It’s so great to see the emphasis on health and fitness nowadays, with new gyms opening up all the time giving people more opportunity and choice in their fitness endeavours.

With all the choice of gyms, should come questions for you as the client spending your hard earned money on a service.

Choose wisely when choosing your gym and choose something that works FOR YOU.

 

If you are joining a gym for it’s swimming pool alone and are not too bothered about the gym area, then the gym would be further down your list of priorities and the pool would be what gets most of your attention and questions.

 

Coach led, class-based gyms should be no different.

The gym space and equipment is something to take into consideration, but it’s mostly the coaches and how the gym operates should be your main focus for attention and questions.

 

Within the gym, any coaches first goal must be the safety of his/her athlete’s/clients.

Secondly, the coach must create an environment for their client/athlete to get fitter, progress and improve in a safe and deliberate manner.

 

Is the place a good fit for you, and are you a good fit for it?

Does the gym have a consistent timetable and consistent coaching staff? Or is your coach running a few hours a week and regularly cancels/changes times and methods of training?

Many gyms nowadays rent their space out to various instructors and all comers, again this can be great, but overall this lack of direction and consistency is an indicator that the class/coach might be gone after a few weeks or might totally change emphasis in time once they’ve decided they want to do something different. So it may have worked for you, but now the class is no longer available and you’re back to square one looking for another class or place to train.

 

Do you enjoy working with your coach? Do they have your best interest at heart?

Does the coach pay adequate attention to their professional responsibility on the following matters?:

1. Have they ensured the player/athlete/client is physically capable to perform the task required of them in a safe and efficient manner?
2. Is the coach, adequately skilled, qualified and experienced to administer this program?
3. Is the equipment provided suitable and safe?
4. Do all clients have a safe amount of space in which to workout?
5. Is the programming well thought out, planned and appropriate to the outcomes and goals which have been laid out? (Assuming the coach/client has a goal in mind)

 

Having worked extensively on SPP (Specific Physical Preparedness Programs, i.e.: designing workouts for athletes with a specific goal in mind like a competition) and GPP (General Physical Preparedness Programs, i.e.: designing programs from athletes to anyone and everyone with the explicit purpose of getting fitter)

I can safely say when it comes to general population training and GPP, maintaining interest and forming habits far outweighs anything else apart from safety. i.e.: You can have all the sexy programming, equipment, systems and space you like, but if the coach doesn’t have empathy and a human touch then they need to find a different career and you need to find a new coach.

If you enjoy coming to the gym and it actually becomes the most enjoyable hour of your day then it’s not really exercise at all anymore, it’s just part of your lifestyle.

That’s how your gym should make you feel, you should enjoy coming into the gym and you should be able to talk to your coach without fear of judgment or intimidation.

CrossFit is a fantastic General Physical Preparedness Strength and Conditioning vehicle if used correctly. If used incorrectly, and without proper understanding of the complex systems of the human body, that vehicle quickly becomes a speeding train hurtling towards carnage.

What do we mean by General Physical Preparedness (GPP)?

CrossFit aims to give you an incredibly well-rounded level of fitness, allowing you to be proficient in all qualities of fitness, we’ll write further on this in upcoming blog posts. If you want to read more about our approach to CrossFit, check it out here.

GPP is a type of training that is suitable for anyone and everyone. It is intended to provide balanced physical conditioning in endurance, strength, speed, flexibility and other basic factors of fitness (Siff/Verkoshansky-Supertraining) and is the precursor to SPP. (Specific Physical Preparedness). 

 

It is general and broad by nature. The general gym goer isn’t training with the intent of winning the 100M hurdles at the next Olympics, most people want to get fitter so they can enjoy their lives more, live longer and look better naked. It’s that simple. Therefore, GPP and CrossFit is one of the best ways for the general population to get fitter, lose fat and live a healthier happier lifestyle.

 

Some gyms like to think that everyone wants:

a) six pack abs

b) Multiple muscle-ups

c) to have huge arms

d) to take their clothes off regularly in public or

e) a combination of all of these!

The reality couldn’t be further from the truth however, not everyone wants to continually restrict their current lifestyle to become a body-builder/sprinter/Olympic weightlifter. Some people want to find a healthy balance in which they can enjoy their lifestyle and not get too oppressed by Instagram’s unrealistic ‘body goals’.

 

Then there’s those gyms that like to tell you can lose X amount of body fat in six weeks. That’s fantastic, dropping body fat is a good indication that your health is going in the right direction, there are other health markers that should be taken into consideration, but body fat is a good starting point. Many of these will have fantastic looking before and after pictures, you know the ones, the ‘before’ pic is a wonderfully pale version of the person totally relaxing in a fairly unflattering pose and the ‘after’ one is taken in better lighting conditions, when the person has washed their hair, put on some makeup/tan and is standing tall, holding tension in a more flattering pose.

However, lets put the fat loss in some responsible context; if you have put on the body fat over the course of years and you drop it in a matter of weeks that might set alarm bells ringing. Did this quick solution to poor eating and lifestyle habits get corrected over that six weeks? Will you sustain it? Did you enjoy that six weeks? If the answer to that last question is “No”, then good luck not enjoying the rest of your life feeling shame every time you enjoy a few drinks or eat some chocolate cake. Sustainability has got to be a central mainstay of a healthy lifestyle.

 

At Activate, we strive every day to make our world-class facilities welcoming and accessible to everyone in a consistent, friendly and open environment.

 

Book in for a free trial at Activate today and make health and fitness a part of your life.