When I see Jillian Michaels raging and ranting at a client on TV it makes me so angry I feel like I’m going to act like her!
She sounds like an abusive moron; the client is crying, she is frothing at the mouth. Makes for great TV clips, but it’s also not real. It’s just a stupid caricature of real trainers.
I’ve been a trainer for 22 years. I’ve never screamed at a client until they have cried. In fact I’ve never screamed at a client, ever. Those 22 years cover literally thousands of people and tens of thousands of training hours.
I see my job as a teacher, and an encouraging force to help clients reach and exceed their goals. I don’t yell at people because I don’t like to be yelled at myself. I feel if you can’t motivate someone without yelling at them, then you are a failure, and shouldn’t be training anyone.
Many clients have come to me over the years who were surprised I cheered for them instead of yelling at them. Their only experience with trainers was ridicules TV shows like Biggest Loser.
For each of them I always told them the same thing; If you trainer yells at you, leave them and find a different trainer.
Any professional trainer should tell you the same thing. We work to take care of our clients. Our job is positivity and encouragement. We work with you, we help you. We don’t tear you down to build you back up. We just build you up. The world does enough tearing down on its own.
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Devin Sherrington was named #2 trainer in Canada 2015, is 8 time Best Personal Fitness Trainer Halifax award winner, and owner the award winning fitness studio 360fit in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. He lives in Fletcher’s Lake with his girlfriend Lauren and children Reign and Journey.