Girl at my Gym With Over Exercise Disorder

Does anyone have any advice for approaching  this person??

I work at a major gym (in Customer Service, not training) and there is this young woman in her 20's who comes in every day and does between 2 and 3 hours of cardio. She does about 40 min each of running, elliptical, and stairstepper, never any strength training. 

She doesn't look underweight, if anything rather pudgy from the lack of weightlifting (proof that cardio does not equal fat loss) but she is, in my opinion, seriously over training. 

When I commented about her extra-long workout, her only reply was that she'd "eaten too much" and thus was burning it off. Uh Oh

I know it isn't my business to make judgments about people, but I have had an eating/over-exercise disorder myself and I think I know the symptoms.

Any thoughts for how to handle the situation??

it's none of your business.

Since you work at the gym, and have already approached the girl about it, you might want to mention your concerns to management. You need to be careful what you say to customers and they may have a policy on this kind of thing. You don't want to lose your job over this, do you? So tread carefully.

I agree with nanflan, although your intentions are good it's really hard for you to intervene because you technically don't have the right to. I'd mention it to management and leave it up to them to decide what to do.

I totally agree with drjimrudd: she's a grown woman, and she paid money for her membership. Who are you to give her advice? Seriously...she shouldn't even have to explain herself

Edit: I just noticed you didn't mention anything about advice, but you know what i mean

Okay, but just for the record I didn't really say anything to her - just the usual pleasantries I exchange with members after their workouts.  And I know the misery and isolation of disordered behavior and wish there was some way to help this person, who appears to be suffering from a severe problem.

Well I hope someone approaches her about it. Then she can make the right choice and transfer to another gym where people actually *just* do their job

I know that I'm generally the cynic here, but would you really put keeping your job before someone's health? Rule number 6 may be that you can't save anyone, but that doesn't mean always let it go. I mean, your business is peddling health, and someone's in the process of circumventing that in a big way. Besides, liability. It's supposedly waived, but it's always a hassle.

While there are a lot of different options, I think the best route is to tell your concerns to a trainer that you trust, or at least know, possibly as a hypothetical. There may be a pre-existing protocol to deal with this sort of thing, and if there isn't, you might want to suggest one.

 Approach the head coach/trainer with your concern and the facilities manager - believe it or not Mosco, but their job does include looking after the health and well-being of the clients, inlcuding inapproriate and dangerous use of the gym's equipment.

 Exercise bulimia is included in the "dangerous" category, and regardless of any liability waivers it's generally frowned upon to let people exercise themselves to death in your facility - bad publicity, for one.

 Bring it to the attention of the head trainer though, don't try to intervene on your own.

Original Post by cat-girl:

Any thoughts for how to handle the situation??

 

 How about your health club distribute some information about how cardio alone doesn't give your body a well rounded workout.  Make sure it has in there the benefits of adding weight training to a routine.  Perhaps some interesting set up questions like... "DO YOU FIND YOURSELF SPENDING HOURS A DAY DOING CARDIO WITHOUT GETTING THE RESULTS YOU DESIRE?"  and then offer some type of information either on the paper or at a separate occasion set up for those that want to understand more.  If that doesn't get her attention then she doesn't care to be dealing with it at this time and I suggest you just concern yourself with people that actually seek your advice, much like you are doing here to us.  It is nice to help but some people don't need/want help. 

 

Wow... i'm really surprised by some of these responses.  People kind of seem a little bit defensive and aggressive about this...

If someone were openly puking in front of you each time they ate... wouldn't you say something?   Disorders are dangerous problems... and regardless if this girl "wants" help... she definitely needs it.  

That being said, I do agree that talking to the head trainer or management is probably the best way to go about this.  Also the idea about putting emphasis on strength training is a good one too. 

I used to be that girl and someone approached me.... I wish they had done it sooner.  

Be careful though because as you can see from the posts some people are not open to criticism.

yup  i used be that girl too..... BUT i lukd pretty ill and no one said it directly to me. i became friendly with one the girls there.... who waited for me to open up... coz she'd gone through the same

but i would have been utterly utterly mortified if some one i knew only as a professional did approach me. my esteem would have spiralled further.. but i wouldn have stopped... i wasn ready to!

its not the same as some one puking in front of u. no one pays a lot of money to use ur facililty. she has paid for it and therefore she is entitled to use as she pleases.

the barman sees tonnes of ppl every night who come in, digging themselves further into a hole of alcoholism but they are buying the drink and u must sell it.

imagine if some one who was serving a morbidly obese person in mcdonalds said "sir i think you'v got a prob....i dont think u should order anymore"....... WHAT WOULD HAPPEN?????

the people who said not to intervene are completely wrong. At my gym, different trainers have been coming up to each member and asking them if they need help with anything and could show them a thing or two. A trainer came up to me and asked me what my goals are. I told him and he said I was going by it all wrong (not in so little words). I didn't take offense. I've played on varsity sports all my life and have been in shape all my life except the past 6 months.  He showed me a couple exercises and made a weekly workout schedule for me and it was working great and had lost 2 lbs in a little more than a week. I'm a little shy but I def. appreciated the fact they took the initiative to help me. I for one would have appreciated the insight if i was in her shoes. That's what i don't get about people. Everyone's stuck up and in their own little world and can never be wrong. I think its an American mentality though and it pisses me off. I can't believe people can get fired for helping someone... only in the US of A... *sigh*

Original Post by dinataruni:

Wow... i'm really surprised by some of these responses. People kind of seem a little bit defensive and aggressive about this...

If someone were openly puking in front of you each time they ate... wouldn't you say something? Disorders are dangerous problems... and regardless if this girl "wants" help... she definitely needs it.

That being said, I do agree that talking to the head trainer or management is probably the best way to go about this. Also the idea about putting emphasis on strength training is a good one too.

I definitely agree. That kind of cardio is excessive, and obviously obsessive. Mention it to higher management, or a trainer. There might be a protocol for that kind of behaviour, and if not, maybe just try suggesting the girl hit the weights now and again. If she's afraid of 'bulking up', explain the 'low weight, high rep' concept to her. I mean, she's there for hours a day, anyways.

Original Post by fidget84:

imagine if some one who was serving a morbidly obese person in mcdonalds said "sir i think you'v got a prob....i dont think u should order anymore"

lol

Original Post by viyahn:

"If she's afraid of 'bulking up', explain the 'low weight, high rep' concept to her."

This is actually wrong. It's really really hard to bulk up if you are a woman, regardless of what you do. She would have to be lifting heavy weights for a couple hours every day, and probably taking steroids in order to build visible muscle bulges, and even then, it may not happen at all.

To look toned, she needs to lift heavy weights. Low weight, high rep does NOTHING. It doesn't build muscle, it doesn't make you look toned. It just wastes time and energy, like cardio.

Original Post by void_ptr:

Original Post by viyahn:

"If she's afraid of 'bulking up', explain the 'low weight, high rep' concept to her."

This is actually wrong. It's really really hard to bulk up if you are a woman, regardless of what you do. She would have to be lifting heavy weights for a couple hours every day, and probably taking steroids in order to build visible muscle bulges, and even then, it may not happen at all.

To look toned, she needs to lift heavy weights. Low weight, high rep does NOTHING. It doesn't build muscle, it doesn't make you look toned. It just wastes time and energy, like cardio.

 cardio wastes time and energy?

Pleasssse...I've seen results with ONLY cardio for a while over the last year, so don't tell me that I'm "wrong" since you don't know my body, or EVERYONE's body for that matter. In fact the guys I know that lift and DONT do cardio have a lot more FAT. They have muscles sure, but it's all covered by FAT. And they aren't really "in shape" cause they cant make it up the stairs without keeling over.

A proper exercise program incorporates BOTH of them, not only one. I've added weight lifting to my routine, but I was already satisfied with only cardio. I just want BETTER results. It doesn't mean that I wasn't getting ANY!

I haven't really read any of the replies to this topic so I apologize if this has already been mentioned but I was caught by surprise by the original post that said "cardio doesn't burn fat".  Did that really come out of someone's mouth who works at a gym?

Relating to the topic, that does seem like an excessive amount of cardio...or working out in general.  But the "over-exercisers" response may have been true.  Maybe she did eat too much.  Perhaps that is her real problem, she may eat too much every day.

Hmm? Why does that surprise you? Cardio doesn't burn fat - there's a lot of reasons to do it related to health, fitness and general conditioning, but fat loss is not a cardio benefit. There's no difference between creating a 500cal deficit through cardio or just not eating those 500 calories in the first place. 

Original Post by fidget84:

the barman sees tonnes of ppl every night who come in, digging themselves further into a hole of alcoholism but they are buying the drink and u must sell it.

imagine if some one who was serving a morbidly obese person in mcdonalds said "sir i think you'v got a prob....i dont think u should order anymore"....... WHAT WOULD HAPPEN?????

The first one is a really bad analogy. A bartender can't serve someone who comes in already drunk. A good bartender will intervene with someone if the drinker is going too far.

The trouble, as is the trouble here, is the gray area. As <b>erinumud</b> suggested, there are other explanations, like there are people who drink daily and function better than the rest of us. That's why caution is called for, but that doesn't mean inaction.

The second one is why I don't go to McDonald's. No personal relationship.