David @ DHPT

One of the key factors in reaching your health and fitness goals is motivation. In fact, it is probably the most important factors. Without it, you simply have no chance of sticking to your exercise and nutrition plans. As such, here are a couple of different ways to keep up your levels of enthusiasm when you feel them starting to wane. Get a training partner… Training by yourself is tough. Dragging yourself out of bed at 5:30am or finishing work at 6:00pm and then getting to the gym is difficult if the only person expecting you to show up is you. By having someone else who expects you to be there and will hold you accountable for not being there you are more likely to get your regular training sessions in. Especially on those days where you just don’t feel like hitting the gym – and trust me we all have them. On a personal note, I have also found it easier to push myself in terms of what I am capable of doing once I am in the gym if I have a training partner with me. There is a

New Year’s resolutions are more often than not short-lived affairs. Often they barely make it past New Year ’s Eve let alone through January. Perhaps the most common of all New Year’s resolutions is to get fit. If you are wondering why you went to the gym twice and have not returned this year, the reason may be below. You went too hard too fast… A common issue when starting out on a fitness plan is to go at it like a bull at a gate. Often people getting back into exercise or starting regular exercise for the first time want to get into things as fast as possible. This would be fine, however, there is just one small problem – often they are unfit. This might seem like it’s stating the obvious but it needs to be remembered. You might walk into the gym on the 3 rd of January and see a guy squatting 150kg and think you want a piece of the action. What you need to remember is that the guy who squats a buck fifty has been squatting a long time to reach that number – you haven’t. S

Let me say this straight up – I understand this is a controversial headline and that there will be some trainers/coaches who will just flat out disagree with it. That’s fine, everyone has their own personal philosophy. I am not trying to insult or disrespect anyone. These are my thoughts based on my philosophy of training.  I only ask that you read the below with an open mind. I also would like to say that if a 12-week weight loss challenge is what it takes to get someone off the couch and into exercising, then more power to you. Doing something is always better than doing nothing. In saying that, I would like to outline why I do not feel that these types of challenge fit with my philosophy. No end dates First and most importantly I do not like the subconscious impression given in a weight loss programme that has an end date. By doing this it gives people the impression that the way to lose weight is to “go hard” for a few weeks and then just go back to what they normally did.