Everyone needs to move. Whether you do that, in a manner that ensures your capacity for enjoyable living, is up to you. How you do it is also up to you. I would encourage you to consider the points below when making your decision. Knowledge is power.

BUT FIRST!

A story. Everyone knows I love stories.

I have a drink bottle at the gym. It’s one of the metal ones because I care about the earth when it’s convenient. It’s got the gym logo on it and it doesn’t leak. But, it’s a little bit broken. It has some cracks at the bottom which means it can’t stand up straight anymore. See the picture below:

The other day I saw it sitting there, and it occurred to me that much like dogs who start to resemble their owners, this drink bottle resembled me in a number of ways. I’m a good human. I go to work and do it pretty well most of the time. I can feed and water myself, bathe regularly and show up when I say I will. But, I’m a little bit broken. I have a dodgy knee, some of my fingers point funny directions, my feet are riddled with arthritis and my mental health is not always the best.

My drink bottle, because it can’t stand up straight anymore, tips over pretty easily. Sometimes the merest brush will send it toppling to the ground. It’s a good drink bottle, it does the job as well as any other drink bottle and I think it has character so I’ve kept it; even though I could easily get one that stands up straight through the most inclement conditions.

I’m a bit like that too. I can do the job as well as anyone else when I’m on my game. Some days, though, something seemingly inconsequential can send me toppling to the ground. Even if I wanted to, I can’t get a new me that stands up straight through the most inclement conditions, so I have to pick myself back up again and keep going.

I had a second realisation the same day I took the photo of my drink bottle. Spot the difference with the photo below:

I had just had a sip and popped my bottle back on the table without really looking. It felt like it was going to topple over, as it does, but it didn’t. Because it doesn’t stand up straight, the top ended up leaning on another drink bottle. Suddenly my drink bottle was just as sturdy, if not sturdier, than a brand spanking new one! It was supported by another drink bottle and it could stand up to the worst the world could throw at it!

I’m a bit like that too. Sometimes I feel like I’m about to topple over again but having another drink bottle to lean on can keep me upright through some pretty harsh weather. My drink bottle and I are both a little bit broken, but with a loyal supporter in our corner, we can conquer anything. Keep that in mind when you read through the 3 reasons you should be working with a Personal Trainer (at Amplify), below.

Reason 1: you should be working with a Personal Trainer (at Amplify)

Your time is valuable.

Unless it is a fun hobby for you, it’s probably a waste of time trying to reinvent the wheel when it comes to moving your body. Personal Trainers, the right ones, have already spent the time and are experts at their craft. When I go to the hairdresser, I ask them to tell me what they think. I can tell them, kind of, what I want but I have no idea how it translates and possibly what I think I want would look pants. They have seen thousands of heads and hairs and are the experts, so I defer to them. I can also blame them if they give me a nightmare cut.

The same is true of massage therapists, doctors, lawyers, accountants etc. I can spend my time learning how to do all that stuff but for any number of reasons that’s a bad idea. The most important one is that it would take forever.

Time is the most finite resource you have.

All of us at Amplify have spent the time to learn this stuff. We know what you need. Are Personal Trainers a significant investment? Absolutely. But the time you save in not having to figure it all out yourself and not getting results while you blast trial and error YouTube workouts at your muscles is priceless.

If you think about what you’re worth to your employer per hour and translate that into the hours and hours you save by letting a trainer do the (metaphorical) heavy lifting, you’ll find you probably come out ahead by a fair way.

You can’t save time; you can only choose how to spend it. Spend it on the important things, we’ve got your back for the movement part.

Reason 2: you should be working with a Personal Trainer (at Amplify)

You are more accountable to someone else than to yourself.

The psychology of the modern human is massively complex and deceptively simple at the same time. Logically, we should hold ourselves to account more than anyone else. No one can ever be more invested in you than you are in yourself. Your body spends its whole life keeping you alive, for free. Yet, we are far more likely to let ourselves down than someone else.

There have been times in my life where I have had such single minded focus and was so self absorbed that I would go to the gym without fail, do extra work constantly and measure my food to the last gram. The results were pretty impressive, if I do say so myself. However, that was not sustainable and there was a big cost to living that way and it was my social and mental health.

There have been other times where I have had every intention of training three times a week and done four workouts in a month. My point is that relying on your own motivation is a recipe for inconsistency. We can maintain it for a time, but eventually life changes things.

Good Personal Trainers, like those at Amplify Fitness, have worked with hundreds of people through hundreds of different circumstances. We know how to balance things to suit you. We also know that you are far more likely to turn up to an appointment you made with us than to show up to the gym because you know you should.

We are in the gym, on your screen and at times haunting your thoughts and dreams if that’s what it takes to help you get the results and form the habits you want from training.

The ONLY way to get results from training is consistency. We will keep you accountable to make sure you are consistent, especially when your motivation is not.

Reason 3: you should be working with a Personal Trainer (at Amplify)

Investing in your health and happiness is a sound investment.

As mentioned above, motivation is a fickle beast. Some days you have it, other days, not so much. Sometimes a wish and a prayer is not enough, you need something more to get you through the door. I reckon we have a good bunch of trainers at Amplify Fitness, but I have to tell you it’s been more than once that someone has told me the only reason they turned up is because they had already paid for the session.

The financial investment it is to work with a Personal Trainer (at Amplify) is worth it for so many reasons but an important one is the investment itself. That’s your skin in the game. Your heart and mind are not always going to be on board, so when you are feeling like anything else but training, knowing that texting an excuse will be wasting your hard earned money might be enough to make you pick up your gym bag instead.

I’m sure you know someone in your life who is a serial gym-hopper living life on a gym merry-go-round. A month here, a month there and they never really seem to get anywhere. I’ve had quite a few clients who have said to me, “Can I pay for my sessions up front in a block?” and I really encourage that. Their reasoning is always that they know themselves well and they struggle to stick with things. Paying up front means to get what they paid all that money for, they need to turn up to the sessions. It’s a fantastic way to force yourself to push through sticking points and get consistency (the magic word) in your training.

Spending money to improve your health and happiness will always be a sound investment. And, you will always be worth investing in.

If any of this has resonated with you and you know it’s time to invest in yourself, check out what we do on our personal training page. Then, get in contact – we will schedule a free consult for you and make sure it’s a good fit to work together.

Coach Josh Wood is also another excellent trainer and works out of Amplify so give him a look – especially if you are considering one of Tasmania’s amazing treks, Josh is a wilderness guide and very experienced in coaching people to fulfil their backpacking goals.

We also partner with Steph at Food is Life and she has a wealth of free resources available to help you form sustainable and effective food habits. She also runs short, educational courses which have had terrific success. Get in contact if this is something you feel you could benefit from in your life.