How many times a week do you do it?
How many times do you do it a week? Exercise I mean! Are you the weekly gym-goer, the double session demon or do you need those thrice weekly workouts to get those endorphins swimming about?
To be honest I think any exercise is good, whether its an hour a week or even 7 hrs a week - you may faint at the latter figure but that’s my weekly hourly round-up, even may be more some weeks, but really I am an exception to the rule!
Using an hour of your free-time during the week to move will improve your health, fitness and boost your confidence. It may also help you start the habit so in time your hour a week may turn into 2-3 hours a week- you never know- exercise is a great mood lifter and you may start to enjoy the feeling after your sessions so much you want to feel it more!
So my advice to anyone wanting to start up a fitness session is to start exercising 1-2 times a week, preferably 2 times to get to start seeing any real gains. If you exercise once a week it may improve your mood and make you feel better about yourself which after all is one of the feelings you want to get BUT to get any real results from a program 2-3 times a week is really the preferred number of sessions, so start off with 2 and add a 3rd when you feel up to it. The 3rd could even be some other sort of exercise like swimming or Pilates. Pilates will compliment most exercise programs as it promotes flexibility in muscles helping your body recover and more importantly it strengthens your core which is important not only for exercise but also when performing tasks in daily life.
I know people use the age-old excuse that they don’t have time, but if your going to pay for a gym membership or employ a PT then use them to get the results you want. You are throwing money away if you only visit them sporadically with no real pattern. It's like the age old saying that consistency is key - it really is! If you exercise regularly as well as eat healthier then you are guaranteed results, it's not rocket science!
A good PT will want you to hit your targets, and push you to achieve them, they will make up challenges along the way to make the journey more interesting and feed your motivation. If your only visiting them once in a blue moon after booking a block of 10 sessions and then your taking 3 months to use those sessions, deep down that PT will be feeling disappointed that they can’t help you properly - I know I do. I have learnt the hard way in my first year of business to mention early on that results will only be gained if sessions are taken regularly, (and to also mention that a healthy eating plan has to be put into practice alongside our sessions) preferably using consecutive weeks and months. There are always going to be times when clients are ill or holidays are booked but to be able to get a clear run of 2-3 sessions in a 2-3 month time scale is the holy grail for a PT. We can really knuckle down with the client and push them on meaning progressions and the all- important muscle adaptations will be made leading to a happy client with great results!