Why I don't include 'before and after' photos
As part of developing my website I naturally looked at ones for other gyms. A reoccuring feature that I saw was lots of ‘before and after’ images showing clients who had lost weight. Perfectly understandable that these very eye catching pictures are used and I’m not knocking those who do but exploring why I don’t.
So why don’t I have any?
Well it may seem unusual but I want to seperate the connection between weight loss and exercise. In my view there is too much emphasis on using exercise to lose weight, and there are lots of reasons to exercise that have nothing to do with numbers on a scale.
Some of the people I work with have specifically asked for weight management not to be part of their training. I fully agree with this as it should be an individual choice not an assumption made on my part. The reasons can vary. Some people may have a history of disordered eating and don’t want to possibly trigger this again by focusing on diet. For some it may be because they feel jaded by the ‘must lose weight’ asserted by themselves or others. By focusing on strength it has allowed them, sometimes for the first time in their life, to enjoy exercise without any pressure that they should only be doing it to lose weight or to look a certain way. This has been a significant factor with them sustaining their training over a long period.
The other aspect of why I don’t use them is that the significant transformations that I see, and that clients tell me about don’t show up on photos!
Here are just a few – More energy, increased confidence, less pain, feeling calmer, feeling more physically capable, taking on activities that previously had become impossible, more stamina in their work, and more enjoyment of family time.
If someone wants to work on both exericise and nutrition then that is an individual choice and should never be a prerequisite to exercising.
Everyone should feel welcome in a gym setting.
You should train for your own reasons and goals. They might be about weight management. They might not. Nothing wrong with either of them.
They might be because you just want to lift stuff and feel great – I’m definitely here for that one!
