Are You an Ethical Personal Trainer?

by Lisa Champion | Saturday, November 27, 2010

Today on the Sydney Morning Herald website a news article caught my eye which was titled ‘Fitness group rescued off NSW beach’. It was purely an informational piece reporting on a trainer’s decision to take his boot camp clients into the ocean after an apparently hard training session on the beach.

The article stirred up some strong feelings in me. What was the personal trainer thinking? Was jumping into the sea after a hard training session on the beach wise? Did he/she take time to think about the greater implications of that decision?

One of the reasons this article touched such a nerve was the fact that I recently ventured back into the world of academia and am completing a counselling degree. Earlier this year we had a lecture about ethics. The issues raised in the lecture really made me think about how we make decisions as personal trainers and fitness professionals. I learned that ethics is not necessarily about morals. Ethical decision making involves thinking carefully about our moral beliefs, but also about what some might call ‘universal principles’ (i.e. some might believe ‘do unto others as you’d have them do unto you’ is a vital part of human dynamics and others might not), and also about having a code of behaviour that is considered correct by a profession.  This isn’t about saying, I agree with a ‘Code of Practice’; this is thinking widely and deeply about all the decisions you make in your business and your personal life, if they happen to overlap.

In my course, we were encouraged to use this question as a test, ‘If this issue was on the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald, what would I think?’ Well, for the personal trainer on the Central Coast, their decision did end up in the Sydney Morning Herald! So, how will this decision affect what the wider population thinks about personal trainers?  And how will it make the wider fitness industry look?

I’d love to hear your thoughts and stories about ethics and ethical decision making. How do you decide if your business decisions are ethical – be they about exercise selection, administration or client relations? Do we think about ethical practice enough as a profession? Do you have a story to share that could help us all think a bit more ethically?

Posted by: Ariel Gonzalez-Motivate You Fitness Personal Training. www.motivateyou.com.au | 02-Dec-2010 08:57 PM |

Interesting article. I guess some examples of ethical practices...
1. Being honest in your dealings with Clients and potential clients. Recommending number of sessions against needs instead of seeing the $$$ signs in your head.
2. Getting a clear idea of what expectations the client has, and thinking about whether or not those expectations are fair and reasonable. For example, we recently had a client who lost 17kg in 12 weeks, but quit because they expected multiple daily phone calls, emails and sms's from the trainer.

Posted by: Suellen | 17-Dec-2010 08:44 PM |

I read this article and thought exactly the same thing. As a trainer I am always thinking "how can this go wrong?" and if the risk outweighs the safety aspect then I won't do it.
With regard to the surf/ ocean, I never take clients in, because like dogs and children........... its too unpredictable!!!
I hope this is wake up call to all trainers,to think before doing.

Posted by: Ben Scolyer | 27-Dec-2010 04:30 PM |

Very interesting article... it is beyond me how a trainer could think it's ok to put their group at risk. It's common sense, where a lack thereof could carry huge consequences! Do people not realise their duty as an instructor?

Thanks for posting.

Cheers
Ben ;)
www.progressionfitness.com.au

Posted by: Ariel Gonzalez- Motivate You Fitness & Personal Training. www.motivateyou.com.au | 15-Jan-2011 09:27 AM |

I think its also important to remember that ethics goes a lot further than Safety.