The gendered bodies and working experience of fitness trainers

The fitness industry utilises the promotion of public health to emphasise the need for health-related physical activities and reinforce the connection between sporting bodies and health discourse. This study aims to investigate how fitness trainers in Taiwan build bodies that enable success in the fitness industry by deploying the concepts of body capital and body work. It also considers the role of gender expectations and norms. The participants in the study included fitness trainers, comprising 11 males and 9 females, with ages ranging from 25 to 40 years and work experience spanning 3 to 20 years. All participants underwent individual interviews lasting between 40 to 78 minutes. The results revealed that fitness trainers not only promote their professionalism and present a desirable body image but also engage in emotional labour, developing various strategies to build relationships with their clients. Furthermore, body capital serves as a tool to attract clients, and trainers of different genders and body shapes employ different strategies to gain their client's trust. Despite the apparent constraints of a singular ideal body image for fitness trainers, this is actually a reflection of the diverse body capital presented by fitness trainers and the intertwined needs of their clients.