Six reasons why your fitness routine sucks

6 Reasons why your fitness routine sucks, and how to fix it - Part 1

This is the first of six articles listing some common reasons why your fitness routine is not producing the results you want, and how you can fix it.

Reason #1: You are doing it by yourself.

There are plenty of people who can stay motivated and disciplined to workout on a regular basis, but you are probably fooling yourself if you think you can get optimum results on your own. It's good to workout with another person. You'll keep each other more accountable and push yourself a bit harder than you would just by yourself. Besides, a little friendly competition never hurt anyone.

I think it's better to workout in a group environment. There is something contagious about working out with several other people. Whether you and a handful of friends set a schedule to meet at someone's house or at your gym or you participate in regular exercise workout class, you'll benefit from the energy of the group.

If you don't have anyone to workout with you can hire a personal trainer. You will have someone to keep you accountable and push you harder than you'll push yourself. The main problem with one on one personal training is that it is not sustainable for most people due to the cost. You might do it for a month or two then try to keep that same routine going on your own. Eventually you end up slacking off if not quitting all together.I think it's best if you can workout with a group and have instruction while you are at it. Instructor-led group fitness training is an ideal way to get proper instruction at a fraction of the cost of hiring a personal trainer on your own. That's what you get at a CrossFit gym - instructor-led group workouts. You receive instruction on the proper form and technique for all the exercises you perform and have an instructor there to push you harder than you would push yourself. You'll feed off the energy and competitiveness of the other people working out along side of you.

When I realized 9 years ago that I desperately needed to get back in shape, I signed up for martial arts classes with 4 of my then golfing/drinking buddies. We were sitting around one afternoon boozing it up in the Men's Grille at Lakewood Country Club when we came up with this great idea to get back in shape together. It sounded crazy to everyone else at the time but it turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life in terms of my health and fitness.

We hired an instructor (who happens to get this newsletter, hi Randy!) ) and started a week or two later. The rest is history. All of us got great results and all but one of us kept at it for years. Why did it work? First, we all admitted that we could not get back in shape without help. We had great instruction that allowed us to workout and train at the high intensity levels that we needed to get continual results. Second, we were all very competitive so we trained harder to get better than the next guy. Third, and most important, no one wanted to be the first one to quit!

Call someone right now and decide to start working out together. Remember to read the remaining five reasons to make sure you get the most out of your new fitness training routine.

Next week - Reason #2: You always do the same thing

Bill Russell
CrossFit Cleveland - RAW Fitness, LLC
17140 Madison Avenue
Lakewood, OH 44107
216-812-7841

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