Friday, November 27, 2009

The Best Work Out Ever!!!

People often ask me for the best work out plan. I have heard various renditions of the same question. Magazines call me, television stations call me, women, men, teenagers... Everyone wants to know the secret to weight loss and a shapely cut body that will look great for their upcoming Mexico vacation.

The truth is not as glamorous as the magazines want to portray. They want an article that will entice people to buy their magazine for the article that shows the best exercise program that everyone is dying to get their hands on. The television station wants to see a peronal trainer with his/her client who has gone from a size 100 to a size 0. They want pictures, testimonials, video, the whole works. And the regular person off the street will call and ask all the same questions...

So, what is the best fitness program available? Well it varies depending upon a few factors. It depends upon what your current fitness level is, how much time you can devote to exercise, what your fitness goals are and what your health considerations are. Truthfully, I think that just posting a work out program for the sake of posting a program is irresponsible with out qualifying who it is for and weighing the risks of certain exercises for certain demographics. I can certainly give you some guidelines though....

The best exercise program is a program that:
  1. Is a fitness program that is done regularly. The perfect exercise routine that is never done is not so perfect.
  2. Is a program that is changed regularly. At Fit 'N' Well Personal Training, we change clients exercise routines regularly so people don't get bored and so our clients continue getting the results that they are looking for. Not changing your exercise routine is like doing grade three math for 8 years. You may learn a lot the first year, but you will essentially only maintain your knowledge over the next 7 years unless you keep changing exercises and increasing the difficulty.
  3. Is an exercise routine that is designed specifically with the clients goals and health considerations in mind. A work out that is effective for a hockey player may be a poor set of exercises for a golfer and a potentially dangerous program for a person who is not in very good physical condition or has injuries etc.
  4. Is an exercise routine that has an element of challenge or fun to it. At Fit 'N' Well, we try to make the exercise routines enjoyable so that people look forward to their exercise sessions, rather than dreading them.
It is very important when partaking of a new exercise program that you take into consideration whether or not that program is appropriate for your needs and goals. Did you get the program from a magazine? If so, what demographic is the magazine trying to appeal to? Do you fit that profile? More importantly, are those exercises going to help you reach your fitness goals? Does the person who designed the program have any fitness education from college or university? Or is he/she an avid reader of other fitness magazines and a fitness buff himself/herself? Please remember, you aren't going to be doing many exercises from your bed as your back is spasming because your mentor was someone who suggested a set of exercises that are not only inapporpriate for personally, but injured you in the process.

Good luck with your exercise programs. When you are starting a program for the first time, don't feel shy about asking a certified personal trainer for assistance to ensure you are doing your exercises properly and be careful about generic routines that may or may not be appropriate for your individual needs.

Greg

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