Do you feel shows like the Biggest Loser make our job easier or harder?
I feel shows like this have unrealistic results compared to most individuals. This then can make clients expect similar, yet unrealistic results. Still shows like this tend to motivate people and get them interested in losing weight/fat. Do shows like this help or hurt our industry? Your thoughts?
From a training perspective, I don’t think the show makes our jobs more difficult, because we can glean ideas from the trainers there, in both motivation and program design. Also, a lot of the challenges on the show deal with nutrition (like calorie counts in various foods), which can be very informative for us and clients. But like Andrew stated above, it can be difficult for the trainer depending on what type of client you have…one that wants quick, spectacular results, or one that sees the value of hard work over a long period of time. I have often referenced excerpts from the show to my clients to help them see that what applies to the contestants on the show applies to them as well in “real life.”