To take someone who is grossly overweight and subject them to the rigorous training that they have them do is not ethical, it is dangerous. People in that type of shape need to do things slow and low for a good amount of time to avoid injury and possible health complications. The things that they do fly in the face of what we, as coaches and trainers are taught to do by reputable certification agencies. I have always said that if were ever asked to appear on the show I would refuse and then issue a press release saying so. Sure, I might be a media whore glorifying my self proclaimed ethics but at least I would not be a part of that show.
I have also said time and time again that the few times I have watched the show I was horrified at the exercise technique I saw being given by Ms. Michaels and her team of so called experts. It seems that the internet has caught up with them. I was forwarded a link to a site by an old friend and saw the "trainer" on the show teaching Turkish Get Ups (TGU). The TGU is a great exercise, so much so that it is a staple at TPS in out raining programs. For a full description of it go to my blog and read about it. The problem here is that the "trainer's" TGU video was so awful and dangerous that he took the video off of YouTube due to all the comments from real trainers on it.
Lucky for us, someone did a page with screen shots and explanations of what went wrong. The TGU can be dangerous if a nitwit teaches you how to do it. Sadly, this is the nitwit your mother warned you about and he's on TV telling you how to exercise! See the foolishness here.
I don't really have a moral here, I just wanted to vent some frustrations about some of what is going on in our industry. The training industry is pretty much self regulated and as a whole it has gotten much more professional in the time that have been involved in it. People like Ms. Michaels and her tam of "experts" are doing a gross disservice to those if us that take pride in what we do.
I guess that if they ask me to come on the show I might do it under one condition. That I take MY TEAM of EXPERTS and design he program in a safe and effective manner and then let us handle all the training while their old team hunts for another job selling snake oil.
While the show has its merits in terms of showing morbidly obese people that "it can be done", I have to agree that the methods seem extreme and almost doomed to failure. I've never liked the show from day one. When it first aired, they used to put the contestants in rooms full of food as a test of will. Exploitation at it's finest. I never tuned in again after seeing that. I have to wonder what the real statistics are on how many from the show actually have kept the weight off vs. gaining it back? As a person who has lost 140 +/- pounds - on my own, no surgery, gimmicks, meds, etc., I agree 1,000% that slow and steady to start is the absolute right thing to do. I did exactly that, gradually moving on to more advanced forms of exercise. It's overwhelming enough knowing you have 100+ pounds to lose without being subjected to extreme workouts that are potentially dangerous.
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