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Body Image AND Exercise

American Fitness, May, 2000 by Amanda Vogel

What's the Instructor's Role?

As a fitness instructor, your role is to make sure your participants enjoy a safe and effective workout. It is also your job to educate them about health and fitness. But are you responsible for the way they perceive their bodies? What about the way participants perceive your body? Body image and the role of the fitness instructor are seldom discussed despite the fact that many aerobics participants express body image dissatisfaction.

This article examines how the appearance and actions of the female fitness instructor impact participants' interpretations of body image. The interview data presented below was collected for my Master's thesis in Human Kinetics at the University of British Columbia. The subjects were female exercisers from a popular Vancouver fitness club.

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Many of the women I spoke to considered the instructor's appearance to be a critical aspect in perceiving his/her leadership capabilities. Some women assumed that an attractive, fit-looking instructor would be a competent leader. Angela, a 24-year-old participant, said she was more likely to accept fitness advice from an instructor with "an incredible body" than from an instructor who was "a little heavier." Certain participants admitted the appearance of an instructor either discredited or legitimized the quality of his/her instruction. "Somebody who's sort of flabby and doesn't look like they're healthy makes me question why I'm there," says Angela, a participant I interviewed. "If they haven't achieved my overall goal, then what exactly are they teaching me? The fact that my instructor had incredible muscle definition somehow legitimized her as an instructor, although her actual instructing skills seemed quite weak."

Several women attributed these expectations to media images of a fit body. "When I started taking classes, I was really surprised at the diversity of body types among aerobics instructors. Some of the instructors didn't fit into that 20-minute-workout-girl body image," Angela explains. "I thought, `Are they actually teaching the class?'"

Not all participants expected or even wanted the instructor to have a stereotypically ideal physique, nor did every participant equate a toned, slender body with the instructor's ability to teach a quality aerobics class. Some women resisted this image by constructing their own definitions of a fit-looking instructor. For example, Erica, 29, admired the athletic appearance of one of her regular instructors. "She's built big," she says. "She has big bones. She's not a typical aerobics instructor as far as looks and everything, yet she's totally physically fit. She's toned, she has big thighs and I love that. I think that's great. I think athletic women are far more attractive than those skinny little things."

In general, participants who regarded instructor appearance and body shape as exemplary of what could be achieved through aerobics made comparisons between their own bodies and that of their instructor. "I've never looked at [a fitness instructor] and said, `Ugh, I feel so dowdy, ugly' or whatever," Erica says. "For me, they're more of an inspiration to get to that point. I feel, if I have the determination, willpower and commitment, I can achieve it."

Some women preferred to compare themselves to an instructor who did not match a culturally defined "fit" body image. Heidi, 30, admits she compared her body to her instructors' bodies, but likes to "see someone who looks a little more normal as opposed to really, really fit." For her, encountering an instructor who looks "really, really fit" creates anxiety about her own fitness level and ability to keep up in class.

Fitness instructors appear to be influential not only as visual role models but also by what they communicate to participants about body image and the purpose of aerobics. When I first began interviewing exercisers about body image, I attended a step class where the instructor said, "Summer's coming, so let's work out our inner thighs." Subsequently, I sought participants' reactions to instructors who made image-conscious comments. Interestingly, women who were particularly influenced by the appearance of the fitness instructor were more resistant to discourse about weight loss and body perfection. Other women confirmed hearing image-conscious comments, but they were not offended by them. Instead, they perceived these remarks to be primarily motivational.

The appearance and actions of the fitness instructor can impact the body image perceptions of some aerobics participants, some of the time. Heidi believes instructors are unaware of their responsibility as leaders when they make image-conscious comments. Although some women resisted becoming avid followers of any one instructor, other participants expressed a great deal of trust and admiration for their favorite teachers.

Attention to body image is part of the fitness instructor's role. Recognizing that image-conscious comments offend some participants is instrumental in establishing alternative ways to motivate participants to achieve their fitness goals. Educating participants about the diversity among fit bodies may counteract stereotypical, mainstream expectations about how an instructor is supposed to look. Resisting the assumption that all participants share common beliefs about body image and weight loss may help foster their body image satisfaction. My goal in writing this article is to stimulate thoughts about body image and the role of the instructor, not to generalize my findings to all aerobics participants. General awareness of individual body image expectations for each class member is crucial for successful interaction between instructors and participants.

Body Image AND Exercise

American Fitness, May, 2000 by Amanda Vogel

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