I currently am in a transitional period in my career and have four months before I start my next endeavor. I decided to move in with my folks in Florida and away from my indulgent and exciting life in New Orleans as a way to solidify my fitness and weight loss journey. I've already made huge strides as of late but decided that I would like to start seeing a trainer to really help me get over the hump of going from overweight to a healthy BMI. I was referred to the resident trainer at my gym and was excited to get going on this. I walked in feeling excited and motivated and left feeling lost and discouraged. However, I decided I wouldn't give some random old man power over my journey and take away from this sacred process so I wrote him an email and sent it to his boss and corporate. Thought I'd share! Time to take it to a new gym!!
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Hey L,
I wanted to reach out and give you some feedback on today’s session as I left with an uneasy and unsure feeling about my time with you today. While I can tell that you are accomplished and knowledgeable, I felt there was no interest in to what my goals were and what I was wanting to achieve. As I mentioned, without even being asked or inquired about, I’ve been on a fitness journey for quite some time now which has resulted in a significant weight loss of ~70 pounds and most recently 15lbs in the past couple of months. I felt like there was no consideration for what I may already know or what place my fitness level may already be at. The only way to know would be to ask a client these questions but you were too busy talking about yourself and any knowledge of me and my experience was known because I went out of my way to tell you. While yes, as you assumed within the first five minutes of meeting me, that I want to "lose weight and get rid of water retention” my main focus is strengthening my core and over all body as my aforementioned spinal fusion is something that I will have to take care of for the rest of my life. Its imperative that this journey be about more than just losing weight. The social, personal, and societal benefits surrounding my weight loss have been amazing but first and foremost, my focus is to strengthen my body to support my spine and range of motion for my future. Your comment about you wanting me to keep my femininity felt unnecessary and irrelevant as that’s ultimately not your decision and I don’t like being reduced to simply a feminine woman.
I also want to mention, you may want to ask your clients before you put their hands on them. If we had already had some kind of rapport beforehand that would not have been a problem. However, I had known you for 3 minutes before you decided to put your hands on my hips to gratuitously explain to me about the female body. Again, It felt unnecessary. I’m not simply offering up my body for you to touch or restructure but rather, I was there to gain valuable knowledge and insight from someone who has the experience as you do. For a first impression, it was not a good one. If what I went through was anything like what I should expect, I would rather have someone who cares a little more about what their client needs rather than what you want for your client. I understand it was a first session and was free at that, but there was little left to be desired when I left the gym. I left feeling like my journey had now become yours without any consideration or insight into where I was and where I wanted to be.
I understand that the optics of me being overweight may signal the idea of me lacking any kind of knowledge about fitness or nutrition but that is not always the case. I’m at a turning point in my journey where I go from overweight to a healthy and normal BMI. I’m excited about it and still am but I feel like I wasn’t given any agency in regards to my body and my journey.
I appreciate your time but I would like to respectfully decline any further sessions with you including the one we scheduled on Wednesday.
All in all, It is clear that we share different philosophies surrounding fitness and weight loss. I believe it goes deeper and reaches far beyond the surface levels that I experienced with you today. Your focus and discussion should be on or about your client not about your personal fitness successes. I think it’s best that I take my money elsewhere.
Best,
Wildlikechildren
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