In gyms across the country, pulses are racing, chests are heaving and palms are sweating. Only this has nothing to do with the cross trainer, and everything to do with the personal trainer. Once an option only for celebrities and trophy wives, personal trainers are now widely available and more popular than ever. David Lloyd reports a 73% increase in personal training in its clubs since 2007. Esporta and the London-based Lab Gyms have both seen the number of people hiring PTs double recently, and Nuffield Health has noted a 30% spike in members hiring trainers since January. At Virgin Active, Alan Holl, head of commercial fitness, says: “Personal training is now so high on a lot of people’s priority lists, it pretty much has escaped the recession.”
So far, so healthy. But the trouble with trainers is that they get under your skin — in more ways than muscle mass. What starts as twice-weekly cardio can quickly snowball into friendship, flirtation and sometimes more. And as swimwear season approaches, the tension rises with each session.
Tara Oakes, 30, a marketing executive, had a cosy routine of morning workouts followed by lunch with her trainer. “I loved the fact that he only saw me in my gym outfit and no make-up, but still paid me compliments,” she says. “Soon the chemistry between us was electric, particularly when he was stretching me out and pinning my ankles behind my head. One Saturday, we went out to lunch and passed my flat. I invited him in for a drink, assuming he couldn’t bear the tension either, but being outside our normal environment was awkward. We ended up partially clothed giving each other ‘sports massage’, but the expected kiss never happened. Then he left and I sat there cringing. After that he stopped texting me and our sessions fizzled out.”
Oakes and her trainer wouldn’t be the first to overstep boundaries. The dynamic between trainer and client is notoriously seductive — a potent cocktail of undivided attention, vulnerability, praise, payment and shifting power, all charged with physical contact.
Nobody exploits this bond better than celebrities. Madonna famously dated her PT Denis Durhaney, while the fitness guru Tracy Anderson opened a gym with her star pupil, Gwyneth Paltrow. Last month, Chelsea Clinton and her husband reportedly credited their joint trainer, Simone Ayesa, with saving their marriage (Ayesa specialises in Tantric-sex instruction as well as Swiss balls). And didn’t Heidi Klum and her trainer look pally, “stretching out” in the park recently? But such rapport can turn sour: when Nicolas Cage’s son, Weston, had his lunch order banned by his PT, he karate-kicked the well-meaning beefcake, resulting in a roadside brawl that went viral on YouTube last month.
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Trainers themselves are well aware of their impact. Anderson says: “When people go through such transformation, it’s very emotional, so, naturally, they consider me a comrade on their journey. I have become friends with clients, but I also think of myself as their teacher.” Atlanta Wood, who runs personal-training sessions in Regent’s Park, London, says: “When I meet a client, the first thing they tell me is what they dislike about their body, so the barriers are down.”
It’s the first time since school I’ve had a sense of effort rewarded with results and recognition Laura Clayton, 23, a lawyer, works out weekly with her club’s resident heart-throb. “We flirt nonstop, but I’m aware that, like a waiter, he is pretty much obliged to flirt with clients,” she says. “Trainers are enticing because they’re very strong and very nice to you. They encourage, but they’re also strict. Plus, they’re usually stupidly good-looking. In fact, I saw my trainer on the front of Men’s Health. I sent him a mocking text, while swiftly purloining the magazine from the doctor’s waiting room.”
Even without sexual chemistry, a trainer will always be a captive, objective audience — making them an ideal confidante. And the gym, with its boxing pads and background grunts, is a perfect space for a good rant.
Peter Haynes, 39, who works in publishing, says of his trainer, Zac: “I chat to him the way I do to my hairdresser. Nothing is off limits, because I know it won’t go any further. I know he’s not judging me, because he’s seen me utterly humiliated. I’m 100% myself, and that’s a novelty and outlet. It’s also the first time since school I’ve had a sense of effort rewarded with results and recognition.”
The bottom line, though, is that this is a business transaction. Personal training is a rich source of income for big gyms, so gym owners effectively become landlords, hiring space to increasing numbers of self-employed trainers. When these PTs struggle to meet the rent, the result is an ugly race for clients. Wood, who used to work for one of Britain’s biggest fitness chains, says: “The big gyms don’t care about your teaching — you’re ‘good’ if you bring in money. Most trainers are under huge pressure to sell themselves. They’ll resort to emotional blackmail, such as promising brides they can take weight off fast, with no thought for whether it’ll go back on afterwards.”
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Surprisingly, then, you may be better off with the least “popular” trainer at your gym. “When PTs have loads of clients, the quality of instruction inevitably slips,” Wood says. “I used to see knackered, oversubscribed trainers repeating the same session with different people. They might as well have sent their clients to a circuit class.”
The trainers who do it “for the love” are no better. Marie Charles, 35, a stylist, was repeatedly offered free or discounted sessions by her trainer. “I felt I owed him something,” she says. “We even started doing swapsies. I’d bring him freebies I’d got through work such as aftershave. But if I gave him a £200 watch, he’d insist on another 20 free sessions. It kept altering the balance of power — we never knew where we stood. In the end, I started to do spinning classes instead.”
The moral of the story? Pay up, play nice and keep it in the gym. And trainers, let your clients eat what they want. Unless you want to wind up in a punch-up on YouTube.
Which trainer will work out for you?
Girl on girl
If you can resist the urge to chat, it can be easier to communicate what you want to change about your body to another woman. This is the ex-dancer Tracy Anderson’s USP.
The beefcake
Many girls choose their trainer on pecs appeal alone. And rightly so — a himbo’s approval is a tried-and-tested motivator.
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The GMT
The gay male trainer is a popular variation on the GBF. He’ll probably have better between-rep chat than the beefcake, and your boyfriend won’t object to your sessions.
Fraternity club
Men are advised to choose a trainer with an obtainable physique — a pumped-up he-man will only leave you feeling puny. Look for trainers who are lean and bouncing with energy.