“Don’t worry! Everyone in the gym is so focused on themselves they’re not paying attention to you."
I’ve heard this piece of advice given repeatedly by well-intentioned trainers and veteran gym-goers. The hope is that new gym-goers will accept this as truth and therefore feel more comfortable stepping into a novel and possibly intimidating space and situation. But it’s not true. And we know it’s not true because a simple online search will provide hours of “gym fail” videos along with judgmental commentary provided by internet warriors who seem to enjoy humiliating people.
Although this advice is well-intentioned, it’s imprudent. Not only are we sugar-coating the reality that people will face in many fitness settings, but we’re also putting the responsibility on the new gym-goer to “ignore” or “avoid” potential triggers and dangerous situations. And in doing so, we’re doing a great disservice to our client community.
As fitness professionals, we have several responsibilities. The most important to me include:
Providing physical and psychological safety for our client community while in
our care.
This is my priority with every client, every session, every day. Movement, fitness, training, whatever word best describes this process for you, must be done safely in a physically and psychologically secure environment. Body and mind are intricately connected, and we can’t feel safe physically if we’re not safe psychologically, and vice versa.
Preparing our client community for what they might encounter in the wild.
I have the privilege of training my client community from a private space in our home. I call it our “bubble”. It’s so liberating to be free from all things bro-culture while in this space. However, I do my best to prepare my clients for what they might encounter in typical fitness spaces. I don’t gatekeep this information, and I don’t sugarcoat what they might experience if and when they find themselves in more traditional gym spaces.
Persisting in our effort to create more inclusive and accessible fitness spaces, particularly for marginalized communities.
This one is what my entire business and community are built on. We are constantly in pursuit of learning about and growing toward inclusion and accessibility. We strive to cultivate a community of belonging. Communities like this do exist, and they’re becoming more common. I have hope that the fitness world will continue to evolve if we keep demanding and modeling body inclusivity.
The gym is my home now, but it hasn’t always been that way. In fact, one of the most terrible moments of my life happened inside a 24/7 fitness space almost 8 years ago. That incident not only changed the way I felt in the gym as a client, but it also changed the way I trained my clients. For many years after that, I refused to train cis-het men. Slowly and with careful consideration, I started to allow that population back into my space, but only after they were vetted by current and trusted clients. I’ve been called “sexist”, “male-hating”, “scared”, and “unfair” by several folks because of my refusal to allow cis-het men on my schedule, and that’s ok. I may have been, and may still be, some of those things. But I did what I needed to do to keep myself physically and psychologically safe, and I’ll continue to do so for as long as necessary.
What I’ve learned in my 12 years of coaching is that none of us escape this life unscathed. We all contain lots of "stuff"- a multitude of experience that includes emotions, memories, traumas, ideas, hopes and passions. And we’re not privy to anyone else’s "stuff", unless of course, they allow us that privilege. So, with each client interaction, I do my best to remember this truth and attempt to make myself and my space as open and safe as possible. Because that session might be the one hour per week that my client feels safe enough to speak openly, to be vulnerable, to be themselves.
The culture of fitness is changing, albeit slowly, but in some very positive ways. More fitness professionals are operating from a body neutral and size inclusive model. We’re changing the standard of the fitness industry from one solely focused on changing body composition and body size to more of a focus on body acceptance and joyful and/or neutral movement. And I’m so excited and grateful to be a small part of that revolution.
Bio: Carrie Moxley is an owner and strength coach at Misfit Strength, a private training space in Central Ohio. She trains clients in person and online, focusing her training on anti-diet, body-neutral and size-inclusive principles. You can find her on Instagram at @misfit_strength.
Comentários