TRAINING THE
‘SKINNY-FAT’ CLIENT:
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
‘Skinny’ clients with poor fitness may have high levels of hidden visceral fat,
putting them at greater risk of serious disease than you or they realise.
WORDS: ROSEMARY MARCHESE
ith so many of your clients approaching you to help them shed the
kilos it’s easy to find yourself focusing your fitness career on ‘that’
word – ‘obesity’. While there should certainly be an emphasis on
reducing body fat levels, for some of your potential or actual clients there is
a strong possibility that they have actually taken this too far. Introducing the
‘skinny-fat’ client, otherwise known as TOFI – thin on the outside, fat on the
inside.
TOFI individuals appear ‘healthy’ to society, and their thin, waif-like
bodies are often celebrated. You seldom see overweight or obese people
gracing the covers of magazines, unless they are being body-shamed (see
article on page 43). It’s the skinny female models, sometimes with protruding
ribs, that win the million dollar contracts and rule the catwalk. And what do
they do to earn these accolades? As fitness professionals we know only too
well: they eat very little (despite what they tell the media).
While male TOFI clients do exist, it is predominantly a female issue. In the
case of the catwalk models, for example, it’s the female ‘skinny’ model that
tends to lead the show while the muscly, very fit male model is more highly
regarded than the skinny, unfit male. So why is this apparently-aesthetic
issue important?
W
TOFI is a ticking time-bomb
Let’s look at a scenario of three 54-year-old people who have just suffered
a heart attack. Who do you think is more likely to die? Person A that has a
‘normal’ body mass index (BMI) of 23, Person B who is overweight (BMI of
27), Person C who is obese (BMI of 30) or Person D who is underweight
(BMI of 18)? If you guessed Person B and C then you won’t be alone, but
you’re not necessarily right. In fact, Person A and D are more likely to die
in the next few years after experiencing the heart attack. Shocked? Now,
the explanation for why being a little overweight or perhaps obese (by BMI
standards) could potentially be protective after a heart attack, otherwise
known as the Obesity Paradox, is going to have to wait