Why I Left Esporta.

Hello friends! Since I am no longer working for the company, I can officially expose everything that happened during my short employment of two and a half weeks. Grab a snack, sit back, and lets serve some tea.

Starting off, I would like to share my experience during the personal training sessions with my clients. I absolutely LOVED it! I was making a difference in their lives and encouraging them every step of the way. I was focusing on functional movements first to correct form before integrating more high intensity workouts for the clients whos goal was to lose weight. Two of my clients wanted to just be more comfortable in the gym, so I focused more on resistance training and introduced lifting. Two of my clients wanted to "tone up", which is resistance training with a little cardio. One client wanted to gain weight so we focused on lifting and adding more calories to her diet. Two clients were brand new to the gym, so I was focusing on functional movements before adding lifting or HITT. One client was only twelve and her mom had "weight loss" in mind, but this girl just needs to find movement she loves, whether that's walking, a sport, etc. This was more of a mental situation so we dove deeper into her personal goals, interests, and finding a workout she enjoys. Last but not lease, one client was struggling with PCOS, and trauma from a male personal trainer, so I was making her feel comfortable in the gym setting once again while focusing on resistance training to decrease her cortisol levels for her PCOS. My plan was to introduce cycle syncing in her workouts to help hormone balance once she was more comfortable with me. I was seeing all my clients progress in some way, whether that was being more comfortable when introducing workouts, going up in their weights during workouts, or increasing reps! I was loving it and absolutely adored all of my clients, until some shit hit the fan.

My second day on the job, the official work group chat was blowing up. This has all employees including my boss, and the general manager. I started seeing pictures of clients signing up, which seemed not appropriate to me. I guess this isn't illegal because they sign a form saying its okay to be recorded in the facility through company cameras/service cameras, but still seemed uncomfortable to me. Then, I noticed one number starting to make fun of these clients. This person does have a position of power, and the general manager did not correct this behavior. They made fun of clients weight, diet, and even hair color. This seemed extremely unprofessional and rubbed me the wrong way. I couldn't sleep that night because I was not sure what to do. If this was apart of the work culture, I wanted no part of it.

I reached out to the only trainer I was comfortable asking, and he said it hasn't happened much and made him uncomfortable too. I let this slide in my head when I should have addressed it right away. Later on, the same person sending texts made fun of my client to my face. I have never met her before and did not know what she looked like, so he pulled up her account which has a profile picture and said "Wow that would be hard to miss. She looks like Tupac". I was extremely taken back and said "That's mean "but I am not sure he heard. Either he did and had no reaction, or missed it. Below are some texts that were sent in the group chat with the GM on copy.

People were laughing at these messages and no behavior correction was made. There were also photos shared of people that included their ID's and card information.

This was not the only thing happening that was ingenuine. All of my new clients (about half of my clients) were confused about the pricing, length of sessions, frequency of sessions, or the cancelation policy. They all mentioned that the sale was misleading and information was left out. Just a reminder, these people make commission off of these sales. One client was sold on the training by the general manager, who told her the training was "unlimited" when it was just once a week. Two clients informed me the sales person said the session length was an hour long, and did not explain the warm up and cardio section was designed for them and not hands on with their trainer. One canceled that day after being so let down, yet I was told "If you killed her during the workout, she may have seen the value in it and kept the training". I was blamed for this because I didn't incorporate "enough cardio" and was "teaching too much". This business model seemed to be more focused on profit, and less focused on the mission statement of Esporta, which is "To help as many people as possible achieve the benefits of a healthy lifestyle". Limiting training styles, lying during sales for personal gain, and feeding into the misconception that cardio is the only solution does not align with "helping people"

Speaking of blaming me for clients cancelation, I just got off the phone with one of my clients about her experience during the sale, what was said, and how they are not allowing her to cancel the contract. During the sale, she was promised she can cancel anytime she wants, and was not aware she was signing an 11-month contract. My boss told me she believed this client canceled her contact because it was not difficult enough, and said "I'm protecting you from my boss. If this keeps happening and you don't succeed as a trainer, we will have to part ways". I think two weeks into employment is too soon to start "threatening" to fire me because of the misconception during sales when I have nothing to do with it. I asked her "Would you rather me focus more on "killing them" rather than form?" She said "Yes" and followed up with "you can correct form during exercises" WHICH IS WHAT I WAS DOING! She began to show me a workout that she would have someone do when she's not even certified to train people and it wasn't even difficult. It was basically an aerobics class which is complementary to any member. In my opinion, if someone is paying about $50 a session, it shouldn't just be a stepping class and burpees, and more geared towards teaching clients new workouts and techniques to help them with their goals.

After our conversation about why this client canceled, I believed my boss and reached out to my client apologizing about the training style. My client reassured me it had nothing to do with my training and that she enjoyed our time, but was simply too expensive. She even told me she reassured my boss after I quit that she loved the sessions and does not want to switch trainers, she just wants to cancel. Remember, this client was brand new to the gym, so we were focusing more on correct form during functional training to prevent injury, but according to my boss at Esporta who is not a Certified Personal Trainer, this was incorrect.

I left the gym to go home in tears. I was so upset by this conversation and started reevaluating what I have experienced during my short employment at Esporta. After a few emotional hours of contemplating, I decided this place of employment does not align with my core values and decided I was no longer going to work there. I was too upset to even give a two weeks notice, I have never quit on the spot, but this is what I was lead to do. I called my boss, explained how the conversation we had was not fair to me, explaining what has made me uncomfortable, explained how the sales have been misleading with multiple clients, and said that I do not fit your business model and can no longer be an employee representing this company for ethical issues. (I was in tears during the call, I am not great at hiding my emotions). She acknowledged that one person does make fun of clients in the group chat. After I explained everything, all she said was "Okay that's fine with me" and that was done. I followed up with an email that she has not responded to, which legally shows everything I said was true. Below is the email I sent and my official letter of resignment.

Time for my Takeaways and Opinions

This was definitely a bump in the road, and am now looking for another place of employment. I was hoping I found a company I can grow with for a while and help change the lived of others, but Esporta showed me that this was not where I was supposed to be. I feel called to help others on their fitness and wellness journey by teaching them how to workout properly to eventually work out on their own. No one needs a personal trainer for life, but this company showed me that they want to gatekeep information in order to increase profits, and keep clients on personal training for the sake of the business. Using misleading information for personal gain is the definition of "fraud" which is illegal.

I acknowledge what I have experienced may have been a misrepresentation of the company, but I cannot remain quiet about everything I have seen working at Esporta. The location of this Esporta is located at 3901 W Metropolitan Drive in Orange California, 92868. My advice/opinion would be to avoid this location at all costs. They are dishonest in sales, make fun of clients in the work group chat, and the managers allow this to happen. It would break my heart if I I was being made fun of by the employees if I was just starting my fitness journey and purchased a gym membership. Gyms should be a safe place to go, yet these employees are doing what people fear when stepping foot into the gym. This is why people have gym anxiety.

This event was very discouraging for me, but I know I will find where I am supposed to be. I'm not sure if it would be different in another gym, but I wouldn't want to be in a similar situation anywhere else. I probably will not continue to find a training position at a commercial gym because of this experience. I will of course continue sharing advice, workouts, and positive perspectives on my instagram page @wellandfitt. Thank you if you have made it to the end of the blog, keep on being amazing!

Xx Rachel

P.S. Esporta, do better.