Gym Member: “Why are you training with Grace? You don’t need to lose weight?”
My Client: “That’s a pretty personal question… who says I want to lose weight?”
This was a conversation between a regular gym member and one of my clients. My client is tall, slim and wows most people in the gym when she steps up to squat 100kg (nearly twice her bodyweight!). She doesn’t ‘look’ strong, yet she lifts heavy, and can box like a machine!
I’ve been training her for 2 years now, and she’s smashed every goal we’ve set. In our initial conversation in 2015, I asked what her goals were. She wanted to be strong, relieve some stress and generally improve her fitness. Not once then, or since has she said to me, ‘I want to lose weight’.
Why do people assume that you’re only in the gym to lose weight?! It really annoys me when people think the only reason we are all there is to change what we look like. Now I’m not stupid, we all want to modify certain things about the way we look, and a majority of people need to lose weight because of health reasons, but why is it the ONLY thing that some people want, and think we want, to do?
(Personally I think it’s got a lot to do with how the media is shoving fake, airbrushed images in our faces, and how society portrays women to be weaker than men – but that’s a rant for another day!)
I pride myself on inspiring my clients to look further than their reflection in the mirror, but for exercise to make them feel strong, confident and healthy. I have a group of incredible people, who I have the pleasure of working with and they continue to make me proud every day.
So Gym Member, you carry on with your workout, and we’ll keep smashing goals!
#smashingmyths #fitnesswithgrace