How Do I Choose a Health and Fitness Program?

We are being bombarded with information about our health and fitness and how important they are. We know that there is a shift in this direction by the emphasis the media is placing in this area and the way grocery stores and restaurants are marketing to us. Fast Food restaurants are offering “healthier” choices. Supermarkets are enhancing their organic food selection and are offering more variety. The fitness industry is booming as well with new programs, gyms and ways to workout!

With everything out there we can become overwhelmed. Sometimes there are so many choices that instead of picking something and trying, we don’t choose anything at all.

How do you pick the right program for you?

I have done several programs and various nutrition plans over the years. Some have been fantastic, some, not so much. I have achieved success and a lot of failure. Some of the failure was my own, some of it was the unrealistic expectations of the programs and plans I followed.

When choosing a program It is important that you look at it as a whole.

1.  Is there a nutrition plan?

You can’t outwork a bad diet. Is your fitness program paired with a nutrition plan? Is it a plan that you understand and can follow? More importantly, is it a plan that you can follow long term?

2. What kind of workouts do you enjoy?

It is important that you choose a workout that you will enjoy doing. If you choose something you hate, you won’t stick with it. If you are someone who does not enjoy cardio, you don’t want to pick a program that is primarily cardio. If you don’t like lifting weights, you won’t want a program that is all weightlifting.

3.  How much time are you willing to make?

Notice this question isn’t asking how much time do you have. Most of us don’t have time in our day, but we make time for things that are important and things that matter. Your health is important and needs to matter!

Beachbody has programs that are as short as 10 minutes! Most of us can’t make an hour in our day, but we can usually find a few blocks of 10 minutes, or even a 30 minutes chunk of time. 

4.  What kind of equipment and space do you have at home and are you willing to invest in any equipment?

Space and equipment are often concerns when looking to workout from home. Programs can range from no equipment to needing bands, chin up bars, benches or needing several different dumbbells. It is important to consider what you will need in order to fully participate in the program you choose. If you don’t have the equipment needed, are you willing to invest in it? If not, you will want to look at other options.

When it comes to figuring out space, most of us don’t have gyms in our home. Most of us don’t have spare rooms to use as workout space either. When looking to do a program from home, be sure to look at the amount of space you need. Many of the Beachbody programs can be done in your living room (you may need to slide a table out of the way). I have found the majority of programs I choose need a little more space than a yoga mat in order to fully do them!

5.  Do you have injuries or medical conditions you need to work around?

I have a knee injury that limits my running and jumping. When looking at programs it is important to look at the impact they will have on your body and figure out if your body can handle it. If you are looking at a program that is higher impact, you need to figure out if you can modify moves around your injuries and still benefit from the workout. If not, you will want to look at alternatives.

Beachbody has understood this and has added someone in their workouts who is doing a modified version of the movements. Some programs even offers a split screen view so the modifier is on the screen the entire time for you to follow.

One of the advantages to Beachbody programs is their money back guarantee! If for some reason you look at all these factors and find the program you selected isn’t what you thought it would be or you don’t like it for any reason, you can return it!

A few years ago I wanted to try something other than p90x (since I had already done that). I didn’t know what to consider and I didn’t reach out to my coach for help. I was intimidated by Insanity and came across Turbo Fire. This is an incredible High Tempo workout that many of my friends had phenomenal results with. When it arrived I threw in the first video and it was not a good fit for me. In this program you need to have a little bit of rhythm or like music and keeping a beat. I found I wasn’t doing movements properly so I wasn’t benefiting from them. I am also not big on music when I workout. If I was to try that program now, at a different point in my life, it might be a different story, but for that moment, it was all wrong for me.

I gave it a few days and then called and was able to return it with no problems! I made a better selection for me at that time and “crushed” it!

It is comforting to have that 30 day money back guarantee available. It helps to ease the mind when choosing a program. It makes it ok to make a mistake.

I would love to talk to you more about finding a program and connecting you with my next challenge group! 

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