…. I thought I’d give you an example of a gym doing it right! (source) Happy weekend everyone! Stay active and keep rocking step one! P.S. Yes, I finally switched gyms.
Are you participating in 52 weeks, 52 steps?
Here’s a badge for your blog! Grab it and display it with pride.
It’s step one of 52 weeks, 52 steps! Is anyone as nervous and excited as I am? I’ve decided to start us off with something simple and relatively easy: Clean.
A large part of being healthy is living in a healthy environment.
Surrounding yourself with good things can (and does) lead to good thoughts, good actions and positive outcomes. Also, clearing out clutter and temptation is a great way to signal to yourself that you’re ready to start something new.
The Step: Clean
Remove temptations or triggers from your life. Surround yourself with only the things that will lead to positive, healthy behaviors.
How:
That’s it — Happy cleaning!. 
P.S. If you’re just joining us, read all about 52 weeks, 52 steps here. You can get caught up on all the steps here (there aren’t many yet) and if you’d like to your weekly step in your inbox sign up for a subscription to my blog here.
P.P.S. Have questions for me? Leave them in the comments or ask away!
I pick on my gym a lot, but the reason I do is because I really want them to succeed and stick around when I see so many other businesses dying and/or failing in my city. Sure, it’s just another link in the giant chain-gym-machine…. but, it contains a great community of people who are sticking by it, and if it could break free from it’s chain, it would be a really nice place to exercise.
My gym isn’t doing so well. They need more memberships and they’re just not getting them.The problem with my gym is that it isn’t super. It’s part of a chain of clubs: some of the gyms in this chain are average (members pay a decent, average price), some of the gyms are “plus” (members pay a little more), and some of the gyms are “super” because they are endorsed by a celebrity and offer special amenities and classes the other gyms don’t have (you don’t even want to know what those members pay).The problem with this model is that every gym should be super. Increasingly, super is what people are coming to expect, and mega gyms or “boxes” across the country aren’t getting the message.
They still want to live by the model that has worked in the past:
The past was easy for gyms, but things are changing in a big way.
Gyms are failing to see the change in industry (or they’ve failed to do anything about it).
With the onslaught of social media, blogs, forums and online connectivity, information is accessible like it never has been before. People can read about fitness from expert trainers, watch videos on proper technique and nutrition, log all their personal health analytics instantly and connect with professionals daily and for FREE.
We’ve also become increasingly interested in niche fitness trends like crossfit, yoga, and kettlebell training and people are beginning to look at static weight machines and even some cardio equipment with disdain. After all, that’s really boring.
We no longer want to pay a trainer to show us how to use a machine. In fact:
In order to turn things around my gym would have to do something truly super. They’d have to figure out a way to make their boring, average gym extraordinary. The good news is they have a really good foundation of core gym members and trainers; people who are friendly, engaging, eager and ready to endorse them. They just need an extra push or reason for us to say, “my gym is doing some truly amazing things, come check it out — you HAVE to.”
Yesterday kicked my a$&.
I tried a new bootcamp class at my gym, and I have to say it was one of the tougher workouts I’ve ever done. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been through tough classes before, but there was something about this class that suuuuuucked. I had to push myself harder than usual.
This might be because during the last week of December I majorly slacked off! I didn’t go to the gym at all last week. Plus, my regular class is a great workout, but it’s isn’t really a challenge for me anymore. I walked into class expecting something similar. I was seriously mistaken. Everyone taking the class was an athlete, they were ALL in great shape (there were even some trainers in attendance), and they all knew each other. I was the chubby newbie.
Right before entering the classroom, I met someone in the hall and he said something like, “this trainer is really tough.” He wasn’t wrong. Class WAS tough. I was sore before I even LEFT class. Today I’m not a fan of walking, sitting and/or standing. That tough.
I’m not discouraged though. Exactly the opposite. I’m EXCITED because I’ve found something really fun to push myself in the gym again. PLUS, while I was on the floor in a puddle of my own sweat, I thought of something clever to do with my blog. Something to help push YOU along on your journey too.
My idea is pretty simple.
52 weeks, 52 steps.
As I’ve mentioned countless times, I believe in small, lifestyle changes that affect one’s health versus dramatic fad diets, pills, extreme workouts and difficult changes that won’t last because they are difficult and unrealistic.
After all, weight loss is nice, but it ultimately means nothing if it isn’t healthy and/or sustainable. The best changes are the ones we take on slowly, with purpose, and remember to stick to for a lifetime.
So, I’ve decided to challenge everyone who reads my blog to take 52 steps towards health.
How it works:
Each week, I’ll post a new step, the concept/reason behind it, and ways to get started. My challenge for you is to follow through and do it. Some of the steps will be easy things you can revisit every once in awhile, other steps will be actions that I hope you will take with you into your daily lives.
Who can do it?:
Everyone. All of the steps will be manageable for everyone. That said, some might not be relevant for everyone. Obviously you get to decide which ones you do, when, and for how long. I only ask that you consider them, and try the ones that make sense to you (modify them if you’d like to!), and have fun.
The “rules”:
That’s it! The first post goes up next Monday! If you’d like to your weekly step in your inbox sign up for a subscription to my blog here.
Sound good? Lets do this!
