Horsham-based female personal trainer, Becky, specialises in helping those who lack confidence in a gym, as well as working with those who have COPD, and have been through cancer treatment. As Christmas approaches, she’s been thinking about what’s on her festive wish list…
I’d like to say that, as the song goes, I don’t want a lot for Christmas… but I do. Let’s dream big here. As a personal trainer, these are the things on my Christmas 2024 wish list…
Inclusive fitness clothing
I told you I was aiming high. This is something that people have been requesting for a long time. How are people in different sized bodies supposed to participate if they can’t access appropriate clothing? For people in smaller bodies, the options are endless – tonnes (which is also a problem) of cute matching sets in all kinds of colours and styles, made from material that’s designed to be moved in.
Those in bigger bodies are automatically excluded, and it perpetuates the fallacy that they don’t belong and shouldn’t be active. It’s an absolute farce, and it needed to change 20 years ago, never mind now.
As a postscript to this one, I’d like brands to stop using classic fitness speak such as “sculpting” with reference to clothing.
Gyms to become more physically accessible
A variation on the theme – many fitness spaces are wildly inaccessible. From machines being built to be used by a certain type of body, to spaces being laid out so that there isn’t enough room to manoeuvre through them (particularly for those who use mobility aids), and them also being lit in a hideous way (and I’m not talking about them “making us look ugly”, here what I mean is that they’re particularly unfriendly to those who are neurodivergent, and that goes for music too).
Again: people with disabilities, additional access needs, and living in various body sizes are worthy of being able to access fitness spaces, and they need the spaces to support them in doing so. This isn’t just about purchasing a ramp either. Do more.
Pretty big shoes
One of the things that genuinely held me back from participating for a long time was that I wasn’t able to purchase any kind of fitness shoe. Even one that’s more designed for leisure than training. Because I am a woman who takes a UK size 9 or 10 shoe.
My first pair of trainers that I purchased as an adult were a size too small, because it’s all I could get. Read that again.
And it brings back some childhood trauma. As with many people, my feet grew faster than the rest of me, and I was wearing adult shoes before I left primary school. Annual trips to shop for school shoes always resulted in me having maybe two styles to choose from, and they were always hideous. Not for me, the pretty patent styles that my peers were able to wear. And the trend has continued into adulthood.
Sports shoes for women are a general problem among all sizes – shoes are typically designed using a last (that’s the technical name for the mould) which is based on the shape of a male foot. It’s widely believed to be the cause of many injuries at a professional level in women’s sport, which is wild.
Brands, hear me when I say that there is a market beyond a UK women’s size 8. You can have all of our money. You just have to make our size first.
Coaches to commit to improving
When I decided to be a PT, and learned that, like with your driving test, you can pass the initial training and then work for the rest of your life without doing any more, I knew that concept wasn’t for me.
Yes, we learn by doing, and working with clients teaches us a lot. But there’s so much more to personal training than the basic course, and what your clients show you. There are specialist courses in so many topics, and they can be as complex or as simple as you like.
Think about something you’d like to improve on, and go in that direction. I’m not yet sure what I’ll aim to learn in 2025, but there will definitely be something.
Gym users to put their plates away
It wouldn’t be a fitness wish list without the holy grail.
Gym members: your mother (probably) doesn’t work there. Pick up after yourself. If you’re strong enough to get the toys out and use them, you can also put them away. And don’t just leave stuff how you found it: if you use a piece of kit that you find not tidied properly, don’t perpetuate the issue by walking away at the end of your set – tidy up after yourself. If we all do it, the system works.
And with that, it’s time to cross my fingers and hope my Christmas wishes come true…