The Group Fitness Coach

“A good coach will make his players see what they can be rather than what they are.”

– Ara Parasheghian

A coach is an individual who is involved in the direction, instruction and training of a sports team or individual (Wikipedia).   Successful coaches can become as, or even better-known than athletes as they are often seen on television or heard on radio programs and, therefore, become the “face” associated with the team (Wikipedia).  Coaches have often had successful athletic careers in the sport they coach and are passionate, educated and experienced individuals at the sport they represent.  When I look at the most successful Group Fitness instructors around it is because they coach rather than instruct their classes.  Group fitness has evolved!  It is no longer about bouncing around a studio in lycra, and the instructor is not there for people to merely mimic moves or ‘perform’ for the audience at his/her feet.  The fitness industry has become more educated and just as personal trainers have to cater to individual needs – whether it be fitness goals or rehabilitative requirements, the Group Fitness Leader must not only step up to meet individual needs, they must adapt their skills to address multiple personalities and requirements.

                If you think back to the origins of Group Fitness during the Baby Boomer era it is not a pretty sight – there was Lycra, headbands and leg warmers, instructors didn’t need any qualifications aside from their ability to press play on a cassette player and string some random athletic moves together.  Moves weren’t based on any sports kinesiology, merely on feel (I think it was Jane Fonda who told us if you sit on the floor and walk forward and backwards with your butt cheeks you would lose weight off this area!).  Then the dance influence started to feed through and aerobic choreography got complicated!  Suddenly we were turning and moving to all directions of the room, and there were multiple moves given their own special name that you apparently had to remember and the aerobics instructor would have their back to you (a necessity if there was any hope of you facing the required direction!).  It probably wasn’t until the late 1990’s that instructors realised ‘hey, we are here for our class members!’ and so many of us turned around to face our participants.  Progress, yes!  True connection…. Possibly not…  Many instructors believed that being there ‘for’ the class meant ‘entertaining them.’  So we became performers – showing off our natural talent and flare for musical interpretation!  Group fitness went from the fad that packs a room, to the energetic dancers training room, to the ‘all about me show’ that you were allowed to move to.  No wonder aerobics class numbers were dwindling! 

           Thank you to the late 1990’s – 2000’s for the concept of Group Fitness!  Many people join sporting teams for the camaraderie and the high you feel competing with other active individuals; group fitness has bottled that and made it an optional daily occurrence; you can box for fitness and fun, cycle alongside your mates, out-do your fellow classmates in a plank challenge offered in an abdominal or core training class and jump higher than ever before in a plyometric based high-impact workout.  It was Les Mills that really latched onto this idea of bringing sporting camaraderie into the gym and the aerobic studio; RPM allows you to ride along with your mates to inspiring music, you can build strength and endurance in such programs as Pump and CxWorx, find empowerment and discipline with Body Combat and Body Balance and do explosive plyometric training for fitness and power with Attack and Step.  Although there are still some niche programs such as Jam and Sh’bam that allow for the fun aspect of dancing around the Group Fitness Studio, this is no longer what the studio represents.  Research has been done and education has been given.  The Group Fitness studio is now a goal orientated place to enter where you can be coached to change your posture, your fitness level and your life!  All of this you can do alongside your friends.

                There are many aspects that make a good coach; knowledge, interaction, connection, the personal touch and accentuating the positive (The Group Fitness Coach – Peggy J. Gregor).  Good coaches are educated on their sport; they speak and direct teams according to their education in the game and their experience on the field.  This is the case with the Group Fitness arena.  The best cycle instructors understand the mechanics of cycling and have spent time on the road.  They understand that music provides a cadence that helps set a pace to challenge fitness results and they know to structure a class based on an authentic road ride, drills that challenge you and make any rider more bike fit and coach perfect cycle posture for energy efficient riding and safe technique.  Pilates and Yoga professionals spend years perfecting their disciplines through constant (and usually expensive!) education courses so that they understand human kinetics to educate the general public on postural balance and core strength.  A true ‘yogi’ practices their discipline daily as well as coaches it because they live and want to share the values of the program, they don’t merely instruct ‘flexibility.’  The Group Fitness coach understands that pressing play and feeling the music isn’t enough.  Group Fitness is a good forum to educate the public on better fitness and a more balanced life.

                A coach realises that talking at his/her team doesn’t get results- interaction and individual connection is required for all team members to reach their common goal.  A personal trainer may have a variety of personalities in his/her client base and approach each individual differently according to their needs, imagine the Group Fitness arena!  All those personality types requiring motivation!  The ‘aerobics instructor’ may have encouraged groups to mimic moves, the Group Fitness Instructor may have performed to his/her group, the Group Fitness Coach adapts his/her teaching to be inclusive and suit a variety of personalities and needs.  The shy wallflower in the back corner may need assurance that all will be well and they are in a safe, friendly environment while the gung-ho gym-junkie front and centre may need a list of challenges barked at them and an energy level set above and beyond.  A true coach finds common ground for everyone by addressing each person at some point, choosing moments in the class to suit individual needs and taking everyone on their common journey; to achieve fitness results.

                The personal touch is when a coach goes above and beyond; they remember names, details and build not just rapport but relationships with individuals in the group fitness arena.  They may come to class early and leave a little later just to talk to class participants and answer questions.  The coach aims not just to build a successful class but to build a fitness community.  This is when the Group Fitness coach becomes most valuable to health clubs; they become more in tune to member needs and develop member loyalty because of the fitness community they have created.

               Good coaches accentuate the positive (The Group Fitness Coach – Peggy J. Gregor).  An important part of exercise prescription is perfecting technique; however, nit-pickers who constantly dwell on technique faults do not run successful classes.  It is a hard line between acknowledging successes and wanting someone to perform better by perfecting technique, but a good coach will find the middle ground between encouragement and improvement.  I have been to classes where instructors have prided themselves on being the technique ‘Nazi.’  I have never seen a reaction of gratitude to this teaching style.  No one wants to endure a session on what they are doing wrong from start to end.  We gain motivation to improve by hearing about what we are doing right and ‘now here is how we can do better’.   A good coach realises, connects, commends and then offers improvement.  A good sports coach recognises strengths and weaknesses in a team of players, so must the Group Fitness Leader.

                For all of us who entered the Group Fitness arena to move to the music we are in for a pleasant surprise!  In the hands of a good Group Fitness Coach we are going to leave the studio more educated and self-aware than when we entered the room, we are going to feel as though our needs have been met and that we have become a part of a fitness community.  The shift from 'aerobics classes' to group fitness training has revolutionised the industry; we don't just mimic and move to music, we learn about the training, focus on technique and bettering ourselves and do it with our friends, much like how a sports team trains. Sporting camaraderie can be found in the group fitness arena as we gradually connect and relate to those participating around us.  Group Fitness is now about an experience and personal development; a good Group Fitness Leader will make sure that we leave the studio feeling good about what we've been a part of and what has been accomplished. 

In Pursuit of Evolution; The Adrenaline Addict v’s the Mind, Body and Spirit Seeker.

“Just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perform better when your thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance” - Brian Tracy.

There is a new popular addiction; but unlike most other addictions this addict is often praised for their frantic energy and non-stop activity…   There are many adrenaline addicts that walk among us; we see them tapping their feet in long supermarket cues or speeding up to catch the orange light at intersections, most of them can’t go a day without the drama of completing several daily tasks with a sense of urgency!  However, just like most addicts there are health repercussions in living in a state of being constantly ‘on’.   Some of these involve health risks associated with most stress disorders – ulcers, heart attacks… but the emotional effect of being a human-doer rather than a human being is far greater.  When the true definition of wellness has been proven to stem from a balance of mind, body and spirit, the adrenaline addict falls off the wagon to finding true happiness.

Epinephrine or adrenaline is a hormone and a neurotransmitter (Wikipedea).  Adrenaline increases heart rate, constricts blood vessels, dilates air passages and participates in the fight-or-flight response of the sympathetic nervous system (Wikipedea).  Without adrenaline we wouldn’t be alerted to grab a child's hand at the curb when a car races by, we wouldn’t feel energy when facing certain challenges such as a big presentation at work or a stressful conflict and we wouldn’t get a cushion effect when we receive bad news (“Hurry up and Be Still: Freedom From Adrenaline Dependence- William Gaultiere, Ph. D.).  However, the problem with modern living and our busy lifestyles is we crave this constant state of urgency where we view every daily stress as an emergency; we multi-task to save time, stimulate ourselves with caffeine (an adrenaline stimulant), we cut sleep hours to get more done and then we grind our teeth through our sleep dreaming about tasks forgotten!  The sense of urgency inspires a manic energy that keeps us going to such an extreme that we never switch off!  Panic becomes the new initiative and the stress becomes an admired relentless energy.

Many business people depend on adrenaline to get through their 50-hour work week (“Hurry up and be Still: Freedom from Adrenaline Dependence- William Gaultiere, Ph. D.), and many people get hooked on adrenaline because it feels good to feel energised.  However, like other compulsive behaviours several symptoms surface that suggest a less than fulfilled life.  When adrenaline addicts slow down they are not happy so when they do relax they can experience actual withdrawal symptoms such as; a compulsion to get busy or be more stimulated by noise and activity, emptiness, boredom or depression, feelings of guilt about being idle, irritability or loss of temper, worrying about work that needs to be done, fidgetiness or restlessness, utter exhaustion (“Hurry up and Be Still: Freedom From Adrenaline Dependence- William Gaultiere, Ph. D.).  As well as the emotional symptoms, the body can suffer from things such as anxiety, rapid heartbeats, headaches, backaches, gastric diseases and sleep problems, not to mention dramatic stress related illnesses such as viruses, ulcers, heart disease and cancer  (“Hurry up and Be Still: Freedom From Adrenaline Dependence- William Gaultiere, Ph. D.). 

An adrenaline addict could be seen as a human-doing, not a human-being.  The definition of a state of wellness is balancing our mind, body and spirit.  Wellness can be described as the state that combines health and happiness (Wikipedia) and focusses on minimizing the effects of physical stress which causes nervous system irritation, chemical stress which causes body toxicity and mental stress which can induce hormonal changes in the adrenal glands.  Wellness programs allow individuals to take increased responsibility for their health behaviours; whether this be to alleviated stress through meditation or conflict workshops, to combat obesity by taking up a physical regime or by combatting other habits that affect health such as smoking or alcohol addiction through counselling or a step program.  Wellness is about finding a sense of balance and the following factors are said to contribute; living in a clean environment, eating organic food, regularly engaging in physical exercises, balance in career; family and relationships and developing a sense of spirit by cultivating religious beliefs or personal philosophies.  There are many dimensions that create a human being; by cultivating all of them we create a state of contentment.

We live in a fast-paced world where we have learned to admire individuals that show an abundance of energy.  We have possibly offered these individuals career promotions, responsibilities and ‘opportunities’ way beyond human capabilities… but that is just it… what we have asked has been way beyond what a human-being is capable.  There are only so many hours in the day, and only so many aspects of our lives can receive our full attention… and then we feel guilty for not being everything to everyone!  An adrenaline addict is not a superhuman-being.  It is an individual addicted to the energy that panic prevails.  A truly well individual is someone who recognises that sometimes you have to switch off, let go and enjoy peace of mind.  It is a gifted, happy individual that can give space and recognize it, appreciate peace and seek it, seek knowledge and manifest it, be true to all aspects of life without giving in to the fast-paced urgent pull that leads us to be solely consumed by work or family responsibilities.  Balance is the key.

Your Fitness Performance and Weight Loss Enhancer = Sleep

“Sleep is the best meditation” – The Dalai Lama

                Experienced exercisers know that furthering our fitness results involves constant reviews and changes:  We review our food intake, our approach to training and re-assess our goals.  There are many theories on what enhances athletic performance and fitness results; high intensity training, resistance training, a more efficient metabolism through diet and exercise, carb loading, carb cutting! More protein for lean muscle growth… often sleep is not a part of the equation…  However, recent research has found that sleep is a big factor when it comes to improved fitness, weight loss and athletic performance. 

                Recent research by Cheri Mah at Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic and Research Laboratory at Stanford University shows that athletes who focused on extending their sleep time to 10 hours per night increased their athletic performance (“To Improve Fitness, Try Sleep” – Tara Parker-Pope).  This small study involved five members of the Stanford Women’s Tennis Team.  For the first two weeks the athletes maintained their normal training and sleeping schedules; they took part in sprinting and hitting drills to measure their performance.  Then the players were told to extend their sleep to 10 hours per night for five to six weeks.   The outcome of this was that the athletes performed better on all drills; sprinting times dropped on average from 19.12 seconds to 17.56, hitting accuracy (measured by valid serves) improved to 15.61 serves up from 12.6 and a hitting depth drill improved to 15.45 hits up from 10.85.

                Katherine Hopson, who writhes the “On Fitness” column for the T.S. News and World report also mirrors this outcome in her training (“To Improve Fitness, Try Sleep” – Tara Parker-Pope); “I expected my first run back in Brooklyn to be a death march.  Instead, I felt the best and went the fastest that I have in weeks.  One possible explanation came to mind: I erased my chronic sleep debt on vacation, thanks to sleeping in as long as I wanted in the mornings and napping most afternoons, which made me extremely well rested when I took that run”.  Katherine hung up the running shoes and focus on ‘sleep-loading.’

                The two most basic states to sleep are REM (Rapid Eye Movement) and NREM (Non-Rapid Eye Movement) sleep (“States of Consciousness” – Dennis Coon).  NREM sleep helps us recover from fatigue built up during the day.  Often when people exercise at high intensity or exert themselves physically to extremes, this state of sleep increases.  NREM sleep is a deeper stage of sleep where your body recuperates and during this stage of sleep, your pituitary gland secretes more muscle growth hormones than during your waking hours (“Why Sleep Is Key for Weight Loss” – www.fitday .com).  NREM sleep dominates the first third of our night’s sleep and for high intensity training individuals it can take up to 25-35% of the night.

                REM sleep (Rapid Eye Movement) is a time of high emotion; the eyelids move rapidly, the heart beats irregularly and blood pressure and breathing waiver.  This is the dreaming phase of sleep and totals about on average per cent, 90 minutes per night (just like a feature movie!).  Just as a physically exerted person experiences more NREM sleep to allow physical recovery, an emotionally exerted person experiences more REM sleep to alleviate emotional stress due to its link with dreaming (“States of Consciousness” – Dennis Coon). People suffering dramatic emotional stress such as a death in the family, trouble at work, marital conflicts or other emotionally arousing stressors are said to experience increased REM or dreaming phases of sleep.

                                Sleep affects several hormones in the human body.  Two hormones that play an important role in stimulating and suppressing your appetite are leptin and ghrelin (“Why Sleep Is Key for Weight Loss” – www.fitday .com).  Leptin is produced by your body’s fat cells and is responsible for suppressing hunger and Ghrelin is released by your stomach and stimulates your appetite.  Lack of sleep can lower the levels of leptin in your body and can heighten the levels of ghrelin, encouraging you to eat more.  Also, lack of sleep affects Cortisol levels.  Irregular or shortened sleep heightens cortisol levels in your blood and lowers metabolism as cortisol stimulates breaking down protein into glucose.  Lack of sleep stimulates weight gaining hormones whereas regular sleep and recovery stimulates metabolism and appetite suppressors. 

                Sleeping is part of the body’s healing process; growth hormones are released to stimulate muscle repair and gain, cortisol levels lower to boost metabolism, we have also been proven to concentrate better and perform better when we are rested.  Yet we are also eager to sacrifice time spent resting!  Many of us view sleep as time standing still! So we compromise it to study, work, train, give to our families, loved ones and friends and then wonder why we have such little left!  The pleasure in what we have gained for this sacrificed is often lost by the terrible fatigue we feel.  Why is sleep seen as such a selfish moment when it makes us such better versions of ourselves?

Masculine/Feminine & the Revolution of Group Fitness Training

I don't deny the origins of Group Fitness.  Aerobics originated in the 80's with such role models as Jane Fonda.  Lycra leotards and headbands were worn and the instructors often yelled out things like "woo hoo!"  Classes were often called things like "Jazzercise," and "Tone and Stretch" and "Cardio Funk" and 98% of people taking the classes were women!  No wonder aerobics is perceived as feminine!  Unfortunately, as we move into the era of "Group Fitness Training" this image of "Aerobics" has stuck!  Someone who spends all their time in the free weights area still pictures a bunch of girls in the group fitness studio jumping around and dancing dressed in lycra just like the cardio junkie sees the free weights area as full of 'meat heads' who grunt and check out their biceps in the mirror. 

However, the fitness industry has become more educated!  Just as resistance training has evoled from its body building associations and become something more individuals aspire to do because of the much needed strength and metabolic benefits and the functional aspects of the training, group fitness has evolved from its feminine origins.

In a recent New York Times article, fitness program directors were quoted as saying that they know gym members stay longer when they're involved in group classes.  Classes offer a social aspect that individual gym users often don't experience.  There is interaction and connection- it is a shared experience.  Such organizations as Les Mills and Zumba Fitness have taken the fitness world by storm all because they understand that the social benefits of exercise and the 'fun factor' keeps people coming back!  The very essence of Sh'Bam (one of Les Mills latest successes!) according to program director Racael Cohen is "you are out with a group of friends on a  Friday night and simply leading them into a fun time of dance; so infectiously fun (all that sweating and smiling!) and they just can't help joining in".

According to Barry Van Over, vice president of Premier Martial Arts, "Men like the social aspects of a co-ed class, but most will shun a class that risks making them appear anti-masculine'.  Drey Tybus, a New Your City publicist echoes these thoughts; "since the group exercise studio is not "man's territory," neither are the typical movements you find in these classes.  Fumbling around trying to learn stuff is hard and it's not any easier when there's a cute girl next to you who's looking at you with eyes that say, 'Hey dopey, what don't you get here?  When he blows the whistle, you jump!" ("Oh Man" - Carrie Myers Smith).  A lack of self-confidence and physical inferiority are not qualitites we associate with masculininty!

There are some classes that contain movements typically associated with femininity.  Although it is different in some cultures, the Australian male wouldn't be typically associated with some of the hip wiggling and butt shaking that might take place in a Zumba class.  However, this is not typical of Group Fitness anymore!  Less Mills International has been successful because of its different take on Group Fitness.  They have taken typical sporting activities and thurned them into Group Fintess  Programs.  Acoording to Less Mills International founder Phillip Mills in the 1990's "Aerobics, which has bubbled away in a niche through the 80's, became the Group Fitness revolution.  Suddenly you could ride your bike in a social environment with inspiring music and a great instructor to motivate you.  The same thing happened with weight-training, martial arts, yoga, dance classes and a host of other activities."  Les Mills also makes a point of using strong, athletic male role models to promote its programs.  As a result, not only has it brought more males to the Group Fitness studio, it has inspired many to become instructors.  They use words like "Power" and "Strenght" to promote their programs, instructors us set, pre-choreographed aerobics workouts.  They also aim to use "genderless music;" there is a mix of rock and latest music for more general appeal.

Studio classes are no longer called 'Aerobics!' the focus is on group training.  There are classes like Zumba that involve dancing around the aerobics room, but there are so many other options; Thump Boxing, cycle, Tabata circuits, Boot Camp, and even classes promotion core strenght and fucntional training such as Pilates and CxWorx.  Group fitness has replaced the fun and camaraderie that was previously created by traditional sporting activities.  The instructor coaches and motivates the group to success and you achieve your fitness goals in a social way with friends and music that is infectious!  The group, the coach and the music motivates you to a whole new energy level!

Dancing Makes You Smarter

When we think of health and fitness, longevity and quality of life we usually think of training our bodies.  We weight train to boost the metabolism and we choose a class or find an activity that may boost our cardiovascular fitness.  Even when we hear the term "Mind-Body" class we are still thinking of our physical being; we want to be stronger and more flexible.  Seldom would the concept of attending the gym to work our mind even occur to us!

Last year the New England Journal of Medicine published a study conducted by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.  This was a 21-year study of senior citizens 75 years and older and measured the effects of recreational activities on mental acuity in aging.  The study wanted to see if "any physical or cognitive recreational activities influenced mental acuity" ("Use it or Lose It: Dancing Makes You Smarter" - Richard Powers).  They studied activities such as reading, doing crossword puzzles, playing cards, playing musical instruments, playing tennis or golf, swimming, cycling, dancing, walking for exercise and housework.  One of the surprises of the study was that almost none of the physical activities appeared to offer any protection against dementia.  There were physical fitness benefits of course, but the only physical activity to offer protection against dementia was frequent dancing.  In fact, dancing showed the greatest risk reduction of any activity studied, cognitive or physical!  Activities such as reading offered a 35% reduced risk of dementia and crossword puzzles offered a 47% reduced risk.  Dancing frequently offered a 76% risk reduction.

According to Dr. Joseph Coyle, a Harvard Medical psychiatrist who wrote an accompanying commentary to the study, "The cerebral cortex and hippocampus, which are critical to these activities, are remarkably plastic, and they rewire themselves based upon their use."  In other words it is a matter of 'use it or lose it!'

The reason dancing was so effective for exercising our cognitive process is that it is an activity that challenges our split-second decision making abilities.  It requires us to interpret moves and respond.  Dancing is a kinaesthetic, rational, musical and emotional learning experience.  It encourages us to move in a way that is unfamiliar to us and is constantly presenting us with new sequences so that new neurological pathways are formed.  According to Richard Powers in his article "Use It or Lose It: Dancing Makes You Smarter," "difficult and even frustrating classes are better for you, as they will create a greater need for new neural pathways."

As someone who has danced for almost as many years as I have walked I have never understood why dance programs seem to fade out and become almost a 'specialty' thing at gyms.  They are challenging and involve thinking and work, but for some reason the desire to feel successful straight away plays on our egos and our self-consciousness takes over.  It is a shame that we lose the brave front we all have when we are young; everything is unfamiliar so we persevere and are eager students.  We try lots of sports, attend lots of classes but over time we decide to stay comfortable and we gradually create for ourselves a niche that is filled with a few things we feel define us and these often become fewer and fewer over time.  We often avoid opportunities that may take us into unfamiliar territories or may upset our natural way of doing  or thinking.  For a lot of us dancing is not on our list of desired activities to do  with our day.  We may appear silly, we may leave frustrated by a pattern of movements that initially seem irrational or illogical.  Hay, isn't that part of the fun?!  And you never know!  With perseverance and practice you may become open to the experience.  We exercise our heart to be fitter, our muscles to be stronger, why not exercise our mind?

Discover Your Exercise Personality

“Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it”. – Bruce Lee.

It is no secret; personality traits directly affect your health and fitness. Numerous studies have proven that people that are prone to stress and anxiety often experience more health issues than individuals that have a positive outlook on life. Often our negativity comes from self-consciousness, feeling a lack of control and feeling over-whelmed by the challenges we face. So many people join gyms with good intentions of reaching their fitness goals but then give up almost as soon as they have signed up! We blame time, finances, and family commitments however, these things affected our lives before the paperwork was signed! I see it all the time; people who are new to gyms running out of clubs because they were confused by an unfamiliar piece of equipment, or they felt completely self-conscious by a class or they were pushed to the max by a trainer and were scarred for life by the brutal physical exertion they felt! Sometimes “the stress of engaging in exercise that is not of our choosing can outweigh its health benefits” (“The Owner’s Manual for the Brain” – Dr Pierce Howard). In 2004 the University of Florida conducted tests on approximately 860 students to see if personality was a factor when it came to individuals sticking to exercise routines (“Personality May Be Key to ‘Psyching’ Oneself Up for Exercise - University of Florida News May 3 2004). According to the research conducted, specific training styles and exercise environments suited different personality types and because the training suited individual emotional needs, it reduced stress levels in different individuals and encouraged them not only to stick to an exercise routine but to enjoy the activity.

Amy Hagan of the University of Florida hypothesized for her doctoral dissertation that “if people’s personalities can predict what conditions are most favourable for them to exercise, then an exercise program can be tailored to fit their personal needs, making it more likely they will stick with a routine” (“Personality May Be Key to ‘Psyching’ Oneself Up for Exercise - University of Florida News May 3 2004). Hagen surveyed undergraduate students in sports and fitness classes at UF’s College of Health and Human Performance about personality, exercise preference and exercise behaviour. Questionnaires were given to approximately 860 students and the researchers used five major personality traits; extraversion, which measures sociability; neuroticism, which gauges emotional stability and refers to the tendency to feel fear, embarrassment, sadness and guilt; openness, one’s receptiveness to new experiences; agreeableness, the inclination to be agreeable and helpful; and conscientiousness, the tendency to be strong-willed and determined. It was discovered not only that different types of activities were suited to different personality types, but that the exercise environment played a significant role.  Also, particular personalities are more willing to adapt to an active lifestyle than others.

Extroverts: According to the research extroverted people tended to crave “active and high-intensity workout sessions” (“What’s Your Exercise Personality’ – Eatbetteramerica.com). It was also discovered that these people preferred listening to music while exercising and were more motivated when in a social environment. The Group Fitness arena is ideal for these thrill-seekers! Classes such as Spin, Body Attack, Body Step, Jam, Sh’bam and so on are music driven programs that offer high intensity moves in a highly social environment. In these programs, the social/fun-factor is as equally important to the workout as the physical exertion. It was also found that these individuals are prone to exercising fairly often. According to Hagan “These excitement-craving people love lots of activity and want to go, go, go” (“Personality May Be Key to ‘Psyching’ Oneself Up for Exercise - University of Florida News May 3 2004).

Neurotics: These people are least likely to exercise and, ironically, they’re most in need of it because exercise reduces anxiety and depression. Neurotic people tend to prefer exercising indoors or in a private environment. Neurotics who tend to be anxiety-provoked and stressed-out people responded better to low-intensity/endurance training such as distance running. Repetitive, rhythmic exercises such as running, swimming or cycling tended to suit these individuals possibly because the rhythm exerts a “tranquillizing effect on the brain stem and nervous system in a manner similar to rocking a baby” ("Scientists have a Good Feeling about Exercise” – Carol Krucoff). These individuals become stressed by crowds and are more suited to private training studios or training at non-peak times. Many of these individuals enjoy a home gym set up or, when training with a trainer, will do so in an un-populated studio or space.

Open Minded/Introverts: These people were found to like a variety of activities and like exercising to music. However, this group was found to consider training “me” time and, therefore, was often not suited to the group fitness arena. These individuals are often found in the cardio area of a gym most likely listening to their ipods and partaking in activities such as running, cycling or walking which are activities they can do on their own. This group of individuals find groups of people draining and prefer to consider exercise their “time-out” for the day. Despite the group environment, programs such as yoga and pilates have been proven to have an appeal to these individuals as they offer the benefit of rejuvenation and relaxation.

Agreeable People: These individuals seem to prefer to exercise in the morning to get it over with. Agreeable people are compliant and friendly and have a tendency to help others and acquiesce to requests. These individuals exercise because they have to and train better with a work out buddy or trainer who can offer direction to keep them on track.

Conscientious People: These people are highly motivated and disciplined and will often schedule their fitness plan. According to Hagan, conscientious people “want to take charge of their own exercise routine to make sure it will get done” (“Exercise Tips for Extroverted, Introverted and Neurotic Personality Traits” – Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen). Conscientious People like high-intensity training but prefer to take charge of their own workouts rather than follow an instructor. If these individuals choose to train with a trainer they need to find a like-minded individual to train them or will opt to consult with a trainer to develop a structured routine that can be executed when it is convenient, and then check-in every month so the trainer can re-evaluate progress (“What’s Your Exercise Personality?” – Eatbetteramerica.com).  If they were to enter the Group Fitness arena, no frills programs such as Pump, cycle or Tabata would appeal as they are strong powerful programs all about getting in, doing the hard work and going!

We develop our emotional brain from a very early age; as babies we learn to laugh and cry. As we grow up we become subjected to a variety of experiences that shape us into who we are. Emotions hold strong with us when we are in certain environments due to our memories, and if an environment provokes negative associations, we become distressed and unhappy. However, the benefits of exercise are far too great to let environment or emotions stop us. Many fitness professionals and partakers give advice on what we should be doing. If this has failed for you in the past, perhaps ask yourself if the activity you participated in suited your needs? This is not just in terms of your fitness goals but what you required emotionally and environmentally. Often the best choices in life come from self-reflection on who we are and what is important to us. Perhaps if we stayed true to ourselves and our emotional needs, our training would not only assist our physical fitness, it would become a pleasurable thing that is a necessity for our wellbeing.

The New Year’s Resolution Achieved

“All wishes can be fulfilled by pledging” – The Manu Smriti

The end of the year is a busy time when we frantically try and cram in as much as possible; we tie up loose ends at work, try and catch up with as many family and friends as possible, we shop, eat and run around as though December 31st is the deadline to wind up all aspects of our life for the year!  Then January 1st chimes in… and suddenly, we breathe!  We finally have a moment to reflect on our year and what we want to change in this new ‘fresh start’ year.  Many people make New Year’s resolutions and most of these are geared toward self-improvement.  With this in mind, it is no surprise that fitness is often high on the priority list of when it comes to New Year’s resolutions.  However, studies have shown that approximately 20% of people are successful at seeing their resolutions through and some of the biggest failures are found in fitness resolutions (“Make Your New Year Fitness Plan Stick” - Lynn Bode CFT).  We often choose resolutions that we think we should adhere to rather than something realistic and achievable, so we make an empty promise to ourselves that we know we won’t see through.  What a waste of an opportunity!  New Year’s resolutions offer hope and prove that people have a belief in their ability to create positive changes for themselves.  The difference between our resolutions and other decisions we make to bring about changes in our life is that other goals we set for ourselves and achieve have taken concise planning, an action plan for when we get off track and landmarks so we can measure our progress.  If the New Year inspires a resolution and brings about optimism and motivation, why not create an action plan to guarantee success???

 

The practice of making resolutions can be tracked back to 4,000 years ago with the Babylonians.  Their New Year commenced in March to coincide with the “spring planting of crops” (“Personal Growth—New Year Resolutions: A Matter of Resolve” - Anupama Bhattacharya).  The Babylonians believed that “what a person does on the first day of the New Year will affect him or her throughout the year” (“Personal Growth—New Year Resolutions: A Matter of Resolve” - Anupama Bhattacharya).  Today’s take on resolutions doesn’t quite have the same superstitious connotations as the Babylonians, however, most resolutions are inspired from a reflection on the year before and a belief that the mere pledge to change will wipe clean a magical slate as the new year chimes in so we can start  over again.  If only life were that easy!  Unfortunately for most of us, unless you really did go about tying up loose ends and creating closure for certain life scenarios during the festive/catch-up/wrap up season, the problems we may have had with fitness, or work, or family often stay with us moving into the new year.  The lack of success some people have with resolutions often comes from the fact that they think uttering the resolution aloud will have the same effect as a magic wand!  However, when we look at other achievements in our lives, these have often come about due to actions, hard work and planning.

 

Many Personal Trainers use the SMART model when it comes to setting goals for clients; specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound goals.  A vague resolution like “I want to get fit” may inspire someone enough to join a gym, but with the word ‘fitness’ having so many variables and meanings associated with it, what’s the plan from here?  Most people who aspire to be fitter in the New Year do so because they indulge during the festive season, so their resolve to be ‘fitter’ is actually a wish to be leaner.  Setting a specific goal weight often helps people map out an action plan on how they can achieve this.  This goal must been realistic; if your goal is to lose 15kg and the average person loses 1-2 kilos per week, if you set yourself a 2 week time frame to achieve this in, you are dooming yourself to failure!  The main reason that so many of us give up on our New Year’s resolutions is that we set ourselves goals that are unobtainable.  A 12 week goal would be more reasonable and achievable in this scenario.

 

There should be some system to track and measure your progress; whether it is as old-fashioned as the scales, recording body measurements or a clothes size.  Measuring progress not only documents that everything is going in the right direction, it keeps you accountable and motivated when it comes to your goal.  Measuring progress of fitness doesn’t always have to be about aesthetics (as motivating as those changes are!), the measurement may be a progression with the training itself such as lifting heavier weights, the ability to do more repetitions at an exercise or increasing the distance or speed on your run.  A food diary is another measurement of progress; it documents improved habits and is an accountability tool if you stray from personal goals.

 

Goals should be attainable; a 4ft broadly-built female can’t strut up to a personal trainer, point to a photograph of Megan Gale and say “I want to look like this!” and someone who has never run to the letterbox in their life can’t expect to initiate their running training with a marathon and be amazing.  Reality tells us that, firstly, we must work with what we are born with and, secondly, we should set small achievable goals in order to draw us closer to bigger ones.  You may aspire to run a marathon; but why not start with 1-2km… gradually increase this distance to 10km… then build your speed and become more time efficient… then increase the distance to 15km… and so on…  It is good and optimistic to set your sights high, but perhaps breaking down these goals will offer a greater chance at success.

 

Goals should also be relevant to you and hold a certain resonance with your current lifestyle.  The trouble with New Year’s resolutions is that most changes we choose to make are based on what we think we should do and not what we really want for ourselves.  We may say that we want to give up drinking or smoking because we’ve heard they are ’bad for our health’ but then may be the biggest socialites on the planet who expose ourselves to these temptations 4-5 days  of the week.  Then we fall off the wagon within moments of pledging our resolution because we actually enjoy our current behaviour.  If we are going to commit to our resolution and want to bring about change, our goal should inspire us and come from an honest place.  I have had several personal training clients who have been inspired to work on their fitness due to a personal health scare or one involving a family member.   It is like an epiphany!  A loved one manages to turn their life around because the doctor prescribed them exercise and suddenly they are inspired to do right by themselves, or the pin finally dropped in regard to their own health and suddenly workout isn’t a luxury, it is a health necessity!

 

Time lines can create a sense of urgency; they keep us in line and make us strive harder for what we want when we want it.  Any student will tell you about sleepless nights spent just trying to finish an assignment by a deadline to ensure good results.  When we give ourselves a time-frame to achieve fitness goals we tend to see them through more successfully.  Successful Biggest Loser/Transformation Challenge contestants can vouch for this; the first 8 weeks are dedicated to lifestyle changes– training and physical exertion, diet changes and breaking bad habits... then suddenly the end date is in sight!  Training increases, the diet becomes even stricter and on that last weigh in day, the sauna sessions increase.  It is astounding the lengths we will go to when we have an end point in sight.

 

New Year’s resolutions have often been given a bad rap; a less than 20% success rate and many accounts of failure usually because we set ourselves goals we can’t achieve and don’t necessarily want to achieve.  But what is wrong with desiring a fresh start for ourselves?  The optimism and self-belief that we can make positive changes for ourselves should be encouraged!  The resolution itself may be broad and a little beyond our reach, but that isn’t to say we can’t take the idea, break it down into small achievable goals and see our resolutions through.