Does it matter if the professional you’re paying talks the talk but doesn’t walk the walk? Sometimes when I’m at my gym, I take a look at the clients taking private lessons with a fitness trainer who would probably be classified as obese based on commonly accepted criteria. On one hand, I sometimes wonder if the client is like, “this is who they assigned me?” or on the other hand, maybe they’re a great trainer and all that really matters is the result, right? For all I know, they might be the best fitness trainer in the entire gym. So who am I to judge? I’ve also met people in the financial services industry who are horrible with their own money, lawyers with legal troubles, there are plenty of divorced marriage counselors and the list goes on. So, the question is, does it matter?
Do You Expect Your Professional to Just Talk the Talk or Also Walk the Walk?
Would it Influence Whether You’d Use Them Once You Found Out?
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
There are certain professions that this is very important! A doctor preaching health and is obese or a smoker is not a very good model.A lawyer or accountant that filed bankruptcy may be another.
Tons. Tons of overweight doctors, especially the older ones. I guess I’ve seen so many overweight doctors and specialists, I grew kind of immune to that one and didn’t include!
I expect them to practice what they preach, no matter how smart they are.
I kind of lean that direction
I would have trouble taking the advice of someone who doesn’t follow what he/she purports to think is the best thing to do. If it’s such a good idea, why aren’t they doing it? I prefer to see living proof of those good ideas in the preacher!
I tend to agree
My sister used to complain about her cross country coach in highschool being overweight and driving in her SUV next to the girls as they ran and yelling at them. But the coach produced one of the best cross country teams in the state, as I remember. I think some people know what has to be done, but just can’t do it themselves. So I’d take an overweight trainer, just so long as I got results!
That’s pretty funny; the kids must have hated that – driving in a car next to them yelling? That’s probably what made him kick ass, he never got tired!
While I wouldn’t abide an overweight fitness guru, a slight guru is a different story. Depending on frame size, it’s possible that the smartest people, nutritionally, don’t have the genetic potential to put loads of lean mass on their frames. Well, without chemical help.
And yes, I’m way more likely to take someone who practices what they preach seriously!
Oh I’d agree with that. Being thin is actually “healthy” at least, usually. Being overweight, even with lots of muscle isn’t healthy.
I usually like it when they practice what they preach, but I had a high school wrestling coach who was fat and overweight and I respected him very much. He was an olympic wrestler in his day, so he knew what he was preaching. I don’t know why some guru’s don’t always look the look, but maybe it’s better to look at the outcome of the advice than the appearance of those who gave it.
Yeah, that’s probably a case where he works. For one, he’s an Olympian! Plus, he’s teaching wrestling, not just weight management (even though being thin is part of competing).
I totally expect them to BE Walking the walk at the time, but I dont expect that to always have been the case. for instance if I had a personal trainer that lost 250 lbs within the past 3 years, and was now in good shape and helping people lose weight, I’d probably give that person a little bit of extra credibility. However, if they weighed 300lbs and tried to tell me how to get in shape, I dont think that’d work well for me.
That’s true, the trajectory is incredible!