Every morning I wake up and, after throwing on my awesome slippers, groggily open my email. One morning I had a note from my Mom. Of course I opened it first but to my surprise she was angry at me.
“Jon, why do you only have 1 woman out of 11 included in your book???”
I’ll back up a bit. In my upcoming book Ignite the Fire I profile 11 well-known and successful trainers. I interviewed them and included a case study for each. I didn’t realize it but only one woman was included. My Mom brought up a good point, this is a serious problem and it extends beyond my upcoming book:
- There are 20 coaches on thePTDC. 2 are women
- The gym I work at has been open 3 years. Only one woman has been able to build a stable clientele.
- Perform Better had their best female representation among presenters this year – with 10% (Thanks to Elsbeth Vaino for this stat)
- Name your top 5 fitness pros. My guess is the vast majority are men.
Something’s awry
Women make excellent trainers so why is the industry still so male dominated?
I decided to throw this question out to my Facebook family to see if I was the only one noticing it. (Please add me to Facebook as a friend. I have great discussions like this pretty much every day.) The response was great:
One of my favorite questions to ask groups of trainers at events I speak at is what their career aspirations are. In the last 3 weeks I spoke to 3 different audiences and noted their responses. All 3 groups were predominantly male with a couple females spattered throughout the group as per the norm.
What jumped out at me was how few females viewed personal training as a career. There were 39 total people polled, 30 were men and 9 were women.
- 35 of the 39 men viewed training as a career
- 2 of 9 women saw it as their end goal. As one girl put it “I’m doing this because it’s something to do until I find a career.”
Is everything about sex?
Unfortunately I believe sex has a lot to do with it. I’ve come up with 5 points why I believe women trainers struggle. I’m sure that there’s more and I’m also sure some of you reading this won’t agree with all 5. These are my thoughts and I encourage you to put yours below in the comments section after reading the whole post.
1. Cardio bunnies – My good friend Cassandra Forsyth-Pribanic’s book “The New Rules of Lifting for Women“
I worry that these groups aren’t empowering women that really need it, instead they’re working to give women who already lift a voice. This movement and ones like it currently act as a way for women who look good and lift heavy weights to celebrate their achievements with each other. I spoke about this phenomenon in detail in my very popular article titled “Why You’re failing to Make a Difference“.
Fact is a disparigingly large percentage of women are still cardio bunnies and having a bunch of women celebrating each other’s achievements in a Facebook group isn’t going to change their opinion. The underground needs to become the above ground.
In order to create large-scale change underground groups like GGS need to organize local groups who volunteer their time in local gyms and community centers teaching women to lift weights. These strong beautiful women need to branch out from behind a computer and show their faces to the public. I believe this is happening but not to the extent that it should.
Maybe a good way to start is for GGS to organize a contest or program where their beautiful and strong members send in videos. Not the videos that often show up on their walls of physical accomplishments. Instead these videos should come from a softer side and focus on an introduction to weight lifting and how to get past the initial public ridicule. In my opinion a program like this would help to decrease the psychological barrier of entry for women.
Female personal trainers constantly struggle to convince their clients that it’s ok to lift weights. I still remember speaking to a colleague who was visibly upset after she performed an initial consult. Upon asking the client what her goals were the response was “I want to put on muscle… but like, not as much as you. You’re too big.”
Does she look too big to you???
2. Physical discrepancy
Exceptions exist but most women cannot lift as much absolute weight as men. I also have a hard time believing that women can make effective trainers for men who’s goal is to bulk up. It’s probably not anything the woman has done herself so she isn’t studied in it. While you can argue that this goes both ways and that most men don’t know the ins and outs of how a woman’s body works. My response would be that male trainers understand both fat loss and weight gain as they’ve probably tried to accomplish both themselves.
The obvious point I’ll also bring up is safety. I believe that it’s unsafe for a women to spot a novice or intermediate lifter. Fortunately a Facebook friend disagreed with me so I have an opportunity to discuss this point more:
I agree that spotters shouldn’t have to do anything. In fact forced repititions has been shown to have no effect on strength development but have two arguments against this:
- Clients still expect their trainer to help them “push through” so even if we technically shouldn’t it boils down to personal training being a service industry. If helping through the last rep will make the client feel better then I think it’s ok to help more than 10lbs even if it technically isn’t adding to their overall results.
- Let’s assume that the trainer is only spotting with 10lbs of force. What happens when the client can’t make the lift. It’s going to take more than 10lbs of force to quickly pull the weight off of the client. The spotter needs to be physically strong enough to do this. Good spotting form will only take somebody so far.
3. Perception, expectation and ridicule
Sadly the above statement is true. I’ve been privy to female trainers at my gym and friends of mine getting harassed by clients. While it’s inappropriate for any male to objectify their female trainer I would also argue that some female trainers are partially at fault. I’ve heard female colleagues say “he just likes to flirt a little. That’s fine, as long as he keeps buying sessions he can flirt all he wants.”
Until this type of behavior by female trainers ends they won’t be taken seriously. On the other side of the coin there are brilliant trainers who also happen to be beautiful strong women. Yet they work alongside girls who perpetuate this behavior and aren’t taken seriously. The only solution I can think of is to encourage gym owners to hire serious trainers or for talented female trainers to branch off on their own (which is what the women from the Facebook quote above did).
Note that the above quotes were by Artemis Scantalides.
4. Ideal body image??
There’s still some confusion over what it is, to blame is the epidemic called skinny fat.
If you're having trouble seeing this image it was done on purpose. I made it small because it stings the eyes
Yet in clothing it’s hard to tell. Well-tailored workout gear makes a fatty bum look somewhat well-shaped and a carefully chosen dress can hide lumps and bumps. This makes it difficult for female trainers to sell women on strength training if they’re skinny fatness is already perceived as attractive. Additionally it opens the doors for skinny fat women personal trainers to flirt their way to a full client list.
5. Pressure to sexify their image
I hope I’m wrong here, I really do. It seems to me that every successful female trainer has a difficult decision to make that seriously alters their career path that men don’t deal with.
That decision is they must choose between becoming a sexy female who also trains clients or a great trainer who also looks good. There’s a massive difference. Take my good friend Neghar Fonooni. In one of our famous 5 minute phone calls that lasts an hour we spoke about her having to deal with this very problem. She’s a brilliant trainer who also happens to be beautiful. Over the past 2 years as her reputation has grown she’s dealt with pressure to sexify her image for various photo shoots which she’s turned down.
Other women have gone the other route. I don’t view it as wrong but it’s a choice that leads a lot of female personal trainers away from positions of influence in the industry. Once a beautiful and strong women takes sexy pictures they’ve decided to become a model first and a trainer second.
I understand that women want to look beautiful but there’s a difference between beautiful and sexy.
The effect is less role models in positions of influence in personal training.
Will it change?
In my eyes the crux of the issue lies in the perception of the female trainer. Some argue that females have it easier because men like to train with a pretty girl. It’s easy for a girl to lead a man on and keep taking his money. That trainer won’t have any job satisfaction or commitment from the client free of ulterior motives. They won’t last very long as a personal trainer.
Some also argue that movements like GGS have brought weight training for women to the mainstream. I don’t think they’ve achieved this yet but I hope they do. What they’ve done is mobilized women already lifting and given them a voice. By celebrating each others successes they’ve created a tight-knit network but I worry they’re not approaching the problem the right way. Most women know they should lift weights, the problem is that they’re scared of it. Posts, videos, and local groups focused on education and support will do a lot more to decrease the barrier of entry than showing off heavy lifts.
The result of what I’ve discussed above will be more serious female trainers on large industry platforms serving as role models. Maybe then more than 2 of 9 females will look at training as a long-term choice and not just “something to do”.
I expect a lot of feedback to this post and I look forward to hearing your thoughts in the comment section below. I do however ask that you keep it constructive. These are my thoughts and I realize that they aren’t always pretty. It would have been a disservice for me to sugarcoat the issue. Do you think I’m wrong? Great, let me know why you think that. Maybe together we can come to a solution and help fix this issue. Also please share this post, I want young female trainers to connect with the right networks early on in their careers.
Normally your articles are great, this one is disappointing.
Women have a harder time establishing a successful career for two reasons. The first is the one right part of your article, that many simply don’t view it as a long-term career. If you don’t view it as a long-term career you won’t do well at it – same for any job.
The second is that people are sexist, like most of your points in this article. Your example of spotting the guy benching 350 is wrong-headed, for a start. The guy you quote makes the right point, if the trainer needs to apply a lot of force to lift the bar, then the person is lifting too heavy – that is, the trainer – who selects the weights to be used – has screwed up.
It’s sexist because nobody asks a male trainer how much he can bench before asking for a spot. It’s understood that he only needs to apply a bit of force and that’s enough, he doesn’t need to be able to upright row the weight. With all the half-benches with feet in the air around, the simple truth is that many male PTs are, when it comes to the bench press, untrained. And an untrained male will be weaker than a trained female of roughly the same size.
And bench press is the only lift that needs a spot for safety, all the other “spotting” is just forced reps for ego’s sake, and can be safely omitted. Anyway people who bench 350 don’t hire PTs.
The rest, like the idea that men want women trainers so they can have sex with them, and this is women’s fault because they encourage it, are just sexist and stupid and not worth responding to. I mean, you talk about sexist body image ideas and what’s the picture you choose to have at the top of your article? Skinny, “toned” women.
I appreciate you having the courage to disagree Kyle and thanks for the kind words.
i agree with your points on benching, it shouldn’t make a difference. I know that forced reps don’t really help the client but do most trainers? Even if the trainer have screwed up and put too much weight on the bar the client is still going to get hurt. Additionally, walk into a gym and tell me you don’t see at least one pushing yelling to push one more. It’s expected.
I also agree that safety bars exist in most gyms. I don’t have to lift, instead I drag it back and slam the bar against the frame before it nestles into it’s resting place on a lower pin. This doesn’t mean that clients don’t expect a trainer to spot them on DB exercises where safety equipment doesn’t exist.
The picture at the top of the article was chosen very carefully for 2 reasons. The first is that it grabs peoples attention. I’ll admit it, I’m willing to bend a little if it means that people will read the article. Maybe this is wrong but the shock appeal works. It’s the internet after all.
The second was to make a point. I think you’ll agree that after you read the article the picture is ironic in that it symbolizes the exact problems I’m speaking about.
You’ll also notice that I refer to women who flirt etc. with their clients as “girls” throughout the article whereas when I refer to serious trainers I call them “women”. This was my subtle way of showing the difference between the two.
Agreeing with Kyle, the biggest issue is sexism. I was also a bit disappointed, do men really know about fatloss and weight gain when it comes to women? There are completely different mechanisms at work here, do they understand what happens in a menopausal woman’s body, what the hormone imbalances every woman experiences feel like, how they influence your thinking and cravings for food, I think not. It alway scares me when men say they understand women and their bodies better than we understand men and it happens all sectors of society. Apparently male witers are better at writing about women than female writers are about men too. It is all preconception,
Bulking and cutting have different rules for men and women, and even then need to be individually modified, i do not think I know how a guy feels when bulking, but honestly, I do not think I know exactly how another woman feels, she might respond completely different from me. In the end we are all individuals and the most important thing is listening to your client .
Female trainers have a harder time, but so do all women in predominantly male professions, it runs way way deeper than just the fitness industry.
That about sums it up Kyle. Good post.
Great post Jon. I have to agree with you, it is harder for female trainers. Unfortunately, there seems to be a divide in training and many still view it as a male oriented career. Many find the idea of a female lifting weights or submerging herself in such an environment uncommon and odd. It is definitely harder for female trainers because of gender inequalities. Personally, I have felt uncomfortable in some gym environments to the point where I have been unable to train my client effectively. It seems to be easier for men to find any spot in a gym and get to work. However, I have to be selective with my boundaries because of gawking men. I find it hard to believe that men would ever be in this type of situation, you just don’t see a group of women eye raping a man, ever. I have been underestimated many times because of my size and the fact that I am a women, but I have learned to get past these judgments and prove to my clients that I am worthy of their time. It definitely is harder for females one way or the other.
Thanks Daljit. The unfortunate part is what you’re saying is true. If women are serious about their job then they need to be a lot more careful about the gym they work at.
How do you judge a gym or studio?
Thank you for this post Jon. Unfortunately, I do agree with a lot of this. As a female trainer, I know that there are a lot of misconceptions about our capabilities. We have the ability to educate ourselves in whatever we choose, but people and stereotypes get in the way for some. The point you made about a female trainer not being able to be as effective at bulking a guy up is a good one, knowing that most women want to do the opposite and have experienced the trials of weight loss/’toning’ programs. It is not typical for a woman to want to ‘bulk up’, so it seems unsuitable for a male to hire a female trainer for this type of training. However, with education and experience anything is possible. Interning at an amazing gym is helping me gain to confidence to learn how to design programs no matter what a person’s goals are. In terms of being able to spot a 350 bench press, I’ll just hope that I have a strong man or fork lift on site to assist me in such a situation.
The point you made about GGS is something I also agree with. Women who are already confidently lifting heavy weights are promoting and contributing, and like your last post about making a difference states, this is not getting to the root of the issue. As female trainers, we must reach out to show our female clients how to weight train properly and help them to understand the benefits of doing so. With today’s media (although fortunately I do feel that some of the ‘lifting heavy’ information is starting to trickle out a bit) claiming that you should lift lighter than your pocketbook until your biceps are screaming, this is a hard shell to crack with most women. Hopefully the diligent ones will shine light upon their female clients and eventually saturate the media with such information.
I think that if someone wants something badly enough then they can make it happen. Keeping these things in mind that you mentioned will help keep those truly dedicated female trainers from caving into stereotypes and allow them to keep striving to be the best. Tough times don’t last but tough people do! Be focused and let’s get after it, ladies
For sure Katie and you’ve done an amazing job at finding the right opportunities. My hope is that you’ll be leading the charge in a couple years and I’m willing to do whatever I can do to help you.
I agree that women can learn how to teach men to bulk up. It’s just not that common. Anything can be learnt. Fact is most trainers are the most effective at the training they do themselves.
I’m no bodybuilder so I don’t train bodybuilders. I could learn but it’s not my interest.
As a trianer, and a female trainer at that, I am finding myself trying to change the way both men and women do their trianing. Each gender has their own common issues. With women it is that they don’t want to lift heavy, if at all, and they do cardio for 5 hours a day. With men it is that they are always doing the same things like the bench press, arms, and all the upper body stuff that you can see in the mirror, and hardly ever, if at all work the lower body, and the other important muslce groups. I’m not saying that this goes for everybody, but for the majority of the general public. My philosophy as a trainer is that everyone should train like an athlete. I think it is beneficial to not only work on strength, but also include every major muscle group, balance, coordination, the stabilizer muscles, the core, stability, an elevated heart rate, movement, power, agility, explosiveness, flexibility, variety, etc. in as many exercises as possible. Why not work on all those things as well. You still get great results (better in my opinion), and in half the time. You build muscle and burn fat. I think it is a lot more functional and a more well rounded workout. Someone who does this type of workout will be able to do anything because they are covering everything physically that they need to work on. I actually work with a lot of guys because I do a lot of different, very challenging things. After they see me training other people in the gym they often want to try it because they are tired of the doing the same old typical guy exercises. I think a lot of guys think that you can only do the typical lifts at super heavy wieghts to build muscle and get cut and that isn’t entirely true. I mean look at athletes. They do a little bit of all those things I mentioned ealier in their workouts and not only do they look amazing, but they can perform. My motto is if you want to look like an athlete then train like one. Anyone from 8 to 80 can train like this, obviously at differnt levels depending on where they are physically, but it is equally important. Now to the female trainer thing, I agree with a lot of what you said. There are a lot of stereo types out there, some true and some not. I think female trainers have to work harder because of these issues, but I personally like the challenge. It makes me work harder and I think the reward will be even greater. I say bring it on. I like defying the odds. My goal is to be break through and make it onto the industry platform and be a role model. I even want to open my own warehouse gym for athletes and group training for both guys and gals. I am not afraid to run with the big dogs, in fact I plan on it. My goal is to bring out the best in everyone one I work with, whatever the issues are I have to try to change.
Do you have a blog Nikki?
Maybe you should video some of your training. I’d love to see it.
What would be your suggestion to women who want to train their clients athletically that they can say to men to sell them on their services?
I do not currently have a blog. I kind of use my facebook page as one somewhat. Well, first of all, when you do new member workouts with guys train them that way and explain why you are doing the things that you are doing. People will see what you are doing and know what you are about. Second, train your female clients that way first. I have a softball player who is a junior in high school that I made a video of training and I posted it on our gym website and my facebook page. I got actually had a guy from the gym contact me and say he wanted to work out like that so he hired me. People watch how you train clients and how you conduct yourself as a trainer. I have earned the respect and trust of guys at the gym. Don’t be afraid to push people in general. I’ve found that people like a challege both male and female. That is why cross fit does so well, along with getting people great results. It’s important to change up what you are doing with clients, and I personally like to get them less dependant on machines and do the stabilizing themselves. Here are two vidoes of a female client and two male clients that I train.
http://youtu.be/eWX88IIfOr8
Sorry to say that, but after seeing these videos I wouldn’t hire you. I prefer simplicity.
First one was actually quite good, but you lost me on the “ball” exercises – what’s the purpose of that?
The second one – they were clearly doing something beyond their strength – “muscle up” attempts, and few weird jumping exercises. And later even more of the gimmicky stuff…
Tom,
Thanks for your opinion. My philosophy is to train people like athletes. I think it is beneficial to not only work on strength and muscle building, but also include every major muscle group, balance, coordination, the stabilizer muscles, the core, stability, an elevated heart rate, movement, power, agility, explosiveness, flexibility, conditioning, variety, etc. in as many exercises as possible. Why not work on all those things while you are building muscle and strength. It doesn’t take away from your goals, you actually get twice as much out of it. If your goal is to build muscle you actually engage your type 2 fast twitch muscle fibers with this type of workout, which are the ones that get the biggest anyways. You still get great results (better in my opinion), and in half the time. You build muscle and burn fat. I think it is a lot more functional and a more well rounded workout. You work on everything that needs to be worked physically, not just one aspect. It is more fun, engaging, and challenging. It also gives you more room to change up what you are in doing besides just increasing the weight of the typical exercises you do. I think it is not only important to be strong, be also be able to do something with your strength. For example, I worked with a big, strong football player who was benching over 300 pounds and squating well over 500 pounds on a regular basis. He hired me to not work on what he was already doing, but to strengthen his stabilizer muscles. For being as strong as he was, he couldn’t do any of the stuff that involved stability, balance, a lot of core strength, and full body strength. His core was actually really weak. It was a good eye opener for him. He was frustrated because he felt like he should have totally been able to do that stuff. He was strong, but he couldn’t do anything with it. In other works, his strength wasn’t very functional. Also, if you are just lifting heavy it makes you slow.
The guys in the video are actually runners/sprinters.The jumping stuff that you thought was weird was plyometrics to work on the boys explosiveness to make them faster. It also works on single leg strength. Single leg exercises promote greater muscle growth and greater muscle strength because it works more muscles. These exercises work not just prime movers, but stabilizers and neutralizers. Running, by definition, is a single leg action, really a series of bounds. This is why vertical jumps correlate so highly to speed. Running is simply a series of horizontal bounds. The purpose is to work on their posterior chain which is really important for runners and their ability to produce force off of the ground and be able to absorb the impact. The band stuff with the legs was to work on their hip flexor strength because it was giving one of the guys problems last year during track season. The other band stuff was to allow them to be able to do explosive push ups to work on their power. Now they can do all that stuff without the bands. Doing those kinds of exercises can actually increase strength and lifting maxes.
Muscle ups are hard. It was pushing the boys to go to the next level in their training. It was a new challenge for them. They were at the point where they could do a high amount of regular pull ups with ease so I gave them a new progression and made it challenging again for them. They have already made huge gains!
The ball exercises work on balance, stability, body control, core strength, and engage a lot of stabilizer muscles. It also allows the client to see that they can do things that they never thought they could do, and couldn’t do before training. It shows them that the sky is the limit!
Sorry for the long response. I guess my point is that I think a work out should include a variety of aspects. I’m not saying that any one type of workout is bad, all I am encouraging is to incorporate a little bit of all of it. All I ask is to have an open mind and try some of these exercises before you call them gimimicky. They are actually very productive and very challenging. Some body weight exercises are a lot harder then “piling on the plates”. They have a method to their madness
Tom,
Here is a great article on the subject.
http://www.charlespoliquin.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/809/What_is_Functional_Hypertrophy.aspx?lang=EN
Thanks for the long reply. Unfortunately I don’t have that much time to reply in such details…
Footballer – so did you put him on a ball? I never tried that and have no problems with my core.
Can you point me to any articles that support the opinion that lifting heavy makes you slow?
I know what plyometrics is
pull-ups – there are many progression steps beyond the regular ones. Close grip, uneven – holding your other arm, one arm (with assistance or not), etc.
Thanks for the link, I will surely read it.
Re. ball exercises, as you quote Poliquin yourself, these articles might be interesting: http://www.charlespoliquin.com/Blog/tabid/130/EntryId/822/Tip-232-Use-Stable-Surfaces-When-Training-To-Increase-Sports-Performance-and-Strength-Avoid-Instability.aspx and http://www.charlespoliquin.com/Blog/tabid/130/EntryId/567/Tip-142-Train-To-Prevent-Injury-and-Improve-Proprioception-Use-Stable-Strength-Training.aspx
And similar one at http://deansomerset.com/2012/03/12/bosu-no-thanks-i-prefer-to-get-results/
PS nothing against bodyweight
They’re not easy at all… planche pushup for example 
Tom,
It’s when it is done with out any explosive/fast element to it, or without fast explosive exercises included in the program to supplement it like Olympic lifts, plyometrics, sprinting, etc. Compound, multi-joint exercises are the best. There needs to be a balance of both to get the most powerful, useful strength and not just a bunch of excess muscle mass that effects your endurance and slows you down. Like with body building type lifting where you are lifting heavy at slow speed and with forced repetions. This gives you size, but not necessarily strength. You are storing glycogen locally in the muscles. This extra fluid storage can not contract or produce force. Therefore it is utterly useless. I think a lot of athletes confuse body building techniques with with athletetic training and this is where they get into trouble. Another good article about this is http://jasonferruggia.com/5-ways-to-be-a-bigger-better-athlete/
Sorry, I should have been more specific when I said “just lifting heavy makes you slow”. (just what I need, to make the response longer! lol) I didn’t mean that lifting heavy is a negative thing. It is very important to do to get stronger, improve athletic performance, and improve body composition. (heck, I’m trying to get women to do it all the time
As far as the ball thing goes, I totally agree with the idea of not training for strength with stuff like that. There is a high risk of injuring yourself that way when you put heavy weights into the mix. It’s just too dangerous. It’s more for the balance and body control aspect of it. I throw it in there every once and a while to throw something different at the body and work things just a little bit differently. Using different pieces of equipment or changing an exercise slightly recruits muscle fibers in a different way. We are not always going to be in a controlled and stable envirnoment like in the gym when we are in the real world. It’s just different then a stable surface. I just like to make sure all the bases are covered. Do I do that stuff very often, no; is it a regular part of programing, no; do I do that with everybody, no way, those are advanced exercises; do I pile on a bunch of weight while doing it, no; do I do it for weight loss, no. It’s just a small supplement to the program. A lot of it depends on the client too. The clients who are athletes like challenges like that and it throws in something fun for them. The girl in the video has been working with me for over 2 years. Her video was a short highlight film. She just signed to play softball for the University of Washington Huskies. Both of the vidoes aren’t an exact workout, they are a high light of the more uncommon exercises that we do; not the ones that everybody already does.
I had the football player using the stability ball, but not much standing on it though. It was more for core work.
I will be putting out another video that includes some of the other pull up variations, among other things. Once again, sorry for the long response! Thanks for the dialog and the websites. It’s been fun!
Thanks for the videos. I know nothing about softball training so can’t comment as to the technique but I’m glad they worked for you. It’s a great strategy to use a video to attract new clients and your Facebook wall is definitely a good place to start.
I own my own studio and myself as well as my clients love the diversity and even just the ‘feel’ of a female trainer. All boy trainers can lead a lot of the ‘same’ training and females can bring something a little different or the same thing delivered a different way.
We hired some trainers over the Christmas break and our highest priority was to get a girl trainer but what we face is a lot of what you said.
- hot trainers that don’t know shit
- gilrs that train “girly” but can’t change
- some boys just like to be trained like boys, which a lot of girls can’t do
Now the same goes for male trainers on the points above but I have found that there are more females receptive to change more so than males.
We have a huge focus on corrective exercise but blokes will train clients how they train so if they’re a bodybuilder, then you’ll body build. If they’re MMA focused, then the clients training will be too.
My studio’s clients are loving our new female trainer!!
How did you end up choosing the new female trainer? What does she do that’s working so well?
Was more then willing to learn a new style (joint by joint approach mike boyle style) and she is just a very easy going yound lady which fits out studio perfectly
Here are two vidoes of some of the workouts
http://youtu.be/qoVD64kAT2o
Jon, I always enjoy reading your posts and you already know that. But I have to slightly disagree on the fact that groups like the GGS do not empower the women that really need it. I know cases where showing strong women like the GGS have made girls who were not lifting wanting to lift. And they weren’t the women knowing that they should lift. Seeing the GGS intrigued them and made them search for more information. Some have contacted me and shared their fears about lifting or just asked the reason why they should lift. Some want to train with me. Also, due to my attitude towards lifting, people who don’t personally know me but just added and followed me on Facebook are now approaching me for advice and want me to train them. The GGS kind of attitude is an eye-opener for women who really want to do something about themselves. After the conversations I have lately with a lot of them, if they are not serious about changing themselves, they won’t even make the time to be a cardio bunny. If they want a change, they will be open to what you are saying and become intrigued, wanting to learn and try it.
Very true Livia. I think that underground groups like GGS are making some change but it’s not hit the mainstream yet. Women still need to search out and find these groups or have an awesome mentor like yourself direct them to it. Most are isolated when they go into the gym and face pressures to fit into the mold.
Somebody who finds the group already has the desire to lift weights and has been converted. The group gives them a voice and to push on — which is great! It’s just not making the initial change as much as it can. That has to happen on a much more personal level.
I’m not a trainer but I can see the truth behind much of what you say here. It kind of makes me wonder: We’ve established a problem, or rather, a discrepancy among females. What next? GGS is fabulous and I think they have a lot of potential to bust some barriers… but you’re right. They’re probably mainly reaching women who already lift. It kind of makes me wonder what someone like me could/should be doing… I’m not a trainer, coach, or athlete.
I’m a regular 24 yr old who works a full time job as a scientist and lifts for the love of it. 2 years ago I was overweight and relatively weak.
But those facts somehow seemed to get dismissed by my coworkers/regular folks and I get deemed as the exception instead of an example. Thoughts?
I think you’re doing an amazing job on your blog Juliet. Maybe incorporate some videos of you training alongside men. Try to ease the barrier a bit.
Let me know what/if you come up with anything
Juliet if I may offer a suggestion–you’re already doing it right.
You obviously love what you do, and your co-workers and other people around you will see that. To some extent, it’s just a waiting game–eventually they will get their heads around what you’re doing and then some will start asking if you can teach them or if they can work out with you. And some of the people who ask will probably surprise you.
Let your results speak for themselves, be an example of how successful your training is and how happy it makes you, and be willing to talk to anyone who asks. That applies across the board, for men and women.
I agree with this statement 100% keep doing your thing and keep a smile on your face. When others are ready you’ll be the first person they turn to. Leading by example is the only way to lead.
Jon I think you are spot on when it comes to inspiring women to change how they’re currently training (i.e “cardio”).
Most of the time people only see the super fit female trainers lift heavy weights, and I guess many of these “cardio bunnies” rather look up to them (as idols) instead of having the courage to start doing it themselves.
So how would you go about changing it Char?
Well, I’d create a safe environment for “normal” women to share their experiences and support each other having one or a small number of female coaches to oversee.
On this site/forum/fanpage they (beginners/women who have just started training/want to change) can share videos of themselves train, ask “dumb” questions without feeling stupid (even though WE know there are no such thing as a stupid question, many new people certainly think so), even pictures without feeling they’re not in a good enough shape yet etc.
I also think it’s important for us to share with them some of our weak sides as well. That way they don’t feel like what we have achieved is impossible for them to accomplish themselves.
By admitting we are wrong sometimes and/or/have been struggling with the same things, they can identify with us and in turn get on the bus.
That’s why testimonies of “normal people” are so powerful compared to a beautiful fitness model who’ve had “no struggles”. People can identify, and get on board.
I think we need to start understanding and expressing that we understand their side as well before they will/can change their view. We tend to explain to them why hours of cardio is bad and weight training is good. So why do they keep on doing it if they now “know” it’s bad? Even in my bootcamp I hear overweight clients go on about their “long run last night”, and I have told them all the downsides.
Before anyone can change they have to want to change. And by arguing our side, many will naturally defend their side, because it’s a part of them, it’s something they have done for years and years. We are literally taking something away from them. And they will defend it if we keep on talking about why it’s bad and weights are good. A change of mindset is something we need to help them with first, so they have motivation to change, and THEN we can talk weights:)
So summarized: A place for all this to happen is what I would do.
Do I sense a Facebook page starting Char?
Great article, as hard as it may be for some people to accept the truths in it. Women, like many “minorities” if I may use the term loosely, will for generations have to fight against the sociopolitical expectations and “norms” that have existed for decades. People argue that this is a different age in which anyone is free to be who or what they want, but it is still not a level playing field. Many people start from a distinct disadvantage to begin with. Even if women can be viewed by men as equals in the field as they should be, you have to counteract the societal expectation of what a woman should look like. Many women believe lifting heavy things will make them look less like the “womanly” construct society and media has built over the years. It will take generations of rethinking what being a woman means before the field will be levelel. Kudos for writing this Jon, it’s an article that wouldn’t even be thought of 20 years ago.
Thanks Jonathan. I appreciate the feedback and agree that it’s not a change that’s going to happen quickly. This is why I felt I had to be honest in my article even though I knew I’d face some opposition (which I have).
I felt there was too much pumping up of great physical accomplishments and sexifying of brilliant women trainers. Men aren’t looked at as sexy even if they’re jacked. They’re called strong. Whereas women seem to be called strong and sexy.
Exactly.right. it’s this bias which exists in the first place that will have to change, on the part of those looking for a trainer as well as society in general. There is a generational systemic indoctrination that right from the start makes people think that women or visible minorities can’t.do the job as well (talking in general terms here not just training) as well as the individuals themselves believing they can’t do the job. minorities have always had an uphill climb in almost every arena – you just can’t be as good as.to get the same level of respect, you have to be better than.
I guess that’s true and has happened all throughout history. In order to overcome a person must be exceptional.
I have to disagree with this comment: “Once a beautiful and strong women takes sexy pictures they’ve decided to become a model first and a trainer second.”
That is ridiculous! I am a fitness model and a personal trainer. Just because a women takes sexy pictures dosn’t mean she dosn’t know what she is doing. I have seen countless male personal trainers that market themselves with sexy pictures of shredded abs. Nobody calls them out! Hey, I don’t care what you say…Sex sells!
I think an effective personal trainer will use any effective marketing technique. If a sexy picture gets me more clients…so what! That dosn’t change the quality of training I will provide to the client once they do train with me.
Plus, sexy pictures motivate men and women to want to get in similar sexy shape…and who are they going to call? The girl in the sexy photo that has already achieved the look the are after.
Sex does sell. There’s no questioning that. To be honest I would say the exact same thing for male trainers who advertise with shirtless Facebook photos.
I guess the point I was trying to make is that it’s difficult to become an industry role model if you decide to post / model. That isn’t to say you shouldn’t do it. Hell, do what you want.
This was a great post and although i’m not a personal trainer, i do spend a lot of time doing the research, lifting weights, etc. I can see where a lot of misconceptions come from when in my opinion the majority of women trainers are not pushing their clients with heavy weights. There are 4-5 women trainers in my gym and they are having their clients play with the pink and purple 6lb dumbbells. I think if people/women at the gym who see this believe that this is the way to make an impact on your body shape. If they saw trainers (who they probably look up to as fitness experts) pushing their women clientele into the big boy area with the heavy weights it might spark some thought, but until then I think most women will stay in their cardio rut. I wish there were more women trainers out there who would cut the ‘toning’ bs and get their clients into the weights that make a difference. One of the reasons I quit my trainer and just started educating myself on my own. Keep the great posts coming!
Thanks Julie. I agree there are some great female trainers out there but there are also a lot of poor ones. This goes for male trainers as well. The difference is that the poor female trainers are encouraging the stereotype that women shouldn’t lift weights whereas the bad male trainers are flat out hurting people.
Not sure which is better.
I’ve only been a trainer for about 10 months, and I was lucky enough to land in a gym with some of the best trainers/clients in Boston. Maybe my opinions are a little biased, but here are my thoughts.
1. Cardio Bunnies. I see this problem as female-specific, not female trainer specific. Any trainer (male or female) has a hard time convincing a cardio bunny to start lifting. On the other hand, it never takes long for me to convince my female clients to start lifting. I give them a quick run down on the science behind why its nearly impossible for them to ‘bulk up’, and tell them all the benefits lifting gives. Once they start taking my word for it, they see and feel the results of the increased fat loss, muscle definition, and just the over all bad-assness of lifting heavy weights.
2. Physical discrepancy. “I believe it is unsafe for a woman to spot a novice or intermediate lifter.” A novice lifter should not be lifting more than a trainer can lift. That includes a male novice lifter training with a female trainer. For example, I have some of my novice male trainees deadlifting with 65lbs. They also shouldn’t really be doing any lifts that require spotting (besides maybe bench). For example, ALL of my beginners start with a goblet squat. Should we still spot with focus and attention? Of course. It makes everybody feel safe. Worst case scenario, I help them gently get up the last rep, or they drop the KB in front of them. Which should never happen anyway because if their last rep isn’t almost perfect then they stop the set. Which leads me to my next point about the ‘push through last rep’ concept. The trainer is the expert; the trainer runs the session. If I tell my client to stop because their form starts slacking, then they stop. They’re not going to convince me that they need to do another rep. Pushing through is for conditioning, not lifting.
3. Perception. Have I been asked out on dates? Yes. Fortunately they were just members and not my clients, so I can’t speak for that experience. But I can generally tell the guys that mention ‘training’ with me that are just interested in asking me out. You just keep the conversations short and don’t pursue them as a client. In an ideal world, (and to quote my colleague) “People pay me for what I know, not what I look like.” Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. If your a trainer at a gym, people are going to watch you workout. I always wear pants and a T-shirt; not a lululemon sports bra and spanky pants. I welcome the looks when I workout; I want people to watch what I’m doing (and hopefully come up to me and ask questions), not what I look like when I’m doing it.
4. Skinny fat. Uhh, I dont know any woman that wants her ass to look like that. And if a female trainer is “skinny fat” Then she probably shouldn’t be a trainer.
5. Sexify. Hmm this one’s a tough one. On the one hand, I understand women wanting to show off their hard work. And I think theirs a difference between sexy and skanky. Some photos can be sexy (with maybe a sports bra and yoga pants) with elegant poses showing strength, and effective lighting and quality. Some photos can be skanky. For example everyone loves Jamie Eason, but in my opinion, some of her photos are just over the top.
All in all, I think the paradigm shift has started, but definitely hasn’t reached full effect yet. (some people think the earth is round, some people think you’re outcha damn mind). Maybe when it does, females will become more prevalent in the industry.
Wonderful comment Laura. I was struggling with how to put my thoughts on this article in to perspective and here you are doing it for me.
I think you make great points. The paradigm has shifted for sure.
I agree that a trainer shouldn’t be pushing a client through the last rep. To me the issues lies in client expectations. Where an experienced trainer is confident enough to know when to tell a client to stop and their reasons for it. The reality is that many trainers aren’t experienced enough to stick to their guns. A couple bad experiences could lead to them exciting the industry.
More role models such as yourself will help.
I agree that newer trainers are less likely to stick to their guns. But that’s not a female trainer thing. That’s an inexperienced trainer thing. Yes we’re in the service industry… But what’s worse: disagreeing for 5 seconds, or potentially injuring your client?
P.s. thanks for the feedback!
Hmm. I’d have to say injuring the client is worse…
this was an interesting read. not too much i can agree with though….and i don’t have the time this week to spend on a lengthy response. i appreciate kyle, right off the top of the comments, indicating that sexism has a huge part to play in the issues female trainers face. you didn’t address this at all jon, or recognize that it underlies some of the points you make. a deeper analysis is surely needed.
our society needs to change. the world needs to change.
thanks for provoking us though. sure wish i had more time.
When you do have more time I’d love to hear your thoughts. My goal was to spark conversation so thanks for recognizing that.
One more point! You mention that you don’t think a female trainer would be a good fit for a male trying to gain mass. Maybe that’s true, but just because I’ve never had an ankle injury doesn’t mean I don’t know how to train someone that has. I know how to train someone for hypertrophy because I’ve researched it and practiced it with clients.
Again.. very true. How many women do you know that have research mass gain thoroughly enough to call themselves an expert in it?
Some of this article is depressing…..I can’t say I agree or disagree with much of it…..but here are my thoughts if anybody is bored enough at work to read them.
The sexification of a female trainer is partially true, but I think there is an attitude that “if she didn’t want me checking her out, she shouldn’t be wearing such a tight tank top,” or shorts, or whatever. Just because I wear short shorts doesn’t mean I want that old man over there gaping at me. For example…..
I think there are a ton of strong female trainers out there…..my gym has four IFBB pros, none of them men, but who do you think is the busiest trainer?
I’ve rarely seen a male-trainer in as good a shape as female trainers, but, the first thing I hear guys say about her isn’t her technique or her results–it is always, always, always, “well, she’s got a great body.” Why are men not held to this standard, as well?
^^The above requires an attitude shift in ALL gym go-ers, not just men, not just women, but everyone. We are probably all guilty of applying double standards, whether intentional or not, whether we realize it or not.
The one thing I have to disagree with you about is that female trainers might not know how to help a man gain size. Regardless of experience, there are books out there, studies, etc., that provide an education on how to achieve such things. I might also argue that gaining size will have a lot to do with nutrition, something I think personal trainers should not discuss with clients unless they have the education to do so (Shape, Muscle RX, etc., do not provide an education, as I am sure you would agree). In addition, some lifts (squats and deadlift variations for example), should remain staples in a person’s program, there’s no man vs. woman issue, there, regardless of whether a client’s goal is to gain size or lose fat or whatever.
Tra la la, la la……
Good point. Not to mention there is a small subset of women out there, myself included, who do gain muscle easily and have the knowledge to train men.
Thanks for your thoughts. I mentioned above that I agree a female can research mass gain thoroughly and become an expert in it but most haven’t. That’s all.
You’re right that the shift has to start from the bottom up. So how do we go about this.
I had an incident the other day in the gym when a guy signed up for training. He specifically asked for a man because he had a bad experience with a female trainer. I feel if the role was reversed and he had a bad experience with a male trainer, he would not specifically ask for a female. I think he associated his bad experience with gender rather than with the trainer herself.
I think that many women are forging the path for female’s in the strength industry (many of them mentioned in this article). We just have to keep pushing ahead and continue to make our mark. We will always have that divide, where other women may glance over at a strong, fit woman strength training and feel she is an elitist. But then there are those women who glance back and want to be capable of doing the same thing.
I don’t think we will ever see equality in the field. But there is a huge door opening for women, and a rush of us are running right through.
Yep. And you’re definitely one of them. I expect your upcoming book “Strong Curves” to make a great impact!
I’ve only worked alongside other trainers twice in my career and just so happen to be surrounded by female trainers. Kind of strange (not typical). Otherwise I have always been self employed. My observation has been that most females in this industry are Group X instructors instead of 1 on 1 trainers. I rarely see men as Group X instructors…is this a problem?
In my career a very large majority of my clients have been female. (I currently only train 3 males but as of 2 weeks ago I only had 1 male client.) I’m not sure why this is. I have come against the fear women have of lifting weights more times than I can count. My question is, why are women afraid of lifting weights? Fear of becoming bulky, right? As in Jon’s example in his blog where the potential female client didn’t want to be as bulky as the female trainer she met with. I even had a lady tell me she couldn’t use the Stairmaster any more because her jeans got too tight on her thighs from her legs getting too bulky after just 3 workouts! Where is this fear of becoming bulky coming from? Is it because the runway models are disgustingly skinny (just my opinion) or because they see a picture of a female who’s on some serious amounts of steroids? I believe the root of it is they are afraid of the judgement they will receive from others. Just the same as being overweight.
And as far as women getting male clients who are with them just because the trainer is hot…I know some dudes that have done this. It’s a problem for sure if it’s not handled properly. BUT…has this not happened to any of you male trainers? I know it’s happened to me and I’m not even that good looking (I”m like a 7). I know of other male trainers that it’s happened to too. So, it goes both ways but hasn’t stopped males from dominating this industry. Maybe it’s just supposed to be that way? I’m not saying it is but simply suggesting that it’s probably no different than other occupations such as welding, mechanics, construction, etc. Is it really a problem that it’s male dominated? Just asking. Women make up the majority of their fare share of occupations too. Is that a problem?
Funny that the majority of group X instructors I see are male. I actually always thought that was a bit different than the norm.
The issue of women not wanting to get bulky is a legitimate one. Not sure how to handle it. From comparing my successes to my failures I’ve seen positive role models as being the best way to convince them they won’t get bulky.
Maybe a woman can jump in on this thread???
In the gyms (and in their online presences) female trainers aren’t as aggressively selling, marketing, and tooting their own horns. Male trainers at the gyms I frequent make rounds and talk to people and start to sow the seeds that might lead to a new client, but most of the females don’t.
I’ve been to several Perform Better seminars, and know some of the presenters. The females were awesome, but far more humble and concerned about how their everyday actions help their personal clients. Now that they have a bigger audience, they do see that they are teaching the teachers,but they really do seem to be more about their successful careers leading to helping more people and their results being what got them to the stage at the Seminar.
Not that guys can’t be like this, too.
Interesting thoughts. I don’t really know how to answer as I’ve never had that observation. I’ll look out for it next time.
Thanks
” Most women know they should lift weights, the problem is that they’re scared of it. ”
My favorite quote of the article. Based on your article about posting the wrong type of info online, you could make a whole new article out of that combined with the female fear of weights. Good post, Jon!
I could but I’d rather a really smart female write it… Any Takers?
women don’t fear weights, they fear what it will do to them. They see what happens to men who uses weights, and automatically thing they’re going to look the same way. I am not a trainer, but I’m looking into the idea, but I have been weight training since I was 18 am am 42 and four children later I do not look like a man. I know that for 80 % of the women out they,re muscles will never equal the development of a man due to genetics. When women realize that they can do weights to strengthen bone and muscle and never really have to change their look I truly believe that more women will use weights. As for women trainers, people hire you for your knowledge and that ability to help a person fulfil their personal wishes, not for what you can physically do for them. Help them reach their goals not yours. Then it doesn’t matter if your training an man or women.
I am literally just beginning my search for my first personal training job, so this article has left me feeling somewhat terrified! I have so many thoughts about what you’ve written, Jon, so excuse me if my reply is all over the place.
The reason I became a PT was mainly to help other women. I used to be one of those cardio bunnies that was scared of training like a man and getting bulky. After doing my research, I ‘saw the light’ and started lifting as hard and heavy as I could. I’m lucky that I had a fantastic coach from the get-go, who seriously changed my life and I don’t know where I would be without him.
My goal is to find those women who are also perhaps curious, or scared, of lifting weights and teach them the science behind it. I have only dealt with a handful of clients so far, but I have managed to convince each one to move away from the dreaded skinny fat ideal – perhaps I’m just a good talker! I have shown these women GGS videos, and it has inspired them to lift weights. Sure, most of the women who follow the GGS movement are already female lifters, but how do you promote such a movement to a likely sceptical audience?
To be honest, I haven’t really thought about training men too much and I’ve never thought it would be a problem. I already receive a lot of sexist comments from guys in the gym about how hot I am, etc, but there’s no way I’m going to tolerate the same crap from paying clients. I’m certainly not going to flirt with my clients to keep getting paid – I’d like to think my PT skills are enough. While I haven’t done any photoshoots yet, I can almost promise you that I will be in the future. Do I think taking sexy photos of myself diminishes my credibility as a trainer? Absolutely not.
I also disagreed with your statement that female trainers cannot adequately train bodybuilders/men trying to bulk up. I’m training for a figure competition, which is no easy task, and I regularly train with my husband. He lifts some fairly decent numbers – above and beyond what I can – and I spot him for everything. He has the same attitude as your Facebook commenter above: I’m not there to lift the weight and stroke his ego. If he can’t lift the weight on his own, he shouldn’t be lifting that heavy. I’m there to get over the sticking point, and provide the smallest assist.
My husband currently weighs 97 kilograms, and we’re trying to get him up to 105kgs. I have been writing his diet and workout programs for some time (I know you believe you shouldn’t train family, but that’s another point I disagree with you about!), and he has already gained 14 kilograms of size with my help. I have focused on building muscle myself, but I sure as hell haven’t intentionally tried to stack on 22kgs! With a commitment to educating yourself about what is involved in a specific goal, I think trainers can do anything if they are intelligent.
Thank you for not being afraid to post this article. It’s important that issues like this and brought to light, and the discussion that it has provoked is awesome. I’ve been thinking all day about this and can’t wait to get out there and see what the industry is like for myself!
Great thoughts Tara, thanks for including them.
I don’t know if I’m right with my post. Maybe I’m not. I felt it important to start a conversation and see what others thought about the issue. In writing this post I knew it would be controversial but still decided to post it because I really wanted to see what others thought.
Great you’re helping your husband and don’t be scared about entering the industry. With your passion and dedication you won’t have any issues.
Jon, While you bring up many great points in your article, I think you are missing something very obvious that has yet to be discussed. Look at every profession and tell me one where women consistently proliferate into the top 10%. I honestly can’t think of any. Even in professions like hairstyling, which is dominated by women, men rank at the top. The glass ceiling is as persistent in our field as it is in any other. I am not sure why. Is it because women lack the confidence to achieve? Is it because our careers stall out and never fully regain momentum upon having children? Is it because we lack sufficient female role models? I think yes to all, and I’m sure there are many other reasons specific to our field as well. But I think it is a much larger problem than “Women are afraid to/don’t want to/can’t lift heavy.” That chorus is getting a little old and it isn’t really working.
Kellie is spot on in saying that the women who want it are going after it. As a woman and a mother trying to get back in the game professionally while still balancing everything, I find that on both ends it’s all about modeling. I learn to be a better trainer by following the examples of other successful, confident mom trainers and coaches like Cassandra, Kellie, Neghar, and Julia. And I think our challenge as female trainers is to model healthy examples to our current and would be clients similarly. Without pretension and without judgement. And on our own terms. Like you said in a recent post, it’s all about connecting on a “personal” level with people. Some people will respond and some won’t. Spend less time worrying about who has it harder and get out there and do something.
So very true Jill. Good point about other industries — I really only philosophize about personal training. Perhaps I over think it and under think other things.
I love the fact that there are such smart women going after it right now and I want them to succeed. I was/am afraid that male trainers aren’t willing to speak about what they actually think and resort to back-padding which doesn’t help anybody. Hence the reason for this article.
I want them all to really succeed so felt it was my obligation to write what I saw.
Thanks for the reply Jon! For the record, I think you are great and truly a breath of fresh air! Keep up the great work : )
Thanks Jill!
Jill, I think the issue of women not being much in the top tiers of various industries certainly has a lot to do with sexism, but it also has to do with time in the profession, which women get less of because they take time off to have and care for children.
A while back I saw a graph of people’s participation rates in full-time and part-time work from 15 to 80 or so. Basically, both men and women worked mostly part-time 15-21, then everyone started working full-time. The men kept working full-time until 55 or so when part-time work started to dominate again, basically they’d retired.
The women’s full-time work started turning into part-time work from 25 to about 40, then went back to full-time, and then faded off into part-time around 55 like the men. Basically the women had children, and did less paid work to care for them.
This gives women less time in a profession, which not only means less experience, but probably more importantly less chance to meet the right people who can promote them into management positions, or support them by throwing a lot of clients at them, etc. At a lot of companies and organisations, who you have coffee or smoke with, who you meet at conferences and regional meetings, is far more important than your actual competence. But if you just come in for 10-30hr a week, do your job and go home, you simply won’t meet these people and get these opportunities. The person who’s there 40-60hr a week will get those opportunities, though.
Now, this does not have to be so. My wife and I had our first child last year, currently she’s working part-time and I am as well, while both of us are parents part-time. This works very well, but not everyone’s job will allow this. Once you have a full-time job you can often turn it into a part-time one using being a parent as your reason, but you’re then stuck in that position because you won’t get a part-time job straight-up at a new place. And part-timers are rarely promoted.
Obviously taking time away from paid work is not entirely women’s choice, as not many women have men who’ll make their jobs part-time to be fathers at home. But because of mortgages and things like that, often at least one of the two parents is going to have to do paid work full-time, which reduces the hours the other one can work. If you have kids, one or both of you will be sacrificing your career for it.
Just today an opportunity has come up for me to go for a junior manager’s position in a new gym, “gym floor supervisor.” This would be full-time, and would be valuable experience for future promotions, or opening my own gym, etc. But it’d mean less time with my boy. But we’re looking at getting a bigger place, and… so on.
I can be a top trainer, or a top father. Not both. Most women, it seems, choose to be top mothers, while their husbands choose to be top of whatever their profession is. The choice is not entirely free as society influences us, but…
I agree with so much that people have said in the comments, so here is just the tidbit that applies to me-
As to men looking to gain mass not being a good match for female trainers/females not being good spotters for heavy lifters:
I’m a female trainer, and my best clients are men going for muscle mass gains.Not because of sex appeal, and not because I’m super bulky (5’8″, 155 lbs,28 inch waist). It’s because I’ve built my reputation as a good lifter who trains for muscle gain and fat loss.It’s to a point now where men (and women) looking to gain muscle are seeking me out in my area. Originally, men would sometimes mistakenly think I can’t spot them safely. But for the most part, I’m more than strong enough, even though I have had clients benching well over 300 lbs. Size has little to do with strength. Having said that, All trainers should respect their limits and not do anything with a client where they can’t safely handle the situation. And I agree not nearly enough women train the way I do, and there are probably a lot of female trainers who could not currently train the kind of clients I train, but it doesn’t mean it can’t be done at all.
as to the points about being objectified, I do have a lot of men disrespect me in one way or another in gyms, bust most of them only do it once. Once they realize that I take myself seriously as a fitness professional, it honestly helps their attitude. I wear a lot of girly workout clothes, because I am proud of my work and like to look good, and I like to be able to see my muscles when I’m working them. But there is a difference between looking good and fit and attractive, and looking like you are there to sell yourself with sex. The few men who persist in being gawkers,flirters, or whatever…well, I just try to have an intelligent conversation with them about fitness. And a lot of times, this changes the gawking into more of …shall we say admiration? And then sometimes…a new gym buddy is made!
Nice Heather! Great you’ve built a reputation on helping men put on weight. I knew somebody out there would comment saying that they’ve achieved this successful. That’s awesome!
I have no issue with wanting to feel sexy or beautiful. I did however want to bring to the forefront a conversation I’ve had with a couple different women who felt pressured to pose or display themselves in ways they weren’t comfortable with.
Fantastic article and due the subject matter your are forgiven for your choice of the top image.
I love reading your articles and insight on the Personal Fitness industry. This particular review hit home as I’ve been contemplating the industry and my future within it during the last few weeks.
The challenges you have mentioned I agree with completely. This is not to dismiss the progress women have made thus far during the last several years – I remember my Mom saying while she was growing up it was improper for women to even sweat. We have come a long way, but many strides are left to achieve. I am happy with GGS is creating a voice for heavy lifting but I concur that their method limits who they target. Where the need is to bring attention to women who otherwise generally have no clue about the ‘abilities’ to lift heavy.
This article couldn’t come at a better time. I’ve decided to become a Personal Training because I enjoy coaching, teaching and helping people improve their health and performance. And my training style (like one earlier poster) is to train like an athlete, aspire to do better and be better and allow people to feel out their own bodies, a feeling of controlled freedom and elevation.
However my style of training is not the mainstream thinking of the industry as a whole or even worst not even part of most commercial gyms (where I am now). For all the points you have mentioned, I am currently debating/deliberating my own future as a Female Personal Trainer to determine if/how I can develop a path that works for me.
Here’s my scenario that emphasis the points you mentioned (hence the irony in timing of your article);
. The ratio from my observation (day, evenings and some saturdays), 98% cardio bunnies/group exercise vs a mere 2% of possible ‘perform like an athlete’ mentality from a pool of about maybe 250-300 member a day.
I am currently working part time at a women’s only commercial fitness facility – yes this a real tester to the points above
Point 1: Cardio bunnies (also known in commercial industry as cardio theatre)
They live on treadmill, elliptical, or bike while focus is on watching TV. Assisted weight machines exist but 95% of the time they are empty. Nothing against the cardio however that is all most women ever do.
Point 2: Physical Discrepancy; Not an issue at my location- As members barely use the assisted machines, as it is. However I do agree that it can be an issue. I personally wouldn’t feel comfortable training someone who wants to become a power lifter if I knew I couldn’t do so safely. 1) Not my expertise nor 2) not an interest of mine. So I think things should be reviewed wisely and realistically.
Point 3: Perception, expectation, and ridicule:
It’s still a male dominated industry, women are not seen as serious trainers (sadly due to some of the examples you illustrated), but also the industry as whole. If you think about it most sports objectify woman to some degree. Ex. Men can wear shorts in most sports, while women are place in bikinis/heels etc. Volley ball, fitness competitions etc. (Some exceptions basketball, soccer).
In addition the question also is what type of trainer does your client expect? Often (disappointment) female Personal Trainers are known as rent a buddy – just get the sale. Not a PT to get the client into better shape or health but person to vent, and complain to. Where it becomes the norm to say ‘I can put up with her whining – as long as she keeps renewing’. Although I will not take away anyone doing what they need to (legally of course) in order to make a living, my question is when does doing anything start to diminish the profession?
Point 4: Ideal body image??
Most women in general still measure their body image against what is seen on TV or on the cover of Fitness magazines (irony again). More education is required to change this mindset, however sex/sexy images sells. Women from my experience (to date) do not see muscle (even a little) as sexy, or attractive (unless it’s a celebrity picture). Can this be view point be changed? – The ongoing challenge.
Point 5: Pressure to sexify their image:
Yes, look sexy – to translate wear fit forming clothing, show off ‘assets’, look attractive – translate nice hair, makeup etc. Essentially promoting the same stereotype we are working hard to shift from. There is a difference between looking a ‘part’ VS feeling/looking well presented.
To Date:
What I have done and continue to do is educated women on the benefits of lifting weights. Trying to either break the fear associated to it or the doubt that can actually do it.
Results: Overall unsuccessful, as the problems are further rooted into believes of gender limits, culture, and overall mindset. Including the very limited ‘physical’ exposure of the possibilities. Most commercial gyms (particularly if a women’s gym) have placed limits (intentionally or not) on what women can have in the facility in regard to equipment and environment. It really a funny (unfortunate) thing to see how different the perception and setup is (Women’s VS Co-Ed) which sadly supports the problem.
Solutions: I am open to ideas, but I feel a few things need to surface;
1) More private gyms supporting the belief of health and fitness regardless of gender in order for more female personal trainers to harness their skills and really teach woman true potential and hopefully raise the demand for more qualified trainers. An avenue I believe I need to shift towards, outside of the commercial environment.
2) Female Trainer Forum or association or club tailored to a prescribe PT of similar styles where PTs can meet/discuss ideas, thoughts or even issues related to the industry.
3) Improved marketing/advertising strategies to raise awareness of women Personal Trainers.
My apologies for the long post (or rant), like I said this article really hit home.
Thank you for your hard work.
Thank you so much for posting this. I really enjoyed reading it and getting your point of view.
I wanted a male perspective on the issues to be raised but realize that I might not have been 100% accurate. This was a concession I was willing to make so that people like you would make yourself heard. So thank you!
i definitely think it will take time for GGS to really break into the mainstream. i think they knew that at first they would attract people who already lift weights… so now, they need to get to those cardio bunnies!!
personally, i’ve done free workshops, given out tons of free advice and free sessions and got women started on the right path, but they always say… “lifting big isn’t for me… i just want to tone… ” is it our jobs as trainers to change that mind set?? absolutely. but it won’t happen over night. I have a gal who watches me train and has begun to start randomly doing some heavier lifting, but she even admitted that her brain keeps wanting to come back to “toning and cardio”… it’s a tough “habit” for them to break.
and as a society, the majority of men aren’t going to want a female personal trainer. what 36 year old overweight dude is going to want to be seen with a girl spotting him and telling him what to do?? maybe some, but not many. and the reality is that there are still a lot of female trainers who are still pushing the “light weight, high reps” thing… many trainers who got involved later in life (40′s and 50′s) and love fitness and helping people… but their knowledge of physiology, anatomy, kinesiology, etc is limited.
Great. Keep being the example. When the girl (and others) are ready it’s nice to have role models in place for them to look up to.
I started back in 1997 as a Personal Trainer. I started out at the local Y and then to a studio and eventually my own place. Because of a chronic shoulder injury I switched over to yoga, and most of my clients followed suit. I can tell you though that I never had an issue with training men. However, since the beginning, I have leaned toward corrective exercise. So I didn’t deal too often with the spotting issue. When I had to spot someone with an unusually heavy load, I wasn’t afraid to ask someone to help me out. With regard to making PT a career – at the time, my children were young, so I had my own place, but appointments tailored to meet my family’s needs first. Now that my “baby” is going off to college in September, I am ramping up to get my business started again. While I’ve been teaching yoga all these years, I let my NASM certification lapse. So here I am, studying to get re-certified and then deciding exactly what niche I want to get into. That’s not to say that I haven’t been involved in the industry. I read, attend seminars & workshops, practice daily what I preach to my students. In fact I put the question out to the beginner forum on Strength Coach, whether it was worth getting re-certified and if so, with whom, given all the years of experience. Some responses were along the lines of just get specialized in an area, some said maybe, some said no one’s asked about their certification. My gut told me to get re-certified, because even if people don’t know what the initials mean, in their subliminal minds they think it means something. Most likely I’ll stay in the corrective exercise realm incorporating both weight training with yoga, but how do I acquire more clients? My studio is in my home – it’s a great space.
Lastly, I would disagree with jj. That’s quite a generalization regarding trainers entering the industry in their 40′s & 50″s. I’m going to be 50 in September and I look and feel damn good. Better than I was in 1997. Why? Because as stated earlier, I do study, keep up to date, practice. I would love the challenge of the 36 year old overweight dude. I have men in their 40′s to late 70′s doing strong yoga practices incorporating training principles that make them pour sweat onto their mats. Please don’t generalize – that shows a lack of education.
I think there’s a massive business opportunity for trainers in their 40s, 50s, and even 60s as more and more clientetele are reaching that age.
Great post, Jon! Whether or not we all agree with all of your points is irrelevant, because we can all agree that being a female trainer presents greater chalenges. However, I see this as an advantage-a chance to be a trailblazer!
As a founding member of GGS, I can tell you that it is our intention to reach out to women who are not already in the strength circle, and we are working diligently to develop strategies and programs to do so. While we are still in our infancy, we are discussing different ways to spread the message to the masses. Please bear with us!
You know I’m with the whole way Neghar. I’ve been an avid supporter of GGS since the beginning. I guess the main reason for this article was to voice my opinion and open up a discussion that your group may not hear all the time.
From my perspective the only talk towards GGS is positive because it’s such a strong group of women and anything negative receives close to 100 comments on their blog… The problem from my perspective was that it’s hard for you all to decide on next steps or where to position yourselves and exert your influence if you don’t fully understand the situation from every angle.
I hope that makes sense. Know I’m an huge supporter and will always be. I think you’ve all given women a voice and the movement is getting strong. The more role models the better. I’m just excited to see you take over forums like Perform Better soon.
Hi Jon. Although I was not thrilled to read some of your points initially, after some thought I have to say thank you for making me think. Here are some of my thoughts. Please forgive me if they are not as articulate as some of the other responses:
1) I believe sexism to be a huge part of the problem. I also believe that men should take responsibility for poor behaviour towards females in the gym environment, and in general. There is a reason why intimidation is one of the main reasons women fail to go to the weights areas. Men behave poorly! Even I still get intimidated by some men in the gym and I will never train a male client on my own! Is this my fault that I cannot trust men to behave or because I wear tight pants? NO, it is men have given themselves a bad reputation for poor behaviour with women. Not all men of course, but women are always being wary because it’s drilled into us growing up.
2) Just as there are poor male gym-rats, there are poor male trainers. The assumption is that men are naturally suited to lifting weights, yet if you look around most gym weight rooms, you will see poor form left right and centre. Just because he is male, and in the weights area, does not mean he knows what he is doing. Likewise a male trainer is not better because he is naturally stronger than a female. This may me true, but this does not make him a better spotter or trainer, as several other comments said too.
Again the problem is society associating weights with men and cardio with women. Naturally, male trainers do better because of these established myths. Maybe men simply are too embarrassed/proud to be trained by a girl??
Another problem I see is that SOME male trainers often pander to these myths and take their female clients to the light weights and cardio machines, when instead they should be helping them understand the importance of strength training. Men also go the easy route!
As for female trainers – I do agree that some will fall into an easier path (by following expectations already laid), however, GGS, other groups and blogs provide much needed support and inspirations for these trainers. Remember that the internet is a huge learning resource for all trainers, so we should use it to spread good teachings to our fellow professionals. I know it helps me as a trainer to have evidence to support my teachings “on the ground”. It also helps me to have a great group of girls to ask about such issues.
3) GGS – Are we really only preaching to the choir? Yes, I agree many people who follow GGS are already in the fitness circle, because much of the support we got starting up was through our friends in the field. However, as I said, many of our followers are also female trainers and female clients. Female trainers who, according to your points, need all the help they can get to break free of all the hurdles they face. The trainer now has more help in believing she can make a difference. And the female client has a new goal or a more defined goal to ask her trainer to help with.
I also know of many women and men who are inspired enough to go and buy their first Kettlebell because they feel part of a community which gives them motivation and empowerment. Remember there are many readers and silent followers who are awaiting that final nudge – these people stand to gain so much from Girls Gone Strong and other groups. For example, my friends and family are more curious about what I do because of my blog and GGS. My whole family now do my Beginner Workouts at home. My mum speaks to her friends about GGS and they are all asking more questions now because of it. I also have local trainers asking me more about what I do and how they can do more … There is plenty of work happening above ground … but there is always room for improvement
4) What I want to ask is: What are any of us, in the fitness circle, doing to preach to more than just the choir?
To be fair to you Jon, while I know there is a lot happening, I do agree with your points that more above ground work needs to be seen, for Females everywhere to hear our message. Female trainers, who follow groups like GGS, will hopefully be inspired to do their bit for the movement. But, like anything that needs to become mainstream, you either sex it up, market the shit out of it, or rely on good, old-fashioned word of mouth. One takes a lot longer to achieve sometimes, but it does not dilute or oversell in the process!
I also agree that more needs to be done to reach out to more beginners and dispel the myths that we once believed too. This is something we should all strive to achieve
What I really like about your post is that it sparks deep thought and evaluation of things; not just within female trainers and GGS, but hopefully throughout the wider fitness community. I can guarantee there is a lot more everyone can be doing to break down old-fashioned social stereotypes of men and women, and start uniting professionals in an effort to reach the mainstream.
Basically we all need to know our audiences and keep reaching further.
Kind Regards
Marianne
Thanks so much for the long and intelligent response Marianne. I’ve heard back from most members of GGS now concerning this article and have been happy with the response. Not happy because they agree with me, quite the opposite, I didn’t expect you to agree with me entirely and I knew I wasn’t seeing the situation from all angles (can you blame me? I don’t know much about the inner workings of GGS).
I’ve been happy because all of your responses have showed a deep respect for your following and love/desire to help them as much as possible. You all seem to really understand who they are and what they need and you’re providing that voice.
I’ve also been happy that you’ve all been responsive to feedback. I can only assume that on first read-through of my article at least a couple of you were annoyed. Yet you took time to think critically about my points and responded to them.
My goal with this article was not to be critical and definitely was not to be sexist. Instead it was to let my readers and GGS know my opinion from my vantage point. I don’t see the feedback you’re getting. From what I can see you have a ton of back-padding and congratulating each others successes (which is great!) but haven’t mobilized beyond that realm.
I wanted to share the problem from my view and I felt I had a responsibility to be brutally honest. I never claim to be right (in fact I think I mention a couple different times that I hope I’m wrong). Instead I wanted to spark conversation and possibly action among those who have risen to influential levels among the female weightlifting community.
“I worry that these groups aren’t empowering women that really need it, instead they’re working to give women who already lift a voice. This movement and ones like it currently act as a way for women who look good and lift heavy weights to celebrate their achievements with each other.”
I definitely disagree with this point, especially in reference to GGS. We receive emails weekly (through GGS and our individual sites) from women who say that because of us, they stopped being “cardio queens” and started lifting weights. Sure, women who already lift may be participating more, but they are not the only people who “Like” us on Facebook or benefit from our efforts.
And finally, I simply think Personal Training is a male dominated field, and there aren’t any special reasons for it. It is what it is. Some fields are dominated by women, like Physical Therapy. My friend graduated from a DPT program a couple of years ago, and over 80% of the class was women. Is there some underlying reason for this? I don’t think so. It’s just a female dominant field (at least at that school).
I answered in a good amount of detail to Marianne above so won’t repeat myself too much here Nia but what I will say is that the article was written from my vantage point. I’ve been following your crew for a while and am an avid supporter. I haven’t seen many of these emails or testimonials and I haven’t read any of the stories. I’m not surprised they exist as you’re all doing great work but it’s definitely not in the forefront of your movement right now.
Perhaps I over think things (it’s a bit of a problem) but I really do believe that there are underlying reasons why personal training is male dominated. There are also underlying reasons why DPT is a women dominated field. The question is whether or not it’s an issue. Superficially I don’t think i’ts a problem being male dominated. The problem in my eyes stems from women not being comfortable in the weight room and not being taken seriously.
Some good points, but some are just trainer dependent not sex dependent. I think in the end of the day it comes down to education, school or otherwise which translates into confidence. I have seen both male and female trainers lack confidence and fail.
Most gyms have more clientele that are into injury prevention than getting ginormous (which will be male dominated for obvious but invalid reasons).
I think more and more ladies will be taking the stage with a strong move towards corrective/injury preventative exercise.
Keep up the good work mang.
Very good points mang.
I commented to this effect on the FB post but since John asked for comments I’ll add here.
I think the article raises some valid points worth consideration. I won’t claim to speak for female trainers as being weaker or any of that because, frankly, that strikes me as a sexist argument. I rarely have clients do any move that needs spotting, through a combo of exercise choices and the way I prescribe loading, so the spotter thing is a non-starter as I see it. If you want to relate that to me being weak or a function of my gender, so be it.
There may be something more valid to the point about being able to suss out needs, but again, that need not be the case; I think the majority of my clients over the years have been female, and I’m glad for that because I’ve picked up a lot of perspective that I wouldn’t otherwise have. I think that experiencing a thing is not a prerequisite for being good at understanding it, and training individuals with individual needs is a skill-set that can be learned.
Although I’ve been more muted about it in recent years I still have a lot of contempt for the personal training industry, and gender is one factor which is entirely irrelevant to that. A comment or two on this post has reinforced some of the things that get under my skin — the belief that “I got there, therefore I know how to get you there”, the style-over-substance mania of abs and “great bodies” (whatever those may be) serving as a proxy for actual competence, and the lack of competence on the part of male and female genders alike when it comes to doing the job.
If you can get the job done, nothing else matters, and if there’s any real argument on that point we can have the discussion about genetic variance and what degree your training and diet really can alter appearance relative to that. Let it suffice to say that I’d rather have an educated and insightful but mediocre-looking coach, who had to think and really work hard to make what changes he or she has made, rather than an ab-model who, while doubtlessly working hard and sacrificing, has reached a top percentile thanks to factors which are statistically distributed across populations and outside the individual’s control.
Unfortunately that disconnect between capability and appearance seems to run deep in this field, luck aside, and I’m not sure that’s anywhere close to being resolved. The latent (or not) sexism is, if not a symptom of that, certainly resonant with it.
I’m glad to see movements like GGS out there, as I’ve been pushing that “get strong” avenue to women for years. I think that the movement itself is a good thing, but I do worry at times that it paints an elitist image. I don’t mean “elitist” in the worst-possible sense so let me clarify: it’s more to do with what John has written about — and a subject I’ve become fond of — in which “just telling them” is not sufficient to drive behavior change. Yes, it’s great to inspire and motivate and on that front I have no argument; keep doing your thing and chipping away at the stereotypes. I’m just not sure that it’s sufficient to span the gap between Here and There on a large scale, but there’s no harm in making the attempt, either. I just have reservations that putting out any sort of “hardcore” vibe, irrespective of gender, might push off as many as it recruits. Not everyone responds to that approach, nor the appearance of — again speaking interpretation rather than intention — a clique which might exclude rather than strive to include.
But, in saying that, I’m only tossing it out as one possibility. I have no idea what the actual rate of inspiration or “gee that looks like a group that wouldn’t have me” might be, and it’d be presumptuous to assume I did, so in summary: keep up what you’re doing, but let’s also be mindful to reaching out and connecting at the same time.
After reading over my post again and again as I go through these comments I realize that the spotting argument did come out sexist. This wasn’t the intent but I can see how it was taken that way. I guess my argument was meant to be that clients have come to expect hardcore spotting. This is a problem but we all know that it’s sometimes tough to convince a cient that you’re right and the majority of trainers are wrong in 2-3 initial sessions when they decide to sign up for the long term.
If a trainer already has a reputation this is different. The same goes with appearance as I wrote about in an earlier post. I feel that appearance matters for new trainers but not as much with trainers who have a reputation. The whole “I look this way and I can get you to look this way” mentality is ass-backwards. I know that and so so you. That doesn’t mean a client can be convinced against the mentality in 3 sessions.
Jon, just wanted to add that I wasn’t singling you out as being sexist with what I wrote. I think you’re presenting a touchy subject about as carefully as it can be touched, and I wasn’t trying to say that *you* were being sexist, but more making the point that people thinking that way might be (intentionally or not). You don’t seem to be putting on a hard line as much as putting it out there that it happens — and it does, so you’re right to do so — but I think we all know that there are plenty of macho posturing types out there that would act just that way and without apology.
Dude I never thought that for a second. I realize that how I wrote the article may have come off the wrong way. As you identified, i was careful in writing the post but the idea was to show my view and encourage some conversation which seems to have worked.
Hi Jon,
I read this article a few days ago and every time I tried to post a comment, it turn out to be a 6 page rant. I am cutting it short by saying this was a great article. I wish I, or another woman wrote it, because I do agree with much of what you said. Unfortunately, I think sex has much to do with it. On one hand with how men perceive women, and also with how women perceive themselves and each other.
I have had to deal with a lot of sexist attitude not only by men but by other women which is really upsetting. Working in big box gyms has not been very pleasant. That is one of the reasons why I decided to open a facility with my partner, so that I can help create an environment where the focus is placed on an individual’s goals and needs, and where there is no judgement.
As for the GGS movement, I have been following them and I think it is a great. They are an inspiration for me. I am looking forward to seeing it grow and impact women’s lives. But I do agree, on the outside looking in, it can be intimidating for women who are not there yet. It is hard for women who have never touched a weight in their lives (although they do lift heavy groceries and pick up their 50 lb toddlers all the time) to connect with these beautiful, strong women.
I will leave this here for now and say thank you for an insightful article and for raising issues & questions that will help trainers, men and women, continue to grow.
Thanks Maribel. I actually thought of you partially when i wrote this article as one who opened your own club due to frustration with the others you worked in.
I think groups like GGS are fantastic and I know a lot is going on behind the scenes. Part of the reason of my article was to give them what I see from my vantage point. I figure if I think this way others surely do.
All of my feelings have already been touched on by previous commenters, especially the GGS. But in the future, can you please use female trainer? Your use of the terms women trainers and women personal trainers is kind of grating and for some reason, I find it slightly insulting.
I’ll try to remember and apologize if you took that are disrespectful. It wasn’t my intention at all. Why is it that you prefer female to women?
I know it’s completely unintended, but it sounds like you’re talking down to us. You’ll notice that most of the females that commented, and most of the males too for that matter, used “female trainer”. We generally don’t say women bodybuilders, or women police officers, or women soldiers, etc. It’s female. Female, for whatever reason, just sounds more respectful and less sexist.
Interesting. I’ll keep it in mind next time. Thanks
I feel the opposite, Krista. “Female” or “male” always sounded to me like they referred to animals, not people.
I also don’t like “girls” when referring to adults. It’s a diminutive. I like the saying, “girls don’t lift heavy – but women do.”
Great article and I agree with most of what you said. I am not a trainer but I have not personally seen a good female trainer as well. One of the main reasons why it’s hard for women personal trainers to break into the market as easily as men is what you said above; most men would not want to hire a female PT. And there aren’t many women lifting heavy. I do believe that women should lift heavy, for all the great benefits. Being a female lifter, I have seen myself transform since I started lifting seriously. However, I have realized that most women actually don’t enjoy lifting. And I have come up with this conclusion after introducing dozens of my female friends to weight lifting. I would say that only 5% stuck with it. Their contention being: It is not feminine, it is not fun, it is not for them. I used to disagree quite a bit with them but now I see their point, even though from my perspective it is completely the opposite – I work as a software engineer 10 hours a day and then go to the gym to lift heavy. My days are practically geared towards that trip to the gym, that’s how much “it is for me” and lifting has made me look a lot more feminine than anything else, if you know what I mean
But most of my friends would rather look thin than strong and do hours of cardio and honestly, that makes them happy. So I don’t argue with them anymore. They know the benefits, they know it won’t make them bulky and most of all they have seen me transform in 2 years and yet they choose to do something else because it fits their lifestyles and goals more. I used to think that it’s a matter of ignorance. But my personal experience has proved to me that it’s a completely different matter; a matter of preferences and personal choices. It’s just not something every woman can enjoy.
To cut it short, as long as more women don’t start training, female personal trainers would be hard pressed to find more footing and I don’t see more women enjoying lifting anytime soon
Hi Jon,
Maybe the next post should be how female trainers can make inroads into the male dominated industry Jon. There might be a few female trainers who might have some excellent suggestions.Will be good post to balance this one (:-
I always have to hire couple of female personal trainers because some girls are comfortable working with a female trainer and usually request a female trainer. And some wrongly assume that a buffed up guy trainer will make them buff too.
I think there is a flip side to it.Since there are less female trainers,there is less competition for the female trainers out there.So maybe it is good for them.
And someone said in the comment, its just a male dominated field, It is just like the Psychology majors.The majority will be females. Is it harder for men to be a psychologist? Or is because they just don’t want to be one? I guess it is similar to our situation here.
I’ll think of getting a post together like that Anoop. That’s a great idea!
I can tell you why after being in this business 20+ years and lifting for 32 – It’s gender descrimination/perception pure and simple. Remember the old saying that a woman has to work twice as hard to get paid half as much? I am the ONLY IFBB pro Bodybuilder in my area. I am a NPC Cal winner, AAU America, NPC USA, NPC Nationals, IFBB Universe, IFBB Gold’s Gym Nationals, IFBB Tournament of Champions, IFBB Arnold Classic winner and Olympia Competitor – and those the MAJORS. Been on the cover of Flex, Muscular Development and many others. But the guys in the gym will STILL go ask the guy that can’t win a local show, for advice. Once I can get them to try my methods, they are shocked. AND they typically STILL don’t come back to train with me. It’s almost as if they don’t want to be seen training with a female of ANY caliber. They feel it’s a sign of weakness. Especially when I pare their weights down to what they can actually handle for bodybuilding! Look, if they had any sense, they would know that a woman has to work way harder to build that level of muscle because she’s working against her own hormones. If I want to find out how to train my legs for maximum growth, I’m not going to the guy who came out of the womb looking like Tom Platz. What would he know about hard gains in the quad department? Nope, go looking for the guy/girl who had to cry every workout to get his/her legs to an acceptable state. My point in all this is – There’s a ton of preconceived ideas in the gym, (in the world in general) especially when it comes to males looking to build muscle. Is it fair? Nope. How do you change it? Hard to say. For me, it’s about finding that open-minded person that’s more worried about his gains than his ego. And that’s a rare find…
Great points Catt!!!
I don’t have anything to add. I agree 100%
I just wanted to say that I am a trainer in a smaller, rural area where personal trainers are few and far between, regardless of sex. I also come from a Physical Therapy background and have noticed that much of my client training and the exercises I do seem to stem from that background. I think that we all have our niches, in that we all tend to be more comfortable with like clients or with training plans in which we can incorporate our creativity and our personal experiences. I have both male and female clients and I have absolutely no problem referring any new or potential client to one of my fellow self-contracted trainers if we are not a good fit for one another. I view what i do as a career and I firmly feel that resistance training and lifting are key to a client’s continued training success, as well as agree with Nikki on training all my clients somewhat as athletes. I do this not necessarily because they are athletes, but because, for the same reason I refer them to others if I feel it’s necessary, I prefer to make my clients’ training a continual lifestyle change, not just a Biggest Loser style big chunk of weight loss one week at a time. Although this is my job and my career and I need to make it lucrative, it is not about ME–it is about my clients. I find that approach to be the most successful with both male and female clients. And I also find that I never have a shortage of clientele. Maybe a change of focus is what is necessary, not just a change of sex. Just a thought….
I think a change of focus is imperative Kristi. Congratulations on your success and I’m glad you don’t have any issue with any of the points I detailed above.
I’d like to weigh in as an outsider to this industry. I’m a 40 year old out of shape woman who would love to get back into shape. I lifted weights as a teenager, not because I wanted to be sexy but because I enjoyed being fit and muscular. I have no qualms about being muscular. I do however, disagree with you that if a female trainer decides to do a sexy photo shoot she ceases to be a trainer. I think that women who enjoy looking sexy are entitled to do just that, and being sexy doesn’t diminish your skill set. Besides. Looking at it from your point of view, it might help women realize that you can be muscular AND sexy and that there’s nothing wrong with that.
I think I hear what you’re trying to say. I think you’re trying to say that women trainers are great as long as their heart is in the right place and they’re not trying to slide by as a trainer by being sexy but uneducated or not serious about training. However your article comes off as sexist and uninspiring to me as a woman. Choose your words carefully.