Vary your training
We all know that everyone should exercise, it has
the obvious health benefits of reducing weight,
increasing stamina, changing our body shape,
reducing heart disease etc. It also has less obvious
benefits such as increasing our endorphin levels
which makes us feel better. We will sleep better
through exercise and therefore be better prepared
for the day ahead to enable us to either work or
play harder.
The list of benefits is almost endless, so why isn’t
everyone exercising?
Most people today tend to live very busy lives
and find it hard to put an hour aside to go to
the gym, play sport or simply take a walk.
Unfortunately, this means that by the time
we come to retire and have some spare
time on our hands, we are not fit
enough to enjoy it, so hard
as it might appear, it
is very important to
find a couple of
hours a week
now, to enable
us to get into
an exercise
routine.
Even when
we have got
into such a
routine, maintaining
motivation can be
difficult. Those training
for a specific event or
sport, can keep their
motivation as they see
their progress on the
rugby or football
field, or see a change
in body shape. For
most people though,
they exercise because
they feel they should
and doing the same
thing day after day can be
difficult on both body and mind and this is why
variety is so important.
Just going jogging is fantastic exercise, but even
this has its drawbacks as it puts constant strain on
the same parts of the body which can cause damage
in the long term. Too much of any one thing will
always have its own issues.
Training at a gym can significantly aid your general
health and be a great addition to your other
training. A good instructor will ask you about your
current exercise, and listen to your replies and then
help you to formulate a training programme specific
to your requirements.
If, for example, you are a long distance runner, you
will need to do many miles on the road to build up
your stamina, but this will impact your back and
shoulders so you can work these at the gym in order
to help improve your running. A variety of training,
but all with the same objective.
Variety is perhaps even more important for us mere
mortals that just exercise to be a bit fitter and
healthier. For us, the same routine at the gym 2 or 3
times a week will quickly become ineffective as our
bodies become used to the routine and can be mind
numbing as well as!
Your instructors will understand this and will be
happy to help you vary your programme as often
as you wish. You should even be able to get 2 or 3
programmes on the go at the same time so that you
do a different programme each time you visit the
gym.
Your week at the gym should include a class or
two, as group exercise is a terrific motivator and a
tremendous way to break up your routine. Good
gyms will have these classes included in your
membership so take advantage of them.
Independent gyms can often offer a greater level
of customer service as they are not in the corporate
numbers game with massive overheads from
multiple sites. They are much more focused on
looking after their members and will usually know
most members by name and have a very good
handle on what a particular member requires from
them. As staff turnover at Independent gyms tends
to be much lower than in larger gyms you have the
opportunity to work with the same instructor over
longer periods.
Take advantage of the instructor’s experience and
let