Gym Memberships

Millions of individuals flock to health clubs the first couple of months every year, motivated by New Years’ resolutions and determined to become healthier and fit. Individuals place down payments on memberships and pay monthly fees.

By mid-summer, a large gym’s non-usage list (members who have not been to the gym in 3 months or more) expands exponentially. Consider a large health club chain with 50 locations, each with a long non-usage list. That’s a lot of wasted money.

Why do so many individuals pay for memberships they don’t use? New Years’ resolutions do not provide individuals with long-term motivation. In fact, you’ll rarely hear mention of them by the time summer rolls around, so individuals need something else to inspire effort throughout the year.

Most are not going to ever look like ‘movie stars’, however, anyone can become lean and fit if a long-term commitment is made. Find a picture of an individual in a magazine with a similar bone structure and strive to change your physique to be more like theirs, and retrieve a picture of yourself when you felt you looked your best. Place the pictures on the refrigerator door and on your calendar. Pictures on the fridge may help you eat healthier. Pictures by the schedule will remind you to schedule time for exercise.

The individuals who have become ‘regulars’ at the gym, the ones that the gym staff know on a first name basis, have made exercise a part of their daily lives. For them, exercise no longer feels like a chore. It is a habit. The only way to become healthy and fit is to make exercise a habit. It cannot be on-again, off-again. It has to be consistent.

Getting changed into workout clothes and beginning your warm-up often becomes the hardest part of exercise. The body and mind may not feel like exercising, however, once you get started it becomes easier, mentally. Forcing yourself to exercise is a mental battle until the habit is ingrained into your life. The alternative is waiting until your doctor orders you to begin an exercise program.

Personal Training

Personal trainers educate individuals on how to complete exercises with proper form, teaching clients how to live a healthier lifestyle and including instruction to clients about what they should be doing on the days when they are not exercising with the trainer.

The average personal training client exercises with a trainer 1 to 3 hours per week. The trainer is responsible for that individual during those hours. If you are the client and you exercise with a trainer 3 hours per week, it still leaves 165 hours where you, not the trainer, are responsible for your health and fitness levels.

Signing up for personal training is not much different from taking a class at a university. The class is held two or three days a week. If you do not show up for the class you will not get a good grade (your body will stay the same). If you do not study (fail to follow instructions out of the gym) you will not improve your knowledge (fitness level) and you’ll end up wasting your hard-earned money.

The personal training client must be accountable for those hours away from the trainer. Follow the instructions. Make a commitment to training and you will improve the way you look and feel. You do all the work – the personal trainer simply points you in the right direction.

Pep Talk

You do not need a perfect body...you only need one that feels good to you. You cannot give up. You cannot allow yourself to be unhealthy. You cannot allow your job to destroy your vigor. You cannot allow reality television to rot your brain and expand your waist.

Only you...not your job, not television, not your stress levels...places bad foods into your mouth. You decide what you eat and how much. You decide if and when you will exercise. You make the choices. Personal trainers cannot exercise for you. Fitness professionals will not be cooking all your meals. It is up to you, and only you, to better your health.

A gym membership alone won’t make you thin and fit; neither will the best home gym in the county. You do not need to take a hundred supplements a day. You do not need a million dollars. You only need the will to do it.

Making healthy changes in your life can inspire friends, family and co-workers to do the same. In doing so you will make a difference. You will better your quality of life, as well as the lives around you. Change your life for the better and your world will become a better place.

You must help yourself. The road may be difficult, but you have to believe you are tough enough to persevere. Follow the guidelines in a fitness book or instructions from a personal trainer, exactly as they appear on page, and after 12 weeks, you will see tremendous changes in your body. You will feel better about yourself. Your personal confidence will improve. You will handle stress better. You may even see the world around you more clearly. Make the time. Make the commitment.