Review of Dave Thomas’s training seminar last night @ The Foundry.
Back to school
Just like many people I know, I’ve previously spent months going to a gym, doing the same workout I was given on my first induction, perhaps progressing perhaps not, and spending hundreds of my well earned pounds over a minimum 12 months with a minimal result. My enthusiasm and progress for the first 4 months was all undone through lack of motivation and laziness the rest of the time (and 8 months membership money down the drain!).
After last night’s seminar with Dave, if I’d known then what I know now, I would have seriously taken control of my fitness regime, saving me time and money in the long term. Sometimes a cheap gym membership is a false economy in comparison to investing a bit of money to gain the knowledge of a professional over a few sessions.
So how do you start building your own training programme? It sounds simple but the key thing is having a goal. You want to lose fat or become stronger, but how do you even start to approach this huge feat?
As with any business project it is incredibly important to have a SMART goal (as a management consultant who attended last night said “I always use SMART at work but never thought about applying it to my fitness regime”), :
S pecific
M easurable
A greed Upon/ A mbitious / A ttainable (this developed throughout the seminar!)
R ealistic
T imely
Once you have your goal, you can build your programme to achieve this, using smaller goals to help you progress to the main goal; a bit like the England football team breaking up their aim to win the World Cup (or so we hope!) into more manageable chunks and mini goals over the four year campaign. May I suggest goal no. 1 is “Learn how to pass the ball to each other”…
Everyone has different barriers to fitness but the main ones raised and discussed last night were:
- Lack of motivation
- Lifestyle
- Tiredness
- Lack of knowledge
- Time
- Injury
- Training by yourself
Dave covered a lot of ground on how to specifically overcome these challenges, choose the right goal for you and build a programme to achieve that goal, but I think the following were the main take home messages that everyone should know:
- Pick a SMART goal
- Consult an expert (book, internet or person); this will save you time and money in the long term
Periodise your programme; break your SMART goal into more manageable mini goals - Chart your progress; nothing more motivating than seeing you’re reaching your target
- Be flexible; something will always get in the way e.g. work, illness, holidays, life
We also discussed periodisation but that’s a BIG topic!
So, my next goal? Do a proper pull up within the next 2 weeks. As simple as that. I’ll let you know if I make it!
For anyone who might be interested in learning more about building your own training programme and want to consult the experts for advice, contact dave@foundryfit.com or drop into our personal training studios in Liverpool Street.
