Why following a training plan may be a good idea for you

As you know, one of my new year’s resolutions is to get my fitness back on track. At first, I was just focusing on actually making it to the gym, but as I got back into that habit, I turned my attention to what I do when I’m at the gym. Last month, I explored all the ways group fitness classes can be beneficial and today I wanted to talk about the benefits of following a training plan.

[Tweet “The benefits of following a dedicated #workout plan #fitness #fitfam #goodlifefitness”]

When I first joined my gym, GoodLife Fitness, part of the ‘onboarding’ processes was speaking with a personal trainer. He had me do a basic fitness test, to figure out where I was and then we discussed my goals and the best way for me to go about accomplishing them. For someone who had basically no idea what I was doing in the gym, that initial session was a godsend. And it really highlighted the importance of following a training plan.

3 Reasons you should be following a fitness training plan

1. It’s (ideally) tailored to your needs

The best training plans are the ones made specifically for you by a trainer because they’re designed to help you accomplish your specific fitness goals. That being said, not many people have can afford to work with a personal trainer. Luckily, there are many training plans and programs available online that cater to different, more general, fitness needs.

Whether you want to lean out, lose weight, gain weight or whatever, it should be relatively simple for you to find one. Granted, the results may not be as good as if you had a trainer pushing you to do your best. But, from experience, those ‘generic’ fitness plans can be infinitely better than the random workouts you throw together on your own. Especially if you’re working to a specific goal and not just working out to work out if you know what I mean.

2. It encourages you to actually workout (well)

Like with group classes, training plans take the guesswork out of going to the gym since the exercises you need to do are already laid out for you. This helps to combat those ‘I don’t know what to do’ days that either result in missed workouts or sub-par ones. I know that there’s a saying that no one ever regrets a workout, but I honestly don’t fully agree with it.

First, there was that time I injured myself at the gym, which is a story for another day. But let’s just say I still regret working out that day. Then, there are the times where I leave the gym feeling like my workout was basically a waste of my time. Not fun. But when I’m following a dedicated workout plan, my missed or crappy workouts are very, very few and very, very far between.  

3. It forces you out of your comfort zone

The workout program I’m currently following calls for 5-6 training days a week with anywhere between 270 and 350 reps per day. And next week, I’ll have to start incorporating 4 days of cardio a week. If I was working out on my own, I would never workout that hard or that often. And I sure AF wouldn’t be doing cardio since it’s the bane of my existence.

But because my plan calls for it and I’m dedicated to reaping the rewards of following the program, come next week, I’ll be doing every rep and every second of cardio. And I’m 99% sure that I’ll be glad I stuck with it when it’s all over (unless I get injured again, that is.)

What about you?

• Do you follow a fitness training plan/program?
• Why or why not?
• Which fitness training plans floating around the interwebs have you done/wanted to do?

Share in the comments below!

 
 
 
Get Social with me on:
Facebook –  Diary of an Ex-Sloth
Twitter – @ExSloth
Pinterest – @ExSloth
Instagram – @ExSloth
Google+ – +GiselleRochford
Bloglovin – Diary of an ExSloth

Follow GiselleR | Healthy Living Blogger’s board Fitness Tips on Pinterest.

This post was written as part of the GoodLife Fitness Blogger Ambassador Program; however all opinions expressed are my own.