Today I had this link sent to me. Study casts doubts on ‘healthy obesity’. Women who are overweight or obese but otherwise healthy are still at an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. The health of 90257 women in the US was monitored for up to 30 years and the results showed that those women with excess weight were likelier to have a stroke or heart attack even if they had normal blood pressure and cholesterol and no diabetes.
In 2017 I previously wrote about a similar study here in the UK in which it was found that metabolically healthy obese people are 50% more likely to suffer from heart disease than those of normal weight. However back then I opened up about an issue with the fitness industry which has become a watered down and money making machine in this country. The vocational courses are dissected so much to keep students coming back over and over and there is a real lack of depth and sound knowledge on those courses. It’s all barely scratching the surface just to wet the appetite of the students who eventually realise that they need to keep coming back because they are searching for answers to things that arise in their daily job as a Personal Trainer so that keep coming back for the next level thinking that they are going to find it only to be disappointed.
I was very critical of the direction the fitness industry was going by purporting and promoting the slogan fat and fit. The fitness industry was actively encouraging the notion that people could be fat and fit. Suddenly there was an explosion of overweight Personal Trainers popping up all over. You would walk into a gym and you would see them strutting around like proud peacocks because now the fitness industry had made them think that they could be fat and fit and it was all ok. They would have their profile picture up on the walls of the gym along with their ‘specialities’ and I used to wonder who in their right mind would go to an overweight personal trainer who claims that they ‘specialise’ in weight-loss when their profile picture clearly shows that they are overweight. The fitness industry promoted this idea for their own selfish reasons to drive business into the fitness industry by making overweight people feel that they could be Personal Trainers at their present size. I am not saying that they cannot but what I am saying which is pretty simple is to lose the weight first. It makes for a better story in the long run doesn’t it. They could then say I used to be fat, I lost the weight, now I’m fit and became a Personal Trainer. Frustratingly I have been on fitness vocational courses in the past where I was shocked to see what I considered to be severely overweight ‘Personal Trainers’ who could not participate fully with the course. They would either have to sit out parts of the course or they would become winded very quickly, or they had some joint issue, it was a disgrace and it goes against everything that fitness is about.
Stop me if I am wrong here as it is quite possible that my expectations are too high. But is it too much to ask that a Personal Trainer be the reflection of what most people go to Personal Trainers for. That they be slim, have defined muscles, have good posture, be well educated beyond a few vocational courses, be motivational, be inspiring, be positive, take part in fitness events, promote health and wellbeing and to have a sense of humour. Is this too much to ask?!!! Trust me when I tell you that I have seen my fair share of poor Personal Trainers and they are everywhere these days. They are filled with limited knowledge and lots of gimmicks. The fitness industry is to blame so let’s see what tune they are going to start singing now that there is continued research that refutes their singsong.
Here is the link to the story from today – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-44301684
Here’s the link to the story from 2017 – https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/may/17/obesity-health-no-such-thing-as-fat-but-fit-major-study?CMP=share_btn_link
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