#1 – You must have long training sessions and feel sore to get results.

This couldn’t be further from the truth! The facts of fitness do not support either of part of the statement and actually work against the thought you need extended workout times and soreness to accomplish fitness goals. The proper approach to achieving your goals is to create a structured workout plan for each session at the beginning of the week try to perform 6-8 different exercises with 2-3 sets and 8-12 reps per exercise. While you may experience some soreness early on your journey, as you progress through fitness levels, even with moderate rep and weight increases, you will not always experience soreness. As a tip, try to limit your session time to 30-45 minutes initially and eventually increase to 45-60 minutes and pay attention to how long your soreness last. If you are hurting for days after a single session, it is possible you will need to dial back the amount of work you are doing for a while.

#2 – Eat less, lose weight faster.

Hmm…this one is a bit tricky, but I’m going to call it a myth based on one principle: starving yourself is unhealthy. I would be dishonest to say that eating less does not work, because it does trim the waistline rather quickly. The issue lies in the manner in which consumption is reduced. An educated approach to meal management is clearly the most effective and sustainable method to weight loss. That said, sure, you can limit yourself to one meal per day and focus on drinking water with the occasional snack to feed a craving and you will see a dramatic weight loss in a short amount of time. The issue is two-fold: first, you cannot sustain starvation and secondly, you will potentially damage your internal organs and metabolism on a permanent basis. As we’ve previously discussed on this blog, managing calories and meal frequency is the best approach to losing weight in a healthy way.

#3 – Trainers are expensive.

Another tricky one, but…this is not true – for the most part. Prior to becoming a personal trainer, I thought the every trainer wanted an arm and a leg to trim your arms, legs, and belly but I was completed shocked to find out the contrary. If you trust Google exclusively, you’ll find that the ‘average’ hourly fee for training is $40-$55 or sometimes more, depending on your location. However, by making a few calls or email inquiries, you can find some trainers with fees as cheap as $10-$20 per hour. A caveat, you often get what you pay for and usually less expensive trainers are early in their careers and lack experience and sometimes in-depth information. That said, just because a trainer is expensive does not mean they know what they are doing – some individuals have an inflated sense of self-worth. The primary thing you must consider is your budget for fitness and what the trainer specializes in. This will give you a leg up on getting the best results at an affordable price. Also, a small warning: if you find an inexpensive trainer, expect that at some point their prices will increase and you may be in the market for a new trainer. 

Lastly, I have training programs as low as $75/month that will supplement and guide you to your goals.