Find The Motivation! Perfect Personal Trainers Weight In On Staying The Course

We've all heard it 1000 times:  The hardest part is getting started.  The hard work falls into place well once we put our shoes on and get through those first few minutes of our warm-up.

But, this is often easier said than done.  For some, it's easy to find distractions and lose that self-starting drive that is so important to achieving fitness and weight loss.




"Staying the course involves finding and keeping intrinsic motivation," states PPT staff manager Brian Walters.  "When all the social outlets and external voices are no longer driving you, you need to hear your own voice that wants and needs you to succeed.  That, along with the right combination of exercise intensity and strategy, is what brings it home for people."

Client service director Val Fiott had this to add:  "Our most successful clients and the most successful fitness stories of all time all come from the same root:  The subject always remembered the sweet joys of success as well as the feeling of failure.  How do you feel when you stray from your meal plan and see yourself looking and feeling less healthy?  It's not a good feeling, and remembering those downfalls is as important to success as remembering the successes and celebrations. They all shape our drive."

"Measurable short-term goals are a large part of the equation for a fit body and mind," explains Aaron Dunn, longtime Perfect Personal Trainer, scheduling manager and exercise physiologist.  "Unless you have something realistic to shoot for, you're likely to lose sight of what you're working so hard for."

Kinisiologist and PPT weight loss coach Ian Sherman had this to add: "If [an exerciser] fails to see why the program is so crucial for the long-run, he or she will surely quit."

"The key is to help them keep their eye on the prize", confirms Val, "but with attainable benchmarks to remind them, 'you're on the right track, and here is the proof.' These benchmarks are a big part of why we conduct fitness testing.  Clients sometimes feel like their efforts are being tested, but it isn't an assessment of how hard a client is working.  Rather, it helps us, as physiologists, determine how the clinical programmatic pieces need to change and what we need to look for. It also reflects information regarding the psychological factors involved and how we can affect them positively."

In short, these three pieces of advice should help anyone aiming to lose excess bodyfat and achieve fitness success:

(1) One should have a long-term end goal, but short-term benchmarks to also reflect the smaller successes along the way (ie, "lost four pounds in my first three weeks"). 


(2) The program needs to be clinically-sound, preventing injury and physiologically designed to enhance appropriate change
(3) One needs to hear his or her own internal voice and remember how good success feels and how negative it can feel to stray from the plan

Are you not yet a PPT client?  Visit http://perfectpersonaltraining.com and click SIGN UP to request your free in-home consultation and fitness screening.  This will determine risk factors for illness and injury as well as biomechanical advantages

Already involved in a PPT program?  Aside from working with your PPT exercise professional, check in with your assigned health coach often to re-assess and update your nutrition & lifestyle.  This will keep adherence high and identify risks.