For many, the thought of being singled out by a gym instructor is a legitimate fear when they enter a packed-out fitness class.
But being singled out and forced to leave? Well, that’s enough to make you never want to go to the gym again.
For Natalie Hillar, a pregnant mum-of-two and gym enthusiast from Sydney, being told to leave a Fitness First Body Combat class last week left her no less than stunned.
On entering the class and finding herself a spot near the back, as she has on many occasions throughout her current pregnancy and two pregnancies prior, Natalie prepared herself for the class while the instructor gave the usual disclaimer.
Then, much to Natalie’s surprise, the instructor addressed her directly.
“She started the class, then she stopped and said: I don’t know if everyone heard me at the beginning, but I won’t teach this class to pregnant people,” Ms Hillar, who is six months pregnant, recalled of the incident last Wednesday.
“I didn’t think I’d heard her correctly when she first said it…I just thought ‘that doesn’t sound right’ and I was a bit confused.
“About 20 seconds later, she glared at me right at the back and said ‘I can see I still have pregnant people in this class and I refuse to teach this class to pregnant people’,” the 40-year-old communications company director said.
Promptly picking up her drink bottle and towel, Natalie headed for the door as the instructor called out: “I know you’re upset, but it’s for your own good love.”
Top Comments
Nah, I'm sorry. I'm a fitness instructor and currently pregnant. You can't say "I won't teach this class to pregnant people." Maybe things are very different outside the US, but it's actually more dangerous for me to kick people out of class based on appearance. I would be sued in a heartbeat. The way to handle that is to approach the student quietly and respectfully, and say "Are you expecting? How far along are you? Have you taken this class before? Listen to your body and back off if it feels like too much." As an expecting mom, I'd be embarrassed and furious. And frankly, I carry small, so you could be teaching little ol' pregnant me for MONTHS and not know it!
I fully support the gym instructor in this. The fact that the woman was so quick to post her outrage on social media shows the potential for her to fire up if something goes wrong 'the instructor knew I was pregnant - how could they let this happen?'. The instructor is the one with the duty of care, and they decided that in this instance they weren't able to sufficiently look after the woman and her baby. I call that responsible decision making.
It doesn't matter that the woman says she 'knows her body' etc. The fact is that if she had hurt herself or her baby in that class she would have been holding the instructor responsible. The class has inherent risks, and the instructor made a judgement call. She should find a class where the instructor agrees to take her on at her stage in pregnancy. No problem. What's next - airlines being told they are being discriminating on their rule to not fly a woman past a certain point because the woman 'knows her body'? Common sense people please!!
That's what I thought when I read this. "She could have been a bit more polite, but if anything happened she'd have been liable so she was keeping herself safe from litigation."