No matter the circumstances exercising or any physical fitness can help the body and mind in a positive way if done correctly. While some people like the privacy of a tv and a butt kicking workout video, some also prefer the guidance of a personal trainer always being right there for them and guiding them through the workout in person. When looking for a personal trainer many go for the bulky, juice-head-drinking, stereotypical tough guy over the fit and lean woman who knows her way around the gym just as much as the guy. The industry of physical fitness has gotten it drilled in many young girls and boys head that this isn’t a place for little girls, which is wrong. It’s time for us as a society to realize that picking a man over a women as a personal trainer because of their gender, and not their qualifications effects the ethics in how a woman carries herself if she chooses this career path. As well as woman trainers ethics change due to what people portray them as, social media portrays who is qualified for this job and who isn’t, and to solve this growing problem in basing the choice of who is more qualified not by a person’s qualifications, but by gender.

Women have gotten more basic rights in the last century than they have ever had before, but they are still being criticized for their gender and this later affects their initial ethics. While women personal trainers do get hired by gyms, they don’t always have the best clientele in the gyms the work for because of their gender. They are given the same job, less opportunities, and therefore setting them up to fail before they even get a chance to prove themselves. This being said, it makes women of all ages, especially young women, think they are less than what their actual value is, and this can change their ethics while being at work. For example, when Lisa Johnson from lisajohnsonfitness.com talks about the initial choice between a male and female trainer she says, “Well first off they’re not better, they’re just more popular.” This goes to show that women are just as qualified if not even more to be anyone’s personal fitness trainer, female or male. Now the other hand this could be taken in a completely different way. For example, the quote above from fitness guru Lisa Johnson goes to show that it’s not always people’s preference, it’s just the social normality for the physical fitness world, it’s not wrong, but it’s also not right. As well as the quote above from personal trainer and blogger Jonathan Goodman, talks about how a woman’s ethics or how she carries herself while  at work affects a person’s choice in picking a person trainer. According to the article, “both genders possess the capability of being a professional trainer, but when a girl flirts with a client to get more sessions and money with them. It makes it seem like all women trainers are unprofessional,” said Goodman. While Goodman makes the point saying that girls or women who act loosely in their work ruin it for all women trainers, that doesn’t always have to be the case. While there are women who choose to flirt with clients in order to get more sessions it doesn’t make them less ethical, it’s simply a method to get more money. These women have been given so little opportunity to prosper and grow in their job that they fall back on flirting because their gyms or bosses see nothing but a body so they only work their body instead of what they can give their client to live a better and healthier life.

As well as ethics being changed because female trainers are picked second to a male trainer, social media also has a lot to do with the influence in picking a female trainer or if a women would even consider being one. For example, when tabloids and headlines come out saying “Lifting Makes Women Bulky” and “Muscle is Too Masculine” it makes women think they can’t or shouldn’t lift weights or they’ll lose a sense of feminism. This isn’t true at all, according to personal trainer and author Molly Galbraith, “Similarly my body type might not be someone else’s preference. It might be considered too “bulky,” too lean, too curvy, too soft, or too firm for some,” said Galbraith. As well as it being just an opinion and a personal preference it’s also a big fat myth that women can get as bulky as men. When it come to muscle mass and how much a woman can carry it simply doesn’t add up and will never add up to the same amount a man can carry. For example, Galbraith says “women don’t have the same hormone profile as men, and therefore cannot gain enough lean mass to look bulky,” this being said society should get rid of the tall tale that women can get big and broad when they can’t… at least not as much as men. It’s not only impossible for the women anatomy, but it is setting young naive girls that don’t know any better to just never try lifting weights and to get stronger because of a lie the media told and the prejudice of a woman who does do strength training and decides to go into this field. Society needs to stop being ignorant to what is the real problem, women have evolved from being the suburban-stay-at-home-housewife to a woman who is capable of more than cooking and cleaning and conceiving. It will not only help our future girls be more stronger physically, but it will also help them to be strong headed and to not let society define them if we stop this lie the media has led us to believe.

We need to, as a society, realize the real truth; women can lift weights and they can be good at lifting them. We live in a time in our society that women can do just as much as men, if not more. Women weren’t just put on this earth to conceive and look pretty. Going to school for being a personal trainer may not take long, but to have the experience and the right knowledge to take on clients with different need and goals, you must have confidence and know exactly what you’re doing. While men and women are both in this field and there are more men out there better known in the “industry” women can and should be given the opportunity to show clients what they can do. It’s time to stop the prejudice of women and the doubts that we can’t do the same job as men in the same job. Let’s be the future and not live in the past where women were seen as less feminine for lifting weights and change society’s view that we can be lifters and not just here to cook and clean.

Johnson, Lisa. “Hiring a Personal Trainer: Boys Vs. Girls.” Lisajohnsonfitness.com.

1 Nov. 2012. Web. 9 May 2016.

Goodman, Jonathan.”Why It’s Harder for Women Personal Trainers.” Jonathangoodman.com. 13 Mar. 2012. Web. 9 May 2016.

GalBraith, Molly. “Does Lifting Heavy Make You Bulky? Find Out the Truth Here.” GirlsGoneStrong.com.Web. 9 May 2016.