Tiffiny Hall is in charge of the white team in The Biggest Loser.
Frances Atkinson, The Sydney Morning Herald, reports
Even Tiffiny Hall has her bad days…
Just as overweight people might fear being judged on their appearance alone, Tiffiny Hall might find herself reduced to a cliche as the blonde, bubbly, reality TV fitness instructor. Assumptions on both counts would be wrong.
Sitting in one of Channel Ten's boardrooms, Hall has spent the day talking to media about her second season on The Biggest Loser. Last October, 16 single, obese contestants entered the TBL camp to begin their transformation as the dwindling contestants (men over 30, men under 30, women over 30, women under 30) will keep working, with the help of their team trainer, until April.
Hall is in charge of the White team, which is made up of four young women deeply unhappy about their weight and the negative impact it's had on their lives. Aside from the obvious, they all share a fear of never finding a significant other.
Some have been single for years, others have never been kissed - they are raw and vulnerable, especially 21-year-old Selena Brown from Darwin, who has battled with her weight since she was a child.
For Hall, who grew up with a dad who was an Olympic trainer in taekwondo, exercise was always part of the family routine. ''I have memories of waking up early and going for a run with dad,'' Hall says.
''We'd get home and the juicer was always buzzing. It was built into our lives, so it was odd to join The Biggest Loser and meet people who thought that wasn't normal.''
Hall says the key to working with her emotionally fragile group - knowing when to push them and how hard - comes down to asking questions. ''My training sessions are like interviews: 'Why are you here, what do you want to achieve, what are you feeling now?' They need to be honest. They need to admit that when they look in the mirror, they don't like what they see.''
It's difficult to imagine Hall could empathise with a situation so removed from her reality. ''I don't care what weight you are, I have days where I feel fat. I work on camera in white Lycra. I know I eat healthy but sometimes it's just irrational.
''I'm not a model. I don't look like a TV presenter - I've got muscles and a different sort of body type. We've all had the voice in your head that says, 'You're no good. You're going to fail.' Every woman knows what that feels like.''
The message she tells herself is the same one she shares with her team: they have to work on the voice in their head and make it constructive, nurturing and positive.
As seen in an early episode, training sessions can be physically and emotionally taxing and when a member of the White team (Rebekah) threw a steel rod over Hall's head, the exchange became heated.
''She was frustrated and that manifested in a outburst. It's very common. But it was dangerous and that's why I sent her out of the room.
''I work with people who don't know what an elevated heart rate feels like. They don't like feeling the discomfort that comes with training, like getting sore muscles.''
What Hall wants most is for her team to feel a sense of achievement; it's something the 28-year-old has found herself but not in the fitness business.
Last year, she wrote her first young-adult novel, an action-adventure story titled White Ninja, and she's recently signed a five-book deal with HarperCollins. ''If I could write fiction full time,'' she says, ''I'd happily hang up my Lycra.''
Excuses, excuses ...
1. I'm too busy/tired
It's tough but make an appointment with yourself to train. Ten minutes is better than nothing. Train every second day. Start with three one-hour sessions over seven days.
2. It's too late. I have too much weight to lose
Get a trainer and, if you can't afford it, get one trainer and split it among a few people. Up your water intake and eat three balanced meals and three healthy snacks a day.
3. I have injuries
Be sensible. Work in the boundaries of your injuries.
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