BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Exercise Fitness instructor fitness

Is it normal for fitness instructors to not necessarily look so fit? I've seen aerobic instructors that are overweight and don't necessarily look all that healthy. This is not to say that I want all of my instructors to make me jealous...lol...

I'm just wondering how that happens. Ms. M. can you clear up this mystery for me?

Now my swim instructor is rather overweight and keeps making weight jokes about "fat people being more bouyant" (her words not mine, and believe me I'm the last person to talk about people being overweight...Lol) But that is not a big deal, I'm talking about the aerobic people.

What's up with that? Curious minds and all, it has always struck me as odd....Lol...

Yes, it's something known in the biz as CAIS which stand for chunky aerobics instructor syndrome. Sad that fitness pros even have to have such a nasty name for this but it runs rampant even in personal training and in my opinion it's kind of sad.

Some people say they prefer their trainer or aerobics instructor who isn't perfect but in my experience that's baloney. I gained a few pounds back in 2007 when I was struggling with adrenal fatigue and a shoulder injury. I weighed around 125 for a few months and my bodyfat was around 23% and holy moses clients have no reservations about telling you that you're fat.

The men even some of the women. I was like whatever Mr. pot! I dumped those pounds pretty quick but even online if I film a video when I'm a few pounds over my usual weight the comments are hideous and I'm not even fat!

I think most people like a fit trainer or a fit aerbics instructor. Boosts your credibility as a fitness expert and makes your client students feel like you know what you're doing right?

Main reason instructors have weight issues is too much cardio, not enough strength training and horrible diet. In my case that is exactly why it happened. It hurt to lift so I stopped strength training and was only doing cardio and yoga. Did not change my diet and bam, CAIS!

Last year when I got injured I prevented this by cutting back on calories and doing easy strength workouts instead of no strength workouts.

Keeping the pounds off is about balance whether you're a regular joe, a fitness instructor, a celebrity, or even an athlete (plenty of fat athletes around too). Not sure what that's called. I'll call it FAD, fat athletes disorder (LOL).

Just remembered that one client called me a fat Brittney Spears to my face. Can you believe these jokers. You gotta have thick skin to work in my business!

Here's a New York Times article on it I read a while back. New Breed of Trainers Are Proving Fat is Fit. The general consensus among trainers is this is not cool.

The instructor at that yoga class that I took several years ago was not very flexible or fit & she covered herself up with a sweatshirt & sweatpants. Needless to say, she wasn't very inspiring & I never went back.

I don't mind if an instructor is regular level bodyfat and covers up a bit as long as they are fit and can teach but when an instructor is super heavy and not as fit that is definitely going to affect what exercises they teach and demonstrate.

When I started at Bally's I was about 123 lb but not where I am now fitness level or bodyfat. I remember going to a small aparatus course with a bunch of other trainers in Phoenix and there were all body types there.

I was small compared to most of the other trainers (as usual) yet some clients still give you a hard time about how you look. In my opinion this reflects on how they feel about themselves.

There were so many things I could not do at the this course like situps with medicine ball toss (fast not slow) and regular pushups. Then we get to the stretching section and our regional manager Bob says come up here to the front. I was the most flexible person there. Most trainers couldn't even touch their toes and here I was with my legs in a straddle and nose to the floor like it's no big deal (due to genetics, dance background, and love of stretching).

I think all trainers and instructors have different body types and abilities but being grossly overweight or overfat is a sign that you are just not that serious about what you do and it does make people not want to take your class or train with you.

That course motivated me to get strong at pullups and pushups so guy clients couldn't give me a hard time anymore. That's also when I lost the last bit of bodyfat that I was hanging on to. My son was only 3 back then.

Wow...people are evil...A FAT BRITNEY SPEARS? what the heck!!!...and what did they look like?

Lol... CAIS it's good to know that there is a name for what that, I thought it was just me.

Like I said, it's just odd looking. Now if they absolutely keep up with the class they're teaching and not walking around barking orders while we're working, that's one thing. I'm ok if they're working out too, though I did have one that turned so red, she honestly looked like she was about to pass out.

Wow, that is nuts. I would not teach if I was that out of shape! BTW,you would have hated my boot camp. I used to walk around correcting form and pushing people the entire time. I never barked though (meow, purrrr, grrr,). I think you get more out of people by being positive : )

You can't really workout with people when you have boot camp or with clients either it's totally unprofessional but classes are different. That girl sounds like she needs about a month in my boot camp!