Thread: Would you take advice from a slim trainer?

so you're saying that if the late Mel Siff offered your training you would say no? Or if Lyle McDonald was going to offer you training/diet advice you would reject it?

Yanick, who was that directed to?

Thats about the opposite of what I was saying, they are pioneers, anyone would be honoured.

Considering Mel Siff is THE pinnacle in the world of strength training, etc., I think Yanick cited the best way to end this debate.

The trainers at my gym have worked some miracles. Some people out there want to lose weight .

Originally posted by redicuscloverus
Yanick, who was that directed to?

Thats about the opposite of what I was saying, they are pioneers, anyone would be honoured.

it wasn't directed towards you, just whoever said that a trainer has to be a bodybuilder to be knowledgeable.

Also, how many people do you think know who Lyle McDonald is or who would recognize him in a gym, if he were to be a PT in one.

P.S. in the gym where i work, we have about 50 PT's and only a hand full of us look like we work out. You have to understand not everyone is a bodybuilder, some people powerlift, some are into sport specific training and some don't even care about working out, they are still fairly knowledgeable trainers.

If i was you, I would seriously consider going on a bulk, and then working to gain a lot of mass in the gym. More people would trust you if you physically looked like you knew what you were talking about. I'm 170 cm and only 52 kg...so you have about 40 lbs on me. I want to be a personal trainer, but am also concerned about what people will think going to a puny girl about advice on how to get large.

Originally posted by jaim91
If i was you, I would seriously consider going on a bulk, and then working to gain a lot of mass in the gym. More people would trust you if you physically looked like you knew what you were talking about. I'm 170 cm and only 52 kg...so you have about 40 lbs on me. I want to be a personal trainer, but am also concerned about what people will think going to a puny girl about advice on how to get large.

luckily for women it's more about how shapely your are vs how big you are. if you have nice legs & glutes and decent definition in the upper body you will get a lot of clients as long as you have the knowledge to back up your physique...

Ya, but what if I also want to try and help men. I know that when I see a slim female personal trainer, I wonder how good a spotter she'll be,

There are plenty of Ladies at the gym trying to LOOSE weight.
So if you are slim, and perhaps at least athletic, then why couldn't
you spend your time trying to drum up business in that area.
Beats looking at other men all the time doesn't it?

Honestly, out of the three trainers that work at my local gym,
only one of them looks like he does any training at all, and they
all seem to get enough work to keep them going.

I must admit that given the choice, I would go for the bigger one.
Art.

I used to train at a gym in Hamilton Ontariowhere the owner was also a personal trainner,he was 6'1'' and 160lbs and said he had been bodybuilding for over 20years.
A clear case of bullshit baffels brains.He had all kinds of certifications he once said if he had more money to buy drugs he would be big,what a joke from a man that had over a 1000.00 worth of suppliments in a drawer because he figured that it was better than eating food.he used to talk alot about protien pancakes.what a shame that newbies walk into the gym and he is allowed to pass on his advise that obviosly did not work
i think people should just focus on basics,train hard,eat properly and alot because there is no easy way and use commonsense

I guess I come from a different angle about this.

I took a year's worth of local community college "Women's Strength" classes to lose bodyfat and gain strength. Pretty much a choice between aerobics or this.....aerobics did not appeal to me and glad I took the latter. Found I liked lifting and ran with the class's premise.

The Parker community college is the largest extension/annex of it's larger parent one down in Yuma (Arizona Western College). In very rural areas, this system has helped bring community college classes to towns where hundreds of miles keep people from attending otherwise. ITN and other electronic classroom methods along with onsite are fostered and built.

Anyway....The classes were three day "split" with machines/freeweights available held in the High School's Girl's gym in the early evening. It was fine....I liked the Boy's gym better.....more and heavier stuff....but that class was too early in the morning at the time. I was taking my son to afternoon/evening classes after he received a two year Presidential scholarship upon graduating from high school in 2001. In his second semester, he and I took the same early morning weights class.

My first instructor was a wrestling coach and former bodybuilder himself. He had taught the women's class for years and set out a pretty basic routine for all the women to use. No different from the guys. Showed us the "ropes" with the freeweights and machines. Started us all out with low weights to get the form down and get the women used to lifting in general. If any of us had questions, he was there but generally he just sat back and graded some papers from other classes he taught.

Now, the women who took the classes were either older than I was (50 at the time) or abit younger. There for a variety of reasons. To some, it was intimidating having a male instructor, I guess. I didnt care and did ask questions if need be. I will say he was not helpful when I was attempting squats at first and was having problems getting to parallel. The gym had a leg press but I wanted to learn how to squat. There was a power rack and Olympic bar/plates. His opinion was "some can do it and some would not". Big help that. I had to go online and learn about "box squats" on my own to break the "raising heels" problem I had. At least I can squat comfortably at parallel or abit below. Deep ones are something else.

When the second semester started, the class had a new female instructor and a new batch of women. I was the only one from the previous semester. By that time, I had done more research on the web....had progressed further along than any of the newbies there and just joined to use the gym. Cheaper than getting a subscription at the local commercial one. I noticed she was far more involved with everyone and this was a help to the new people (another mixture of young and older women)

As to size? She was 5'2" and weighed 260 lbs. She had problems with her weight all her life but that did not stop her from learning as much as possible and becoming knowledgible as a trainer. Later that semester, she had gastric by pass and lost quite abit of fat through this drastic method. There were a couple of women there who also had the surgery and were taking the class as therapy after going this route along with their diets. Lifting is highly regarded and suggested by their doctors to help with strength and as the best way to keep the metabolism up to lose more bodyfat.

By the third semester, I was sometimes approached by others to help "spot" or with exercise questions for the knowledge I learned when the instructor was busy with another. Of course, this is a college class that will have a high turnover rate as each class comes in. Not everyone comes in and stays for the full semester (dropouts for a variety of reasons is common.) Most of the time, by mid semester, sometimes there would be days when it was just the instructor, me and one other person.

I had made a promise to myself to take four semesters of this class and have done so. Now after six months being away and working out at home. I still miss the comradry of the class. The female instructor had been pushing for a seperate facility for the women and got it. Got some good equipment in from the parent Arizona Western College and if the dang gas prices werent so high....would go back next semester. ( the Parker extension is 66 miles away.)

Sheesh, I would still be the furthest along of anyone in the class other than the instructor. No one has lifted as much as I do since the end of the first semester.

Cowpimp wrote:

I think that you will definitely have a little more trouble starting out, because people do judge based on looks. However, if you really are knowledgeable, then you will probably eventually be able to work up a decent clientel through word of mouth

It has some truth to it.

However, I think most female personal trainers have a hard time giving guys advice.

Why? Because they're intimidated? Understandable, but I think that if a woman has knowledge and experience to offer a man who needs it, she would be more than willing.

If you are really that crazy of an ectomorph, you should attract a lot of women who somehow always seem overly paranoid about putting on bulk... and that entire crowd that wants to look like brad pit in fight club... I think most people who join a club want to lose weight, and don't decide that they want to put on muscle until later.

Almost everyone on this board has been working out a year or more, and have different goals than someone just starting to work out. It's probably more important that you are outgoing.

I suggest you to LEARN and DO bodybuilding first. You probably did it wrong, thats why you are only 75 kg. You are only a gym goer, not a bodybuilder.

Okay, you may teach women... yoga. But that is a job for women and gay.

(Pleae don't say he only needs knowledge and no real thing needs to be done. Knowledge is nothing if it is not practical and experimented. )

Originally posted by Quadsweep
However, I think most female personal trainers have a hard time giving guys advice.

This may be true sometimes, but I don't think the original poster is a girl...

Originally posted by Flying Knight
Okay, you may teach women... yoga. But that is a job for women and gay.

That is the most ridiculous comment I have ever heard. You are just talking out of your ass.