Personal Trainer Northampton Blog

I read a very interesting article today.  The statistics provided said that in the UK, 3.6 million new gym meberships are taken out in the first 2 weeks of January.  That is a staggering amount.  However, studies show that 500,000 people never  go the the gym having paid for it, costing a combined £250 million pounds per year.  So, why do we pay this money and then never go?  Would we walk outside every month and throw £50 down the drain?  Of course not.  So why do we do it in this fashion?

We start of with the best intentions.  A new year, a new start.  Maybe go for a couple of sessions but then what happens?  One night maybe you feel tired.  You make dinner plans.  Something comes up.  “But I will work twice as hard next time!” you tell yourself.  But you miss another session.  And another.  Until it gets to the point you think, “well I’ve missed this many, what is the point of carrying on?”

I believe, and this is just personal opinion, that sometimes we can look at the goal of losing weight, being more fit or whatever it may be, we look at it as too much of a complete picture.  Let me exlpain.  Say you want to lose twenty pounds.  You think right I must lose twenty pounds.  But do you ever think how?  Try breaking your goal down.  As much as possible.  Try thinking  “I am going to lose x amount pounds by firstly going to the gym this Tuesday.  HEre I will perform…(and put in your exercise plan for that day.)  This is still still contributing to you r overall goal, but once you have been on that Tuesday, you can cross it off. You have achieved something toward your goal and this will make you feel better and successful.  Do this for everytime you visit the gym, or everytime you eat a healthier meal or everytime you lose a bit of weight.  Everytime you say this and complete this smaller action, you get that feeling of reaching a goal.  It isn’t your ultimate goal but it certainly is contributing toward it.

If you just say “ I want to lose x amount of pounds” then the only success you will feel is when you achieve this.  But, this will take time and along the way you can feel discouraged, put off and frustrated because you haven’t achieved it yet.  That is when I believe we start to miss our gym sessions, prioritise other things around the gym or exercise and eventually just stop going.  The more successes you can have, the more likely you are to stick with yourself and reach that goal.   If you have any thoughts on this, positive or negative, I would love to hear from you.  Please feel free to leave a comment.

Keep positive and keep working hard.  It will be worth it.