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Joining A Gym
If you are thinking about joining a gym there are
a few things you should keep in mind. The gym is a great place to
walk off the weight, especially when the weather is bad. Read
through the five suggestions below before joining a gym.
1. Will you receive a personally-tailored program
suitable for your body & your goals? Or will you be given an “off
the shelf” program that is given to anyone with the same goals as
you. We all have different bodies, requirements and needs and an off
the shelf program will not address these – one tailored to your body
will.
2. What qualifications do the gym staff hold? Your program should be
designed by a fully qualified personal trainer with recognized
industry certifications and qualifications not by a gym instructor
who – although is qualified to design basic gym programs and show
you how to use the machines – does not have the required expertise
to tailor a program for your body & unique needs.
3. What equipment does the gym have? Is it full of fixed resistance
machines and cardio equipment with a small free weights area and
small matt space for stretching and stability ball work? Or is there
a large matt area with lots of stability balls, free weights, lots
of cardio equipment and only a few resistance machines? Given the
choice, the second option is better than the first. With fully
qualified trainers advising you on how to use stability balls safely
– these are a much better option than using fixed resistance
machines, which de-train crucial stabilizer muscles and can cause
faulty movement patterns.
4. Does the gym provide advice on other areas of health & fitness?
Exercise is only a small part of the equation. Your club should
acknowledge this and help you address more areas of your health &
fitness other than just exercise – these can include nutrition
advice & consultations, massage therapy services, relaxation &
meditation classes, corrective programs for postural problems and
many more.
5. Is your gym more concerned with getting in new members than
taking care of its existing ones? You can tell this by the offers to
new members that are always being advertised and whether you could
join the gym for cheaper now than you could when you joined. And an
even simpler way – if your gym doesn’t ask for feedback, respond to
feedback and care about what its members think, they are not
providing good customer service because they do not know what their
customers want. Gyms should be doing their utmost to keep you there
by providing everything you need to keep yourself in good health not
focusing all their efforts on continually getting new members in the
doors because of a high turnover of members that they don’t keep
happy.
Lea Woodward is a Health Coach and fully qualified personal fitness
trainer based in Nottingham, East Midlands. She is a CHEK Exercise
Coach and a CHEK Nutrition & Lifestyle Coach and is an Advanced
Metabolic Typing Advisor. She also runs activOne providing corporate
wellbeing services to organizations in the Midlands, UK. Find out
more on
http://www.leawoodward.co.uk . |
