Keeping up your enthusiasm

Is your program getting a little stale? Need to get the fire burning again? Well I may just have the answer to your fitness conundrum!

There are lots of people using fitness for a whole host of reasons such as weight loss, boosting their self esteem/confidence and improving their mental health but to name just a few. Even though these reasons are all valid sometimes they lack a bit of oomph! The first 12 weeks of a program can be exciting and full of progress and big gains but then your focus drops or your work life gets busy, or it starts getting dark early so you give the gym a miss, all these situations can thwart you achieving your all-important goals.

So what do you do?

The first thing you do is look at your program and ask yourself am I bored? Is it too hard? Is it too easy or have my goals changed? All these questions are important and if you have a PT they should be making sure that these questions are aked after most sessions. To find the answers the need for communication is the first port of call, which means the PT asking the client if they enjoyed the session and the second port of call is the client answering honestly! Once they have the information your PT can start making changes which will hopefully re-ignite your enthusiasm again and put you back into the progress lane.

Personally I always try and make my sessions with clients fun. We chat throughout the rests and laugh too! I hope all my clients leave me feeling great about the workout they’ve just completed and also feel that although it was tough they had a good time doing it! There is nothing worse then just going through the motions as this is a sure fire way to kill any enthusiasm or positivity. Building a rapport with your client is really important and once that rapport has been established it will be easy to make sessions enjoyable even when the workout is particularly demanding.

If your going to the gym on your own and beginning to feel as though the time there is lacking some fun or excitement think about your program, the internet is a fantastic way of finding new exercises and ways to perform old exercises in different and interesting ways. You can find new sessions that change the intensity you work in and this in turn will bolster your enthusiasm again and make that trip to the gym something to look forward to! Another idea is to change your goals and what your working towards, so you could make it a challenge to deadlift a specific weight or row a distance in a particular time, all these ideas will help increase your motivation to get to the gym.

All the above should get you in the swing of enjoying fitness again if its started to feel stale. Remember your goals and all the important reasons why you should exercise. If you want or need the help and support of a PT make sure you enjoy your time with them, this will definitely help you in achieving all your goals and make you feel the enthusiasm and motivation you need to keep up with the all important fitness regime you started in the first place!