When hiring a PT, there are a few things to look out for. Price is important, as is specialism – you want to find someone that you can afford, who you like and who has qualifications and interests in the area that you’re looking to get stronger in. PT andcontributor, Pennie Varvarides, also argues that going for an openly queer trainer has substantial benefits for women.
Pennie works as an"inclusive coach" and is open about her sexuality as a way of creating a safe space for her clients.When I first started working as a personal trainer, a male PT decided that it was his responsibility to point out the cellulite on my thighs and tell me what he thought I should do about it. As you might imagine, it’s this sort of behaviour that puts people off from working out at gyms, and for many, that kind of comment could trigger gender or body dysphoria.
“As a PT, I’m not going to make any assumptions about what someone may or may not want to achieve,” Knapp says. In my experience, this is an attitude that’s more likely to be found with queer PTs, and it’s an important one. They continue that reframing how we talk about fitness goals “feels like trying to shift what people consider to be definites in life. [We have] to look at gender as a social construct, rather than a definite, un-shiftable fact.