A few years ago and very early on in our Personal Training days we were in the middle of a training session with a client sitting around the 150kg mark. We’d had 5-10 sessions up to this point when they turned around and said “thank you so much for not judging me based on my looks/ weight”. We obviously didn’t expect to hear this and in doing so it caught us off guard. It turns out that she’d been attending one of the bigger gyms (no names) and trainers and staff had made it clear to her that she needed to lose weight and had made some comments on the side that made her feel very self conscious about her weight. At the time she weighed 200kg and was at the point of giving up on life, a position we hope we never find ourselves in. She decided that now was the time to turn her life around and her first stop was the doctors. The doctors advice was lap band surgery but he needed her to lose 15kg to show him that she was committed. The client went back to the gym and was told that she was “cheating” if she decided to go forward with the operation but wasn’t disheartened by this and pushed on with her weight loss journey. Not only did she lose the 15kg that was asked of her, she added a further 10kg on top of this and proceeded to go ahead with the surgery.
By the time we stopped working with this client she weighed 116kg and by all reports has been enjoying a much healthier lifestyle and has energy to burn. This is a great result but it’s hard not to think about how easily this could’ve gone the other way. This client simply needed some support, support for her decisions and some support in her new lifestyle choices but was let down by her so called support network.
Society as a whole can be quite judgemental and only see what’s on the outside rather than looking a little deeper and getting to know them instead. We believe we’re all guilty of it from time to time but hearing her stories made us stop and rethink about how we view the world and the people in it. We used to think that we were quite thoughtful of others prior to meeting her but from that point on we made sure that it was at the forefront of how we communicate with our clients.
Focussing on the basics such as asking how their day/ week has been, getting to know them on a personal level and taking time outside of sessions to play a greater role in their support network should they need it has now become the Push Your Limits Personal Training way. Our clients have also bought into the program and are showing that same care and compassion for each other that we show for them.
Being beautiful on the inside has certainly allowed our clients to express themselves and feel comfortable around us and our other clients. This is one of the main reasons as to why our clients are hitting their targets and going from strength to strength.
Look out for each other, support one another and never let a persons physical appearance be the reason you give them any less time than you would to others.
Justin Beard Pn1