Paul James Melbourne Personal Trainer Gains 90 Pounds Of Fat
A recent piece on Good Morning America caused real up roar in the fitness industry and has divided opinion amongst its ranks. The peice was about a former underwear model and personal trainer who had the perfect rippling six pack, chiseled jaw line and made a living from having the ultimate body!
He then spent six months eating whatever he liked, ultimately gaining 90 pounds in weight, losing his pristine body, replacing the six pack and chiseled chin for a pregnant paunch and chubby face.
He did this in an attempt to better understand his obese clients.
His actions have been villified by many of his peers in the industry, claiming he is irresponsible, “lunacy” and not being a “good example” to his clients. However my thoughts are very different, because those same trainers who have attacked him really do not have what it takes to coach their clients to a better body. Whilst these trainers may have incredible technical skills and knowledge to teach their clients how to get fit, I question whether they truly understand what makes their clients tick!
The majority of trainers are a strange breed. The guy that runs your local aerobics class, bootcamps or personal training sessions is quite likely to be someone who became a trainer because they like working out, they like gyms and get a kick out of feeling fit and healthy. Making a living out of doing the stuff you like is cool, but they are probably the wrong people to help you lose weight!
I believe most people who need to lose weight hate the thought of working out, are absolutely NOT gym people, and really do not understand the feeling of being fit and healthy! From a psychological standpoint a personal trainer and someone who needs to lose weight are so far apart, the trainer might as well be speaking russian and the client will be speaking french!
So am I saying your coach needs to be someone who used to be fat to understand you better? Well may be…
However, I do know of many great coaches, who have never had weight issues, who really do understand the barriers their clients have to working out or even stepping in to the gym for the first time.
And I think that this is the most important point here, finding someone who can empathise with you and the reasons why you have found training and the gym environment difficult before, as well as the addictive nature of your current eating habits. I really believe that gyms are the most unnatural, scariest and intimidating places for someone, male or female, who is over-weight… but this is a whole different discussion for another article.
If you can find someone like this to train you, then your chances of success are multiplied, because you’ll at least be talking the same language!
Back to our overweight underwear model, my thoughts are that he will become the most important coach in his gym if not his area. The twist of the story is that after 6 weeks of following his own program he has lost just 10 of the 90 pounds.
Mentally he has found it difficult, getting over the addiction to sugar has been tough, but as long as he finds the right path back to his former body shape he will become an incredible asset to his clients, both from a physical and mental standpoint.
So instead of asking for your coaches academic qualifications to see if they are any good, maybe you’ll be inclined to review their history a little more and find out if they’ve been addicted to the gym or addicted to sugar :o)
If you want to make a positive step forward to making dramatic changes to your body, then you need a goal, a goal that is really very powerful and gets you inspired to break down some of the barriers you have to working out or changing some eating habits. My Goal Achievement Strategy workbook has help hundreds of people make a positive start towards a better body. Go to http://goalachievementstrategy.com to download your copy right now.
What do you think? Leave your comments below.
5 Responses to “Paul James Melbourne Personal Trainer Gains 90 Pounds Of Fat”
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siobhan on August 13th, 2009
Really good, agree with you completly
walfer101 on August 13th, 2009
I think this is an incredibly important step that this coach has taken and probably took him a lot of guts to do.
In order to really understand the discussions that go on in overweight people’s heads you have to have been there. If a person really wants to lose weight and get healthy, the physiological side needs to be attacked first. Once this has been done then you can go forward very slowly and a day at a time. What a coach has to really understand is that every day is a minefield for people who want to lose weight or even put weight on healthy. These people that have never ever had a weight issue on both sides of the scale will never truly understand this.
I think this coach will be a true asset and inspiration to his clients as they will be able to look at him and know 100% that he has gone through what they are going through at that moment in time.
rmshowley on August 15th, 2009
The scary story from PJ in Australia is that he gained 90 pounds so rapidly and now faces a very hard time getting rid of it, much less at the same rate. Then I wonder if the rest of his life he will be more susceptible to weight gain because his body has gone through this once. I have a friend who must have risen to 300 pounds, went on a doctor controlled weight reduction program and lost 100 pounds or so but a few months later had gone right back up.
But if PJ succeeds and documents his story, he will be quite an inspiration. I agree that many personal trainers and workers at gyms probably don’t have much insight into their out-of-shape clients. They’re physical role models but probably not the best teachers. And honestly, who has time to spend more than an hour at the gym three days a week if you have a full-time job, family and other time commitments?