Gym Hinders!

I can, but I won't

I was a gym member for about 7 years, then a group exercise instructor for the last 3 years, as I decided to make it my career. That allowed me to meet lots of people who come in and out of gyms all the time. Some commit and make it part of their life style, and the majority sign up for a month or two or even a few months, and then they disappear. That made me question it, and I decided to interview random people I got to know from different gyms, some I managed to interview personally, some over the phone, and others through text messages and Facebook chat.

I was curious to hear what stops them all the time from coming to the gym, some reasons of course I did imagine by myself, but I surely didn’t want to write my personal point of view here, I wanted to be very objective in this post and represent these people and what hinders them all the time from achieving their fitness goals, So here is what they had to say (Gender here doesn’t matter):

• The majority blamed the lack of time, believing that they have a very busy life, running around in between work, housekeeping, socializing and taking care of their kids.

• Financial issues, was the second biggest reason, as many people set their financial priorities to other more important things in their lives and responsibilities.

• The third biggest reason was the fact that there isn’t a gym facility in every residential area in Jordan (we are talking about Jordan in the Middle East, of which Amman is the capital city) and these people explained that they either have no cars, or find it difficult to drive every time to go to the gym.

• lack of confidence and self-esteem, was something i didn’t think about at all by myself, is an issue to many people I spoke with, whoever had this as a hinder explained they feel shy and intimidated to work out in front of strangers, since they think they don’t/didn’t look fit enough to step into a gym.

• Laziness is sadly the biggest people’s enemy in my country. I don’t think I need to explain this one since we all know what laziness look and smell like.

• The lack of patience to seeing results got many votes here. As some people aren’t realistic enough in setting their goals, they think in a month or two they were going to have figures of models or movie stars, so a month or two passed and none of that happened, frustration hit them and they quit and stop trying.

• Frustration with self fitness level. People compared themselves with others who were fitter and found it depressing to catch up with them, so they stepped back at some point and quit.

• a few gym members explained to me than many people they know don’t see going to the gym or doing any sport is not a necessity, and they explained that this is related to the lack of physical education.

• Some thought whatever gym they tried didn’t have the services they expected and accordingly didn’t renew their memberships.

• Unavailability of fitness buddies! Some didn’t feel motivated to go alone. Working out alone seemed to bore some people and left them unmotivated.

• One more; some people hate to workout indoors. And in case they were living in a country like mine they have a tiny small chance to workout outdoors, due to lack of public parks and proper sidewalks!

I took some time thinking about these reasons; the only thing that made sense to me is the financial limitations, since not everyone lives comfortably. The rest for me wasn’t very convincing, but still I can understand all of it.

For me personally what stops people and pushes them back all the time is that they didn’t give themselves a chance to get addicted to any kind of sports, fitness, or physical activity, as after all this time I spent, and still spending at the gym, made me a gym addict, I remember myself now in every vacation I had, I always thought: “oh yeah finally!! I wanna rest, I wanna be lazy, I need a break” and after three days I find myself wearing my running shoes and looking for an outdoor nice area for me to run and jog, because there is nothing else an addict can do other than satisfying their addictions, right?

There is a motivational quote that I read the other day, as I was supposed to write my own fitness profile and I wanted to get inspired,  that grabbed my attention, it says:

“It is supposed to be hard; if it wasn’t hard everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great”

I really am looking forwards to hearing from you all, as I still think whatever reason stops you from trying or others around you is interesting to know! Share this with your friends and loved ones, maybe they can relate themselves to this subject, or maybe they can motivate others to start working out.

Thanks to everyone who helped me write this post!

Stay fit and chase your dreams!

Katia 🙂