So to keep my own strength training going and to give me another environment to exercise in away from the studio I have joined a commercial gym not far from where I live. It is a very stylish health club with fantastic facilities and a multitude of equipment that suits the way I train. It’s been three months since I was last in a commercial gym and in saying that it was our old commercial gym in Glasgow.
When working as a fitness advisor you are exposed to many people and personalities, your normal daily routine will revolve around gym maintenance (i.e. cleaning) member interaction, design and delivery of member’s programmes and teaching classes if you are lucky. Our gym used to be laid out in a upstairs downstairs fashion and during my shifts at peak times I would watch over the members as they trained and look for someone to help, assist, train or coach. I used to categorise the gym users when I was a fitness advisor, the categories went like this firstly there were the gym idiots usually these were middle aged men who along with abundance of arrogance also knew more than the professionals around them they would month after month carry out the same routine aggressively attacking each exercise with horrendous technique while refusing to be coached or advised. Once approached usually due to the fact that they were in danger of causing themselves injury we would be told that “ I have been doing this for years and what do you know about it anyway” these morons are the ones who cannot be helped and will forever follow a non productive exercise routine all the time questioning why they are not getting their desired results.
Then we had the H.A.Ts these people would know what to do and how to do it correctly but they would only do half the technique so I named them the H.A.Ts Half A Technique. It was first frustrating then in the later years when I was self employed I found it funny some of these people had been doing the same routine for the last three years yet again good luck. Thirdly there were the random exercisers these people would randomly do exercises never following a set programme or routine just doing as they felt or what they saw other people doing usually with technical failure. Lastly I would experience the routine exercisers these people would follow a 6-8 week progressive programme ask questions while concentrating on the technical aspects of the movements they were training. They would get the results that they were aiming to achieve and were always a joy to teach, coach or train.
With exception of the gym idiots and please don’t think I am being harsh with that term downright abusive is too weak a term to describe the actions of these people. All the other categories could improve in some way by taking the time to listen or enlisting professional help.
With January coming up and this being the busiest time of year for gyms and personal trainers many people will make New Year’s resolutions and join a gym. After a few weeks some will give up and the others will plod on doing the random stuff they remember from their induction or exercises that they have taken from a magazine. Commercial gyms make their money from clients who sign up for a 12 month contract and then fail to go back, there is a huge percentage of people who this will effect and due to the fact that they don’t want to have a black mark on their credit rating will honour the contract. A 12 month contract will cost from anything between £300 and £600 and yes the client is provided with many services and facilities from the gym and the basic tools to achieve their fitness goals but by my experience this very rarely happens.
Let’s do the sums of course I am speaking hypothetically 3 x 1 hour gym sessions per week, 3 hours travelling time per week over 48 weeks of the year, gym clothes, trainers, petrol, juice, food money and of course the gym fees, so all in all time = around 250hrs (that’s 10.5 full days) with a financial investment of anything around £1500 - £2000. If we look at this from a business perspective all that money time and effort for a minimum return it’s not good. Yes there are exceptions to every situation and some individuals will get a return on their investment however as I am speaking from experience and from what I have witnessed those exceptions are few and far between. I know of many people who have been doing this year in year out and it’s a massive investment with little or no return for their hard earned cash time and sweaty effort while exercising.
My advice would be to take £300 and invest it in a reputable trainer try and find one with their own studio (then you won’t have to pay gym fees) and spend the 10 weeks of training you have bought learning from a professional if you pick the right one you should be able to see visible results in every area I average around a weight loss of 10-14lbs in a 10 week block while improving all components of fitness i.e. strength, speed, stamina, endurance, power, balance and co-ordination at the same time my clients will be taught about the essential components of healthy living and how to make the correct choices with food and nutrition. They will all have a good knowledge of how to warm up, cool down and recover and of what types of exercises should be done, why you should do them and how to carry them out with fluency grace and correct technical ability. They will also have experienced at some level specialised training whether it be kettlebell, suspension training or boxing training for fitness. Then after gaining the tools needed to succeed in their training and after securing the basic knowledge to take their own training further go and join a gym. At least by that time they would have a better understanding of what they should be doing and how to do it.
So the next time you hear of a friend, family member, colleague or loved one talk about how they are going to join a gym, get fitter and healthy please take this blog into consideration get them to read it, pass them my contact details and direct them onto the website.
“The decisions that you make today are the changes that you implement tomorrow”
As always
Yours in fitness
Davie
