Health and Fitness: Focusing on your fitness program and design
In my series about fitness and health, I have commented on what to look for in a health club and what is desirable when you hire a trainer.
The next topic is what are your fitness needs and how to define them. This sounds pretty straightforward but in reality it is not always clear.
I have had clients in my own fitness business and in the initial assessment they have very little understanding what they need or want. Coming to me with a picture of a movie star or a personality and telling me they want to look like that person is not a very good plan.
Showing me a piece of clothing and saying I need to lose 20 lbs in 3 weeks so I can fit in it, is not going to happen.
Not having an understanding of how your diet impacts your workouts and health makes it extremely difficult to achieve results.
To make your program more concise and realistic these are factors to consider:
- Is your goal(s) weight loss, muscle endurance, muscle strength, muscle , balance, core stability, or a combination of all of them?
- Do you have the long term time frame to achieve your goals?
- Can you make the daily time in your schedule to schedule activity?
- Do you have medical concerns that would impede your fitness goals?
- Do you have an understanding of your dietary needs when you work out and when you are less active?
- Do you have family and or social obligations that would hinder your fitness model? Does your family and friends support you in this model?
- Do you belong to a gym, need to hire a trainer, going to work out on your own, or with a workout partner?
- Are you workouts geared to a sports specific activity such as getting more rotation and torque to your golf swing?
- Will you get interrupted during your workouts with business calls, texting or other distractions?
- Are you dedicated in seeing results or will your desire fade if they do not happen quickly? How can you keep your focus on the prize you seek?
- Do you realize there will be discomfort when you engage during and after your workouts?
- Do you need a complete physical before your program starts?
This checklist is a good beginning to hopefully get a better handle on what your overall goals and objectives are. An objective are the means on how your achieve your goals. The goals are the big picture.
As a fitness professional I have seen many clients drop out due to a faulty understanding of the structure of their workouts not fulfilling their goals. The development process takes time and the execution takes even more time.
The nuts and bolts of any exercise program should be clear from the start. Make a plan, figure how what the details are and then proceed.
If you need some help with getting your plan going. email me and let’s see what we can come up with.
Keep working out and keep smoking.