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Be Sure Your Workout Program is Designed for You

With the New Year fast approaching, many individuals begin to think about making resolutions for the purpose of improving their health. Often these healthful resolutions involve the goal to lose weight and get into shape at the start of the New Year. With all the indulgence of food and treats that flows this time of year, who wouldn’t consider shedding a couple of pounds? Even the spring sport athlete begins to have ideas of self improvement in preparation for their season. So with eager hearts and gym bags in hand, people rush off to begin working out, loosing weight, and getting in shape in early January.

They get to the gym and suddenly they realize that they aren’t quite sure what they should be doing to meet their goals. Everyone in the gym seems to be working hard and sweating away, but the newest health and fitness participant is unsure of what type of training is best for them. So they approach one of the club members and they are offered the opportunity to train along with them. Perhaps they ask one of the staff members and they receive a program sheet or training log that has a bunch of listed exercises they need to check off after completing.

Is this the best way for these highly motivated and eager New Years resolution setters to meet their own personal goals? Should they perform someone else’s training regimen or complete a pre-designed training program that is a one size fits all workout? Absolutely not!

Everyone’s body is different; everyone has different needs, goals, strengths, and weaknesses. If you are one of these eager people this New Year, who is heading off to the gym to try and obtain your goals, make sure your training program suites your needs and is designed for you. Too many facilities, clubs, or trainers offer different types of programs to meet your needs. However many of these programs are simply offering their participants “cookie cutter” programs, a one sized fits all way of training. No matter your background or goals, everyone gets the same program because they were pre-designed by somebody whom you have never met and are likely written several ago. Often little guidance is given and people ineffectively perform the exercises.

At NTS Athletic Development, I meet with every future participant prior to the start of training. We discus each individuals backgrounds and training needs. Through this process I begin to design a program for their first week of training. I critically monitor and work with each individual during their workout. Then, each week their next week’s program is written based on their achievements or struggles within their training. Every participant has their own individually designed workouts to address their imbalances and weaknesses. Every person progresses at their own pace and no two people train from the same program. Why? Because no two people are the same.

So if you’re looking to lose some weight or get in shape or even begin preparing for a spring sport come the first of the year, be sure that the training you do is designed for you and not someone else. Please, once the baking is done this Holiday Season, leave the cookie cutter at home, don’t bring it to the gym and put it in your program. Feel free to contact NTS Athletic Development today to help you design your own training program for the New Year.

Written by Kevin Ebel, December 2006
Published in the Stevens Point Journal, December 26, 2006

NTS-AD located in Stevens Point and Plover, Wisconsin.

Email us today at: info@nts-ad.com or call 715-252-9926