>You are one, yes? A fitness enthusiast, I mean.

This article points out some basics that I find myself still pointing out to most clients and students, sometimes even fellow trainers.

And why? Because we all suffer from the usual things: Impatience toward getting results, stubbornness in thinking we’re superhuman and can do it all, the list goes on.

In my opinion, some of the most important points made by this brief article from the American College of Sports Medicine are:

1. WARMING UP
Some have had to learn the hard way as to why this is critical. Cases in point, students that I have seen experiencing torn muscles or irritated joint tissues (arthritic episodes, etc), just because they didn’t have the patience to gradually build their core temperature up before getting into the workout. Exuberance and energy are always appreciated in class and in training sessions, but do take the time to warm-up so as to safely exercise with your enthusiasm!

2. LISTENING TO YOUR BODY WHEN ILL or UNUSUALLY FATIGUED
Exercise, being a stress to your body, keeps your immune system’s resources from fighting off an oncoming illness. It can make you more vulnerable to being sick, and keep you from quicker recovery. Being unusually fatigued is another situation that calls for your immune system’s resources. Working out, especially if it is at a high-intensity, can only lead to feeling weaker and worse off in the end.

I’ve found that in many cases, clients can be quite astute in sensing if their body feels off-balance. Of course, do be mindful of a legitimate feeling of malaise in comparison to wanting to feel off-balance if only to skip out on a workout session. The true test of this is your own willingness to work out on another day of the week to replace the workout you are skipping, in order to make sure you are not at the onset of getting sick.

3. KNOWING HOW TO PERFORM THE EXERCISES IN YOUR CLASS / SESSION

Technique and execution is key. Conducting exercises can be likened to performing a dance routine or choreography. In order for the beauty of the choreography to fully manifest, one must aim for proper execution of the exercises in one’s program. This allows for the best results, directed specifically toward your pre-set goals.

4. DEVELOPING A SOUND PLAN FOR ACHIEVING YOUR GOALS.

I believe that your approach toward your exercise program needs to be as closely related to what you want to get out of it. Your best bet toward success is in making sure that your fitness plan of attack specifically and primarily addresses your goals. Case in point: an obese person who is looking to lose a significant amount of weight in the soonest and safest rate of weight loss may not be best off starting a basic stretching program twice a week. The calorie-expenditure needs of this goal aren’t directly being met by the stretching program alone. A better approach would be to introduce a realistic program that includes nutrition that limits caloric intake to a certain extent, along with a workout program that maximizes safe and doable exercise that also allows for maximum caloric expenditure.

5. NEVER TRY TO DO TOO MUCH TOO SOON

The desire to achieve one’s goal through sheer willpower and determination is admirable, but one needs to take into account the steps necessary for exercise physiology to take its course and help you along toward your goals. A safe and realistic amount of weight to lose and keep off needs to be lost at a rate of 1-2 lbs a week, in order for your body to safely proceed toward losing more and more fat weight. Too much too soon tends to lead to poor long-term results, not to mention exponentially-higher risks for injury, which then keeps you from doing anything at all.

In addition, factor in rest and recovery. None of this needs to be on an everday, to-no-end basis, especially since fitness is meant to be integrated into your life, and not into a phase or segment of it. Successful integration means properly allowing for rest days, so you can do it all over again!

Good luck to you, as you carry on with your program!