Access to fitness continues to increase with seemingly infinite options available to Americans to get their sweat on.
While access has increased, the number of Americans becoming healthier isn’t necessarily increasing in lock-step. District H Head Coach, Robert Johnson, and I recently spoke about the reasons why access doesn’t necessarily correspond to achieving health & wellness goals on the District H Podcast.
This disconnect has permeated the entire fitness industry as more and more people are looking for the “easy” button for looking, feeling, moving, and thinking their absolute best.
But transforming your life and health is NOT easy. That is the truth that most people will not want to hear or what most fitness franchises do not want to market or “sell.” In fact, it is probably one of the most difficult journey’s you will take in your life. If it wasn’t, then everyone would look incredibly fit, which as we know, is far from reality.
So let’s do this the proper way by starting with the end goal and mind and work backwards.
Most people just want to look in the mirror and be happy with what they see. In other words, we want to lose fat, build some muscle to firm up our bodies, and most importantly, have that personal confidence that we can carry into other parts of our lives.
With that end goal in mind, let’s think of the necessary components for achieving that specific goal:
- Increased metabolic activity (calories out)
- Strength training (building muscle)
- Proper Nutrition (calories in)
- Sleep and stress management
- Consistency
- Accountability
Walking into a fitness franchise will readily address components 1 & 2. Doing group classes can help with components 5 & 6 as most people find exercise routines easier to maintain when they don’t have to think about what they need to do. In other words, walking into a class and following instruction is much easier than walking into LA Fitness and walking around aimlessly for 2 hours trying to figure out what to do.
Nutrition, sleep, and stress management are often the most often missing components from most fitness franchises “pitches.” Why?
It is often the hardest part.
Again, if most people found their nutrition, sleep, and stress management easy, most people would look incredible and fit.
The science behind proper nutrition is NOT rocket science. In fact, District H has provided a FREE ebook for you to reference that would get you 90% of the way there.
So what’s missing?
Coaching.
This isn’t the same thing as the cheerleader in class that keeps you motivated. This is the person who develops a relationship with their clients to help get clients to their goals.
It means understanding your client’s motivations, stressors, triggers, attitudes, mental health, injuries, movement restrictions, and any other factor that can potentially derail a client from reaching their goals.
For those of you who are looking to change your life, don’t pay for “access.” Find a coach that will help you get to where you are specifically trying to get to. That is why we start every single one of our clients with a free consultation.
We are not here to be your cheerleaders. We are here to be your coach and that journey starts with understanding what you are trying to achieve with your health.