Latest / Cameron's Conversations: The last weight loss podcast you'll ever need. / Episode 73: Why most people don't enjoy the gym
Transcript
- Cameron: Welcome to the Cameron's Conversations podcast. And in today's episode, I want to talk all about why most people don't enjoy the gym. And this is really kind of, I guess, popped into my head because I was thinking of one of my clients, Emma, who is just waiting to go on a cruise and she sort of popped me a message just saying that she was in the best shape of her life and she's feeling fantastic. And I was reflecting a little bit about her journey. And one of her, she came in through Sorted in six and then went into my one-to-one coaching and When she first started, in very first sorted in six check-in, I remember kind of putting a little comment and being like, training wasn't the best this week, I don't like the gym, but I have signed up to a class as well. I think it might have even been a little high rocks class or something, goodness me. But it's been really interesting watching her journey through that. So we've gone from her not really enjoying the gym and not really wanting to go. Like I think if, she wouldn't mind me saying, I think if she was honest, she didn't really want to go. Like she was more of a runner in the sense that she was running a few times a week and felt like, that was probably the thing to do. And then there's kind of the sense of, as a lot of people have, especially these days, because we talk about strength training more and more online, I think people are kind of aware, like, probably should go to the gym. But it was very much a should, not a like, ⁓ yeah, like, that'd be really good, I'll make loads of progress, I'm excited about that, blah, blah. It was much more of a, right, I've got to fold the laundry type deal, or do the hoovering. I don't think it was necessarily something she was looking forward to as much as a chore. And the thing that's really interesting is we look at her journey. What has happened week on week on week is she has just progressed incredibly steadily. And I think that she's, and then she's now got to this point where she's able to do multiple, multiple full press ups, which is a really big achievement for her because she couldn't do any before. And she's now very close to being able to do her first full pull up, which is pretty bonkers when you think about it. That's, you know, I often say this to people in training terms, and I do actually mean this, I think it's somewhat more of an achievement almost to do. your first full pull up than it is to even do a half marathon. What I mean by that is not to say that one's better than the other, but what I mean is it's easier to do one of the, more people have done one of those things than the other thing. You will find a lot more people that can do a half marathon than people that go to the gym two, three times a week to do a pull up. That's an incredible achievement to be strong enough to do that. It's really, impressive. And I think that one of the things that's really, really nice about that situation is it's kind of the perfect example of lot of the clients that I work with. So actually, Speaking to a friend of mine who's also a coach in a gym, and he was talking to me a little bit, and he was asking me about who do I tend to work with and stuff. And I think Emma's probably the kind of quite archetypal, and know quite a few of my clients listen to this podcast, and they'll probably be nodding their head a bit. It's like, in a lot of ways, they're basically me, which is to say that they were really active, they enjoyed activity, maybe not necessarily, I I enjoyed the gym, so that's maybe slightly different, but otherwise, they were quite active, like they enjoyed doing things, so they might go to a couple of classes, or they might enjoy doing yoga or Pilates, or they might have enjoyed doing bit of running, and they'll do some walking at the weekends and things. In general, lot of the people I work with are not, it's not the case that they don't do any exercise or any movement at all. A lot of people actually do, and it's quite interesting, and it's not an activity issue. The problem is for most people is that actually it's very much the case that They're not in the shape they want to be because their nutrition's not in the place it needs to be and because although they're active, and even if they do train a bit, the training doesn't have any direction whatsoever. And I think that Emma's kind of very much the archetype of that where she has gone into this process, lost a chunk of weight, which no doubt helps in motivation too, of course, but ultimately she's made really clear progress from the gym. And I often say this to people, one of the reasons most people don't enjoy the gym or don't love the gym. isn't because of the gym itself, it's because of the kind of like, sort of reward ratio, right, or the result ratio to it, is they've kind of gone in and out of the gym over the years, but really, what do they have to show for it? Like, not a lot, or they've maybe gone to classes twice a week, and undoubtedly they are fitter from doing two classes a week, and I'll often get that with people, like, yeah, I felt like I got quite a bit fitter at the start, but yeah, I don't really feel like I've progressed in a while, like, they might have been going to two classes a week for three years, four years, five years. And they're like, yeah, I mean, I'm definitely fitter than I used to be. Like, you when I do nothing and I started doing that, that was good. Like, I notice it a bit, but I don't feel like amazingly fit. I don't feel amazingly strong. And they very, very, very rarely see visual results because as harsh as it sounds, but it's absolutely like my kind of thought process on it is classes are great socially. Classes can be great cardio, but they are very rarely effective training. Like they just aren't. like legs, bums and tums. Like I've been there, I've been that instructor teaching it, I've been in gyms for years. The way that it is formatted, what you get out of it, it's burning and all the rest of it, completely get that, I'm really sweaty, you know, blah blah blah. Sweat does not equal an amazing effective training session for changing your body shape. It just does not work that way. And I appreciate for some people who are kind of in that bubble of being like, oh but I'm doing loads of classes and I'm really proud of myself for going. It's not to poo poo on that and say, don't do that. Absolutely, like you know, still going to. class a week and all the rest of it, absolutely enjoy yourself. I have some clients that do spin classes and Zumba and all sorts of things and they do those things for cardio reasons. But it's a bit like hammering a screw into a wall rather than hammering a nail into a wall. We are using the wrong tool for the right task or the wrong task indeed. I think that's really, really important. And I think this is one of the things that comes back to us. The reason that people don't enjoy the gym is because they don't see anything from it. Like you've got to see a return on your investment of time and energy and motivation because there's days where you don't want to go and, despite what anyone says, there's gonna be days even when you're smashing it and like a client like Emma who's doing bloody brilliantly, I know for a fact that not every single gym session she bounces into, human being as I am, like there are times that we can't be bothered. Like I really looked forward to my gym session this morning, I couldn't wait to go, I was doing a wee bit of work and I just trying to get through it and get done before I could get out and go. But there are other days earlier this week where I trained and I wasn't really feeling very energetic, but I did it anyway because it would make me feel good. And when I got there, I good. But I think this is it, is that when you get an example like Emma where she first saw real improvements in strength, because she has a structured training plan. There's a couple of things that factor into that. One, we structured her training plan around her training environment. So if she was training at home or if she was training in the gym, that's what we're looking at. But it's not just a home training plan or a gym training plan, right? It's also looking at what are the logistics of the gym? What's it like? Because I have some clients that train in council facilities which are really well equipped and quiet. Council facilities that are not well equipped and really bloody busy. Pure gyms, the gyms, which can again be very busy or sometimes they're not so busy because of the times they train are just not such busy gyms. Little independent gyms which are maybe brilliant for how quiet they are but a bit more restricted on kit. But it's really important that your training plan is built around you because sometimes you are, even if you've got a quote unquote gym plan, Like certain things don't suit. Like I train basically between three gyms. So there's a gym closest to me, which is a the gym. And then there's another the gym, which is about 10 minutes farther, yeah, probably 10 minutes farther driving on a quiet day. But it's a much better gym. Like it's just, it's about two and a half times the size. And it probably isn't actually quiet. It's probably the same amount of people in it. but it feels much quieter because of the size. And I trained there this morning. On the weekends, I make an effort to go there because I get a better session in. I enjoy it more, and yes, it's a little bit more driving, but on a weekend, I don't mind the extra 10 minutes one way or the other, but during the week, don't have that time. So that's a perfect example of you want to manipulate your training around that. I know that my sessions work slightly better in that bigger gym, and in the smaller gym, they still work really, well, but I know there's, and obviously it's easy for me to do as a coach, but there's certain compromises I have to make in the session structure. I know. that I have to adapt a couple of things because it's just busier in that small gym, small space, same amount of people. Whereas I go to this other gym on like a Saturday morning and I've got oodles of room, I can do whatever I want, whenever I want, which is great. And you know, I have another gym up north when I visit family that my kind of a friend of mine owns and it's brilliant to train in because it's always like relatively quiet. Because I I always go because I'm a weirdo early on like a Saturday and Sunday morning because I'm up there for a weekend and it's different, right? but I know I have to manipulate my sessions slightly. Now most people train in the same gym, so they don't have that same issue, but the point is is that by building a training session around your gym that actually suits it, it feels like it flows well and it feels like it's less of an effort, so your enjoyment comes up. And that's another way that people can enjoy the gym a bit more is actually have a plan for your gym, but also have a plan for your bloody goals. It absolutely, I completely get it, it makes so much sense when you don't know where to start that you copy and paste a plan off the internet, but. for so many people I've looked at their training plans that they've downloaded and I just think this either doesn't suit you as a person in the way that you move, your current skillset, all the rest of it. Like if I give a brand new client movements that are just way above their head, all that does is demotivate them because it's intimidating as hell to walk in and do like a front squat when you've never even been through the door of a gym before. Like that's not a good choice. Like go and jump on like a leg press where you can like. like you're hiding in a corner and you feel safe and you start from there and then you build your confidence out the way. You don't start with oodles of confidence. That's not how it works. Even for me when I started training it was the same. So I think that's another part as well is like making sure that you're planned specific to your gym, you as a person and your skill level. But then also sometimes I see, you like you copy and paste a plan off the internet and then it's not adapted to you either. So what you end up doing is you end up doing a bunch of exercises that might not necessarily suit your individual anatomy. Like if you're really tall and you're doing a certain Like certain squats probably don't suit you that well, or if you're quite small, certain machines don't fit very well and you can't really do them properly. Like all these things that, again, you can't really consider, that bit of it, everything else you can, but that bit of it you can't really consider for yourself if you've not got the experience of training I appreciate. That's maybe a little bit less pragmatic, you can't use that in the moment, but it's something that feeds into, when I take a client like Emma for example, who's kicked on and made so much progress. That is a perfect example of that. And then the other bit to all of this that's so important is week in, week out, we have progressed. She has a training plan in an app which she can put her weight in and she can see that week on week on week on week she progresses. Now, that's not to say that she never has a week where she takes a step back, I can't do as much, that's not the case. In Emma's case, that's definitely not the case because she's also got like some other considerations in the background, right? But when we look at the overall trajectory, it's bloody brilliant. And that's the thing that makes all the difference in the world. So even though we were managing, she wouldn't mind me saying, because she's quite open about it, but like she's managing fibro, like fibromyalgia is, like that means her energy levels are variable. But we still have made tons of progress, even although actually some sessions she just has to back off a little bit. Like even, you just can't do as much and we don't want her to, we don't want her to overdo it. It's slightly different, you it's not just a, you just crack on and push through, like cool, if you're 19 years old and you're made of rubber and magic, that's fantastic, but that's not real life as a parent of mum with a job. Like with Fibro, you can't just do that. It's not just a case of like pushing through no matter what, there would be a cost to that on the other side in terms of fatigue and feeling run down and flare up. So I think the key thing here is that. for her because she's made so much progress. She has done full press ups. She's so much stronger in every exercise. Well, that's incredibly compelling. Like if you walk in and you're like, do you know what, I'm so much stronger than I was six months ago. That's very motivating. And also it really adds to your sense of competence because if you started on a leg press at 15, you can now do 100. Look, it's probably not the heaviest leg press in the gym by any means, but you still feel like a bit of a sense of belonging. Like, yeah, I'm capable. Like I can do this. I know how to do the movement, ⁓ I know my technique's right, and B, I've gotten so much stronger in this, I've made good progress. So these things all feed in, and I think this is really, really useful to kind of think about when it comes to that, like, the reason a lot of people don't enjoy the gym is because they're not seeing progress, because they don't have a plan. If they do have a plan, it's not a particularly good plan, it doesn't suit them, doesn't suit their gym, doesn't even suit their goals. And a lot of people just are directionless. Like, their training literally looks like, I'll do a bit of this, I'll do a bit of that, I'll do a this again, I'll maybe do some of that, but that won't work. that will not swing if you want to make serious progress. And that comes to the final point, probably the other reason that most people don't enjoy it is because you don't see the visual changes. And this is massive. Now there's two bits to this. One, and this is very frank, is that as you lose weight, it gets easier to see visual progress because you've got less body fat. Just calling a spade a spade. If you are carrying 40, 50, 60 kilos of excess body fat, it is much harder to see those changes. than when you lose that next five, that next 10 kilos and you get lighter. Now that's not to say by any means that someone who has got more weight to lose will not see visual changes. They will, they'll absolutely be happening. But it's a little bit of like an iceberg effect where imagine the iceberg is your muscle mass and the water level is your body fat. If I build a bigger iceberg, what that means is that water level comes down, it becomes more more obvious that there's something there, right? That muscle mass is there. And when I say muscle mass, people often worry about that whole, like, oh, I'll get too bulky. That won't happen. just won't happen, been trying to get bulky for years. What will happen is you'll have more definition. So when that water level comes down, if you have the same size iceberg, you'll still notice a difference, you'll still look better for sure. Even if your iceberg is the same size, but if you're training for three, four, five, six months and you're chipping away at that weight loss piece too, when that water level comes down, you're like, whoa, I look really bloody good. And a really common way, like a nice way of framing this is, I have a lot of clients that'll say something along these lines to me. They'll say something like, the last time I was this weight I looked completely different or I look much better now at this weight than I did five years ago. And that's always really telling and that's just because they have a bit more muscle mass because they've been training, right? And that's really, really important as well. So I think that's another big factor is you've got to see those visual changes. Now, the kind of underpinning thing of all of this as well is like what I've said is. progress, like you need to progress in the gym. So you're not going to be motivated if you don't see progress in terms of lifting heavier weights, but there's all, or moving up reps, right, and pushing yourself. But that's also an underpinning thing here as well. Sometimes why people don't enjoy the gym is they maybe do have a plan, but they just don't push themselves at all. Like they're kind of like, ⁓ yeah, that'll do. ⁓ that was mildly challenging. ⁓ yeah, that's fine. And it's like, if you train with the training intensity of your granny, you probably also want to enjoy your training because it's not particularly satisfying. you don't feel like you've progressed that much and you self-limit yourself, you're kind of like, oh, I could go up, nah, I'll just stay this way. Like, come on, we're here for a reason. If we've got 40 minutes twice a week, let's bloody use them. I don't know about you, but there's limited time, right? We're all stretched on time, we all are. I know I feel like that a lot of the time too. So you wanna get the most from your sessions, I can't stress that enough. So hopefully that was a bit helpful in terms of that thought process between behind why a lot of people don't enjoy the gym. And I appreciate there's other factors too. feeling a little bit intimidated, feeling like it's scary. That's a competence thing and that's where having the right training plan helps. Like I've got a client who's been working with me for a good bit actually and she's now just signed up to the gym for the first time and I was talking to this about her. It's her gym plan initially is gonna be based on two things, her goals and her confidence level. She's not very confident in gym yet. I give her three months and she will be. Like I always guarantee that she'll smash it. But all we'll do is we'll start machines that are really easy to set up on and we'll get her comfortable with those. And then every couple of weeks, I'm gonna add an extra movement in. And what that means is, she will go into her session and she'll know five of the movements and she'll be like, ⁓ cool, I've got this one new movement, great, I can tackle that. Because I know what it's like, if you're new to the gym and you've got eight new things to learn and they're all quite tricky, that just completely kills your confidence. Whereas when she goes in, she's like, well know how to use the leg press, I know how to use the lat pull down, I know how to use the leg extension, cool, that's fine. But Cameron's given me this other movement, like, let me go figure this out. but it's only one thing to figure out. And then once you've done that, you consolidate for a couple weeks and then you build. That is such a good way of doing it. And that's often the way I do it with clients who are getting into training so that six months on, they're like, I feel totally different about the gym. I feel way more confident. But it's not because we've been thrown at the deep end and pushed to position where they're like, I have no idea what I'm doing. Why am in the squat rack? What is a squat rack? What are squats? What is a rack? Help, help, help, help. That's not what we want, right? want to try and avoid that. So that's hopefully helpful and some thoughts around training. If you are struggling with your training at the moment and you have no real direction or you're terrified of the gym or you have been going to the gym for bloody ages and you have seen the grand total of no change, about as much change as I've seen the outside my flat on the roads from the council seeing the work on the potholes, which is the sweet bugger all, then you might want to jump into the show notes and you will see a link there to my WhatsApp. And that is just my WhatsApp. You can just ping me a little message. If you want to ping me a message at coaching, you can ping me little message and I'll tell you a little bit more about how coaching works and what's involved in it. But also, if you're just struggling with anything in particular and you've got any questions, that is where I'm best contacted. That's where I'll get back to and give you a little bit of guidance as well so you can at least move a little bit forward. But otherwise, have a great week and speak to you soon.