Today during my workout I watched a personal trainer train a client. Then after he was finished I watched owner walked outside and smoke a cigarette behind his car. I was still in the gym working out but could see him smoking from my location.
At first I was a bit shocked. Was the trainer really out there smoking? After he just spent an hour training a guy and giving him advice on how to get healthy? I’m pretty sure he didn’t advise him to start smoking. So why would he go do that himself? Especially where gym members could see him?
After watching this incident I started thinking about the question of whether or not gym staff, and gym owners, should be healthy.
My Experience Working At A Gym… While Unhealthy
I know not all gym staff are healthy. I know it because I worked at a gym at the unhealthiest point in my life.
Technically my first job out of high school was at a YMCA gym. I weighed somewhere between 255 and 260 pounds, wasn’t active, and I wasn’t healthy at all. I knew I didn’t fit in at the gym because I was so overweight and out of shape, but I felt like I fit in at the front desk. My job though was to greet people at the Y and do paperwork. Actually all the ladies I worked with there were overweight and struggled with obesity. The first representation of the gym that people saw was a very unhealthy front desk staff.
I wasn’t out there training people or even working on the gym floor so it didn’t seem like a big deal at the time. I loved that YMCAs have staff of varying sizes and ages so exercise and healthy living is very inclusive. Working at the YMCA actually helped me get started on my journey of weight loss and is one of the reasons why I’m much healthier than I used to be. I appreciate that they let unhealthy people work there and give them a chance at better health.
Should Gym Staff Be Healthy?
But shouldn’t the people at the gym in charge of helping people train and get healthy… actually be healthy?
Obviously I believe you don’t have to be thin to be healthy. But should you be at a normal weight/thin if you own a gym? If you are a personal trainer? Should you smoke? Should you engage in other unhealthy behaviors?
I thought about Marci, a Biggest Loser contestant who despite owning a gym ended up on The Biggest Loser. Obviously gym staff and owners deal with the same issues everyone else does. But should they promote a healthy lifestyle if they aren’t living it themselves? If a gym owner smokes on his breaks should he be telling clients smoking is bad and they need to avoid it to run faster and workout harder?
I don’t exactly have answers to this but I do think gym staff should be trying to be healthy. I think it’s important that if they are going to work in a gym or in the fitness industry that they at least work toward better health and give off the appearance of being healthy.
Maybe I’m wrong though… I’m interested to hear your thoughts:
Should gym staff be healthy?
Heh, a couple of years ago I ran into the guy who runs the bootcamp class at the local gym carrying a takeout bag from McDonald’s. I just thought it was funny, but he looked mortified!
I would prefer a trainer or gym owner to be healthy. Drives me nuts to see them telling me to be healthy and then doing the opposite. But at the same time I can’t judge them because I’ve been unhealthy at times too.
I guess these businesses can do whatever they want.
But, if I was hiring a personal trainer – either as an owner or as a client – I would most certainly want that person to be healthy.
Of course, no one is perfect. Mechanics have car problems sometimes and psychologists have their own relationship difficulties.
So, should a gym owner who is not healthy give up his gym? I don’t know. I think we all have issues, and we all have different unhealthy coping mechanisms. I guess the key is to acknowledge those mechanisms and be honest.
After all, I am a primary school teacher & I am fast driver & never wear a coat. Am I a bad role model? Maybe.
Interesting question posed.
I definitely don’t think they should give up their gym. Or a teacher quit their job. It’s just interesting to think about.
I think it is a bit of a slippery slope. Who gets to decide what is healthy and what is not, what behaviour is becoming of a trainer or not? I don’t think that you can tell by looking at someone whether they are healthy. If I start judging other people by watching what they do or look like they have the same right to judge me and I know how terrible that feels. Or they have a right to judge me that I am overweight and can’t possibly be healthy, or that I am overweight and don’t have the right to be doing xyz. The only person that is affected by the trainer’s smoking is the trainer, smoking does not impair their ability to train clients. As we all know, wanting to change a behaviour and changing a behaviour are not the same thing.
Smoking is an addiction, so I have a bit more empathy when looking at someone, especially in a role like that, because likely they want to quit. Maybe he used to smoke a pack a day and is now down to 3 per day, we just don’t know, and we don’t really have any right to know and judge. Also I don’t know what else is going on in that person’s life, he may have lots of stresses that make giving up more difficult. Everyone has flaws, some of us just wear them on the outside to make judgement easier.
Well cigarette packing have about a million warnings on them saying they cause all sorts of diseases (the warnings here are really crazy). So that’s probably one thing you can without a doubt say is unhealthy. Does it only affect him though? If he smokes around people does it not affect them too in a negative way?
It is an addiction and I have friends and family that smoke so I know it’s hard and I’m honestly not judging this particular person or anyone that has bad habits. It just brought up some thoughts that I found interesting. :)
I agree with what @Lauren said and would add that he is healthier than a smoker who doesn’t work out and spend his/her days training clients.
In some ways I admire someone who is brave enough to show his flaws rather than keep them a dirty secret.
Definitely healthier than someone who doesn’t workout at all. But he wasn’t bravely showing his flaws really. He was trying to hide I just happened to be in a position to see him.
I think the more appropriate question is “would you go to a gym where you knew the owner/staff are not healthy?” or “would you train with a trainer who wasn’t healthy?”. Consumers can vote with their dollars and if the health or lack thereof of the staff/owner bothers enough people the business will not succeed. Personally I could give a rat’s ass about the health of my gyms owner as long as the gym is well maintained, well equipped and well run. My trainer is another story, I want my trainer to be an example for me, something to strive for.
You are right Denise I think that is a better question.
Would I go to a gym where the staff is unhealthy? Yeah probably since I just use the equipment. But would I pay hundreds of dollars to train with someone who I even *thought* was unhealthy? No. I definitely don’t care what the owner does but if I was taking a class or getting training I would care a lot more.
Great comment, thanks!
I’m going to go along with lots of other comments- the person who is teaching you how to better your health habits SHOULD be setting an example for you with themselves. It just looks bad otherwise- if the person who should be the shining example for me can’t be bothered to care, why should I?
Smoking should definitely be off-limits while they are at work and on the gym property or in uniform if they wear one.
Hmmm… this is kind of a prickly question… I think you in your own right are entitled to make your own decisions as to whether a gym holds credibility if their staff is healthy or not, but trying to enforce that?
At one of the gyms I work at, some of the staff members are very heavy users of steroids to bulk up their muscle mass. They’ve even been injecting on gym site. It’s really sad. But, to the ordinary gym user, they might be considered ‘healthy’ because of their appearance. Meanwhile, myself and another gym instructor were in the gym foyer today, and we had a cupcake. Reason being? It was her birthday. Her and I got so much prejudice from passing members for that. “You guys shouldn’t be eating that! You’re fitness people!” It’s not like we stand around eating cupcakes after every class we teach, it was a special occasion!
Choosing where your dollars are spent is probably a more powerful way of demonstrating value, to me, is probably a better way for this to be managed. Money talks :)
It is a prickly question. I know. I was looking forward to your answer since I know you work at several gyms.
Yikes to the steroid use. I assume a few guys that work out at our gym use steroids though I personally don’t consider that healthy (we watched a bunch of documentaries on it recently). I’d give the side eye to staff doing steroids too, especially if I saw it happening.
Maybe one way to think about it is this.
The ones who care, make the effort.
The ones who don’t care, don’t.
When it comes to maintainance of gym equipment, cleanliness, etc – you don’t have to ‘care’ to get a job done.
But when it comes to having a trainer or an instructor… you’d want someone who cares.
a decade or 2 ago Id have been horrified and said HELL YES THEY SHOULD BE HEALTHY!!!
Now I just think they are human and like all of us are doing the best the can.
I guess everyone has the right to do whatever they want in their own time and one of the things I loved about my first gym is that the women working there were of all shapes and sizes and had different levels of fitness. I do however feel that in a situation like that you can’t be a trainer and be seen smoking or come back in and train someone while stinking of smoke, it’s just not on in my book.
I’m with Miz, we’re all just humans. Personal failing do not necessarily make a person unfit to help another. Doctors, Nurses, Therapists…..all very well trained and well informed about healthy behavior yet there are a ton of them that are overweight, stressed out, don’t get enough sleep, etc and we count on them to help us when we need it. Not to sound prickly, but you sound a wee bit judgemental, and the guy was trying to hide it.
I do get judgmental about smoking. Yeah, I’ll admit that. Even though a lot of my loved ones smoke I don’t like it especially when they do it anywhere around me because it does affect me (my lungs suck). So I’ll totally own up to being a bit judgmental about it. Buuuuuut… I still think it’s an interesting topic to write and think about as well as get comments from you guys. You & Miz are right we are all humans and all have flaws. And you make a great point about doctors and nurses.
Personally I would like someone I’m paying to teach me a healthy lifestyle to have one themselves. I don’t know how I’d feel about the smoking, I guess I would feel like it was kind of hypocritical because even though it’s not a fitness related thing, it’s a health related thing. I think I probably wouldn’t choose that trainer based on that and not wanting to smell the smoke that sticks on him during my workout either. YUCK!
I think it depends on your definition of the word “healthy.” Would you define healthy as moderation in what you eat and do or would you definie healthy as being 100% all healthy all the time. For me, being healthy is about moderation and finding a balance between your healthy foods and habits and those dirty little things you want. I am working on being more healthy in my eating habits and activities. I could not live with being healthy 100% of the time but I am cognizent of those bad choices I make and limit them accordingly. To that effect, I would not be turned off by a trainer who smokes as long as he/she did not smoke around me (asthma). Mainly because, I am not coming to him/her for advise about smoking but rather how to achieve my exercise goals and possibly nutrition goals. If she/he is in good physical shape despite their smoking habit, then I would imagine they have a pretty good ideal about achieving a balance between the good and bad. IMHO.
I definitely think moderation is fine. Like I said I’m probably too biased and judgmental towards smoking because of my own asthma and dislike of smoking. Thanks for your thoughts!
It depends on what “healthy” means to you. I weighed 231 pounds but was active and played basketball a lot and lifted weights. There were “skinny” people at the gym that I guarantee were not healthy.
As a gym owner, I’d say no, not really a big deal. The owner has a business to run, bottom line. But from a training perspective, I would want my trainer to practice what he/she preaches.
I think my problem is that this question is premised on the idea that people in the gym are trying to be healthy. And I honestly don’t think that is true for everyone who goes to the gym, or who uses a trainer. There are a lot of unhealthy, imbalanced reasons to use the gym and chances are a lot of people with an unhealthy relationship with working out will be the same people that are using trainers or working as trainers. I think that your desire to use the gym is for health reasons and that is admirable, but I don’t think that desire is necessarily there for every gym user and I certainly don’t think it is always there for trainers.
And, just like when you think “Oh, I can eat this giant hamburger because I just ran 4 miles,” imagine how many excuses you could make if you were a trainer!
That is definitely a very good point. You are right though everyone has different motivations to be in the gym and they probably aren’t all healthy or wanting to be.
I wish I thought that about running and hamburgers. ;)
While I don’t agree with smoking, I know how much of a stress reliver it is, so I *understand* why maybe he is smoking.
Somehow, no matter how much I hate smoking, I think it’s fine for him to be smoking. Smoking is an issue for health, but it’s not a issue that contributes to weight gain, or stopping you from getting “fit”. Now, if he worked in a doctors clinic, or some kind of anti-smoking clinic, or some place that deals with trying to get people to quit, to reduce smoking, then I’d be concerned.
If he has a chocolate bar every hour, and a large coffee and muffin frequently, and then turned around to tell his client to eat healthily, in a gym setting, where people try to lose weight, I think that’s when I would start to think “Well who are you to tell me this?”
The simple answer is probably yes if you work in a gym you should be healthy. So should nurses and doctors and many of my friends who are nurses smoke. The reality is they are human like the rest of us and they have vices like the rest of us, one is not worse than an other. Now that being said I don’t think he should have been smoking where other gym members could see him.
In a weird twist…my husband who smokes a pack a day is actually far healthier than I am and I don’t smoke but I’m overweight. He doesn’t have high blood pressure, any cholesterol issues, blood sugar issues and his heart is checked annually during his physical. Except for smoking he is in great health. I on the other hand have high blood pressure and borderline issues with cholesterol and blood sugar.
I’m not a fan of smoking and I don’t advocate it. But I also know it is an addiction and it is hard to quit so without knowing the guy or his story it is tough to make a judgement. I know my husband started when he was 16ish and has tried to quit many times. And for him weight lifting is a trigger. Kind of like for me swimming is a trigger to eat because we always went to Pizza Hut’s buffet after our swim lessons as a kid.
Are you saying weight lifting is a trigger for your husband to smoke? You don’t have to answer I’m just curious. Triggers for things kind of fascinate me as I’m constantly trying to find and control my own :(
Yes weight lifting is a trigger for a cigarette for him. He’s in the Navy and when they would work out they would go out and have a cigarette after. Triggers fascinate me too especially when I learn one of my own that I never knew.
Oh that is so interesting especially the part about the Navy!
I dunno. Should people who work at McDonald’s be forced to eat all their meals there? I mean, shouldn’t they be advertising the lifestyle, since that’s where they work? Should everyone who works at Apple have to have the latest iPod, iPad, iTool? Surely some of them do, but I don’t think it should be a requirement.
If you’re uncomfortable with him smoking, you have the right not to have him as a trainer. And most of his clients probably know that he smokes; it’s not really something you can hide if you’re up close in someone’s personal space. Smoking smells, so if you’re helping someone with weights or something, they can probably smell it.
I smoked for quite a long time. My parents were both chain smokers and when they both quit, it took about 6 months for me to start up. It took me a long time to quit, but I’ve been 14 years sans smoking. On the other hand, there are very few people in the world I have more sympathy for than someone who’s got an expensive, not-quite-taboo habit :D
Congrats on going 14 years without smoking!
My brother used to work at McDonald’s and ate lots of meals there and brought tons of food home every night usually weird concoctions of their regular food. I would never be able to work there. Evvvvvver. Complete side note comment and totally not on point with your comment but it’s all I could think about. Haha.
I’ve noticed and thought about this paradox a lot. My health teacher in high school was one of the most unhealthiest people ever. She even smoked in the bathroom (obvi not allowed) and even admitted to us that she was super unhealthy in her habits. Bad choice of teacher. Living in boston, near the hospitals, and knowing doctors, a lot of them smoke and drink and other things, but they’re doctors, how can they do that when they’re telling people to be healthy? Then here in SF, a lot of people are pretty health conscious. Working out all the time, organic, etc etc, but SF residents also have a lot of very unhealthy habits too.. trainers, nutritionists, regular health nuts.. I kept being shocked to my friend, and he kept laughing at me. Finally I decided, no one can be 100% perfect or healthy. That’s kinda impossible. I myself, am not (but I work in a cube, not a gym!). I know that trainers are real people so I don’t expect them to be perfect either. However, smoking in front of the gym is PROBABLY not the smartest choice LOL! But anyway, I think it’s ok. What I don’t like is when trainers and exercise class teachers cant even do the exercises and moves that they’re trying to teach you. Likewise, if you’re smoking, you shouldn’t be a stop smoking coach. Etc. I think it’s a personal choice. I personally would not hire a personal trainer that isn’t really toned yet not super muscley, but other people might want a personal trainer that is super muscley, or one that is healthy & fit yet overweight, etc according to their preferences, & I think all choices should be available. (note, I’ve never hired a personal trainer…expensive!).
I don’t think this kind of question is entirely fair – I know some smokers and they’ve been trying for a really long time to quit smoking, but they’re still struggling with it. Maybe the guy had a bad day and it was his first smoke in days. Maybe he’s battling with quitting but can’t quite give it up.
There’s so many different ways to be healthy – and different IDEAS on what is healthy – that it’s pretty much impossible for someone to be healthy in every single aspect of life. A vegan might not think that someone who eats animal products – even if they’re organic and free-range and all – is healthy, for example.
If a personal trainer can do the fitnessy stuff that they’re teaching, and if they’re at least TRYING to eat well and that kind of thing, then I think that’s really good.
Would it make a difference if it was a different unhealthy habit? If he binge ate mcdonald’s between training sessions (then worked off the calories compulsively)? Or if he took a few shots of alcohol? just curious because really the fact that it was smoking wasn’t the main point when I was thinking about it/writing the post.
Healthy/Unhealthy isn’t *quite* a priority for me when it comes to trainers, but fitness is. I do judge trainers who sport pot-bellies/or are quite flabby and have blood shot eyes everyday. Trainers fees don’t come cheap. So, i don’t see why I have to pay so much more for a person who can’t take care of himself/herself? I just wouldn’t take an overweight/underweight trainer seriously :| (and yes, i have seen trainers like that)…
Health wise – It’s none of my concern really :-/ unless, i’m good friends with him/her. My def. of healthy may not be their def. of healthy and vice versa. As long as his habits don’t affect the session, I’m ok with it..
I think we’re more likely to take advice from people who walk the walk. If I were a gym owner, I would certainly not condone my staff smoking near work, or even coming to work smelling of cigarette smoke. It creates the impression that they’re not serious or passionate about what they do.
Also, I think we must make a distinction between being healthy and living a healthy lifestyle. Being healthy is certainly a result of living a healthy lifestyle, but people can appear healthy without actually being healthy and living healthy.
I certainly don’t expect my trainers to have perfect bodies, but I do expect them to be committed to health and fitness. I would gladly take a class with someone who is overweight but working on it, because they’d in fact be more attuned to what is physically possible for me or not. A person who’s never been fat may never realize that I have to literally move my boobs or my belly out of the way for a specific exercise. Or that my knees cannot squat 380 pounds. Or that my neck needs support when I lie on my back. Or that my belly IS pulled in!
Would I buy a cookbook from someone who doesn’t know how to cook? No. So, why would I pay someone to teach me how to be healthy if he doesn’t know how to do it himself?
As much as we are told that appearances shouldn’t matter, they do. It is what it is.
Many years ago I saw a college counselor about going to school to become a psychiatrist. The first thing he said to me was, “To counsel others, you have to be the picture of good mental health, yourself. You’ll have to lose weight if you want anyone to hire you.”
As mad as it made me at the time, I believe he was right. So, my answer is a resounding YES, gym staff who are coaching or training others to get more healthy and fit should be so, themselves.
I fully agree with you. As a martial arts instructor, I think it’s important that I am fit and healthy so that my students have confidence in me as an instructor. Many of my students start training with the goal of getting in better shape, so I need to show that I practice what I preach.
Hmm. It’s a tricky question, in that it really depends on what you consider to be ‘healthy’. Do I want my trainer to be healthy, yes. Would I have cared if he was a smoker, no. Why? Because he isn’t perfect, no one is. But do I want him to be fit? yes, very much so – because I want a trainer to be the fittest, so it gives me that extra push when I need it. Does the person need to look fit, no. They just need to be fit. Period.
But that is entirely my perception, and also what I am looking for in a trainer. I’m not very quick to judge, either. Not saying you were, but it could be interpreted like that. Someone said previously he couldn’t have lit up for ages, it’s not the point though.
What constitutes healthy? Who decides what is and isn’t acceptable? And what influences (media, personal history or otherwise) the decision making process?
Lucinda :-)
Ha! Yes, my gym buddy just told me the other night that half the trainers at our gym smoke and drink together on a regular basis and I was shocked. Until I thought about it a bit more…..trainers are supposed to adapt to their clients goals. If a client wants to look sick in a bikini by the summer, the trainer will tailor a plan to that – which may or may not contribute to overall healthiness. Many trainers I’ve talked to subscribe to particular indicators of fitness/health that they believe in. So, I believe we should all determine our performance measures for health and should talk openly about our challenges and how we are trying to address them. Like other addictions that sabotage our health, smoking if very difficult to quit. I guess I would just hope that that trainer who went outside to smoke after training someone is not hiding his smoking from anyone and is bringing his personal experience/perspective into any conversations with his clients about the challenges of quitting smoking as part of a healthy lifestyle. As long as we are examining ourselves, setting goals, being honest, we are on the right path for ourselves.
I am definitely jumping on the “what do you consider healthy” bandwagon. I just wrote a post about it! My point (and frustration) was that “healthy” is most often measured in weight because it is something tangible that every has. It is also something that can be outwardly seen wherever you are. Whereas, if you work out for 4 hours, then go home and polish off a box of donuts, people will see you working out those four hours and believe that you are “healthy”. Is weight the outward expression of one’s health? Often times, yes.