Yes, you read the title correctly. Some people believe that they need to get in better shape before they seek the services of a Personal Trainer to.. well… help get them into shape.
I don’t mean to be flippant here. I wholly understand that individuals can feel a little self-conscious when they picture themselves standing in the middle of a crowded gym, clad head-to-toe in Lycra (the least forgiving material known to man) or imagine themselves, day one, having to perform 50 perfect push- ups on demand.
Unfortunately, I also know that the age old mantra of “just wanting to lose a few pounds or so first” before starting something new is the eternal enemy of change.
And, if the thought of facing a Personal Trainer in your current shape fills you with fear, I’d have to suggest that you’re considering the wrong Personal Trainer.
Here’s the truth about Personal Training – or, at least, the truth about Personal Training with me:
We’re all made different. This statement may not be grammatically correct, but the words are true. What matters to me is that you have taken the initial step to improve your own well-being – be it to lose weight, get fitter or simply feel better – and I really don’t care what your starting point looks like. My focus is on what the end result will be; what we can achieve by working together. Having worked with elite athletes for many years in the past, helping them achieve slimmest margins of advantage, I now genuinely value the opportunity to work with ‘real-life’ clients who truly have the most to gain.
You really don’t have to get gym-ready. Many of my clients achieve 100% of their fitness goals without ever entering a gym or fitness studio. These can be intimidating places and if they’re not for you I’d rather that your entire focus be on your workout rather than your surroundings. That said, who knows if you’ll feel differently about including some gym-based exercise equipment in your training programme at a later date so – cliché alert – never say ‘never’.
Losing the 4 pounds which you think will make you feel better may not be the easy task you hope it will be. Without guidance, support and a failproof plan to get you there, it can take some time. Enlisting my help to take you to that confidence-boosting first stage will probably get you there faster, but it will definitely get you there in the most effective way. You will have learned what exercise works best for you, how to incorporate a balanced, nutritional diet into your plan and how to keep the progress and enthusiasm going (even on those dark, wet, cold and miserable mornings!).
The value you’ll get from having a bespoke training programme crafted by an experienced professional can never be matched by Googling exercise plans, putting a jigsaw of activities together yourself and hoping for the best. The combination of personal consultation, targeted workouts, tailored nutritional plans, weekly check-ins and 24/7 support is what leads to success. If your health and wellbeing goals are important to you, then you deserve to give yourself the best possible chance to achieve them.
We’ve all got a particular exercise or piece of equipment which we just don’t like. It may be because of the difficulty factor, it may be a perception of danger, or it may even just be a haunting memory from a gym visit of the past. Whatever it is, I’m with you on it. There’s no rule about having to try every fitness activity ever invented or having to test your lack of co-ordination to its fear-inducing limits. Experience has taught me that a Personal Training plan with a strong bias towards things you enjoy has a vastly better chance of working! Fitness is about feeling good and that to me means feeling good during your workouts, not just bathing in post-workout smugness.
My message to everyone out there who is planning to get a Personal Trainer to help them “when the time is right” is to question exactly what is standing in their way. It certainly shouldn’t be a perception of carrying a few pounds over the ideal for training, and it certainly shouldn’t be a fear of venturing outside your comfort zone.
Why not speak to me about a low risk, low cost journey into the fitter lifestyle you know you want to have - but, so far, have been afraid to grasp.
