things others have said. I’m pretty direct, I’d ask – who knows, maybe he’s been sick/having med problems etc
I saw an article once about fit and fat – how you can be skinny and be ‘fat’, or be fat and be fit. Being thin doesn’t guarantee fitness, just as being fat doesn’t guarantee unfitness.