I recently started going back to a gym after a long break. Why is it that some of us get these spurts of energy to go to the gym which wears off soon enough after that initial boost of energy and enthusiasm? This is not an unusual trend for the gym, you set yourself enthusiastic new year resolutions to get into shape and 3 months down the road you quit for some reason or other. I did some research on this and found the following statistics:
- “50 percent of all new health club members quit within the first six months of signing up, according to the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association.” Source: Wayback Machine Archived Webpage
- 1 in 5 club members use their club at least twice per week. 40% of those who join health clubs stop going soon afterwards. Source: Health and Fitness Website
- In the article Time Management Facts and Figures by Dr. Donald E. Wetmore, it says that 90% of those who join health and fitness clubs will stop going within the first 90 days.
- The first quarter of the calendar remains the key period in the year for new member acquisition for the club industry. Link
There is a lot of evidence supporting those claims. I then looked back at all the times I have joined a gym or a health club and actively used their services regularly for at least an year. The one common denominator for when I had gone regularly, was with a gym partner. It is strange but true how the dynamics change when you have someone to spot you, talk to and even benchmark yourself to.
This got me thinking of the posts I have written about teams and partnering, and how essential that aspect is, not only from a business point of view but overall in life. This applies to whether you are choosing a life partner, a gym buddy or a mentor to help you along the way. Through partnering we can achieve extraordinary goals and greatly impact productivity and morale. All you have to do is choose your partners carefully.
“Why is it that some of us get these spurts of energy to go to the gym which wears off soon enough after that initial boost of energy and enthusiasm?”
Basically, you love believing the lie you are worthless. Face it, you love maintaining the present set of practices with unhealthy physcially unfit outcomes generated from said patterns of behavior. And, silly as it may sound, you love calling such a belief system “the happiest you will ever be.”
Most, if not all, of whatever it is we do in life fits into a certain version or vision we have about what Life is suppose to be like. The framework for the vision is primarily designed by the most influential adults during our years of early childhood and teen years. We soak up the messages of these persons like sponges and then apply the lessons of these messages into the construction of our designer versions of life. The woman who marries an abusive partner because she herself was abused by her dad, is the perfect best and clearest example of such.
For some of us, as we head off to the gym, headstrong about changing how it is we look and feel, we lose our head of steam quickly. Before we know it, we shower, get dressed, and leave the gym. As we load ourselves into the car refreshed, we tell our Self to never see the gym again for another 6 months.
Why?
Well….the strength we afford the illusion or version (or lie) of how we THINK life to be is granted so much weight of approval (in our mind) anything new which motivates us differently falls short of success. There is simply so little a level of belief in our attempt to break the cycle of our behavior we simply end up telling our Self some version of the phrase “this is gonna take a lot of work…and I’m tired…so….eh….maybe some time else!” and we return to remain believing in unhealthy life practices. And, as I said, we call this moment “the happiest we will ever be.”
AngllhugnU2
Author of IM with God
Pingback: The gym | time management
Pingback: Exercise Routines « Journey of a Serial Entrepreneur