I once was teaching a class which included a lot of people who were hoping to become certified personal fitness trainers. At noon, I gave everybody a lunch break and it was then, while I was walking back to the college I was teaching, that I noticed something I don't think I've ever seen before: Several of these want-to-be personal trainers were smoking! Was I seeing things? Did I just fall down a rabbit hole and land in the Bizaro World? Can you be a personal trainer and smoke? I really thought about this for some time afterward and came to some conclusions. If you smoke and want to be a personal trainer, you need to know these facts.
Smoking And Personal Training?
As I drove home that day I wondered why so many smokers wanted to become personal trainers? It just didn't make sense and reminded me of what the robot in Lost In Space Robot might say:
“That does not compute.”
I remembered earlier in the day, before the class began, I asked people how they heard about the class that I was teaching. Several of the people said they heard about the class from a very well known chain of health clubs (which will remain nameless) that I'm sure everybody in the US has heard of.
Now this started to make sense. Keep reading…
How Most Gyms Hire Trainers
Most big box gyms don't pay personal trainers very much money. Some gyms pay as little as $6 per half-hour personal training session! Because of this, there is a high turnover as people get tired of the low pay. The people who run these fitness centers are always on the lookout for new people to replace those who move on to other opportunities. So how do these big, well known gyms find new personal trainers?
Here is typically what happens:
1. Person walks into a gym.
2. Gym manager asks: “Do you want to be a personal trainer?”
3. Person says, “Sure. What do I need to do?”
4. Gym manager says, “Take this class. If you pass. I'll hire you.”
This is similar to how I was first hired too! The difference with me was I was also in college for exercise science at the time.
The important part of this exchange is the last part – “if you pass.” This usually sets people up for failure because those gym managers often don't give people any direction on how to prepare for a personal trainer exam.
Rather, they give the perspective new employee a phone number to call or a website to go to. The people sometimes think, ‘How hard can it be? I like to workout so it should be easy. I'll be OK.” As such, a lot of them fail ―and waste the money they spent on the personal trainer certification exam.
The gym won't be reimbursing them for the money you spent.
The gym manager at the big box gym often doesn't care if the person smokes or not.
He/she only cares about getting somebody working so they can say to their boss “I got somebody working the 7-12 shift.”
Whoever they hire is in a “sink or swim” situation. In other words, either the person will thrive or they eventually get so frustrated they quit.
And then the cycle of getting a new person to fill the slot in the gym begins again…
My heart goes out to everybody who falls for this scam.
Personal Trainers And Smoking
Smoking and being a personal trainer appears to me to be about as far apart as Republicans and Democrats. Why did those people who took my class want to be personal trainers in the first place? Most of them looked like they worked out, but did they think their smoking habit would not impact their success as a personal trainer?
Did they really think it would not matter to their clients?
I've always felt fitness and personal training was a big tent, with room for many people. Fitness trainers come in all shapes and sizes. It doesn't matter if the person is a little overweight, has a physical disability or even has a criminal record.
All of this falls aside when the common goal between the client and trainer is focused on health.
But, when it comes to smoking, I have concerns.
Smoking is diametrically opposed to the idea of “being healthy.” I'd bet if we took a survey of people who hire personal trainers, we'd find most of them did not smoke and had strong opinions on fitness trainers who did smoke.
Because of this, I believe personal trainers who smoke will be discriminated against by potential clients.
True story: I was once discriminated against by a potential client when I mentioned I like diet coke – Diet Coke! I told her more about her gym equipment (she had her own gym) in 30 seconds than her previous trainer did in 5 years, yet she just couldn't get past the fact I drank diet coke. If drinking diet coke lost me a client, what chance do smokers have?
Fact: Most non-smokers are very good at smelling cigarette odor on people who smoke. Cologne won't hide the smell unless a lot was used.
Cologne can be another problem because fitness trainers need to keep it to a minimum. Not only can
one person's good smell be another person's bad smell, but there is also the fact cologne use might aggravate asthma.
Tip. cigarette order can also trigger an asthma attack!
Smokers may also have yellow fingers and bad breath – other things non-smokers will quickly pick up on. If they ask the trainer “do you smoke,” how do you respond?
- If you lie and say no, they will know your lying
- If you say yes, they may look for another personal trainer (unless they smoke themselves, which is unlikely)
- If you say “I'm trying to quit” that can work for a while, but you better be prepared to quit, because the client will keep asking about it until you do quit.
The bottom line to this is sure, personal trainers can smoke, but they will probably have to a LOT work harder to get clients and keep clients ―and they will have to be prepared for rejection―and yes, discrimination ―by non smokers.
I'm not kidding. This discrimination is real. It will impact how much money you can make.
Vaping Doesn't Work Either
Many people have switched from smoking to vaping. I'm sorry to tell you this but vaping is not safer than smoking. If you are a personal trainer and your clients see you vaping, you will face the same discrimination as if you smoked. Don't believe me? Tell your clients you like to vape and watch how they look at you.
So, Can Personal Trainers Smoke? Yes Or No?
People can do what they like so of course you can. But, if you don't want to be discriminated against and make less money, then I suggest you quit. If you are thinking about being a personal trainer and you smoke, instead of listening to some dumb gym manager who fills your head with ideas of how much money you can make, think about whether you are willing to do what it takes to be a successful. For smokers, the path to success will be much easier if you quit. I suggest you either quit now or make a really good effort to quit, before you start training people.
Agreed, in principle.
However – like everything – the issue is slightly more complex than simply “if you’re a personal trainer, don’t smoke.”
I’m a personal trainer and also an ex-smoker. While I spent a lot of those years on the job as a smoker, I spent a lot of that time trying very hard to quit. I unfortunately started smoking at a very young age, long before I began my career, and while I was passionate about fitness I continued to battle the addiction on and off.
There’s a huge amount of cognitive dissonance being a health professional dealing with an addiction. If it were easy to quit, I’m sure most of us trainers wouldn’t be smoking. Reality is, none of us are perfect and we need to forgive ourselves and others for our shortcomings if we want to change for the better.
Johathan, thanks for say all that. You bring up some really good points. I wrote this article based on the assumption there were trainers out there who smoked and didn’t think anything about it. My goal was to give them a reason to quit.
You bring a different aspect to the conversation – those who smoke and want to quit but who are addicted. Smoking is a VERY hard habit to break. I’ve seen this personally in family members and friends. They all knew they should quit, but were hooked.
Do you have any advice for the personal trainers reading this who want to quit smoking but are having trouble?
Joe,
Excellent article. I agree 100 percent with your assessment. Smoking and fitness do not go hand and hand. I think you should “walk the talk” as a trainer as clients will expect as much.
Hi Holly, thanks for saying that. I hope more trainers see these words before they face the discrimination I’m predicting they will.
Love your website! 🙂
Joe, I must say you are correct on this. I’m a smoker and when my client learned what I was doing, she gave me this look like “what are you thinking?” I told her I’m trying to quit and now every week, it comes up in conversation. She really wants me to stop.
Jim, thanks for sharing what happened. For what its worth, I’m glad she is sticking with you during this. She sounds like a great person.
What about chewing nicotine gum? is that OK?
Donna, are you using nicotine gum to quit smoking? If yes I don’t see a problem with that. you are doing what you need to do to move forward 🙂
I don’t believe this at all. I vape and no client has ever said a thing to me about it. They know I vape but I don’t do it in front of them. I’m an NASM certified personal trainer and my clients are very happy with the results I provide them with.
Hi John, I am very glad to hear what you say. It sounds like you are one of the lucky ones. I wrote what I did because I believe smoking and vaping is something that will impact the success of a personal trainer. While I am happy for you, I dont think other trainers reading your words should take comfort in what you say. I believe if they smoke and/or vape, it will come back to bite them in the butt. They will not only have issues getting clients, they may lose some of their current clients too.
I do wish you continued success and encourage you to stop vaping. Its not safer and it may just cost you down the road.
Excellent article Joe. I completely agree. A Trainer who smokes will definitely deal with discrimination – probably to the same degree as an obese Dietician.
Paul, yep. Since I wrote this, I’ve been told that a lot of trainers at gyms smoke. I hope they see this someday.
Being a personal trainer is not just about helping people become “buff”. You are teaching them how to be healthier, exercise, diet, weight loss, quit smoking. A healthier life style. Practice what you preach.
Joel, I agree completely.