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Health & Fitness

How to Find the Fitness Routine and Trainer for Your Lifestyle

Finding a new fitness routine or trainer can be overwhelming. Here are a few questions to ask yourself before you dive in.

Fitness in general can be overwhelming for most people. Then add in the time, costs and pressure of finding the right gym, trainer and routine for your schedule....your investment in a fitness routine can ad up pretty quickly! But fear not, because the beautiful thing about fitness is that no one program or trainer is the solution for everyone. Individualization is the key, and you need to take the time to find what works best for you! Start small by finding the types of workouts you enjoy, and then find someone that can help keep you on track and take steps along the way to push yourself even further!

What do I like to do? That is what we need to ask ourselves. You are much more likely to stick with a workout routine if it involves an activity that you already enjoy. If you like being outdoors – join a walking or running group, go for a bike ride or take a hike. If you enjoy dancing – try some group fitness classes around town. Not into loud music and swinging hips? Yoga or Pilates might be more your cup of tea. If you are pressed for time but enjoy sweating as much as possible while working as may muscle groups – try a combination group fitness class like Indoor Cycling (A.K.A. “Spinning®”) with abs or a lifting session afterwards. Stick with what you know first and bring a friend to ease into it! Fitness is best taken 1 step at a time – so start small and ask yourself if you can see yourself gradually increasing the workloads/resistance/amount of time you will be committing to this exercise routine.

Who do I want to work with? Finding someone to keep you motivated but whom you also enjoy spending time with is hard to find and might take a little longer than other steps in your fitness routine. A personal trainer is a GREAT training tool for any fitness level. Trainers can help you start your fitness journey by showing you proper techniques, starting at appropriate work levels specifically for you and they can monitor your results closely to ensure you are progressing accordingly. A trainer is also a great idea if you are performance driven and have been stuck in a rut – sometimes we need to take a step back and mix up our routine. It might help to get another eye in the picture to see where you can make changes. The right personal trainer should be educated in their field, poses knowledge about your specific training goals, have a driven personality and attention to detail is a MUST! You don’t want to waste your time and money on a trainer that would rather be 100 other places than right there with you working on your personal goals. You are paying this person to be your PERSONAL trainer, so that means they need to dedicate that time TO YOU! I cannot stress enough how important it is to find a trainer that is willing to take the time and dedication to create an individualized program fit for your fitness goals. There should always be an assessment to go over your medical history, current fitness levels and a plan on how you will achieve your goals.

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What do I need to do to reach my goals? Now that you have tried a few different fitness classes and met with a few trainers you need to take a step back and prioritize your goals. No matter how much you love the facility you are training at, or how awesome your trainer is, your results ultimately come down to how much YOU are willing to put into this lifestyle. In order to reach your goals you must make fitness and healthy eating habits a LIFESTYLE – and no one is going to do it for you. If you have time to Facebook or blog, you have time to work out. There are so many options out there from at-home DVD’s, to group fitness classes with child care, weekend boot camps, to at home personal training or entire fitness getaway vacations! Find something, try anything and see what sticks! You won’t know until you try, so why not try a little harder?

Make this the summer that you decided to take fitness into your own hands. Ask yourself what you want to do, how you want to do it and take action. The resources are out there, the time is now – let’s get to it! Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or would like to try personal training or group fitness locally!

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