Why do you exercise?

Simple question, right?

Fat loss, muscle gain, enjoyment, Social. There’s lots of different reasons why a person exercises but do you do it for the right reasons.

I see this a lot as a personal trainer and its upsetting that people still see the gym just as a way to offset kcal intake. I saw a client once who done a fitness session then drank a 600kcal smoothie. They went back into another class to burn 600kcal to make sure the smoothie didn’t make them fat.

I asked why they done this. They thought that any kcal they intake they would need to burn off to be in a kcal deficit. So they would track their kcal intake thought out the day and would go to the gym to then burn them off again.

Is this really an enjoyable experience? Also, it’s not true.

When you want to lose weight, exercise is not the main focus for creating a kcal deficit, your diet and nutrition is how to create a deficit. If your daily maintenance kcal is 2500 then all you need to do is eat less than that and you will lose weight. Simple. Don’t go crazy just a difference of 200 will make a massive different. So, you can lose weight without having to even go to the gym.

So, why do we go to the gym? The gym should not be seen as a place just to lose some weight. The gym is a place you should be looking to make yourself fitter and stronger. Go to the gym to increase your cardiorespiratory fitness which will make your body work more efficiently and help you live easier and long. You won’t huff and puff just walking up the stairs. Go to build muscle. Lifting weights won’t make you look like the hulk, that takes years and years of dedication. But what it will do is make you stronger, strengthen joints, ligaments, tendons and increase bone density. Again, all making your life easier and long.

There are many more reasons that you can go to the gym but like I say make sure you are going for the right reasons. If you are not enjoying training, you will not stick to your training. Go and find a training that you enjoy and have fun in your sessions. Any type of movement is good for you.