| When is it Time to Stop Training? |
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| Wednesday, 08 September 2010 10:34 | |||
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I was talking with one of my clients after our training sessions about a few situations that made me think I was on hidden camera, the victim of a prank. I was telling him about a couple I used to train, and how their son secretly set up the appointment for me to meet with them. I'm not going into detail about it in this post, but the story might make for an amusing post in the future. My client asked if my training relationship lasted long with the couple. The conversation led into how some people quickly stop exercising, not just personal training, the second it seems like an inconvenience. I understand when someone discontinues personal training for the right reason. Some people hire a trainer to help them reach a specific goal or making the exercise habit a regular part of their life. Some need to develop the skills to design and implement their own weight loss program, body building routine, or life long fitness regimen, and once they get those skills they can successfully train unsupervised on their own. From a trainer's view those are great reasons to say bye and thank the client for allowing you to help. Someone stopping training due to financial difficulties is always understood, and hopefully they make a serious effort to keep working out regularly on their own. It's when someone stops exercising completely that I have a hard time understanding, especially if they've been doing it for some time and have been making and seeing results. I told my client I can't even imagine not working out regularly. For me it would have to be due to something serious that made me incapable of exercising. My client wondered if there would be a time in his life when he would stop working out. I think the biggest factor is how much you enjoy exercising. I asked him how much he enjoys working out and he said he really likes it, except when he is overwhelmed with other things to do. Then workouts become a chore, just one more thing to cross off a to-do-list. I can understand his point. I do my best to schedule my  workouts around the same time and days depending on my current program. But it is always a priority for me, so my concern becomes "will I get a chance to workout today?".This year I've been exercising for more than 78% of my life. I can't envision the point in my life when I would throw in the workout towel. Until this recent conversation the thought never entered my mind. I'd like to know is there anyone reading this that can see a point in their life when they could decide it's time to stop exercising? What might be the deciding factor- age, health, lack of enthusiasm? If you can see that time in your life, how much do you like to exercise right now?
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Comments
Seeing Jack train at his age is really an inspiration. I've tried weight training earlier, but may be that's not my cup of cake. I am into martial arts training, and have rigorous sessions twice a week.
If you ask me when I will stop that training, that would be when (and if at all) my body tells me that the martial arts sessions are a little too exerting for it to take. But I think that will not make me stop there. I might just switch to another less rigorous form of martial arts... may be Tai Chi.
Even if I stop training, I think I will make it a point to exercise regularly. But the problem there is that most people tend to get absorbed into the other priorities in life if there is not enough motivation to make exercise a priority in life. For me, too many things to take care of in life would possibly be one reason to put exercises in the back seat. Hence, a professional training and corresponding schedule helps in a big way.
I know many who think it is painful and troublesome to exercise. As for me, if I'm tired at work (which involves more of mental (rather than physical) stress), a karate session in spite of being tired at work can work wonders and leave me refreshed mentally as well as physical. If only everyone knew the benefits of disciplining themselves into exercising, even for 5 minutes, daily.
Cheers!
Mark
PS: Aaron, thanks for dropping by my site the other day. I really appreciate it. Looking forward to seeing you around every now and then.
You're so right about the boost in mental and physical energy that you can get from exercise. For me it is my best way of dealing with stress.
I'm sure there will come a time when the intensity of my workouts will need to be turned down some, but I imagine the frequency will pretty much stay the same.
You're welcome. I'll be stopping by again, for sure. And thank you for visiting and commenting.
It's because they found some things that they like even more (they got married, got a more time-consuming job, etc), so they spend more time doing that and less time exercising, until they stop doing it completely.
That said, I'll never stop exercising. Ever. I currently exercise an hour a day 7 days a week and can't imagine stopping for whatever reason.
I also find it funny (in a good way) how exact you got with your time exercising: "78%", hehe.
Yes, absolutely! Exercise is a wonderful way of dealing with stress.
You have a nice blog here. I'm sure many people like it! I have a few suggestions for you, which would help your visitors comment more often:
1) Your comments form seems to not support cookies. The name, email, website doesn't get stored, and I need to fill that up every time I leave a comment. You should look into fixing that.
2) The commentators name does not get converted into a link pointing to his website. This is something most commentators would not like, and may not come back to comment again.
3) This one is a nice to have: A widget showing the top commentators would be good to reward commentators and stimulate more people to comment on your blog.
Just my 2 cents...
Cheers!
Mark of Success
secrets-of-success.hotpotpourri.com/
Just so you know, the link is just to the left of the notify envelope.
Take care
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