If you follow our blog, you've probably seen Tami's recent post where she addresses the importance of instructors as role models in their weight selections for each track, as well as their own personal appearance. As you might expect with such a controversial topic, we've gotten a ton of feedback - the comments you see here are just one part of that, as we've also received a good bit of personal email and interaction with members and instructors at our club.
One thing I'd like to share about Tami is that she's one of the most decent and kind people you'd ever want to meet - and I'm not just saying that because she's my wife. She has no enemies. So when we first starting getting all the feedback, her first reaction was to replace the post with an apology for having offended anyone. She's spent the better part of her life as an overweight person - and if anyone understands the difficulty of losing weight and keeping it off, she certainly does.
There were two reasons I encouraged her to leave the post as it stands. First, her thesis is sound - the core of what she's saying is that we as instructors need to be role models. Whether we realize it or not, we have an influence on the people who attend our classes, and it's our responsibility to make that the best influence it can possibly be. Most (if not all) of us are on a never-ending journey to lose weight, gain strength, or just generally be in better shape. Nothing she's written there implies that you've got to have a "hard body" to be an excellent instructor. But if you're getting complacent - and you know if you are or not - then maybe it's time to up your weights a bit or drop a few pounds. Just like the comment from Mark R where he challenges me to start using weights during lunges - yeah, I've gotten complacent in that area, so now I've got the bar on my shoulder during that track!
Second, I believe the reason we have as many readers as we do is because we're not out here being "politically correct" all the time. We don't give an "A" to every new BodyPump release, we don't gush about every song selection, and we've never shied away from giving LMI their due when they goof up. Folks here in the States who watch American Idol: Truth be told, if Simon kissed up to every contestant that show would be a lot less interesting. Now, we're not out to be the "Simon" of BodyPump, but when you think about it there's a certain value in "stirring the pot" every now and again.
So anyway, I wanted to thank everyone for the feedback, both those who agree and those who disagree. Because that's what makes the time we put into this blog so worthwhile. (BTW, we've got another post right around the corner with pics from this weekend's instructor challenge!)
One thing I'd like to share about Tami is that she's one of the most decent and kind people you'd ever want to meet - and I'm not just saying that because she's my wife. She has no enemies. So when we first starting getting all the feedback, her first reaction was to replace the post with an apology for having offended anyone. She's spent the better part of her life as an overweight person - and if anyone understands the difficulty of losing weight and keeping it off, she certainly does.
There were two reasons I encouraged her to leave the post as it stands. First, her thesis is sound - the core of what she's saying is that we as instructors need to be role models. Whether we realize it or not, we have an influence on the people who attend our classes, and it's our responsibility to make that the best influence it can possibly be. Most (if not all) of us are on a never-ending journey to lose weight, gain strength, or just generally be in better shape. Nothing she's written there implies that you've got to have a "hard body" to be an excellent instructor. But if you're getting complacent - and you know if you are or not - then maybe it's time to up your weights a bit or drop a few pounds. Just like the comment from Mark R where he challenges me to start using weights during lunges - yeah, I've gotten complacent in that area, so now I've got the bar on my shoulder during that track!
Second, I believe the reason we have as many readers as we do is because we're not out here being "politically correct" all the time. We don't give an "A" to every new BodyPump release, we don't gush about every song selection, and we've never shied away from giving LMI their due when they goof up. Folks here in the States who watch American Idol: Truth be told, if Simon kissed up to every contestant that show would be a lot less interesting. Now, we're not out to be the "Simon" of BodyPump, but when you think about it there's a certain value in "stirring the pot" every now and again.
So anyway, I wanted to thank everyone for the feedback, both those who agree and those who disagree. Because that's what makes the time we put into this blog so worthwhile. (BTW, we've got another post right around the corner with pics from this weekend's instructor challenge!)
Thanks Niki : )