Did I do something wrong?

[Wollnd]

Hey guys. Just want some opinions on an interaction that happened at my gym yesterday. I just joined a new gym about 2 months ago and go pretty much everyday, always by myself and minding my own business.

My dad recently joined the gym too as he wants to get healthier which I’m super happy about. He has no idea what he’s doing so he asked if I could come with him and show him my workouts.

We went one time together and I wore my running shoes but didn’t workout. I was pretty much training him how a trainer would train a client. Showing him the workout, wiping the machine down for him, correcting form etc. it was great, we had so much fun and he was sore for days.

Fast forward to the following week. He asked me to come train him again which I happily accepted. I didn’t have my running shoes on this time I wore my slippers (ppl in my gym workout in crocs, birkenstocks, ugg slippers etc) but I was still in activewear.

Anyways, im helping him with his workout, taking a few form check videos etc just doing our own thing

Then, a gym manager comes up to us in the middle of the floor and says he’s received “multiple complaints” about me using the gym to conduct external personal training sessions….

I mentioned to him that this is my father, im a member of the gym as well, I am not a personal trainer, im not trying to become one and im not using the facilities to make any sort of profit or run any sort of business. Im simply just helping my father get comfortable in the gym and become healthier. He mentioned that it didn’t matter and it needed to stop. Everyone on the gym floor was looking at us and it was really embarrassing.

Im wondering if i actually am doing anything wrong by helping my dad workout even if im not working out? What if i wasn’t feeing well or was sore? It just doesn’t make sense to me that they think im “externally personal training” when im always there alone. I don’t speak to anyone and have literally nothing to do with being a trainer.

Opinions?

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

"Multiple complaints?"
No member of the gym is going to care whether or not you are working as a personal trainer there.

Now, the gym management cares, certainly. The gym absolutely will not want you using their facility to further your own business. Any gym would expect a kickback from a trainer doing that. (And may well forbid the practice entirely for trainers not on their own staff.) But if you are helping your father without pay, they have no grounds to complain.

Are you sure the "gym manager" is really a manager and not just some poor grunt who works there and got stiffed with the lousy job of confronting you? They may well have been told by their boss to put a stop to outside personal training in the facility, not understood that their boss's concern was loss of revenue for the gym, and/or lacked the capacity to put two and two together and figure out that you helping your own father was obviously not a case of that.

I have worked in a gym. I've had gym management make inappropriate and even illegal demands of me. (I told them no. And got fired for it. Other employees were not so bold.) I have witnessed senior management freaking out on entry-level, teenaged employees, demanding information from them the employees could not reasonably be expected to have. I've also seen gym employees thrust into roles they were woefully unqualified to fulfill. These things happen. Try to make certain the person who spoke to you actually knew what they were talking about before jumping to any conclusions about the gym's actual policies.

Some other things to consider:

The gym may well have a dress code that requires members to wear proper athletic footwear. (You mention you've seen other gym members in odd footwear. But they may have been breaking a rule too.) I recommend you check what the gym's dress code is, and ensure that you follow it any time you are in the facility, regardless of whether you're there to work out yourself or not.

Also: the gym may have a rule against photography inside their facility. Find out, and if they do, cease and desist shooting the videos.

Are you loud when you're training your father? (Shouting, like a coach at a sports game.) Are you taking up too much space? (Blocking the workout space for other machines/equipment that your father isn't actively using.) Be honest with yourself when answering these questions. Gym members could rightfully be upset if you were doing any of these things.

Basically: find out what the gym's actual code of conduct for members is and follow it.

If the facility honestly has a rule that says one paying member in good standing cannot help another paying member in good standing, without any compensation whatsoever, and also without representing yourself as an affiliate of the facility, and also without disrupting other members' use and enjoyment of the facility, I would drop my membership there like a hot potato, leave the place horrible reviews everywhere I could, expressly detailing their absurd policy, and join a different gym with reasonable rules.

But find out what the situation truly is first. You need to get clarification from the gym in question. No one in this forum can give you that.