Most of you will have probably seen the ‘Fat Fighters’ sketch on the TV programme ‘Little Britain’.
Where Matt Lucas dresses up as slimming club leader ‘Marjorie Dawes’ and encourages her customers to consume ‘lovely dust’ to help in their weight loss efforts.
Most FitPros use his character as a way to mock slimming clubs.
As most FitPros like to mock slimming clubs in general.
Now we’re all for pointing out slimming clubs low success rates compared to ours.
Why wouldn’t we?
But there’s something that most FitPros completely miss.
Slimming World has over 10,000 groups in the UK.
It’s monthly magazine shifts about half a million copies.
Weight Watchers operates in over 30 countries.
And had a turnover of $1.15 billion in 2014.
The average FitPro earns less than minimum wage when you work out their real hours worked.
And has a ‘career lifespan’ of 18 months.
Marjorie Dawes and co. are handing our entire industry our asses.
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One of the mannnnnnnnnyyyyyyyy reasons Slimming Clubs do so well is their accessibility.
Their leaders are ‘real people’ who’ve gone through (or are still going through) their own weight loss journey.
They share their challenges and ‘failures’ as well as their successes.
They are un-intimidating and easy to approach.
They are ‘real people’.
The average FitPro is intimidating as hell to most people.
Young, fit, healthy and super slim.
They live in a gym and love exercising and eating chicken and broccoli.
They have easy, stress free lives.
No kids or real commitments.
No injuries, aches, pains, etc.
They were the popular, sporty ‘jock’ at school.
They’ll probably ‘look down’ on people who aren’t in shape like them.
Maybe be mean to them and make them exercise till they vomit.
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Having worked in this industry for over 14 years I know this is rarely the case.
FitPros are normal, ‘real people’ who just happen to work in an industry where they help others.
But, most of them feel the need to project this ‘FitPro’ image to the world.
To create this ‘highlight reel’ of the good times.
To share how ‘great’ their lives are to inspire others to do the same.
Hiding the less good stuff that is there just as much as for anyone.
And, as a result, they alienate the very people they want to help.
We know that by sharing the good and the bad, people will buy into what we do more.
Seeing how we, and those we work with, get through the challenges to get where they want to get to……..
Is always miles more inspiring than just hearing the good bits.
We have kids / step-kids and all the challenges they bring (3 for me, 2 for Toni and 5 for Kirsty).
We have injuries (slipped and dehydrated discs for Matt, protrusions on my vertebrae for me).
We have people get ill and / or die, financial challenges, stresses of work and life in general.
We don’t always love exercising and eating healthily.
Sometimes it’s the last thing we feel like doing.
Sometimes we turn to booze to help.
Sometimes these challenges get to us (I was struggling a couple of months ago).
Sometimes we’re all over them (I’ve been doing really well the last few weeks).
The only difference between us and other people?
We work in a field where we help people overcome these challenges.
And are, therefore, lucky enough to be in possession of a myriad of techniques and methods to help ourselves at the same time.
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It’s also why we share so many of the stories of our members.
Why we do the weekly podcast interviewing some of our many success stories.
(Check the podcast out here if you haven’t had a listen or are behind – we’ve got some cracking episodes up where we talk to ‘real people’ about how they’ve made their changes).
After all, hearing how someone you perceive to be similar to you overcame the same challenges you face………
Is always more inspiring than hearing exactly the same advice from someone you feel is very different.
So, if you haven’t already clicked that link above, go do it now – check out those podcast bad boys.
And while you’re in the mood for clicking link, you may like this one to find out more about what we do at RISE –> myrise.co.uk/briefing-meeting 🙂
Much love,
Jon ‘Daffyd’ Hall and Matt ‘Bubbles’ Nicholson