Recreation, Sports & Exercise
4 Surefire Ways NOT To Lose Weight At Your Health Club
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By joining the gym you have shown a time, and a financial commitment to achieving your goals, congratulations!
However, joining the gym is only the first step.
Did you know that only about 2% of health club members actually use the gym?
Some gym member leave because they injure themselves and cannot work out, many others leave because of lack of results. The reasons are endless.
However, I have been a doctor for over eight years now, and I have seen new gym members come in with good intentions only to make the same common mistakes others made that set them up for failure, or an injury.
I am sure you must be wondering why I care about
your goals for joining the gym.
Most of the problems myself and other doctors are treating such as high blood, arthritis, chronic pain or stiffness, overweight, low energy, stress and tension are often the result of years of neglect. Most of these chronic problems could have been prevented with proper guidance. The good think is that many of these chronic problems can still be helped, again with proper guidance.
So schedule an appointment with your primary doctor and have your blood pressure check, get your resting pulse rate, get your body fat tested, have your heart and lungs listened to, have your muscles, joints, and any injuries evaluated before you begin your exercise program.
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Mistake #2: Not getting any Initial Baseline Numbers
Again, this goes back to mistake number 1. How can you monitor your progress if you do not know where your were when you stated.
A brief note here, you know I mentioned percent of body fat and not weight. How much you weigh does not matter much, but your percent of fat does.
Lets say we have two overweight new gym members both weighing 200lbs. One joins the gym and is going to try use the scale to monitor his progress; the other stopped by our office and received their evaluation, which was included with their membership. At this evaluation we found that the second new member weighed 200lbs. And had
Now it is a 6 weeks into the program and the new member who knew what their body fat was before starting on our program comes in for his follow up visits to monitor his progress and the first thing he says is, “doc I’m feeling better but the scale in the locker says I only lost 3lbs., I am frustrated.”
However, at this follow up visit, we did see that he/she has lost 3lbs and know weighs 197lbs, but the percent of body fat dropped fro 40% to 36%. This works out to be 70lbs of fat he/she has now instead of the 80lbs before. This guy/gal actually lost10 lbs of FAT! The stuff we are trying to lose. Make sense?
Do you understand what I am taking about?
The same is true for what ever your goals are for joining the gym is, weight loss, muscle toning, rehabilitating an injury, getting off or reducing all of those medications you may be on, lowering your blood pressure, reducing your stress, increasing your endurance, what ever your reason was. You should know where you are at when you begin.
Otherwise how are you going to know if what your doing is working or not working, you need to keep doing what your doing or change your routine? This leads me to the third mistake.
High carbs / low fat, low carbs / don’t worry about the fats, low reps / high reps, this exercise will help your back / that exercise will hurt your back, and so on, and so on. Sound familiar?
Now that you know what your baseline numbers are (body fat is, blood pressure, etc), the next step is to get on an individual program that is right for you and your specific goals.
Working out at the gym can do wonders for your health. If
However, the gym can also make your little problem a real big one. I have seen, and treated, many people who have injured themselves working out. I have also seen many people trying to tone up or lose weight who are just simply following a program that will not work or may be harmful. These people stop coming to the gym, do not meet their goals, and keep paying their monthly membership dues.
So, make sure the person who is setting you up on your program is trained to customize an individualize program for your specific goals. Then, with this information you can begin your program without confusion. If you are interested in working with a personal trainer, this information can also be pasted on to them so they are aware what you should and should not be doing.
Mistake #4 Not having someone, other than yourself, monitor your progress
How are you going to know how you are doing if you do not have regular progress evaluations?
Finally, have someone monitor your progress means you will be more likely to follow through with your program and meet you goal. Which, I assume is what you want to do.
If you avoid the 4 mistakes above you will be able you achieve you goals or your reason form joining this health club.
Dr. Jeffrey Banas is a Chiropractic Sports Physician, practicing in Mesa; AZ. Dr. Banas personally lost 60 pounds in 2003 and now uses his experience to help others struggling with their weight problems. Dr. Banas can be reached at his office at 480-633-6837, or by visiting his web site at www.personal-weight-loss-help.com - drjeffbanas@yahoo.com
