Reading the title of this piece you could be forgiven for thinking that it has something to do with an American personal trainer or a scandal in the White House gym. Rather, this article is in response to a recently published video, “Personal Trainers Taste Test Junk Food” by the YouTube channel, “Facts”. This video quickly amassed three million views, becoming one of the channel’s most popular videos. The video shows us four qualified personal trainers from Ireland eating an array of unhealthy foods: donuts, Doritos, McDonald’s, Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream and Coca-Cola. This video promotes a worrying message to young people.
The key to healthy living is balance. This is something we’ve heard a 1,000 times before and a mantra any qualified nutritionist will tell you. However, for the purposes of this video, the balanced approach is abandoned and the personal trainers give us an insight into their psyche. One of very first trainer’s comments reveal a genuine fear of unhealthy foods: “I’m a bit nervous. I’m expecting some big monster plate of something that will make me really fat all of a sudden.” The idea that ditching your diet for even one meal will suddenly make you obese is a ludicrous notion. Even more so when you realise that as a personal trainer he probably does a fair amount of exercise everyday anyway.
The same trainer later comments as he takes his first bite into the donut, “don’t judge me”, as though viewers were about to let out a visceral scream at their laptops in disgust. Later another personal trainer concedes, “my brain is thinking about all the burpees I need to do to overcome it”. One can only feel sympathy for anyone so burdened by their conscious that they can’t even take a bite of a pastry without been plagued by the desperate urge to punish themselves. You are what you eat as the adage goes but only what you repeatedly eat.
Going to the gym and being actively concerned about one’s health is now the norm for college students. Every student automatically pays in his or her fees for membership to the campus gym. We see Fulfil protein bar wrappers next to zero-calorie energy drinks left on the tables in the library. We overhear conversations about when the optimal time is to drink a protein shake or what the latest supplement is that will help us achieve our desired results. We represent a new generation of college students who are as concerned with going out and having the craic as we are with staying in shape. An unfortunate side effect of this newfound concern with our health however, is the prevalence of body dysmorphic disorder and other eating disorders among young people today.
The video in question, though it may seem light-hearted, is in fact reckless in its promotion of extreme attitudes to calorie counting. It ultimately contributes to this issue by giving obscene and unhelpful nutritional advice to young people. Students who view this video may be left thinking that “if someone who trains in a gym every day can’t afford a momentary break from their diet, surely I can’t afford it either”.
The gym, as has been documented in this paper before, can be a scary place, even for serious athletes. For many students Trinity serves as the first gym membership they’ve ever had. Some have never even so much as stepped foot inside a gym before, and one of the candidates in this year’s Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) elections, Rachel Skelly, even included in her campaign a plan for making the gym more friendly and accessible for those who are new to Trinity.
One way some gym goers try to get more confident in the gym machines is by paying for a personal trainer to help them out. Often these trainers are exactly what people need to give them that little push to keep coming back. Sometimes they are pivotal to people’s success in the gym. However, given the comments made by qualified personal trainers in this video the question must be asked: how serious are the requirements to become a qualified personal trainer and just what sort of advice falls under their remit?
This is a topical issue, particularly following a recent “Claire Byrne Live” debate which saw Operation Transformation dietician, Aoife Hearne, go toe to toe with DJ and Managing Director of Bodyfirst Nutrition, Ray Shah. Hearne attacked the commercialisation of the fitness industry and claimed that supplements were only necessary for those competing at the top level. Perhaps her words are worth heeding, especially by students who are simply looking to stay in shape. You don’t need to spend money on personal trainers or supplements. We need to be wary of listening to advice about the benefits of supplements, from the vendors of these supplements. Likewise, when we listen to gyms push their personal training regimes, we need to take those recommendations with a pinch of salt.
I reached out to to senior producer at ‘Facts’, Oisin Bickley, to find out what the intention behind the video had been. Speaking to The University Times over email, he defended it by explaining that, “the aim of the video was to put personal trainers in a situation that they’re not used to. Our goal is to create entertaining videos and we’ve found that the best content often comes from contrast and putting people in uncomfortable situations. We thought it would be cathartic to show personal trainers indulging in foods that they generally avoid”.
That sentiment is understandable, but the message the video promotes is counterproductive. Indulging yourself occasionally shouldn’t be a source of shame. It’s part of enjoying your life and your youth. When looking for fitness advice perhaps it’s better to look at people’s results than their qualifications. Although the irony in someone chasing a slip of paper (my degree), telling you that qualifications are irrelevant, isn’t lost on me.
