Sydney personal trainer offers to buy a homeless man a gym membership

A PERSONAL trainer who offered to buy a homeless man a gym membership has been criticised for arguing the membership is “more important” than a bed to sleep in.

Sydney personal trainer Chelcie Cookson has been criticised for arguing a gym membership is more important for a homeless person than a bed to sleep in.

A SYDNEY personal trainer who offered to buy a homeless man a gym membership has been criticised on social media for arguing the membership is “more important” than a bed to sleep in.

Chelcie Cookson, 24, is a certified personal trainer who frequently volunteers at homeless shelters and spends time in “homeless areas”.

In a Facebook video which has alread been viewed more than 50,000 times, Ms Cookson explained how she recently met a homeless man called Stephen and offered to buy him a gym membership.

“During meditation it [later] came to me, what could I do to make him... kind of effortlessly transform his life, and I realised ‘exercise’. Exercise is the key to so many things,” she explained in the video.

“So I thought, ‘I need to f***ing get him a gym membership. The hook to get him there: shower facilities, so he’ll be able to use the showers, f***ing awesome.”

While he initially declined her offer, Ms Cookson says Steven is now on board with the idea.

But some social media users criticised Ms Cookson and argued she should have offered him other resources like a bed, food or shower.

“What about somewhere to sleep or is a gym membership more important?” a user commented on Ms Cookson’s Instagram page.

Another said: “A gym membership won’t give this man a roof over his head or a hot meal in his plate. With all respect due, she should had invested her time and money on something more useful long term.”

“Yes, a gym membership is more important,” she replied. “While a bed to sleep in may allow him to rest and the same s*** he’s always done which is sleep every damn day — something he can do anywhere ... I’m providing him with a gym membership something he would NEVER bother to do for himself and someone he wouldn’t invest in if he had the money to do.”

Picture: Facebook

Ms Cookson told news.com.au she uploaded the video in the hope that it would encourage other people to offer support to the homeless.

“This is not the first time I’ve done something like this, it’s just the first time I’ve posted about it,” she said.

The New Zealand native, who moved to Australia in January, says she offered Steven the gym membership because she thinks that is a long-term solution to getting him off the streets.

“Food and shelter are a temporary, short term fix. I’m trying to give him his energy and self-confidence back, to show that someone has faith in him. When someone has self confidence and happiness they can conquer anything,” she said.

Exercise has well-established mental benefits as well as physical, she said.

“Time and time again, movement is proven to release endorphins to stimulate happiness. When you’re inside a gym, you’re all there for one purpose and that’s to improve yourself. Everyone in there is focusing on their own stuff.”

Ms Cookson claims she has since been contacted by people who used to live rough and whose lives have been transformed by exercise.

“I’ve had hundreds of messages come through from ex-homeless people saying they’ve had their whole lives transformed after people took them in and made them exercise,” she said.

She plans to meet up with Steven tomorrow morning and set up the membership.