Some people, and often those that join a gym but then lapse, talk about the ‘cost’ of gym membership. We think that’s the wrong way of looking at it – joining a gym is never a cost, it’s much more than that, it’s an investment. Become a member of Bodywise and it’s an investment in your physical health, your mental wellbeing, your sense of self-worth, and even your life-expectancy. But here’s the thing – it’s not just about investing financially. To make the most of it you need to be prepared to invest time as well. Here are 6 ‘P-words’ we reckon will help you maximise your returns.
SET OUT TO BUILD YOUR ‘PRACTICE’
The first P-word to talk about is Practice. More specifically building your own exercise, work out and wellbeing Practice in the sense of creating a layered discipline of exercise that works for you. Just like a trained physio or sports masseur goes to work at his or her practice, so it’s good to develop a range of exercise skills and competencies you can keep on coming back to time after time, and also add to.
Everybody’s practice will be different, depending on the goals you want to achieve. Some, in particular athletes who want to improve their competitiveness, will want to focus on cardio and endurance. The cardio space at Bodywise is well equipped for this with static bikes, cross trainers, a ski machine, a hand-bike and three treadmills. Actually part of everyone’s practice should involve an element of cardio, especially more senior people where heart problems could be an issue and those who might be overweight or managing diabetes.
All members would be advised to develop a practice that blends cardio with weight-and-resistance training to build muscle and improve strength. The best way for new recruits to do this is to join some of the Small Group Personal Training sessions which will both show you new ways to work towards your fitness goals whilst also taking you out of your comfort zone so you don’t get stuck in a rut. Variety is the spice of wellbeing!
PERSISTENCE
The second P-word is ‘persistence’. In general life isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon. That makes it important to manage your own expectations that there’s no ‘silver bullet’ to a fitter, healthier you. It’s going to take a bit of heavy lifting in every sense of the word – but trust us it’s worth it and over the years we’ve seen the benefits in thousands of people. There may be some days when you don’t feel like getting your kit on and coming to the gym, but that’s the way it works. That’s also one of the reasons we suggest you book into set classes and commit to coming along with workout buddies to share and motivate each other. One of the most amazing things about exercise is how good you always feel afterwards – in mind, body and spirit.
TRACK YOUR PERFORMANCE AND PROGRESSION
Two P-words here that are closely linked. The first is ‘performance’ and the second is ‘progression’. Be persistent and you’ll be amazed at how quickly your performance metrics improve. It might be that you can go for longer, further and faster in the cardio suite. It will almost certainly be that you rapidly find you can lift heavier and for more repetitions. When you’re first building your practice it’s a really good thing to track your performance almost session- by-session – bring a notepad along and write down what you’ve achieved and then look at the improvement. You’ll actually find it amazing how quickly you develop all round. In particular, performance and progression are brilliant for validation when your friends and family ask ‘how’s it going at the gym?’ Give them some hard and fast numbers and ask them why they’re not there. Progression really is a measure of your return on investment. If you want more detailed reporting you can always ask one of the Bodywise staff to measure your individual body metrics.
PRACTISE
Our 5th P-word might sound just like the first, but it’s spelled with an S at the end. That’s the homophonic English language for you, but it makes us different at least from our American cousins. Basically once you’ve learned what works for you at the gym, what classes you like, what machines work best, how to work with loose weights, etc., then come in and practise with them. Look at it this way – if you were going to play tennis, or football, or learn something new like padel, you’d go and practise. Just the same if you were starting bridge or chess, you’d put in some hard yards or hours practising. The same is true of working out. Let’s be honest, the treadmill is pretty straight forward. But when it comes to one-legged Romanian Dead Lifts there can be a lot of technique involved and to get the most benefit you’ve got to be doing it right. That’s why Bodywise has instructors on hand to advise.
PERMANENCE
There’s a saying in sport that practise (or practice) makes permanent. That’s not entirely true with fitness and the body – if you stop there is always the risk you’ll lose muscle tone and definition. But the point is that come to Bodywise for 12 weeks or more and you’ll have learned the skills and competencies to make sure you can easily get back to where you were. Either in the gym or even working out at home.
It’s an investment that’s really worthwhile.
By Al Campbell, The Bodywise Member and Author