Three Tips for Success in the Gym

Three Tips for Success in the Gym

Guest article provided by: salemspeedacademy.com

1. Make it enjoyable

The most important of any health and fitness endeavor is consistency. Even if you have the greatest fitness plan in the galaxy, if you don’t go and do it, the plan is worthless. Lowering the barrier between you and the likelihood of you actually going and going your workouts is an important part of making sure actually go and do your workouts! One great way to improve your consistency is to make your workouts enjoyable. If you actually look forward to going, you are much more likely to go!

One great strategy to accomplish this is to find a fitness routine you enjoy. Fitness dance classes are a great example of this. I worked at a gym that would regularly pull over a hundred people (mostly women) into a giant room, turn the lights off, turn the disco ball on, blast hip hop music, and the participants would follow a leader on stage through one hour of high intensity dancing. 

Another strategy is to hire a great personal trainer. Awesome trainers make workouts fun, engage in great conversation, and get to know you. Each of these elements make you more likely to show up for your sessions. The more you show up, the better off you’ll be!

2. Include strength training

Too many people fall prey to the thought lifting weights is too hard or makes you too bulky. The truth is that lifting weights and getting stronger is one of the healthiest forms of exercise you can partake in. 

Strength training helps you live longer, improves your quality of life, reduces risk of getting hurt, and makes your life easier overall. In general, the healthiest people on the planet tend to engage in some form of strength training.

What are some of the benefits of strength training? Let’s list just a few:

  • Stronger bones
  • Decreased body fat
  • Increased endurance and stamina
  • Decreased risk of heart attacks
  • Faster running speeds
  • Increased dominance in life!

If you are not strength training, you are missing a huge opportunity to help yourself thrive in life.

3. Work out with somebody who pushes you

Whether you hire a personal trainer or simply use a workout buddy, find someone to keep you accountable and to push you to be your best. 

If you do the same workout, with the same weight and the same reps and the same exercises, over and over and over, then you’ll eventually plateau and stop getting better.Think of it like school. If you did third grade level math in 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th grade and beyond…you’d never progress beyond third grade levels! The same is true with your fitness. Continue doing the same thing, and you’ll not progress.

A quality personal trainer will make sure this doesn’t happen, and having a great workout buddy who pushes you to be better and always challenge yourself is another great strategy. 

Kyle Davey offers personal training in Salem, OR, as well as performance training, remote strength and conditioning for team sport organizations, performance analysis, consulting, and writing. Kyle has special interests in speed development, injury prevention, and performance analysis. He owns the Salem Personal Training and Speed Academy, where he provides high level training for athletes and adults alike.

You can find Kyle on TwitterLinkedIn, and Instagram.

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