Personal trainer ridiculed after posting video revealing how she forced a homeless man to join her gym to 'improve his life'

Sydney personal trainer Chelcie Vera Cookson has been slammed online after she forced an overweight homeless man to join the gym. Photo: Facebook / Chelcie Vera Cookson

A New Zealand-born personal trainer has been ridiculed online after she forced an overweight homeless man to join the gym - despite him saying no five times.

But the Kiwi woman has hit back, saying for every negative comment, she's received 50 "incredible ones and they're the ones that count".

Chelcie Vera Cookson, from Sydney, had finished volunteering at a homeless food shelter when she came across Steven, a 46-year-old man living on the streets.

The personal trainer said that while it was "scary" to talk to homeless people, she felt inspired to hear his story and then help '"improve his life" by paying for a gym subscription, the Daily Mail reported.

Ms Cookson explained that after hearing about Steven's employment woes, she realised that what he really needed was to "get off his a**" and start exercising.

"I said to him from now, 'What do you want to do? Are you going to stay like this? If you could get back into work, if you could get a job, if you had the opportunity, would you?'," Ms Cookson said in a live-stream Facebook video on Saturday night.

"During meditation it 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 said.

"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 user the showers, f***ing awesome.'

But when Steven heard of her grand plan to buy him a "nice little gym wardrobe" and get him a "new haircut" - he was not interested.

"He said no five times," Ms Cookson recalled.

"I said 'Steven you're not saying no, you don't have a choice. You don't have a f***ing choice you're coming with me'."

Ms Cookson said that she would follow up with another post on Facebook after her first forced gym session with Steven on Monday at 10am.

But not everyone was impressed with her approach.

"What about somewhere to sleep, or is a gym membership more important?" user calvinbarker_ wrote on Instagram.

"A gym membership is more important. While a bed to sleep in may allow him to rest and the same sh** he's always done which is sleep every damn day," Ms Cookson snapped back.

"I'm providing him with a gym membership something he would never bother to do for himself and something he wouldn't invest in if he had the money too."

"I am making him invest his own time where he would usually be sitting on the sidewalk.

Ms Cookson finished her live stream by pointing out that her good dead was trading "the cost of a f***ing pedicure a week to have someone's life change."

In a follow-up Facebook post yesterday, Ms Cookson said media reports of her being "under fire" were incorrect.

"I've had ONE hate message, and I don't give a s*** if I get more, for every one bad message I've had 50 incredible ones and they're the ones that count. I know where my heart is, and feel sorry for anyone who chooses to take what I do in a negative light."