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"What's Your Motivation?"

By Arthur Zanelli

It's the New Year! We are all excited to discard our old habits and start anew! It's resolution time and that means over 80% of Americans are going to start exercising and get in the best shape of their lives. The initiation of focus and motivation is staggering in the month of January, and the health clubs are buzzing. What you may not know is that 40% of these people you are bumping shoulders with at the beginning of the year will be gone by February.

That's right. It doesn't take long before people discover all the reasons why they can't? make it to the gym. I decided to call Dr. Theis who owns a chain of personal training studios called VERT Fitness, and ask him his opinion on why there is such a drop off in gym attendance. And also what motivates people to stick with it, and what does that motivation cost?

People really want to exercise Dr. Theis explains. Many times it's the frustration that gets to them. They walk onto the exercise floor and get intimidated or overwhelmed by the equipment. Additionally, he explained that people have a fear of hurting themselves and don't know what exercises to do to gain progress. These reasons among others, is why Dr. Theis started VERT. He wanted to provide and affordable alternative for people to get safe and effective results using a professional personal trainer. He explained that people often would pay $65 - $150 per hour for a personal trainer in addition to their membership dues. Once they couldn't afford the rates any longer, they would stop the program and quickly lose motivation. At VERT Fitness the average rate for an hour of personal training is $30 and there are no additional costs whatsoever. If you aren't supporting a sales staff and trying to take half of every dollar the trainer is making, you can offer fair rates. It is these companies that feel they are entitled to share heavily in the trainers profit.

After talking with Dr. Theis, I decided to do some research on my own

and find out why some trainers are paid more than others, and why

people say they use personal trainers. Here's what I found:

Top 5 Reasons some trainers are paid more than others

1. Time on the job

2. Additional training certifications

3. ?Status? or ?Celebrity? clients

4. Percentage shard with their gym is higher

5. Full client loads offer less availability and higher demand

Top 5 Reasons people use personal trainers

1. Safety

2. Motivation

3. Accountability

4. Perceived results

5. Friendship

The advantages to getting a little ?push? in the gym can mean the difference between life-changing health and lifestyle improvements and life-altering health symptoms that you can never recover from.

When looking for professional help to get to those fitness goals just remember, there are lower cost alternatives that will provide you with all of the necessary tools to feel better and look great!

Jennifer Behling Personal Trainer and Dance Instructor in Santa Monica, CA

Dr. Walter Theis Owner of VERT Fitness of Santa Monica, CA

For more information and to learn more about VERT?s (Velocity Enhanced Resistance Training) unique performance program check out www.vertfiness.com

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For more information, please visit www.VERTfitness.com