“There are no boundaries other than those we create.” A truly inspiring mantra many a fitness professional will profess.
Such an approach is fantastic when it comes to getting in shape and pursuing one’s fitness goals, but sometimes the fitness industry can get just a little carried away with the idea of boundarylessness. In fact, I would say the very survival of the industry depends on the existence and preservation of some very important boundaries indeed.
The problem is, boundaries can sometimes be quite challenging to define. Some are even practically taboo. I heard a story last week that was quite amusing in some ways, yet quite disastrous for some of the protagonists, depending on who is narrating the account. A young female fitness enthusiast decided to go for a good, old-fashioned jog out on the road in attire she insisted left very little exposed. On a late February afternoon, I should certainly hope so.
It might seem a shame that such an activity undertaken by a female simply must be accompanied by obligatory hooting car horns, whistling and general harassment.
Occasionally, as was the case in this particular story, poetic justice happens to cause some juvenile-minded gapers to actually crash their cars in an apparent momentary frenzy of confusion.
The fitness generation has taken ahold, but it seems we have got a little longer to wait for ongoing physical activity around us to be considered a normal everyday sight.
Granted, it is hard to deny that the modern fitness world often sports a somewhat brazen façade. We’re already well beyond partial nudity when it comes to advertising supplements, gym equipment and fitness wear, and the undertones are often suggestive, to say they least.
In everything, from billboards to music videos, many a pundit have enjoyed generous financial gain from forcing you and I to make certain obvious connections. Like many industries, the fitness industry uses it ingeniously, but despite the fact we find ourselves in 2016, where little seems to shock us, fit people doing their thing still raises eyebrows and dents the occasional car bumper.
One of the most important boundaries fitness trainers must consider is that of appropriate behaviour at all times when interacting with clients
The lycra-clad Olivia Newton John cavorting around a room jam-packed with suggestions and connotations in her music video Let’s Get Physical might have been novel at the time, but that was nearly 35 years ago, and fitness has come a long way since then. The age of fitness trainers who are all brash and no dash is thankfully coming to an end.
If serious fitness professionals must adhere to a strict code of ethics to maintain their accreditation with professional agencies and registers, then perhaps the public might like to know what boundaries exist to protect the credibility and integrity of fitness service provision.
Instructors and personal trainers are encouraged to understand and reflect on the codes of ethics they agree to observe when they qualify to practise, and in an often provocative sector like ours, here are some things that might help renew your faith.
One of the most important boundaries fitness trainers must consider is that of appropriate behaviour at all times when interacting with clients. They must understand that they occupy a position of trust. Clients rely on their trainers to assist them in reaching their fitness goals, and any behaviour that is not directly intended to serve this purpose may be safely deemed as inappropriate. Clients and trainers alike have a right to privacy, and avoiding mixing professional and private interests is crucial to the success of the client-trainer working relationship.
Like many other professionals, fitness trainers have a duty of care towards their clients and doing pretty much anything that results in any harm – be it physical or emotional – is a boundary that should never be blurred.
Fitness professionals also owe it to the industry they represent, to conduct their professional duties with a sense of responsibility. Something that often surprises prospective fitness professionals when it invariably comes up in discussions, for instance, is that performance-enhancing drugs are another boundary that simply must not be crossed.
It is stated quite unequivocally in the code of ethics of every major accreditating agency and register in the industry, that a fitness professional may not use, suggest the use of or even condone the use of performance-enhancing drugs like anabolic steroids.
If they do so, they are directly contravening the regulations that give them the right to dispense supposedly trustworthy fitness advice in the first place.
Qualified fitness trainers will also reflect on the way they communicate with clients, and in light of the plugged-in and connected world we live in, many modes of interaction skate the fine line between professionalism and disrepute.
Earlier, I mentioned boundaries that are hard to define or even taboo. Are we ready to discuss and decide exactly what is appropriate and what is not in regard to communication via social media or mobile communications?
Next time you hear slogans calling for the dissolution of boundaries and urging you to ‘get physical’, consider that the fitness professionals in whom you place your trust will have reflected on many aspects of their conduct and service.
If you find yourself doubting that any aspect of such conduct does not appear to be in your very best interests, then remember that there are plenty of representatives of this fine sector out there, happy to abide by the ethics they swore to uphold.
matthew.muscat.inglott@mcast.edu.mt