Contestants on NBC’s The Biggest Loser aren’t just overweight –they’re half-dead.

“I push them really hard,” fitness guru and the show’s resident trainer Jillian Michaels explained in an interview with The Associated Press this week.

“They are 400 … pounds! Hello! They are not just going to get on the treadmill and run. It doesn’t work that way.”

Series contestants require special attention if they stand any chance of shedding the pounds.

“A normal person, I could be like ‘OK, mama, jump up there. Warm up five minutes.’ You’d be like, ‘OK.’ THESE people are half-dead. I mean, it’s not the same.”