Written by Jonathan

Jonathan Goodman CSCS is the author of Ignite the Fire: The Secrets to Building a Successful Personal Trainer Career and Race to the Top: How to Take Over the Social Media Feed. He'd love it if you added him on Facebook and/or followed him on Twitter. He also runs a wildly popular web branding and internet marketing coaching program. You can find out more at http://www.viralnomics.com/coaching/.

• Greg Justice

  Jon, Truthfully, I have never watched the show, because of the promotional training clips and the negative stereotypes they perpetuate of our industry. We battle those stereotypes everyday. I believe the show has done more harm that good, as it FEATURES shameful images of training techniques and negative reinforcement…not the “behind the scenes” foundational items you mentioned. All the general population sees is the ‘bad’ stuff.

  After reading some of my industry articles, one of my clients said to me “I knew you were good at the physical stuff, but I had no idea that you were smart too.” That’s the perception of the general population…We’re a bunch of meat heads that lift weights and scream at our clients. We, as trainers, need to raise the professional and ethical standard of our industry, and not be defined by network televisions portrayal of us.

  • Jon_PTDC

    Hey Greg. Thanks for dropping in. True the general population sees the bad stuff but don’t you think the show has brought personal training into the limelight. You are very unique in how long you’ve been in the industry (which is crazy by the way) but personal training as a legitimate profession is a new phenomenon. I think we have shows like the Biggest Loser a lot to thank for this.

    Yes they glorify the environment and showcase the bad maybe more than the good. Isn’t any publicity good publicity.

    If more people know about training even if in a negative light it presents a different challenge.

    Years ago the challenge was awareness. Now the challenge is quality and I think that’s a challenge you are more than willing and capable of taking on along with most of the readers of this site.

    • http://www.facebook.com/greg.justice1 Greg Justice

      Jon, I love reading everyones responses, as trainers are making great points on both sides. And, civil discourse goes a long way towards enhanced understanding.

      • Jon_PTDC

        Yes sir. Very much agreed.

  • Darren

    If the first thing you mention is you’ve never watched the show, what gives you the right to say you think it does more harm than good? How would you like if someone that never met you or saw you train a client said you did more harm than good because of 3rd hand information they heard, or a 30 second promo clip?

    Are you claiming that 100% of your clients have always used 100% perfect form 100% of the time. That’s unrealistic especially when dealing with a client demographic that is completely deconditioned and probably unathletic and uncoordinated to begin with. Sometimes you have to play the hand you’re dealt as best as possible.

    Most of the trainers I’ve seen on the show may not have the highest levels of formal education, but they’re good at one thing, getting results. They get these people to face a lot of inner demons and come to terms with a lot of the emotional reasons that are causing their battles with gaining weight and failing to lose it. I don’t see that as negative reinforcement or “bad stuff’. These contestants love the trainers on the show because the trainers do show that they care, and they change their lives. How can you call that harmful? You’re doing the same thing you’ve blaming them of. You’re making a false stereotype about what you perceive of the show without having seen it.

    I’d argue that plenty of negative stereotypes we have to deal with are more often related to magazine articles, advertisements, infomercials, etc than the biggest loser. The only misconception I’ve had to deal with because of the biggest loser is people obese or not obese thinking they can lose 10 to 20 lbs of fat in a week.

    Everything has pros and cons, and TBL has plenty of cons, but the pros include helping more people lose 100 or even 200 lbs than probably any gym or trainer in the world, not to mention getting these people off all kinds of medications and improving all their health markers. I don’t think you can argue with that.

    • http://www.facebook.com/greg.justice1 Greg Justice

      Darren, Thanks for your comment. It’s good to have these kinds of debates, and I appreciate hearing the other side. We may disagree, as I stand behind my earlier comments, but I respect your opinion.

• http://twitter.com/drivents Trey Potter CSCS

  Hey Jon,
  Thanks for taking the time to dig into what goes on behind the scenes of TBL. It’s great to see the more human side of the show. However, I completely agree with Greg. It’s not what they do that’s the problem, it’s how the present it. Perception is reality. People sit at home and see that on TV and think that they need someone yelling at them in order to be succesful. They’re taught that form doesn’t matter as long as you’re sweating a lot or that even if you are completely deconditioned you can just walk out the front door and go run 3 miles. One of the new shows out called “Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition” actually had the participant quit their job in order to have more time to workout. While I’m sure the producers of the show didn’t prompt her to do this, they aired it on national television and made it look like that was her only option if she wanted to succeed. As individual trainers we can only do so much to change the perception of our industry and until we can get a show to air how it’s really done, then we’re fighting a very uphill battle.

  • Karsten Jensen

    Interesting information! I think I watched half a show once, but have heard a lot about it. I feel it is important to see that fundamentally The Biggest Looser is entertainment and everything that they do is geared to create that bottomline. Changing lives is definately seem to be one of the components of the entertainment. Not to be cynical, but all the tests might be more about avoiding lawsuits than anything else. On the other hand, like you say Jon, personal trainings bottomline is changing lives. This involves motivation, but preferably motivation through results rather than motivation through entertainment. I feel that we should be ready to treat clients differently some with tough love, some with an “energy infusion”, others the highly motivated ones just need the program and their questions answered. I have most of my experience with high level athletes and have always found that what matters most is what you do when no one is watching. And I always instal in the athletes or clients I work with that my influence can only take them so far. Ultimately the buck stops with them.

    • Jon_PTDC

      Answered ya in the Facebook comments. Hope you’re doing well Karsten.

  • Jen Comas Keck

    Interesting article Jon and I definitely appreciate the behind-the-scenes peek from Kevin, however I agree with Trey and Greg here. The way the show is filmed is giving people a weird and distorted view on what training should be comprised of – yelling, crying, brutality, bad form, etc. While it’s refreshing to know that more care is being taken on the show, that stuff needs to be shown to the public. Granted, it wouldn’t make for great tv, but can they at least do some “behind the scenes” bits during the commercials or something instead of plugging sugar-laden yogurts and low-fat cereals?

    • Jon_PTDC

      Kevin and I actually spoke about how great it would be for a “behind the scenes” version of the show. I agree. It’d be neat to see.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/GBMPMQ5GUMCWIPLMAI5VHDFROE canadian

    I thought I was the only one who saw the latest incarnation of “Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition” due to the lack of outrage I noticed on most social media sites,especially from those in the S/C circles. Last episode, the lady had a deep seated fear of any kind of knee bend exercises due to an earlier sustained injury.Now, I can understand the “confront your fear” tactic being used, but the lady was almost hysterically in tears as the trainer prodded her incessantly to squat. Any trainer worth his salt could have found mitigating movements to mimic whatever muscular/cardiovascular response he was trying to elicit. The amount of swearing I did at the screen made the missus ask me if I knew the lady personally.Both shows do almost nothing to truly educate those in need of the information necessary for successful and sustained weight loss.

    • Jon_PTDC

      I agree with your comments but will refer you to my comments on Greg’s post above.

      It’s true shitty things happen in these shows. Sometimes the producers decide to showcase or embellish questionable or downright despicable scenarios. On the other hand, gyms are busier than ever…

  • Jon_PTDC

    Check my response to Greg above Trey. I agree but I believe that with every challenge comes opportunity.

    • http://twitter.com/drivents Trey Potter CSCS

      I completely agree with challenge comes opportunity. The interesting part will be to see if we, the training community, can actually come together and find a way to reach the general public with this message of Quality over Quantity as well as how do we make it actually stick.

• http://www.facebook.com/meg.moult Meg Moult

  I a 50/50 on the TBL as I, like you say Jon can only be happy for those who’s lives it has changed and inspired.I am one of these people as I used to love the TBL and it was a huge apart of the reason that I lost weight and became a trainer. How ever the fact that they do not show all the behind the scenes stuff, the technique training, warm ups, paramedics on set and the phycologist I feel is a huge down fall and puts a totally unrealistic spin on training. One of my clients actually nearly dropped me as a trainer as I wouldn’t allow her with her very dodgy knees, high blood pressure and being extremely unfit and over weight to train the way they did in the TBL..I repeatedly try to explain that they have paramedics, health checks etc but if she didn’t leave the session dripping in sweat then as far as she was convinced the session was not effective. . We sorted it and she is now doing great but perhaps if they did show all of the behind the scenes, even as a perhaps a separate show it would make a huge difference to such negative opinions. I was pretty disgusted that the army guy throw away some ones water out of temper because he could not hurdle a fence!. Might of even been Kevin..Great article though and here is hoping it could make a difference in such a tough battle to combat obesity.

  • Jon_PTDC

    Thanks Meg. The reality is that a trainer can only take on 15-20 clients and be successful. This means that if there’s a client that you really don’t agree with on principles your job is to present your position and why you feel it’s the best for them. Do this as well as you can. If they still don’t agree it’s not responsible of you to continue training the client.

    Fantastic trainers like yourself (as I can tell by your posts over the past year+) are in high demand. I think once you make them understand the realities of the show they will understand and if they don’t then don’t train them. Showing them this article may be a good job. (shameless plug…)

    • http://www.facebook.com/meg.moult Meg Moult

      You have just made my day or possibly week and month. That is the biggest compliment I think I have ever had as it has come from some one such as your self..Thank you..I brought Ignite the fire and am half way through..Love it..Thank you..

• http://www.facebook.com/mtorres64 Maribel Torres

  Great post, Jon. It is very easy to get caught up with all the negative publicity that show has created. Great to hear some positive feedback from a past contestant. Too bad all the things that impress us as fitness professional’s end up on the cutting room floor because it doesn’t make sexy tv, we are obviously not the network’s market. But then again, I have done that myself – who would watch a youtube clip of me doing all my foam rolling, movement prep, dynamic warm-up (that’s about 15 minutes right there) before the actual workout. In this day, no one has patience for that.

  • Jon_PTDC

    Exactly. And what’s the most popular workout channel? Isn’t it the one that started with the ex-porn star moaning and groaning through haphazard workouts 7/8th naked? Good tv is good tv. Take the positives from it and learn from it what you can.

• Jason Lee

  Thanks for sharing this with us Jon,

  My cousin brother who was a trainer with Fitness First ( the main sponsor for TBL Asia ) was given an opportunity to be their backstage trainer, and I already knew that they have their paramedic etc . But it still disgust me on how things are portrayed on tv.

  I blogged about it back in 2010 . http://www.jasonleefitness.com/2010/06/what-i-think-of-biggest-loser-reality.html

  • Jon_PTDC

    Thanks for sharing this Jason

• Kyle Schuant

  In other words,

  “It’s nothing like what the show presents.”

  That’s the point, though, that what the show presents is so dreadful. In the end the participants, whether they got good training or bad, they’ve watched previous seasons of the show, they know what they’re in for, they’re all grownups. I’m not worried about them.

  But the way the show presents things damages the image of personal trainers, and gives wrong ideas about physique change.

  People in my gym have told me they’re discouraged from taking up PT because of what they’ve seen on that show, they don’t want to be yelled at, or made to do things they can’t do and feel and look foolish. It takes time for us PTs to earn the trust that’s been destroyed by that show.

  And people get the idea, “Well there’s no hurry to sort things out, the guys on that show did it in just three months.” They continue to sit on their bums until they get joint problems or diabetes or the like, and at that stage change becomes much, much harder.

  As PTs, we already struggle with a thousand crappy ideas about food and exercise, this show just adds to them.

  The show may have been good for the participants, I don’t really care, because it’s bad for everyone else. The good of a dozen against the good of millions.

  It didn’t have to be this way. The producers chose the easy way.

  “How many trainers take these precautions before putting their clients through intense workouts?”

  Call me old-fashioned, but if you need paramedics on standby during your PT sessions, you’re doing it wrong.

• Sally

  I have been a huge fan of TBL. Thanks for sharing behind the scenes

• Pingback: Client’s Goals VS Trainer’s Idea of Client’s Goals | LaVack Fitness

• http://www.facebook.com/tom.deaton.58 Tom Deaton

  Jon, thanks for sharing this. I think that TBL is great because it is bringing the obesity problem mainstream where many people who didn’t realize the scope of the problem for the obese and our society are now being shown the physical, mental and emotional pain that obese people are suffering. It also provides motivation for people on the show and at home so they know that there IS a solution and their situation is NOT hopeless. Yes, the show is not completely accurate in some areas, but it’s doing what is needed to attract viewers just like most successful television programs. It has opened the door for many to see the enormity of the problem…and that’s a good start.