So why is it so important now more than ever to stay active and exercise? During isolation you may find it easier to sit all day, watch Netflix and think well I'll worry about my diet when all this over and the gyms reopen.
But getting daily exercise, and I'm not going to count your daily dog walk or a stroll with your kids, this isn't a sufficient workout for most! If you aren't getting your heart rate up or aren't out of breathe you aren't challenging yourself at all.
You need to pushing yourself out of that comfort zone, getting your heart rate up and releasing those endorphins. You'll feel physically better and it will help you mentally more than you think. You want to keep your energy levels up, feel good and stay healthy. Just because you can't go to the gym doesn't mean you have to give in to junk food and the sofa, and if you were a regular at the gym why would you let all of your hard work go to waste waiting for the gym to reopen when lets be honest doesn't look like anytime soon unfortunately.
I feel just like you, I really miss the gym and for the first 2 weeks of this isolation period I too let my food slip and didn't want to train because I thought well, I can't go lift heavy weights or do what I was doing in the gym so what's the point? I felt awful, lethargic, unmotivated and knew I would have to pull my head out of my backside and get to do some training, I'm now focussing on the stuff that I wasn't very good at whilst I was training in the gym, yep this means burpees, press ups, core work, cardio! I 'm good at the weight training, lifting heavy weights, the stuff that's in my comfort zone.
I'm going to use this isolation period to get better at the endurance type training, the Metcon training that I'd struggle with at my crossfit classes. I have to ask myself one question and suggest you ask yourself the same "HOW DO I WANT TO LEAVE ISOLATION?"
Do you want to leave isolation in worse condition than you went in? or do you want to see people you haven't seen in ages and have them impressed at how well you've done, how good you are looking?
So this is where I come in here and say to you that if you can't achieve this alone, have you looked at getting an online personal trainer? If not why? This is what I can do for you:
1.You'll see better results sooner - Left to your own devices you'll probably take a 20-30min walk per day, maybe try and run every day of the week? Not only will you set yourself an unrealistic target but depending on your goal you won't be actually doing the correct type of exercise to achieve your goal. Having a personal trainer will ensure you do the right things straight from the start.
2. Avoid injury - If you have bought exercise equipment and are unsure on how to use it, or downloaded the latest fad fat burning program when you haven't exercised in god knows how long you are likely to end up injuring yourself either through poor technique or because the exercises in your fad program aren't tailored to your current ability. Having an online personal trainer like myself will make sure you perform exercise with proper form and that you are able to perform all exercises given.
3. Set realistic goals - So say you want to lose 3 stone in 4 weeks, that's your goal. Well I'm sorry to say that that is a very unrealistic goal and you are setting yourself up to fail. Having a personal trainer will help you set realistic and achievable goals. You can lose the 3 stone you desire but it will take a longer so we will focus on losing a pound per week for now, you will get disheartened thinking about the overall goal so your PT will help set smaller goals that ultimately lead to that end goal, this will keep you motivated but also show that you can achieve more within that overall goal e.g. strength gain or improved fitness.
4. Keeping you accountable - You won't fall off the band wagon with me! Let's face you aren't going to be bothered about getting up an hour early each day to get that workout in if it's just you your getting up for, many PT's including myself offer virtual 1-2-1 PT sessions to keep clients accountable and make sure they turn up for their session. Having to push yourself for a personal trainer is a lot easier than trying push yourself on your own. I'm there to keep my clients motivated and make sure they are giving their best.
5. Break through plateaus - I know more than anyone how annoying it is to hit that plateau in your progress, but having a PT will ensure you avoid or break through plateaus quicker than you would on your own.
6. Challenge you to be better - You will probably stick to the same program get bored and give in, right. Having a personal trainer will make sure that your training is varied and adapted as you progress and get fitter and stronger.
7. Help you establish life long healthy habits - Having a personal trainer will help add exercise and healthy diet to your lifestyle, these changes shouldn't be viewed as short term and instead thought of as long term changes that are sustainable in every life.
8. Help you build you confidence - so if you don't comfortable in your clothes, are unsure how to do certain exercise in case you look silly, having a personal trainer will not only help your body confidence when you start to see the results it yields but will also give you more confidence when the gyms reopen as you'll be used to performing exercise with good technique and know that you are doing things as they should be done.
So those are some of the reasons to think about taking on a personal trainer, you'll have your own personal reasons too.
Thanks for reading everyone, if you need any help at all you know where I am.
