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Celebrity Personal Trainers
by Scott White
Personal Trainer to the
Stars!!
Celebrity Personal Trainers!!
Who are these amazing personal
trainers that train the stars, professional athletes, celebrities, rock
musicians, and the rest of the rich and famous?
Well, being a personal trainer
and a perfectionist, I did some research to find out who they are and how one
becomes a personal trainer to the stars. The research I uncovered
about these so-called celebrity personal trainers that charge fees of $300+ per
hour for their expertise indicates that, like the rest of the personal training
industry, there are no requirements of any sort to become a celebrity trainer.
Most of these celebrity trainers simply happened to be in the right place at the
right time.
I had a close friend who was in a
car accident. Since the insurance covered it, he went to see a chiropractor
after the accident. During the first few visits, he and the chiropractor got to
talking, and they hit it off. The chiropractor happened to know some
celebrities, and just by knowing him, my friend got a gig training a star.
Fortunately, my friend had a good knowledge base and was great at working with
people, although the chiropractor had no real way of knowing this at the time.
There was something in it for the chiropractor, though, in that he got a cut
for recommending the my friend to the celebrity.
Mangers of celebrities would be
doing their star clients a favor if they used a little more caution when hiring
personal trainers and the like. As with any referral, a thorough screening and
background check are in order before simply hiring a trainer on some other
celebrity’s say-so. Unfortunately for the client, the endorsement by another
famous person is often all it takes for an unqualified musclehead, who knows
virtually nothing about how to work with people or train the human body, to get
in the door.
Just Because They’re Famous Doesn’t Mean They’re Knowledgeable
I want to state that I am by no
means bashing personal trainers who work with stars, or any individual’s
personal trainer — although it’s always important to find and hire a trainer
with the highest level of education, experience, and certifications.
Unfortunately, it’s not necessarily the people with the best qualifications, but
rather those with the best marketing and biggest mouths who usually get all the
attention. Take note: This DOES NOT MEAN they know a hill of beans about
training. The thing about the lack of regulation in this field is that you
don’t really have to be very well-qualified to get a job doing it. If you’re
good at causing a big commotion and conveying confidence about your ability to
make people feel good, you will succeed in the business, whether or not you can
actually deliver on your promise.
Take a look at the industry and
you’ll see that celebrity personal trainers are a dime a dozen now. All the
biggest stars — Britney Spears, P‑Diddy, J‑Lo, Oprah, Madonna, Tom Cruise — have
personal trainers. Even the trainers themselves are getting famous now, just
because of their celebrity clients. Two of the most celebrated personal
trainers are Bob Green, Oprah’s trainer, and Gunter, trainer to many
celebrities.
I have watched many of these
personal trainers on the news and listened to their advice about which diets
work and which are the best nutrition products on the market. Trust me, their
biggest gift is their ability to get in front of a camera to sell their
products, because their advice is questionable, at best. Still, no one can
argue their ability to generate millions of dollars because of their proximity
to the rich and famous. The sad part is that they’re making a large portion of
their money by exploiting millions of uneducated, unmotivated people, playing on
their unrealistic desires to look like the next celebrity on the big screen.
We’re Not All Going to Look Like Supermodels or Professional
Athletes
Let’s say you work really hard
and you’re in the best shape of your life, but you still don’t look like your
idealized image of the perfect man or woman. People, let’s be honest with each
other. Not everyone is going to look like Pamela Anderson or Brad Pitt.
Genetics play a big role in our looks, not to mention the cosmetic enhancements
created through plastic surgery, air brushing, and camera tricks. Being healthy
and fit doesn’t mean you will never have a little fat on your body. Looking
great and feeling great without the aid of drugs, cosmetics, and surgery will
take you to better places than any amount of fame will ever give you.
Before you decide you want to
look like a cover girl or a superjock, it’s really important to get comfortable
with yourself exactly as you are. Sure, you’re going to feel better as you lose
weight and build muscle, but the you inside is going to be the same. Yes, your
shapely new build may inspire confidence, but the raw materials of your
personality are going to be exactly the same. Are you fundamentally happy with
your life and who you are now — or are you waiting around for external
improvements to make you feel better on the inside? Just like the roots of a
plant determine the quality of its fruit, it’s the invisible, internal stuff
that determines the happiness of your external life.
Celebrities Whine & Complain Just Like Everybody Else
As a society, we’ve been trained
to look up to people whose job it is to pretend everyday to be
someone other than who they are. And because of the glitz and glamour
associated with their Hollywood lives, we put them up on pedestals and give
extra weight to what they say — for no reason other than the fact that they’re
famous.
I hate to break it to you, but I
have trained some celebrities and stars — and the truth is they are no different
than you or I. Granted, it’s their job to look great all the time, so they
spend a ton of time and money making sure they keep on looking good. But they
whine and complain just as much as the rest of us. Wouldn’t you love to get
paid to look good, rather than paying someone to help you look better?
Once upon a time, only
celebrities hired personal trainers, in part because only celebrities could
afford them, but also because looking good was viewed primarily as the arena of
the famous. It’s good to know we regular folks are getting smarter, in that
we’re beginning to realize just how important personal training is in the lives
of everyone, not just famous people. If you think about how important a healthy
body is to every aspect of your life, you might come to realize
that a good trainer is more important than your hair dresser, your CPA, or even
your mechanic. In fact, a personal trainer is a mechanic — only
the machine he or she works on is not a car, but the most important machine you
will ever own: your body.
Personal trainers help keep you
healthy by motivating you — and the celebrities — to get in shape and keep off
the fat.
The Results of Quick-Fix Shape-Up Programs Never Last
I am constantly amazed when I
hear celebrities and their personal trainers promoting their diets and/or
nutritional products. If the alleged “professionals” holding the media
limelight still don’t know how the body functions (and far too many of them
don’t), it’s no wonder our nation just keeps on getting fatter. There are two
significant problems with quick-fix formats for training and nutrition. First,
these extreme exercise and diet regimens that quickly get stars in phenomenal
shape for a movie role or a tour are terrible for the body. Yet many
celebrities are willing to do whatever it takes to get in shape as quickly as
possible because they know their jobs could be on the line. Secondly, regular
people, fans of these fabulous-looking stars, try to follow the celebrities’
diet and exercise programs, only to wind up failing, both because they cannot
keep up the extreme regimens and because the programs are unnatural and
impossible to sustain for any length of time.
Remaining super-lean year-round
can be challenging, especially if you’re on an exercise program that leans you
down in as little as 8 to 12 weeks, such as a bodybuilder’s diet and exercise
regimen. This process can get you looking phenomenal for a day or two, but I
guarantee it won’t last much beyond that, because our bodies simply cannot
function at that level for any sustained period of time. However, you can
achieve these results and stay super-lean year-round with a lifestyle change
that incorporates healthy meals and regular exercise. A program like this is
geared to burn fat as opposed to primarily building muscle, unlike the regimens
celebrity personal trainers often put their star clients on.
The thing is, short-term training
programs to get in shape for a one- or two-day event (like a bodybuilding
contest) do work, but because they occur at an unnaturally rapid pace, they
cannot be carried out for any real length of time, at least not without doing
serious harm to the body. But sure enough, most celebrity personal training
programs are designed around this quick-fix process because so few personal
trainers really understand anatomy and human kinetics, the science of how the
human body functions. There are well-educated trainers — they just happen to be
unfortunately rare. I have worked in the industry for many years, and seldom
encounter other trainers who have degrees or even quality certifications, or who
continue to develop their education and expand their knowledge about human
function and performance. In this unregulated industry, no one is checking to
see if personal trainers are performing any kind of continuing ed — and I
promise you, most are not.
All this is not to say that you
should not hire a personal trainer. Hell, even personal trainers who know
hardly anything about creating a quality exercise or nutrition program still can
create an environment where you can get in great shape. They can motivate you
to achieve better health and make much further progress than you would likely
ever accomplish on your own. Almost any personal trainer is better than no
personal trainer. Almost.
Differing Levels of Training Experience — and Results
Certainly there are people
reading this who feel they can do it — the fitness program and healthy diet —
all on their own. More power to anyone who can create a healthy eating plan,
incorporate a weight training routine, and practice a regular cardio regimen on
their own. Please know, however, you are the extreme exception. For many
people, the problem isn’t in creating the program or even finding the discipline
to commit to it. The problem is that in trying to do it all themselves, they
are creating the wrong program for the results they wish to achieve. These are
the folks who train regularly, yet see little or no results. They then get
frustrated and quit, thinking they have tried everything when it comes to losing
fat, that they simply must not be disciplined enough — when, in reality,
discipline has very little to do with it.
There also are those who think
they know a lot because they’ve achieved great results on their own, when in
actuality, they’ve just been blessed with good genes and would benefit by doing
almost any kind of exercise. Most of your models, movie stars, and celebrities
fall into this category, so any exercise and nutritional program a personal
trainer gives them is likely to work like a charm. Under the guidance of a
knowledgeable personal trainer and certified nutritionist, these people would
see more and better results than they had ever dreamed possible. And the best
part would be that the results would last, rather than simply providing the
short-term fix they’ve become used to.
Lastly, of course, are the people
who don’t care about their health, don’t have time to exercise, or never
exercise, because exercise hurts, they hate to sweat, or their self-esteem is in
the toilet and they figure it’s a waste of time to even try. While this sort of
personal apathy toward preserving one’s health through exercise and proper
eating may seem like no one’s business but the individual’s, it really is a very
selfish act. Treating your body well, including getting regular exercise and
eating healthy food, is the most unselfish thing you can do. Think about it —
if you don’t take care of yourself now, sooner than later, others will have to
take care of you. Since you were too lazy, busy, or depressed to invest the
time or energy in staying healthy, you will, inevitably, make others suffer.
A Qualified Trainer Will Tailor a Program to Meet Your Needs
If companies and governments were
wise, personal trainers would be mandatory and health insurance would cover
them. Well, a guy can dream, can’t he? Seriously, even if you only see a
trainer once a week — or even once a month — to check in and make sure you’re
performing your exercises properly, it’s better than not seeing one at all.
Take the time to do the research,
and then invest in a qualified trainer who is knowledgeable about
how to help you achieve your personal goals. If you have a special need — a
back injury, joint problems, limited range of motion — find someone who can
address your issues specifically. Don’t jump on the latest celebrity trainer
bandwagon, just because the person is a trainer to the stars. Find a personal
trainer who knows how to train your human body and get you
results.
Fame Doesn’t Equal Expertise — Particularly in the Health &
Fitness Industry
Celebrity personal trainers,
spokesmodels, movie stars, athletes, and other rich and famous people probably
got where they are because they’re great at what they do. That does not mean
you should follow their advice about health and nutrition. You probably
wouldn’t ask a plumber advice about how to change your car’s oil, would you?
Likewise, celebrities may look good, but that doesn’t mean they — even celebrity
trainers — know anything about proper exercise and nutrition.
Hire a health, fitness, and nutrition professional. They are the only people
whose advice you should take regarding these subjects. Even medical doctors
generally are not the best advocates for proper fitness and nutrition, because
they are trained in specific fields and seldom are aware of how all the
parts of the body work and move in cooperation.
Have you ever noticed how some of
the famous people dishing health advice are not even in that great of shape?
Why would you take advice from someone who isn’t in peak physical condition?
That’s like getting your hair cut by a stylist with a bowl cut or having a
gap-toothed orthodontist install your braces. Not to mention that anyone can
look great, but still feel terrible because they achieved their looks through an
unhealthy method.
Research Pays Off When Searching for a Qualified Trainer
The thing is, you don’t know what
you don’t know. As a result, many people fall into the trap of buying the
baloney stars like Britney Spears, Oprah, and Dr. Phil are selling. And even
though a star might actually have a fabulous, incredibly knowledgeable trainer,
a lot can be misinterpreted between the time the trainer offers exercise or diet
specifics to his celebrity client and the time that celebrity repeats the info
to his or her adoring public. It’s like that game of Telephone you played when
you were a kid — by the time the information reaches you, it has turned into
misinformation.
How do you know who to believe
anyway? One star says they got great results by simply lifting weights and
eating fewer calories. The next celebrity says they lost tons of weight by
eating a low-fat diet high in protein. Another famous somebody swears by a
daily swim, lots of veggies, and whole lot of good carbs. Arghhhhhh!!!! It all
sounds confusing as hell. And, in a way, it is.
A program that’s right for a
size-2 supermodel probably is not right for a heavy stay-at-home mom who is just
now learning to incorporate any exercise into her day. The proper
program for an individual depends on his or her biochemistry and the specific
way their body functions. Understanding human kinetics is not as easy as
A-B-C. When it comes to the human body, there may be many underlying reasons
why one person begins a simple walking program and, voila, they look phenomenal,
while another person runs, lifts weights, and kills themselves in the gym, only
to step on the scale and find they’ve gained another pound.
The human body is awash in
mysteries, and a good personal trainer will help you solve yours so you can lose
all the fat you want and add all the muscle you desire. Again, personal
training is all about you and your results. And even if all your exercise and
effort don’t drop a pound off you — if you see no noticeable changes — know that
the exercise is benefiting your body and your health, and it would
be stupid to discontinue your program. Rather than quit, find someone to help
you fine-tune your regimen so you can begin to see the results from all your
hard work.
The main thing is this: Don’t
follow someone’s advice just because they claim to be a personal trainer to the
stars or charge $300 an hour. None of that means their program will get you the
results you want. There are no healthy quick fixes. Get on a
quality exercise program and eat properly, period. Don’t waste time, money, or
energy, only to become frustrated. Do the research and hire a professional who
can give you sensible advice that will get you on your way to looking good and
feeling great.
Scott White is a certified personal trainer and
nutritionist located in Scottsdale, Arizona. For more information about
nutrition and fitness, reach Scott at 480-628-1607 or
swhite@personalpowertraining.net. Also:
www.personalpowetraining.net.
Mangers and Agents for Celebrity Personal Trainers:
Consult with a professional call me and I can find you the best personal trainer
for your star, celebrity, Athlete, or yourself.
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