Michelle Bridges – Integrity and Credibility = 0.
Michelle Bridges – Credibility and Integrity = 0.
Michelle Bridges is supposedly the pinnacle of all Personal Trainers in Australia, closely followed by Shannon Ponton and Commando Steve. This amazes me but really goes to show both the power of the media and just how (sadly) gullible the everyday Australian is. There would be an absolute abundance of Personal Trainers that are better at their craft within over 20,000 registered Personal Trainer’s nation-wide, yet selling out to “The Biggest Loser” brand and having a fantastic branding and marketing team behind her, having exposure to the masses consistently over the years has seen her expand into a global celebrity-like trainer and deemed by many as the best!
Me jealous – not a chance. Good luck to her and the others too. They have become commercial house-hold names and have positioned themselves very well from a financial stand-point. The only issue that I do have with her rise to stardom and the masses that follow are the mere fact that she has a very limited skill-set. She is no-where near being one of the best Personal Trainers in Australia and in fact sends some very damaging messages to fellow Personal Trainers and would-be exercisers alike- most notably the ingrained (for the sake of this post being public “alleged”) comment from one Biggest Loser episode burnt into my soul that “it is the goal of every Personal Trainer to get their client to spew/vomit”.
Jillian Michaels is the USA version of Michelle and clearly her role model. Jillian Michaels incidentally made the same statement in the USA version of “The Biggest Loser” (watch here) and look at who features in this little snippet – you guessed it! Michelle Bridges!!!! Please listen closely to 2.19-2.25 and 3.19-3.30. Watching that clip to this day as I have done again whilst writing this literally makes me want to vomit. Not from exercise but in disgust that this sort of message is allowed to ever be seen by the public let alone delivered to in this instance “Greg”. I am appalled.
May I at this point qualify that not once in my nearly 18 years as a full-time University degree/Tertiary qualified Personal Trainer and Personal Training Manager has this been a goal of mine (or my staff) and nor will it ever be. There are way more actions and words that Michelle Bridges has expressed, demonstrated and bastardised in her time as a public-figure Personal Trainer that give fuel to my ire but one of the biggest of all is that ultimately along the way she (like myself) have every opportunity to “sell-out” and lose all integrity. She has chosen that path.
By this I mean sell or endorse supplements, modify our bodies “artificially” and pass judgement/comment on topics that ultimately question just what it is we are doing this for. Fame/fortune or for the pure benefits of others whilst at the same time ensuring you are remunerated for your time, knowledge, experience, early starts, late finishes and sacrifices through long hours and a 100% focus on helping others improve themselves, their health, fitness and their lives.
The attached link is a very funny but accurate portrayal of just where Michelle Bridges sits and where when you strip it all back, she has little or no credibility (view here). Just as Commando Steve I am sure has little or no idea of just how good the course provided at the Sage Institute of Fitness offers, I am fairly certain that Australia’s own “super-Personal Trainer” Michelle Bridges has no affinity in consuming a certain bread that she once endorsed that cannot even be referenced or found if you google it or look it up on YouTube, thanks to her amazing marketing/branding/support-team!
Anyway, watch the link and see if you are confused by the many mixed messages sent out with what she brings as someone with little or no integrity. Ultimately it gets back to why we all need to take a step back and not believe all that we see, read or hear from others – just because it is in the media or endorsed by a “loosely terms” celebrity!
Science, education, research, years of experience and an unrivalled passion are all worth their weight in gold with respect to what a Personal Trainer should be judged on and not merely celebrity status.
When searching for a Personal Trainer yourself, please feel free to use my FREE 12 point “how to a choose a personal trainer checklist” and if you already have a Personal Trainer, perhaps cross-check if you are getting the very best value for your time, effort, commitment and at the end of the day your financial outlay.
NB: A special thanks to Zoe Norton Lodge and Kirsten Drysdale for their comical YouTube video that inspired this post.
Justin Moran
Managing Director of Just In Time Personal Training
0411 798 934
