Millions of Women Are Looking for Help. Are Personal Trainers Ready?

Millions of women are entering perimenopause looking for answers, and many are turning to their personal trainer for guidance.

In this episode of Smittyville, Chris Smith explores the important role fitness professionals can play in supporting women through one of the biggest physiological transitions of their lives.

Rather than trying to become medical experts, Chris discusses why great coaches understand the value of empathy, education, and collaboration. From strength training and lifestyle habits to knowing when it's time to refer a client to a physician, this conversation focuses on how trainers can build trust while staying firmly within their scope of practice.

The discussion also explores why perimenopause represents one of the biggest opportunities for personal trainers to better serve an often-overlooked population through thoughtful coaching, ongoing education, and stronger relationships with healthcare professionals.
Whether you're a new trainer or an experienced coach, this episode offers practical guidance on navigating these conversations with confidence while putting your clients' long-term health first.
In this episode:

Why more women are seeking support during perimenopause
The role of strength training, sleep, nutrition, and movement
Why there's no one-size-fits-all approach
Staying within your scope of practice as a trainer
Building referral relationships with doctors and healthcare providers
How continuing education can help trainers better serve female clients
Why empathy may be your greatest coaching tool

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

If this is a niche or a population that you felt like you have a special connection to and you wanted to help this group of people, there's a huge amount of women out there right now that are looking for help.

SPEAKER_03 0:11

You just rolled into the small, small town, baby video. A podcast for personal trainers. Let's get to work.

SPEAKER_02 0:44

But every woman wants a man talking about their health.

SPEAKER_04 0:48

Yeah, I was really excited to see the first topic you wanted to riff on today. I was like, oh yeah. This could be dangerous. No trouble here for me on this one.

SPEAKER_02 0:56

I mean, I have the headline in here, but maybe you can summarize what we're talking about. What did you deem it?

SPEAKER_04 1:02

Cougar puberty.

SPEAKER_02 1:03

Cougar puberty. I have seen the memes on this too. Perimenopause and menopause. Now I'm 39. So if I'm in my social feeds, this is being targeted my way exponentially. Maybe just quantify why you have any semblance of authority to be able to talk about this space.

SPEAKER_04 1:21

Norwegian World Smithyville. So this is an eco-sphere of uh personal training. So I've trained many, many women uh in the course of my career, including my lovely wife of uh over 31 years, and I have five children, four of which are girls. Uh they're not at that stage. I'm not that old, but yeah, I think I've got a little bit of credibility just based on experience. And so I think I'm certainly coming from the angle of uh empathy and information versus personal experience. Uh I definitely have not personally experienced perimetopause or many pause and uh have made no such claims.

SPEAKER_02 1:53

Yeah, there you go. Girl datting hard though.

SPEAKER_04 1:55

And yeah, there's my disclaimer. Yeah, there we go.

SPEAKER_02 1:58

We have that covered. But I do know there's really real physiological things happening. So talk us through a little high level of because we may have trainers that are like, what the fuck? I this was not covered in the manual.

SPEAKER_04 2:09

Yeah, for sure. I I think you start with this, and this is something that I tell uh trainers in general, not even just about this topic, but the human body is the most complex piece of machinery on the planet. So we used to talk about like if you're driving on the highway and your car starts rattling really hard, and then it shakes violently, and then you look in the rear mirror and you see this thing rolling down the road, and you come to find out that was your back end and your transmission. You're like, Well, well, now what do I do? Well, you're gonna take it to a mechanic, they're gonna assess the vehicle, they're gonna go, this is what broke, this is what's missing, here's how we're gonna fix it, and you fix it. Well, humans were not quite that simple, right? And I think even back to the nuances of my friends feeling this, feeling that, is it this, is it that? It really kind of comes down as the most complex piece of machinery on the planet. Now, that being said, I think the thing that we're seeing right now, back to, you know, the money behind it, is really about big pharma and institutional capital and these other groups that are trying to capitalize it. But then you also say, well, why are they doing that? Well, obviously for monetary reasons, where the money is flowing, right? There's less and less that might start to flow. And they're seeing it as the as people get healthier on GLP1s and hormone treatments and therapies, which is certainly part of this dialogue and conversation, these guys got to find a way to make money. And it's not just like it's a pure capitalistic exercise and it's not good for people. No, there's there's been a lot of advancement in medicine, no different than we've seen in cancer treatments and everything else. We just would look at women's health around, you know, perimenopause, menopause. I mean, even was talking with you know some different people about this recently that are in the 70 age category. And it's like what was available to them 20 years ago versus what's available now, not just even the form of treatments, but just information. Yeah, is massively completely different.

SPEAKER_02 3:44

People didn't even talk about it before. It's like same, like you've raised daughters, like young girls and periods, nobody would talk about it 100%.

SPEAKER_04 3:51

It was like a shameful thing, yeah, versus uh even just mental health in the men's world where now men can talk about their mental health. Whereas before, as a man, if you talked about having a mental health issue, people thought, well, that guy's weak or he's this, that versus no, you're you're human, right? And this is to be human, right? As a woman, it's you're gonna go through this, it's not really a choice, yeah, right? Like you're gonna do it whether you want to or not, it's gonna happen to some extent. And so, yeah, I think it's just a real thing. And again, and it I think the interesting thing back to the information out there, what what I found back to like the empathetic side is everyone experiences it differently. And so, is there a one size right size for everyone? No, not in my opinion. Um, anyone that kind of I think advocates for that, I think is maybe not out is out of touch. Now, if you said, should everyone sleep and not get enough sleep? Should everyone have a certain level of nutrition? Should everyone be doing movement and strength training? Absolutely, like there are some hardcore ethoses, but if you said from a treatment perspective, specifically around hormonal treatment or hormonal imbalances, because that's really what's starting to happen, right? Back to the cougar puberty. Like in puberty, your hormones are going all up and down all over the place, and that's what's happening again.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

And everybody experienced puberty in different ways too.

SPEAKER_04 5:01

Yeah, and it and it's not again the same for everyone. So then even you just take compound like the menstrual cycle, uh, and just the erraticness of that and how that impacts hormones, and you know, as you really kind of get into not the peri, but really the menopause kind of stage things, just that whole erratic nature of what that is and what that yo-yo effect of you in your hormonal system can be a real challenge. Back to you know, talking about moods and how you feel and your energy on a given day, how you show up for your kids or your family or your work. I mean, there's real stuff going on, right? And so yeah, I just think it's something that it's out there and there's treatments available. There's a ton of information available that anyone, anyone can get access to. It's making sure you know how to find incredible information.

SPEAKER_02 5:44

And so talking about that information highway, because it's exactly that clients now are going to be coming in, possibly because they're even entering this chapter. Would it be wise for a trainer to expand their education in this space to better serve their clients? Or why wouldn't standard training really meet people where they're at at this point?

SPEAKER_04 6:04

Yeah, there's some certifications and some information that's already out there and available by some of the big mainstream groups or providing like information to help trainers kind of get up to speed. But at no point is it really gonna be within their scope of practice to make a professional recommendation around any kind of treatment therapy outside of the basics on like let's focus on your sleep, your nutrition, your exercise, whatever. So I I think it's more about like the question of like a client's asking me the question about what I should do. I'm thinking about this, how I'm feeling, yada, yada. I'm gonna say, Have you seen your doctor? And then from there I'm gonna say, Did your doctor feel like they have a scope of practice to handle this? Like even as a doctor, or do they have someone within their network that they refer to, aka either another doctor or a clinic? Because even from my own experience, as I talk to other women, it's you know, what I hear their doctors saying, I'm like, that's not even scientifically accurate. So you need to find somebody else that's a little bit more informed.

SPEAKER_02 6:55

Um, and there are lots of like great doctors and practitioners out there, um, you know, to kind of help how is it best for a trainer to navigate the conversations without overstepping the medical territory?

SPEAKER_04 7:06

At times, back to bad actors, whatever, historically, the the health, wellness, fitness industry has sometimes been seen as, you know, not as credible amongst the medical community. But I think, you know, if if someone shows up and says their doctor, like one of the things I want to do is get a 50, you know, blood panel marker test and do this and do this and do that. I want to find out where all my hormone levels are, and then I want to possibly talk about hormone treatment if things are in the right place based on how I've been feeling lately, because I think I'm starting to experience period. Wow, where did all this come from? Ah, my personal trainer told me I should come see you. Because this isn't what they do. I think that that's how we start to build credibility in that community where they go, okay, like these guys get it, gals, guys, whatever, in the sense of like we're they're advocating and pushing people to the right places and the right resources. And it and it is a bit of staying in your lane, right? Because you're it's it's regardless of like, oh, well, I don't need a light, yes, you need the license number one. B, you don't know as much as you think you know, and I'd much rather go, you know, work in concert and in partnership with a medical professional than just to be again just going off my own information. And again, it's not within your scope, it's not something you can do.

SPEAKER_02 8:12

But in regards to how personal trainers can help, what would be your best advice to help serve this population that traditionally has been so underserved?

SPEAKER_04 8:20

Yeah, I think again in your local community, hopefully over time, and even within your own member base, if you're in a commercial gym like ours, like there's doctors and nurses and people that work in all those kind of fields, like in our clubs already. And so building those relationships and intersecting those people over time. So even you can make a recommendation, like, hey, I don't know who your doctor is, but I have another client who I've spoken with in the past about similar topics, and I know they saw a doctor such and such at whatever clinic or wherever, and that's you know, they're like here we're today in South Surrey, which for those of you in Canada, you understand the geographics, and maybe that doctor, that clinic's over in Langley. So it's like it's a 20-minute drive, but to get the right professional help, that's certainly a drive worth making, right?

SPEAKER_02 8:58

Do you think that there's an opportunity here though? For I mean, we talk about pathways for trainers to build their business, make more money, have stronger client retention. So is there an opportunity here for them to serve this population?

SPEAKER_04 9:13

I think in concert back and forth, right? There are some groups out there in terms of, you know, lifetime makes, you know, the noise around the Mayora clinics and the stuff that they're doing there, and Equinox has some of the stuff that they're doing. So at the super high end of the luxury lifestyle, you know, active lifestyle kind of ecosystem, I think that that there is a direct intersection taking place there already. And again, they're employing doctors in their thing. So it's not as if the trainers are the ones doing it, they've got doctors on site that are prescribing and and monitoring those programs, right? Um, from a medical perspective. Do I think that like in my business, is it something that we're gonna get to right away? I I don't think so. Now in the age of AI and telemedicine and whatever else, um, I I have had some of those conversations from a business partnership standpoint, so that again I can bring in the doctor, if you will. And how does that make sense in a business like mine? Um so I think there is an opportunity there, but it's still gonna need to be medically supervised.

SPEAKER_02 10:05

Totally fair. But do you think from an education side, like I'm just putting myself in the shoes of a younger trainer that's starting out where it's so far from where they're at in life and also can be such a sensitive subject, potentially make them feel awkward to embark on the conversation. Like what that should they be doing so that they do feel like they're able to support and potentially expand their clients.

SPEAKER_04 10:27

I think it goes back to the certifications, the education, if you will, that's available and out there, right? And so NASM, I think, is producing some stuff around GLP ones and peptides and you know, that kind of ties into hormone treatments, if you will, kind of across all spectrums. And there's other stuff out there through some other kind of providers. So when you look at like that information that's available and accessible, like that's yeah, you just want to be educated. Um, so you can kind of have some dialogue. But I mean, the same is true, you know, you can go back again, I've been doing this a long time now, right? So you can go back and there was no kettlebell certifications. I mean, we weren't teaching people really how to do strength training. I mean, it was pretty vanilla stuff, you know, 20 years ago from a certification perspective, where you still kind of have those foundational courses, but now you can get very myopic and very specialized on all sorts of different topics. So, like on this one, as an example, I'd say if this is a niche or a population that you felt like you have a special connection to and you wanted to help this group of people, then yeah, there's a huge amount of women out there right now that are looking for help. And so, is it an area you could advertise to? Could you host a perimenopause menopause clinic at a club? Probably. Would a lot of people show up? I bet they would. And then it's again, let's talk about here's what you need to do. That again, a trainer can influence in the ecosystem. Because again, if you go to a doctor and you ask them for hormone treatment, they're gonna ask you, how's your sleep? How's your nutrition? How's your exercise? And I go, Oh my god, my trainer asks me that all the time. I'm so tired. It's like, well, yeah, because at the core of it all, that's really important, right? Whether you're on any type of hormone treatment or not, those three things still matter immensely.

SPEAKER_01 11:59

Let's head to the trainer circuit. Real questions, real situations. Chris shows up, listens, and mentors from experience.

SPEAKER_00 12:09

You mentioned earlier getting yourself out of your own way. Can you expand more on that?

SPEAKER_04 12:15

Well, I think it applies in a lot of different ways. If I think I know everything about a certain type of lifting, then what am I gonna learn, right? So again, like I'm a I'm a guy who, like I was sharing, I bench pressed all this way. Like I did 225, 36 reps. I could bench press well over 400 pounds, right? And then yet, but I trained like a football player. Then I started working out with a bodybuilder and learned a whole new way to lift. And basically it's like, well, everything I thought I knew, I kind of had to forget because now I'm training like a bodybuilder with that gentleman Mark that I was mentioning to you, right? So my whole kind of paradigm changed. I could have said, dude, like I don't need to bench press with you, dude. Like I already know enough about bench press, like I'm strong as hell. Versus like, no, no, no, like let me. In fact, I can tell you the first time we did bench press, he showed me some combos that I still use to this day on people that tell me they think they know everything about chester bench press, and I smoke them. When I say I smoke them, I'm talking like they're borderline crippled for a week. They're like, bro, like I've never been this sore in my life. I'm like, you're welcome. They're like, What did we do? I'm like, you don't remember what we did. We like, do you have the sets, the reps, the rest? Like, you you have the sequence. And so for me, that that was part of that mentality. And like I said, getting out of your own way is just being curious and then not just wanting to be coachable, but being coachable or moldable, right? As soon as you think you've learned it all, you're screwed.

SPEAKER_01 13:34

Before we wrap, we'll leave you with a smithism, a lesson Chris has picked up along the way. Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 13:42

Uh, today, I guess today's smithism for you, Chrissy, is uh it's really what we've been talking about, I guess, just in a roundabout way. So just kind of summarize it, which knowledge isn't power, the application of that knowledge is. And so again, it's like, well, I read this, I know this, I know this, I know that. It's like great. So are you doing it? Well, well, no. It's like, well, then you should be. So again, I think some things we're talking about, if you do your own research, you do your own homework, and you get the information, it's gonna lead you to a lot of the same places, if not the same same places that we're talking about today. So how you apply that information is kind of what matters.

SPEAKER_01 14:16

That's today's Smithism. Chris Smith is the mayor of Smithyville, and I'm Chrissy Van, your town correspondent. This is the smartest small town in fitness. We'll see you back here every other week.