Personal training is an excellent way to set yourself up for success when working towards your health and fitness goals. The key is to find a knowledgeable personal trainer, who walks the talk. Then, bring the effort, discipline, and realistic expectations on your end.
One of the biggest issues I see as a personal trainer with long term results is people view achieving their goals as the end of the job. The problem is, there is no end to this game. The moment you stop working you start moving backwards. This is why roughly 80% of people who lose a significant amount of weight eventually gain it back. The original bad habits creep in, the workouts start being missed, and the diet slowly reverts back to the same one that put you in this place. Regardless of your reason for seeking better health and fitness, know that before you start this journey you will have to do this for the rest of your life. The good news is it gets easier the longer you do it. Eventually it becomes second nature and doesn’t feel like a chore.
Now with that being said, if you can avoid ever getting out of shape (putting on weight, losing mobility, etc.), you will have a much better chance at success long term. Most people will seek a personal trainer after the fact to try to get back in shape, but if they started personal training while they were still in pretty good shape, they would be able to achieve better results, faster, more easily. Maintaining fitness requires much less work than what it takes to get there.
Another big thing to consider when embarking down this road is your timeline. The quicker you achieve your results the less likely they are to be sustainable. That isn’t to say you can’t achieve amazing results in a few months done the right way. But there are no shortcuts. If your goal is to lose weight and you achieve it by extreme caloric restriction, you will without a doubt, put weight back on when you finally cheat on that diet. Zoom out, take a more realistic approach. Even if it takes a year to get to where you want to be, who cares? That year is going to pass either way, so might as well be in shape when the time comes.
Most of my personal training clients come to me with a shared goal: to improve body composition. It is my job as a personal trainer to educate them on the many other aspects of health and fitness. Better mobility, increased energy, improved health, better moods, and better quality of life. These are all things that you will get to experience from personal training despite your body composition progress. Although improving your body is a meaningful pursuit, these other benefits that come from prioritizing your health and fitness can be just as impactful.
Now let me give you what you probably want to hear: how long will it take for me to achieve my goals?
That depends on your goals and how much work you are willing to put in. I recommend a minimum commitment of 12 weeks of personal training, which is the time I believe it takes to start seeing noticeable results (and learn enough to know what you’re doing and why). Although after 1 day you’ll already feel better. After 1 week you’ll already have more energy. After 1 month you’ll have noticeable improvements in strength & mobility. After a year of consistent effort you will have transformed your overall health, body composition, and life expectancy. Using a personal trainer will always improve your odds of success and expedite results as they will provide an exact blueprint for you to follow to achieve your goals.
If you’re ready to commit to improving your health and fitness, set up a free discovery session today – Tommy Kudoba Fitness. Once we finish our consultation, a personalized program will be developed for you. It will help improve your strength, mobility, and of course body composition. You will also receive a guide to optimize your health and fitness. This will include information on nutrition, sleep, and other useful protocols to help you improve the quality of your life. Let’s get moving.