Pregnant Woman Claims She Was Shamed and Booted Out of a Gym Class

An expectant mother has claimed she was forced out of a fitness class by an instructor who shamed her for being pregnant.

Natalie Hillar, from Sydney, has been maintaining her fitness to ensure she has a healthy pregnancy.

But last Wednesday, the 40-year-old, who’s six months pregnant, said she was left ‘humiliated’ in front of everyone.

The Sydney mother-of-two claimed she was attending her regular ‘Bodycombat’ session at Fitness First when she was kicked out of the room.

‘I went into the class as usual. I took a position at the back of the room and the instructor read out the disclaimer which they do in every class,’ Ms Hillar told Daily Mail Australia.

‘She warned if anyone has any pregnancies or injuries to make sure they have a medical clearance, which I confidently have.

‘So the class starts and I’m doing the moves. I don’t jump around, but I do what’s comfortable. Then a minute into the class, the instructor stops the music and says: “I don’t know if anyone heard me at the beginning of the class but I don’t teach this class to pregnant people”.

‘I wasn’t sure if I heard her properly because she totally went against the disclaimer. I was so confused so I started exercising again.

‘But then she stopped the music again, and said “I can still see pregnant people in this class, I refuse to teach pregnant people”.

‘At that point I realised I needed to leave.’

As the mother headed for the door, she claimed the instructor then shamed her in front of the class.

‘So I picked up my stuff and I muttered under my breath “unbelievable”. I was just shocked at what was happening,’ Ms Hillar said.

‘As I was walking out, I glared at her. Then she grabbed the microphone and shouted “I know you’re upset, but it’s for your own good, love”. I got really frustrated.’

Ms Hillar said she was shocked at the way she was treated.

‘I was definitely shaken up afterwards, I’m so used to going to the gym minding my own business. But she pretty much forced me out of the class,’ she claimed.

‘I felt really humiliated, I can’t hide it. It just felt like I was really shamed. I was really confused about how it all happened. I didn’t feel like I was doing anything wrong.

‘What confuses me most is I’ve been to the same class for my previous two pregnancies and I never had any problems.’

Ms Hillar said she went straight to the reception desk to complain about the instructor.

‘I told them what happened and they were very good about it,’ Ms Hillar claimed.

She said she hopes to see gyms provide more information for expectant mothers – and to be clearer about the types of classes available or not suitable for pregnant women.

By sharing her story, she wanted to speak out in an effort to prevent this from happening to other pregnancy women.

‘As a pregnant woman, I’m not there to lose crazy amounts of weight, I’m trying to do what’s best for me and it’s to maintain a healthy pregnancy,’ she said.

‘I never want to say anything harsh about Fitness First because I only have fantastic experiences there, but it was just this one person who needed to handle herself better.

‘It doesn’t matter what personal views you have, you can’t treat customers like that. I’d hate to see the instructor discriminating against other pregnant women.

‘It actually took me days to get the confidence to go back to the gym.’

A Fitness First spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia: ‘At Fitness First, the safety of our members is our number one priority.

‘We understand the level of exercise during pregnancy is personal and usually determined by pre-pregnancy fitness levels and advice from general practitioners.

‘In addition to advice from their GP, we recommend any pregnant members notify the group fitness instructor prior to participating in a class.

‘All of our group exercise instructors are required to make members aware of any risks and recommend against exercises should they be unsafe. In this case, this was the professional recommendation given.

‘The class BODYCOMBAT is not recommended during pregnancy because of the joint instability.

‘Our team are continuing to be in touch with Ms Hillar.’

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26 Comments

- - meedee said
  - 11 Dec 2022
    12:39 pm
The instructor should have spoken to her one on one.
I would be asking for my membership fees back and going to another gym

- - mom101628 said
  - 01 Feb 2019
    4:42 pm
Amazing – think I would be saying some words to that gym re membership and their instructors.

- - ella12 said
  - 18 Jan 2019
    4:25 pm
That is disgraceful. She should have taken the microphone from the instructor, told her where to go and shamed her right back!

- - Blossom said
  - 06 Jan 2019
    4:43 pm
Surely her pregnancy would have been obvious at some of the previous classes.

- - rachel1970 said
  - 30 Nov 2018
    5:09 pm
What? That’s unbelievable. Like pregnant women are disgusting and don’t exist!

- - mom315833 said
  - 26 Nov 2018
    12:35 pm
Not good, today’s day and age.

- - ncjmumma said
  - 26 Nov 2018
    6:41 am
Wow!! Instead of being so rude and publicly shaming her, the instructor could have quietly pulled her aside and explained the situation!!

- - mom7108 said
  - 18 Nov 2018
    7:29 pm
This seems really rough. I was taught classes by a super fit instructor that was pregnant! She was jumping around and fitter than everyone there

- - sars_angelchik said
  - 06 Nov 2018
    9:06 am
This is very bad. The only problem I could see with this would be if there was one on one combat, but in all seriousness very badly handled. I continued to exercise right through my pregnancies. I even used to do ultimate frisbee during my first and I kept doing that right up until about 7.5 months or something like that and that instructor quietly spoke to me after class and said that he wasn’t comfortable with me continuing as advanced as I was, which was fine and I didn’t feel offended in the least.

- - rovermum said
  - 05 Nov 2018
    8:58 am
I think this was handled badly by the instructor – publicly and rudely. There were so many other ways this could have gone down.
- mom19782016 replied
  
  05 Nov 2018 , 9:32 pm
  Agreed. And using the microphone too!!
- - mom81879 said
  - 03 Nov 2018
    5:06 pm
No matter what the instructor thought of pregnant women in her class, I don’t think this was the way she should have handled it! Very unprofessional!

- - linaianna said
  - 02 Nov 2018
    9:24 am
That Instructor should of not shamed that poor lady like that Im sure she knew what she could do and not do. I reckon everyone should of left her class along with her.

- - rachel1970 said
  - 02 Nov 2018
    7:09 am
How crazy. I’m sure she is fine doing Yoga as she did it with her previous pregnancy and would be well aware on what she is capable of. Even if it was her first pregnancy, yoga is find as long as she didn’t so anything to strenuous but the yoga instructor is exactly that, a yoga instructor, and could instruct her on what is safe and what is not safe to do.

- - mom163231 said
  - 02 Nov 2018
    1:17 am
At least the instructor can talk in private, instead of insulting like this… Why these people try to make, it look like a crime to be pregnant… Maybe she has some other issues, taking on someone else

- - tessie said
  - 01 Nov 2018
    10:42 am
As Natalie said, she had medical clearance. Since she had done this with her previous pregnancies I’m sure she knew what she could and couldn’t do. The instructor could have done things differently by taking Natalie aside and speaking with her.

- - mom111059 said
  - 01 Nov 2018
    10:08 am
Fitness First needs to think about their client base and be kinder.

- - littlehandsofmine said
  - 01 Nov 2018
    7:08 am
Wow what a response form Fitness First…not going there ever!
I still loved exercising when I was pregnant and I was given mortified exercises.
Fitness First is just rude!
They should give her a refund and an apology.

- - Ellen said
  - 31 Oct 2018
    7:38 am
Very badly handled indeed !
- mom93821 replied
  
  01 Nov 2018 , 7:39 am
  The response from the gym in the article states the class is not recommended….so not banned – so it should have been her choice! Women are in charge of their own bodies!
- - mom93821 said
  - 31 Oct 2018
    6:03 am
The right thing to do would have been a private conversation and not one in front of a crowd. I would have marched back in with a manager!

- - nealsq said
  - 30 Oct 2018
    11:32 pm
very badly handled! If the instructor had a problem they should have discussed it in private not via public humiliation