Why You Should Hire a Coach
I was having a conversation with a client this morning and she asked, “do you get a lot more clients now that it’s the start of the new year?” I told her that we might get a few more, but probably not as many as you think. There is a specific reason for this, which brought me the idea to write this article.
The reason why I don’t think we see a huge up tic in clientele at the start of the year when everyone and their mother made the resolution to exercise more, is because we aren’t the type of gym people first seek out. If you haven’t prioritized exercise the last ten years of your life, then you probably aren’t going to seek out a gym that gives off the perception that everyone in there looks like they’ve been doing it their entire life. At Lift Lab, this isn’t actually the case. We work with plenty of people that are starting for the first time, but the point is our gym is a path of more resistance. People who are starting for the first time mostly seek out the path of least resistance. People looking to exercise for the first time are more likely to choose a Planet Fitness, LA Fitness, etc. because it is cheaper, they are surrounded by a less intimidating environment, and it is probably closer to where they live. If you are looking to get serious about your health and fitness, then I want to tell you why this is a terrible decision and why you should hire a coach.
Accountability
There is no easier way to stay accountable to your goals than to have someone else be there with you. If someone else not only knows your goals but is actively working towards them with you, you will be much more accountable to them. It becomes much harder to miss a training session when your coach is expecting you there at 6am. It becomes much harder to not work hard when there is a coach standing next to you pushing you during your training session. You might not go for that pizza at dinner if you know you have to weigh-in the following morning. It is hard to be accountable to yourself to get after your health and fitness goals if you are the only one that knows about them and are the only one involved in the process.
Expertise
It really blows my mind when people choose to go to a Planet Fitness style gym and work out on their own. Most people have no idea what they are doing when it comes to training. They don’t know how many times a week they should work out, they don’t know what type of exercises they should be doing in the gym, they don’t know type of training stimulus is going to elicit specific adaptations, and they don’t know how to increase or decrease their work load when they hit a plateau or when they aren’t making progress because they are doing too much and their body can’t recover enough to adapt. It is crucial to hire a coach you can trust so you can just completely eliminate this part from your mind. You aren’t an expert in strength and conditioning, and no one is expecting you to be. Leave your training in the hands of someone who has spent their career studying it and who is passionate about it. You don’t cut your own hair and you don’t represent yourself in court if you get in legal trouble. You hire experts. You should do the same when it comes to your health.
Environment
If you want to succeed in your health and fitness goals, then find an environment where other people are succeeding. Most people succeeding in this area of their life have a coach. Most coaches coach at gyms where there are massive amounts of people putting in the work and crushing it. That isn’t to say that everyone there is an elite athlete, and no one makes mistakes. You might actually be surprised that most people in these types of environments, the kind that we have created at Lift Lab, are more like you than you initially would expect. We are all trying to figure out how to succeed and be the healthiest versions of ourselves as possible. Sometimes we fall down, but we have many like-minded people there to pick us up. No one is perfect, but being surrounded by people who are motivated, on the same journey as you, and have experienced success is the best place for you to achieve your goals. No one can do it alone in any endeavor. Why do people think they can when it comes to health and fitness?
I honestly hope this article is hard to read. That it is sort of a reality check for some. To me, it seems that health and fitness goals are some of the hardest goals for people to achieve. As a country and culture, we know we have unhealthy habits. The food industry literally studies how to best entice people to pick the soda pop over the water. To pick the candy over the fruit. It can be hard to get on the right track when it comes to your health. Just like it is with any other goal. However, most other goals we choose to have other people help us along the way. For your health you should do the same and hire someone to be your coach. When you see your progress, you will be happy that you did.
If you would be interested in sitting down with one of our coaches at Lift Lab to chat about your goals, why you haven’t succeeded in the past, and what we might be able to offer to help, go ahead and fill out the following link: https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=17015134&location=500%20N%20Meridian%20St.%20Suite%2010A. We want you to succeed.