We all have that one friend that drags us to stuff that we don’t want to do, but we do it anyway because… well, friendship is pretty neat.
So your friend Sally texts you: “Will you try this new workout with me? It’s called hot cycling. You basically do a spin class in a room that’s 120 degrees! Let’s do it!”
Now on one hand, you know that cycling in Dante’s Inferno sounds like the worst idea you’ve ever heard. Worse than gas station sushi. REALLY bad. But on the other hand, she’s your friend and you did eat those extra few cookies in the office break room. It was only five… or seven. Nine… teen… whatever. So a gym date might not be the worst thing.
Fine. You go. You set your focus: I’ll go do this class and maybe this will kickstart my fitness! Positive attitude: check. Cycling shorts with the padding in the crotch: check. LFG.
You take the class and you hate it. Because honestly, why would anyone cycle in 120-degree heat?!
You pout all the way home. I don’t really need to get fit. I can be a little fluffy. Why is it so hard? Maybe next year. How do people do it? Is there a secret pill? Why can’t I like fitness more?
So now you have two choices: give up or refocus.
Variety Is The Spice Of Life.
Like a lot of things in life, options are important. Luckily, we don’t all like the same things. There are sushi people and there are steak people. Even then, there are gas-station sushi people and filet mignon people. There are phone talkers and there are texters. I am the latter. Don’t call me. But that’s beside the point.
The world of fitness is exactly like that: There are yoga people and there are weight lifters. There are runners and there are cyclers. There are kickboxers and there are dancers.
The key to sticking with fitness and seeing success isn’t found in a magic pill. It’s achieved by finding a plan that includes workouts you actually enjoy. What if the assault bike was the only way to get fit? The (possibly few) people who enjoy that piece of (evil) equipment would be ecstatic. The rest of us would just have to resolve to being pleasantly plump for the rest of our lives.
With that in mind, variety is also important. Cycling is great. Yoga is great. Running is great. But if you pick a workout facility that only gives you one option, two things will happen: 1) Over time, you’ll lose motivation because you’re always doing the same thing. 2) Your body will get used to that workout and you’ll hit what we call a plateau (same level of exertion, less results over time).
Now, I’m obviously biased towards the programming we offer at Together We Rise Fitness because I’ve seen the results it has provided for myself and lots of members, but here’s the thing that constantly leaves me scratching my head: Why would people choose a workout facility that offers only one fitness option (i.e. yoga)? You might love yoga. I mean LOOOOOOOVE yoga. But if it’s all you do for fitness, over time you’ll likely plateau and/or get bored with the same old, same old.
Mix It Up.
Why not try a gym where you use a huge mix of equipment (dummbells, rowing, kettlebells, running, resistance training, body weight exercises, HIIT training and more) and different types of workout formats? That way you can mix it up, try new things and discover a variety of workouts that you LOOOOOOOOOOVE.
Try something new. Try a lot of new things. You just might find something you love. Correction: Some thingsss that you love, some things that you’ll stick to, some things that will get you results. Even if one of them is Hot Spin. (But still… NO.)