Where and who you work out with matters a lot when it comes to achieving your weight loss and wellness goal. Your weight loss journey is not something you do alone. It is a choice you have to make but when that decision has been made, there has to be a support team in place to help you in your journey.
That is where your family, your friends, colleagues and most importantly your gym and personal trainer comes into play.
Registering in a gym is not always the challenge. There are many to choose from. It is not the equipment that will get you the body you want, it is your trainer. Working out on your own, playing videos and doing it alone, might seem fun at first. But with time and without accountability, support and someone in the know showing you what to do, the motivation vanishes.
You may go to the gym for months and years and your body will have nothing to show for it because you are not in the right place.
To know if where you are working out is the right place for you, here are some questions you have to ask yourself. Look at the questions and give yourself honest answers.
# 1 Did you learn about your body?
What have you learnt about your body? If you are working out in a gym or with a trainer and you do not have a deeper relationship and knowledge about your body than you have to look at things critically.
We do not all have the same body type. Our bodies do not behave the same way. There are people that lose weight very fast and people who lose weight very slowly. Which type are you? Does your trainer know what to do? Does where you workout work with you to help you find solution to your challenge or is the blame on you for not working out and eating right?
# 2 Is it all about you buying supplements from your trainer?
Do you step into the gym the first time and within one week you have a big bag full of supplements, fat burning tea and drugs?
Were you introduced to a program and the supplements that must go with it and warned that is the only way for you to get the result that you seek? The moment you are through with one pack, you are introduced to another one. Were you taught about nutrition or are you just a cash cow that buys supplements?
Some trainers will go as far as helping you get drugs that will enhance your muscle without telling you the negative side effects or educating you on how to build muscle through exercise and nutrition. And wait for it: when you stop buying the supplements, you will be told that you will not see any more result till you buy the phase 2 of the supplement
# 3 Do you have all over body satisfaction?
Recently, I have been seeing a lot of men who attend gyms and lift weight. The first time they get dissatisfied is when they notice that their upper body is curved. Some of them do not notice until someone points it out.
The curve is not from any birth defect or medical condition but because of their training program. There is no balance. The gym is there alright, but when you come in, you do what you want. And do what you want is what you do. The result is a muscular body that is totally out of proportion.
According to someone who once attended such fitness centers, you see a lot of guys lifting weights and doing bicep curls without proper posture or form. There is a lot of screaming and (motivational) yelling going on. They leave the gym happy that they dealt with the iron. But did you really?
It is not about dealing with the iron, it is about looking at your body 3-6-12 months from now and being proud of what you achieved, not looking in dismay at the strange thing you have worked out.
At the end of the day what you have is a body that is not well proportioned. The upper back is bent forward in a permanent slouch, the chest is exaggerated and the buttock is nonexistent.
You should work out in a place that gives you a total body transformation.
# 4 Do you have companionship?
Do you get companionship in your gym? I am not looking for companionship in the gym, I just want to do my stuff and go, you may say. Doing your stuff and going may seem like a good idea but that is only when you do not have a good trainer. Most trainers, not only train you physically, they offer advice, life and wellness coaching that impacts positively in other areas of your life. I know of people that have started businesses, changed their jobs and became better people because of the company they keep during workout.
Finding people around you who have the same goal and value will help you stick to your program.
# 5 Is their variety?
Are you still doing the same old workout? Can you train your trainer because it’s the same old, bland fitness routine or do you enter the gym with great expectation each day because you do not know what challenge you will face?
There is nothing like a lack of innovation on the part of your trainer, to make you hit the snooze button in your alarm till you finally cancels your workout for the day. It is the business of your trainer to be informed of the latest trends in workout, nutrition and wellness and share the same with you.
# 6 Do you have a personalized workout plan?
Do you have a personalized workout plan that is meant for you, your body type and goal or are you in a one size fit all fitness programs? That is one of the major reasons for the failure of most fitness program and challenge.
We all do not have the same goal and the same body type. If this is not taken into consideration and you are treated as the next person, it may affect your goal. You may want to lose weight, just like Rose, Joy and Sandra. The destination (weight loss) is the same but it is not always the same route (fitness and nutrition plan) that everyone must follow.
Your workout and nutrition plan must be personalized to fit your goal. This is the same if you are a busy executive. Your trainer will plan and structure you workout so that even if you have 20 minutes to spend in the gym, you will not spend that time wondering what to do and which equipment to use. Your trainer is there to save you from that headache, so that you can concentrate on her instruction and save the headache for the office.
If you do not have well defined butts and you desire that, workouts for that should be in your program. If you have just given birth, your workout program should be tailored to fit your goal which most time is to lose the baby pooch.
# 7 Is there close supervision?
Are you supervised while you are working out, or is you trainer checking out the latest news on social media or taking selfie? Do you finish your rep and wait for him to remember that you exist and that you are right there in real time?
One of the reasons that you are not at home, jumping up and down with a workout video that is not personalized for you is because you want to be given personal attention. If you are not getting that, call his attention to it and if nothing changes look for a better alternative or you might as well jump up and down in your room.
# 8 Who do you answer to?
Does anyone hold you accountable or do you do what you want, when you want and how you want it?
You should be accountable to someone. When we are not held accountable, there is always chaos.
# 9 Do you know where to start?
Where did you start the first time? Did you start on your own without guidance? What fitness procedure do you follow? Your trainer should know your fitness level, your age and experience. This will inform her on the best things for you to start with and then make progress.
Most people do not know where to start and what to start with the first time in the gym. And when there is no one with enough information to guide you. It affects your rate of success.
# 10 Do you feel positive about yourself?
Do you feel positive about yourself, achieving your goal, your outlook in life and faith that things will be okay or is your place of work out an energy vampire? Of course, there is a difference between getting tired from your workout and tired because someone literally sucked the life out of you because of their negative comment and attitude.
D o you look forward to going for your workout, meeting up with other people, because of the love and positive energy that is there?
Or do you think of the gym, the trainer and other exercisers and wish there is a way you can get the gym without all the other people there?
Answering these questions honestly will help you to find the barriers to your goal and help you to come up with strategies that will help you accomplish your weight loss or wellness goal.
One of those strategies may mean breaking up with your gym and trainer and finding another gym and trainer that will work with and for you.
After all, you are paying for it; you might as well go for the best!