How important is an instructor's personality to you?

[KayM]

Today I was mulling over the contradiction that I am doing a LOT of Kathy Smith videos lately, even though I really don't care for her or her personality. In fact, if you asked what I thought of her, I would probably say something mildly negative. Yet, here I am doing her videos!

I guess the reason for that is because when I'm doing a video, an instructor's personality isn't all that important to me. Of course I'd prefer to do a video with an instructor I like, but the format of the video and the results I get seem to be way more important to me.

There are even some instructors who have done what I consider some sort of unethical stuff whose videos I would do, if I thought I would get the results I wanted or if the video had the format I wanted (although I would probably get them off of the swap)

What about you'all? I was just curious how important an instructor's personality is to you.

[new2me]

Not all that important to me I guess, at least not in the 100s of workouts I currently own, and I own a variety of instructors. Having said that, there are things that have turned me off of workouts, which were much more minor than a personality, lol. So I guess personality doesn't bother me, but the wrong pants can really get to me, lol!

[Pam L]

I guess it's mildly important to me. If I can't stand an instructor's personality I will not do their videos. However, other than Denise Austin I can't think of anyone in that category. I guess I've managed to completely avoid instructors whose personality sounds like I would dislike them.

OTOH, I've kept workouts by instructors whose personality I like (e.g. Mindy) even when I hate the workouts and never do them.

[Bebop]

Personality is important to me but not always the deciding factor.

I prefer the more upbeat, perky instructors. I love Cathe because she is upbeat and she jokes around and just seems to be able to work you to death but you love her at the same time.

I need perky to motivate me - I like Sharon Mann and D. Austin.

On the other hand, karen Voight puts me to sleep but I have a couple of her workouts that I do because they are great workouts.

I can not do any Moira Stott workouts. I have tried. Her workouts are good and she is a good teacher but she is so dry and clinical that I can't get through a workout.

I will not buy a workout from anyone who has had "ethics issues". If I have had the workouts in my collection before an issue, ofcourse, I will keep it and use it, but going forward, I will not financially support any behaviour that I do not approve of. Of hand, I can't think of anyone specific but I have read the threads on certain instructors and business practices and it has made me think twice before purchasing futher workouts.

[Seabush]

The instructor's voice is more important than the personality. I've gotten rid of tapes by Kathy Smith, Denise Austin, Katalin Zamiar, Karen Voight, Mari Winsor, Michelle Dozois, etc. because I found their voices irritating or boring.

Crystal

[doskymom]

I look at this a little differently because I'm not sure I really get to know an instructor's personality from doing a workout. I don't care for some of Denise Austin's workouts, but it's more because I don't think she cues well and doesn't always do even reps in her strength workouts, but it has nothing to do with her personality. I think if I sat down to lunch with her, she'd be a very nice person. There's one instructor who gives me the impression that she might be kind of a snob in person, but I love her workouts and can't really know for sure what her personality is like just from a workout video. I guess for me it's more of whether I like the way a workout is presented rather than their "personality". I don't feel like I know for sure what the personalities are of any of the instructors.

[Mollie F.]

Good question, Kay.

I'm primarily concerned with the personality that's presented in the video. I mean, this is the personality (and the shtick) that I'll be working out with over and over. So bland is ok, but not great.

As for the ethical thing. Well, my major consideration is whether or not I'll get stuff that I ordered. If the instructor's reputation is such that I don't feel certain that I'll get what I ordered, I'll look for other ways to get what I want. And I mean get what I ordered without having to call or e-mail to get them to get it in gear. Good customer service means uneventful customer service. If I have to phone or e-mail on top of ordering, the customer service isn't good.

But, you know, if the customer service is good, I don't much care about the person in charge.

[Suzette]

It's important to me.

I got rid of Kathy's Lift Weights to Lose Weight, Gin's New Body Workout, and Tony's Power 90 because I couldn't stand their personalities in those workouts.

[antbuko]

I've only come across a couple of instructors whose persona turned me off enough to trade away their videos. And other people love them! Go figure.

Oh, and Kathy Smith wasn't one of them but I rented a couple of her videos recently and I just thought she yelled too much! Still, I'd give her another try. I own her kickboxing video so I do intend to use it.

[vigirl]

It's definitely important to me!

I didn't think so before but after numerous attempts to do videos by Kathy Smith and Denise Austin, and some others, I realized I just can't do it. There's nothing wrong with them or the workouts. In fact, I got them to try because of the positive reviews. And I like them, but I never want to pull them out and do them! And that's a problem!

I agree that the personality presented can make a major difference. For example, I liked Karen Voight alot in Your Personal Best, but not so much in her other videos. I find her a lot more "loose" in that one.

So I think the decision is all on a per-video basis.

Pian~