Blog

5 Things to Know Before Joining a Gym and Hiring a Personal Trainer

Posted By: Joshua Morgan on 12/27/2011

5 Fitness Lessons for 2012

AKA:

Questions you should be asking before you hire a personal trainer or join a gym

And why you should join Fitness Together

Lesson 1: Nutrition before exercise.

What’s your first thought when you think about getting in shape or getting in better shape? It probably revolved around some form of exercise. And this is what most people think about. So Jan 1^st hits and we find ourselves running out to join a gym, get a personal trainer, pick up some fitness oriented magazines.  There are a few problems here:

1. Magazines are typically not a good resource for exercise and diet information.
2. Most personal trainers are ‘rep counters’. In other words, they take you from machine to machine where they count the number of reps you’re doing.  They’ll have you on back day and arm day and leg day. Great...except sitting on the tricep extension machine is going to do nil for your physique transformation goals.  Most of us want to look better in that bathing suit. And we think that personal trainer is going to lead us to fit into that bathing suit that we’ve hung up and looked at for weeks and months now swearing we’ll fit into it come beach season.  Let me let you in on a secret...if you’re hiring Joe Blow at We’ll Get You Fit So Fast gym, you are wasting your money.  Now I don’t want to say there aren’t good personal trainers out there but it has been my observation that the way they are going to train you is not going to align with your goals.  It’s not their fault; the book they studied to get certified said if you want X result, you do A, B, and C.  Let me repeat, sitting on the leg press, knee extension, and tricep extension machines are not going to do anything for that ‘look better’ goal.
3. Nutrition is king when it comes to body transformation—whether for building muscle or losing fat.  I have no idea who said it and who knows how many times it’s been resaid but it’s true—you can’t out exercise a bad diet. One important question to ask when seeking out a personal trainer or source is do they know nutrition?  And I’m not referring to the simple eat less fast food, eat some vegetables, eat some protein, etc etc etc.  Do they really know their stuff?

This is where Fitness Together excels! The coaching staff at FT in Yukon has worked with a wide variety of clients from the elderly to adolescents, from obese to extremely skinny, and anything in between.  We can put together everything needed to give you the tools to be successful in a fun atmosphere. If you’re ready to move, get fit, and have fun all at the same time, come join us at Fitness Together in Yukon.   

Lesson 2: Choose proof over theory

Okay, so how many of y’all saw a program in a magazine or heard a friend talk about an exercise or diet program and tried it out? And I’d be willing to bet that you ended up with disappointment and wasted time.  Who really wants to start a program of exercise and nutrition where the success rate is very little or nothing at all?  We’d all most likely agree that we’d want no part of that. However, with the number of magazines, books, tv shows, etc and obesity numbers rising, I’d say that this is exactly what is happening.  Truth is while most people understand what it takes to get overweight, they don’t really know what it takes to lose the weight.

Here are questions to ask before joining a gym, hiring a personal trainer, and/or engaging in a program:

 “Does the program work?”
“Who else have you helped?”
“Are there people like me who’ve done this?”

At Fitness Together in Yukon, we can back up our claims with achievements.  If you’re looking for real results, then Fitness Together in Yukon is where you need to be.

Lesson 3: Do one small thing each day.

One of my mentors Dan John once put it this way: “If something is important, do it every day; if it’s not important, don’t do it at all.”  And this is very true when it comes to body transformation goals.  Unfortunately I see a lot of people giving it all they got and doing it right then. In other words, they adopt a whole new way of living, eating, and habits at the same time.  This will lead to burn-out. And, typically, they find out the hard way.  Usually going into changing an unhealthy lifestyle with an all-or-none attitude works on a short-term basis.  They find themselves becoming unmotivated and going back into the old lifestyle.  Start with one thing and then after you’ve settled into that routine, move into another.  Remember that you didn’t develop these habits and way of living over night.  And you shouldn’t expect to change everything over night.

It’s important to be confident in what you can do.  If you don’t eat vegetables and you throw a goal of eating 10 servings of vegetables a day, that’s a daunting task and you prob won’t be confident that you can meet that goal?  So what about 3 or 2, maybe just 1 serving a day.  Maybe cutting out all junk foods, while a good idea, is too much to start with.  Well, what about removing those sodas out of your diet? It’s important to start with small goals that are achievable. Once you start seeing what you can accomplish and gain confidence, it’s amazing how much easier it gets.  If it seems easy, then you’re going to be successful.  Success is where you should start.

Remember that we can’t always control outcome. We can control our actions that lead to our desired outcome though.  Let’s say our desired outcome is to lose 30 pounds.  So we step on the scale and on week 1 we’ve lost 4 pounds.

Cue inner monologue:

“I’ve only lost 4 pounds?! That means I have another 26 pounds to go?! But I’ve worked so hard. This just isn’t working. What’s the use?!”

Focus on the actions. Focus on what you can do—

-Today I will go workout

-Today I will eat 3 servings of vegetables and not drink soda

Remember that we’re trying to create habits.  Continued actions leads to habits. Habits are what will give us outcomes. Focus on today.

At Fitness Together in Yukon, we’ll give you small measurable goals that are easy to achieve. Imagine a puzzle. We’ll give you the pieces and start to put them together for the big picture.  Or imagine trying to build a house.  You have to start with a foundation before you move on. We will help so you can build that foundation and work with you the entire way. We are interested in our clients from start to finish.  

Lesson 4: Let the ‘experts’ do what they do best

You’re paying a trainer because they should be able to get you from where you are to where you want to be.  This means your trainer has to understand what it takes to get there. They are the ones that should be monitoring and changing things as needed.

Your responsibility should be in concentrating on doing those actions and making those suggested changes happen.

At Fitness Together in Yukon, we monitor our client’s progress and use evaluations to determine what (if any) and when changes should be made. We will support you and answer questions.  We want to take the guess work out of this for you.  We don’t promise easy. But we can offer simple.

Lesson 5: Get a Support Group

Remember how people assumed when you were a teenager that you were like the group you hung out with (even if you weren’t)?  Kinda’ that old saying “if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck...”  And there’s a lot of truth to this.  When it comes to changing lifestyle and physique, I can’t even begin to explain how true this is. It is important to surround yourself by those that will support your endeavors.  Changing behaviors and lifestyle by itself is hard enough but if you’re in an environment that is non-supportive, it can became an extremely daunting task. You will be more successful if you are in a supportive environment and even more so if you’re surrounded by those with like intentions. It’s so much easier when those around you share the same goals, have experienced the same frustrations, and are all on the same path to the same end.

At Fitness Together in Yukon, you’ll find yourself in a very positive environment catered towards those physique goals.  We also have a really cool feature called Pack Training.  This is a set up in which a small group of individuals train together and motivate each other together.  Essentially it’s a like minded community all striving to be successful with the same goal you have.  And what better way to be successful than to be surrounded by others with the same goal?  This truly is different than what other gyms and fitness centers have to offer, and this is what makes Fitness Together stand out against the rest.

Yours in Health,

Joshua Morgan