Thanks for this. I LOVE it! At 61, I have found a fantastic movement class that incorporates yoga and tai chi. One of the things I really love is that the instructor talks about what happens inside our bodies (e.g. notice how your spine gets longer or how does your hip feel during this movement?) It really helps me be in my body and noticing how it is moving. It makes me appreciate its ability to move and the amazing muscles, bones, and fascia that allow me to do so. I can remember so many courses with "fitness" instructors talking about how exercises were for thin thighs when I knew I was never going to have thin thighs in this body. Screw that! Exercise is for feeling into your body and enjoying what it can do.
Hi Ragen, thanks so much for this. I've just moved to a new state and wanting to find a strength trainer in this area, but feeling held back by my fear of working with people who aren't solidly fat affirmative. In India, this feels like a rare human to find, let alone personal trainer. I'm wondering if you have any advice for what kind of questions to ask to discern whether a trainer might feel safe to work with? What could I look out for if they aren't explicitly using anti-diet and fat affirmative language? What could I look out for even if they're using this language (who knows if they practice what they preach)? If you've already written about this, I'd appreciate if you'd direct me to that. I've recently subscribed to your work and its a treasure trove of information!
I think it can help to look at their social media and website if they have them so see what they are putting out there (ie - is there a ton of weight-loss/diet talk?" You can also reach out my messages or email ad say something like "“I am looking for a trainer who can help me with my goals around strength building (and here you can be specific or just leave it at that.) It’s critical to me that the person I work with be [this is my wording, of course you can change it to suit you...] fully fat positive and fat affirming. That means no weight loss talk of any kind and [no food talk/food discussions only around how I might support strength building with my nutrition/etc. Does that sound like a good fit for how you work?
I just saw this somehow. Thanks so much. Looking at social media is a great tip. And yes, being upfront about what I’m looking for also makes sense. I guess I’m worried they will just say yes of course for the business, but not reveal their biases. So I’m thinking I could ask questions like: Do you give dietary advice to your clients? What do you think about the goal of weight loss?
Or even: “How do you think about the goal of weight loss? Given my body size, is that something you would encourage?” I don’t feel hopeful about ever finding someone in India who says no, I won’t encourage that. And I don’t know if it’s a super leading question and they might try to people please. So might make sense to just be straightforward and say what I want and ask them then to talk about how they think about weight loss etc.
Thanks for this. I LOVE it! At 61, I have found a fantastic movement class that incorporates yoga and tai chi. One of the things I really love is that the instructor talks about what happens inside our bodies (e.g. notice how your spine gets longer or how does your hip feel during this movement?) It really helps me be in my body and noticing how it is moving. It makes me appreciate its ability to move and the amazing muscles, bones, and fascia that allow me to do so. I can remember so many courses with "fitness" instructors talking about how exercises were for thin thighs when I knew I was never going to have thin thighs in this body. Screw that! Exercise is for feeling into your body and enjoying what it can do.
Hi Ragen, thanks so much for this. I've just moved to a new state and wanting to find a strength trainer in this area, but feeling held back by my fear of working with people who aren't solidly fat affirmative. In India, this feels like a rare human to find, let alone personal trainer. I'm wondering if you have any advice for what kind of questions to ask to discern whether a trainer might feel safe to work with? What could I look out for if they aren't explicitly using anti-diet and fat affirmative language? What could I look out for even if they're using this language (who knows if they practice what they preach)? If you've already written about this, I'd appreciate if you'd direct me to that. I've recently subscribed to your work and its a treasure trove of information!
Hi Megha,
I think it can help to look at their social media and website if they have them so see what they are putting out there (ie - is there a ton of weight-loss/diet talk?" You can also reach out my messages or email ad say something like "“I am looking for a trainer who can help me with my goals around strength building (and here you can be specific or just leave it at that.) It’s critical to me that the person I work with be [this is my wording, of course you can change it to suit you...] fully fat positive and fat affirming. That means no weight loss talk of any kind and [no food talk/food discussions only around how I might support strength building with my nutrition/etc. Does that sound like a good fit for how you work?
I hope that helps!
~Ragen
I just saw this somehow. Thanks so much. Looking at social media is a great tip. And yes, being upfront about what I’m looking for also makes sense. I guess I’m worried they will just say yes of course for the business, but not reveal their biases. So I’m thinking I could ask questions like: Do you give dietary advice to your clients? What do you think about the goal of weight loss?
Or even: “How do you think about the goal of weight loss? Given my body size, is that something you would encourage?” I don’t feel hopeful about ever finding someone in India who says no, I won’t encourage that. And I don’t know if it’s a super leading question and they might try to people please. So might make sense to just be straightforward and say what I want and ask them then to talk about how they think about weight loss etc.