FormWell Personal Fitness Training : Does Your Commitment Match Your Goals?


Links History of Formwell Why Should I Use a Personal Fitness Trainer? Philosophy Questions _______ +Articles +News +Newsletters +Recipes Morgan Falls Office Park 7840 Roswell Rd Building 400, Suite 475 Sandy Springs, GA 30350 Main Studio Line 24-Hour Voice Mail (770) 804-1898 Fax (770) 804-0330 Join our Email Newsletter	<Back to Articles Does Your Commitment Match Your Goals? This month's newsletter concerns achieving the results you are striving for with your fitness and nutritional program. The frustration that occurs due to not achieving your goals, in any endeavor, has been felt by all of us at one time or another in our lives. I would like to shed some light based on my personal experience in achieving athletic goals and, more importantly, seeing clients achieve goals over the past 9 years of personal training. There many reasons why someone would not achieve the goals they are shooting for, but for the purposes of this newsletter, I will focus on the most common ones I see in our business: 1. NOT CLEARLY DEFINING/QUANTIFING WHAT YOUR GOALS ARE: The first time I meet a client, I try to take time to help them clearly define and quantify their fitness goals. For instance, most clients say they want to "loose weight". First of all, as you all know, the most important goal in changing your body shape/composition is to loose body fat and maintain or increase your muscle, so the first thing I try to do (and this is very, very hard) is to explain the difference between getting "lean" and seeing the scale move downward. Most of the time, we try to change this goal to loosing body fat, and then assigning a number to how much they want to loose per month (say 1%). Just saying "I want to be healthy" is a tough goal to attain, how will you know when you are there? 2. HAVING UNREALISTIC GOALS: This is a very common mistake most new exercisers (and even us "veterans") make. It is your trainer's job to make sure that your goals are realistic and attainable. Most of the time this means lowering your expectations or breaking down your long-term goals (say loosing 25% of your body fat or lowering your cholesterol 30 points) into attainable, short term goals. 3. NOT BEING READY TO ACCEPT YOUR GENETIC LIMITATIONS: Some people will spend their life trying to attain a body type/leanness that only 2-3% of the population can ever do, and most of that is due to genetics. This is not to say that all of us cannot change the way we look (remember, choice, not chance determines your destiny), but trying to have a body that is only attainable by severe, life long deprivation and hours of daily exercise is a sure recipe for life long frustration! Which leads me to the next, and most common problem in not achieving your fitness goals��. 4. YOUR COMMITMENT DOES NOT MATCH YOUR GOALS: This is, without a doubt, the biggest problem I see in attaining goals. Almost everyone that comes through our door wants to look good, feel good and be healthy. Almost everyone does not understand, nor accept, the amount of commitment it takes to achieve the goals they share with us the first day they come in. For instance, for most (95%-99%) men to be able to have a washboard stomach (i.e., be able to "see their abs") will take 3 sessions of very intense weight training, a minimum of 3 sessions of intense cardiovascular training, and, most importantly, following a very strict diet of 6 small meals per day, only "cheating" one day per week (some cannot cheat at all), FOR A LIFETIME. In my history of training clients (9 years, over 750 clients), and observing other trainer's clients, I have only seen about 5 men who were able to keep up this regime for an extended period (the author obviously not included in those elite 5). All of the above comes down to one word: ACCEPTANCE. Before you begin an exercise program, or start a new program, take some time to accept your genetics and what you are willing to sacrifice in order to achieve the goals you are shooting for. Remember all along your "journey", that "life happens" and allow yourself the latitude to change those goals (either more conservative or more aggressive) based upon what is happening in your life. The way I see it, the most successful (and I measure "success" as finding a program that will make you happy and feel accomplished for a lifetime) exercisers do the following "religiously" 1. They take time to write down, and constantly re-evaluate, their goals both short and long term. 2. They make sure their goals are realistic and attainable based on their current situation. 3. They accept the sacrifices and changes and are willing to work as hard as it takes to achieve their goals. Hope this helps! Any questions or comments, I am available anytime via this email address, or voice mail (404) 628-3184. Yours in health, Rami F. Odeh, MS Owner FormWell Personal Fitness Training

Does Your Commitment Match Your Goals?

This month's newsletter concerns achieving the results you are striving for with your fitness and nutritional program. The frustration that occurs due to not achieving your goals, in any endeavor, has been felt by all of us at one time or another in our lives. I would like to shed some light based on my personal experience in achieving athletic goals and, more importantly, seeing clients achieve goals over the past 9 years of personal training.

There many reasons why someone would not achieve the goals they are shooting for, but for the purposes of this newsletter, I will focus on the most common ones I see in our business:

1. NOT CLEARLY DEFINING/QUANTIFING WHAT YOUR GOALS ARE: The first time I meet a client, I try to take time to help them clearly define and quantify their fitness goals. For instance, most clients say they want to "loose weight". First of all, as you all know, the most important goal in changing your body shape/composition is to loose body fat and maintain or increase your muscle, so the first thing I try to do (and this is very, very hard) is to explain the difference between getting "lean" and seeing the scale move downward. Most of the time, we try to change this goal to loosing body fat, and then assigning a number to how much they want to loose per month (say 1%). Just saying "I want to be healthy" is a tough goal to attain, how will you know when you are there?

2. HAVING UNREALISTIC GOALS: This is a very common mistake most new exercisers (and even us "veterans") make. It is your trainer's job to make sure that your goals are realistic and attainable. Most of the time this means lowering your expectations or breaking down your long-term goals (say loosing 25% of your body fat or lowering your cholesterol 30 points) into attainable, short term goals.

3. NOT BEING READY TO ACCEPT YOUR GENETIC LIMITATIONS: Some people will spend their life trying to attain a body type/leanness that only 2-3% of the population can ever do, and most of that is due to genetics. This is not to say that all of us cannot change the way we look (remember, choice, not chance determines your destiny), but trying to have a body that is only attainable by severe, life long deprivation and hours of daily exercise is a sure recipe for life long frustration! Which leads me to the next, and most common problem in not achieving your fitness goals��.

4. YOUR COMMITMENT DOES NOT MATCH YOUR GOALS: This is, without a doubt, the biggest problem I see in attaining goals. Almost everyone that comes through our door wants to look good, feel good and be healthy. Almost everyone does not understand, nor accept, the amount of commitment it takes to achieve the goals they share with us the first day they come in. For instance, for most (95%-99%) men to be able to have a washboard stomach (i.e., be able to "see their abs") will take 3 sessions of very intense weight training, a minimum of 3 sessions of intense cardiovascular training, and, most importantly, following a very strict diet of 6 small meals per day, only "cheating" one day per week (some cannot cheat at all), FOR A LIFETIME. In my history of training clients (9 years, over 750 clients), and observing other trainer's clients, I have only seen about 5 men who were able to keep up this regime for an extended period (the author obviously not included in those elite 5).

All of the above comes down to one word: ACCEPTANCE. Before you begin an exercise program, or start a new program, take some time to accept your genetics and what you are willing to sacrifice in order to achieve the goals you are shooting for. Remember all along your "journey", that "life happens" and allow yourself the latitude to change those goals (either more conservative or more aggressive) based upon what is happening in your life. The way I see it, the most successful (and I measure "success" as finding a program that will make you happy and feel accomplished for a lifetime) exercisers do the following "religiously"

1. They take time to write down, and constantly re-evaluate, their goals both short and long term. 2. They make sure their goals are realistic and attainable based on their current situation. 3. They accept the sacrifices and changes and are willing to work as hard as it takes to achieve their goals.

Hope this helps! Any questions or comments, I am available anytime via this email address, or voice mail (404) 628-3184.

Yours in health,

Rami F. Odeh, MS Owner FormWell Personal Fitness Training