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You Want a Better Body, You Joined The Gym, Now What?

By Dale Andrew

Too often, we look at exercise as a chore, rather than a choice towards self-improvement and building a better body. Joining a gym is something that busy professionals typically contemplate for months or even years. Certainly, taking the physical and financial steps to join a gym indicates a desire and commitment to improve one’s physical fitness. There’s also a belief or hope that joining a gym will allow produce a better body image.

Buying a membership gives you access to a facility but not necessarily the skills needed to produce lasting change, itself. We all have access to the tool department at the local hardware store, but how many of us would possess the skills needed to repair our car should it break down? We’re more likely to take our car to a mechanic because their knowledge and experience allows them to properly identify and correct the problem faster than we ever could.

However, when it comes to taking better care of our body, the most complex of all machines, it seems most are more likely to rely on hope than skill. Certainly, I’m not saying that hope is a bad thing; sometimes, it is the best of things. I’m suggesting that success nourishes hope, however. When you consider approximately 50% of new gym members discontinue regular exercise within the first 6-8 weeks, it’s apparent that motivation wanes and often disappears in the absence of real results.

It’s necessary to possess a degree of skill before one can experience success. However, fitness is not a tangible product like groceries; although, it is often portrayed, packaged and sold as such. Skills must be acquired and learned; they can’t be bought – they can only be taught. Two of the most important elements of any skill are knowledge and practice. So, how do you learn what you need to know to build a better body?

Most people think that all they need to know is how to work a machine or two. If this is why they are going to the gym, well then they’re on the right track. For everybody else that believes that the act of performing an exercise method is a means towards goal achievement and a better body image, you must ask yourself, “Are these methods informed by the correct principles?”

If you’re unsure or answered no, there is a fundamental disconnect between the methods employed and the desired outcome of a better body. The skills needed to produce lasting physical change surely include the performance of various exercise methods, but it is principles that must first determine their selection. It is principles that purposefully bridge together isolated methods, and enables the successful accomplishment of specific goals, such as building a better body.

This can be pretty confusing and overwhelming for someone who has never exercised gone to a gym before and has low self-confidence. When you join the gym, you’ll probably find all kinds of people that want to give you advice. This is where it can get even more confusing. When it comes to building a better body, what you don’t know can hurt you.

This is why you must always consider the source. What are their qualifications? Have they helped people like you? Is this their job or just a hobby? Only take advice from people that have trained at a high level or make a living and pay their rent getting results for people just like you. If you don’t have a lot of time to exercise, you need to use your time wisely. A good mentor can make all the difference. Don’t make it harder than it needs to be.

About the Author:

Dale Andrew, M.A. is a fitness professional, author, and speaker. He is the fat loss expert busy professionals worldwide turn to for advice on how to build a better body - FAST. To get your copy of his free e-book 64 Must-Have Fitness Tips, visit www.better-body-tips.com.