By Rachel Cosgrove
Women have it all wrong when it comes to weight loss. The average woman when she joins a gym looks at how many treadmills there are and the aerobics schedule to see if there are classes that fit in her schedule.
When women want to lose weight they torture themselves with repetitive movement for hours on end spinning their wheels or running to nowhere like a hamster on a wheel! If you take a look at all of the women walking on the treadmills you'll notice none of them have the body most women want.
The problem is that most personal trainers haven't figured it out yet either. They get a female client who hires them to change their body and they think, "Oh man... another one of those stupid toning programs in the ladies only section with the pink dumbbells doing lots of reps..."
Most trainers don't realize that they need to challenge women to get their bodies to change and to stop being afraid of pushing her to gain muscle to boost her metabolism to change the way her body looks, permanently.
Weight Loss Program the average woman does:
•Endless hours of cardio or aerobics classes
•Avoids strength training because she doesn't want to get "big and bulky" or maybe she uses some rinky dink pink dumbbells to "tone" for lots of reps
•Cuts back her diet to practically starve herself
•Focuses on the scale weight and a number she wants it to say
What works about this plan: NOTHING!
What is wrong with this plan: EVERYTHING!
She will lose weight but it will be a mixture of muscle, water and maybe some fat so she'll end up looking like a smaller version of her same self but in the process she will have dropped her metabolism so there will be no way she can keep the weight off and will gain it back guaranteed.
This is the cycle most women have been through many times throughout their lifetime. Yet, when they want to lose weight they do the same thing again. The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over and expect a different result.
Weight Loss Program the average Women SHOULD do:
•Metabolically demanding full body strength training program lifting challenging weights. This should be their priority workouts 2-4 days a week.
•Boost their intensity and drop the duration on their cardio sessions performing interval style workouts for no more than 30 minutes at a time.
•Fuel their body with healthy food every couple hours getting their metabolism revving.
•Focus on how her clothes fit and how she looks and feels and not on a number on the scale. Focus in Fat Loss, not Weight Loss.
What works about this plan: It will boost her metabolism, it will change her body, it will make her feel confident about herself, she can eat and she will be able to maintain her new body!
What is wrong with this plan: NOTHING!
To really change their bodies permanently women need to start checking out the strength training floor. They need to get out of their comfort zone and push their bodies beyond what it is used to.
No more walking to nowhere on the treadmill!
I am not talking about bodybuilding routines where you split up each body part and bomb and blitz the pecs or pump up the biceps. It is not necessary for a woman to isolate any muscle group to get the defined look she wants.
Instead a woman should do a full body, metabolically demanding program in which she alternates between an upper body compound movement such as a push up or chin up with a lower body compound movement such as a squat or lunge.
Keep the rest periods short and use a weight that is challenging. Use 3-4 pairs of exercises working out for no more than an hour at a time.
The woman with toned arms and defined legs looks that way because she has the very thing most women are terrified of, muscle. They are so afraid to lift weights in fear of bulking up that they never get their bodies to look the way they want them to.
They have it deeply seeded in their subconscious that as soon as they touch anything over 10 pounds, they will sprout humungous muscles! Even if they do use weights, they probably still aren't lifting heavy enough and pushing themselves hard enough to get the look they want.
Most women don't know what their bodies are capable of and tend to not push themselves hard enough. There was actually a research study done on this where they showed that women when left to train on their own, lifted loads below what they were capable of.
Maybe it is because women have been conditioned our whole lives to exercise from the point of view of what we "can't" do, rather than what we can do. Women grew up doing "girl" push ups, because we were told we "can't" do actual push ups or hanging from the bar instead of a chin up because girls "can't" do chin ups.
The first woman to run the marathon had to sneak in dressed as a man because women "can't" run a marathon, and that was only in the 70's, not that long ago. Women "can't" lift too heavy, they will hurt themselves. We still subconsciously hold ourselves back when it comes to training whether we realize it or not.
We need to start training from the standpoint of- What CAN you do? How much CAN you lift? How strong CAN you get? And stop letting "can't" enter our vocabulary. As women start to push themselves in the gym, lifting weights and building lean muscle tissue, their metabolisms will be revving and they will be the toned, defined body they have always wanted.
So how do you get your body to change? You have to lift enough weight to build muscle to increase your metabolism, fuel your body with healthy food and turn your body into a fat burning machine. Stop pounding your body with hours of cardio and stop starving yourself!
Tuesday 28 April 2009
Tuesday 21 April 2009
Get Your Body Ready For The Beach
5 Essential Fitness Tips To Get You Looking Your Best This Summer
1.Make sure you involve some form of resistance training in your fitness program. Countless studies have proven that this is the only way to achieve a lean, toned athletic look. Women should not be afraid to lift weights. It is a myth that women will get big and bulky.
2.Do the proper amount of cardiovascular exercise. This is where many females make a mistake. Less is actually more with cardio. You should not be doing more then 20-30 minutes 3-4 days a week. Start with 20 minutes after your weight training program and increase as you need to. You want to do the least amount necessary to achieve the results you want. If you have been doing an excessive amount of cardio you will need to take at least 2 weeks off, and don't do any to let your body rest. Your body will adapt to cardio very quickly. The best way to avoid this is to include intervals as part of your cardio workout.
3.Don't get stuck doing the same routine for months and months. You have to change it up once every 4-6 weeks. In order to keep your body changing, you have to continue to change your routine, as your body adapts make a change.
4.Take at least one day off a week. You don't get results from your workouts, you get results from your recovery. Let your body rest at least one day a week.
5.Hire someone to write an individualized program for you. You won't get the results you could by writing your own programs. Most people will do the exercises they are good at or like doing but not the ones they need to do. I highly recommend hiring someone to write a scientifically designed, individual program once every 4-6 weeks.
1.Make sure you involve some form of resistance training in your fitness program. Countless studies have proven that this is the only way to achieve a lean, toned athletic look. Women should not be afraid to lift weights. It is a myth that women will get big and bulky.
2.Do the proper amount of cardiovascular exercise. This is where many females make a mistake. Less is actually more with cardio. You should not be doing more then 20-30 minutes 3-4 days a week. Start with 20 minutes after your weight training program and increase as you need to. You want to do the least amount necessary to achieve the results you want. If you have been doing an excessive amount of cardio you will need to take at least 2 weeks off, and don't do any to let your body rest. Your body will adapt to cardio very quickly. The best way to avoid this is to include intervals as part of your cardio workout.
3.Don't get stuck doing the same routine for months and months. You have to change it up once every 4-6 weeks. In order to keep your body changing, you have to continue to change your routine, as your body adapts make a change.
4.Take at least one day off a week. You don't get results from your workouts, you get results from your recovery. Let your body rest at least one day a week.
5.Hire someone to write an individualized program for you. You won't get the results you could by writing your own programs. Most people will do the exercises they are good at or like doing but not the ones they need to do. I highly recommend hiring someone to write a scientifically designed, individual program once every 4-6 weeks.
Tuesday 14 April 2009
The 5 Reasons You're Still Struggling With Your Fat Loss
By Dax Moy
You know what it's like.
You've tried everything in your power to finally shift that weight that's been hanging on for so long and yet, despite your best efforts (or so you believe) you're still far from the condition you're hoping to achieve and you're baffled.
What's wrong?
Why can't you shift that fat?
From my experience it comes down to one of these 5 things.
1. You're Cheating!
No getting away from this one. We've all done it.
You say you're going to commit 100% to your fat loss goal but then, as soon as you're within sniffing distance of your favourite foods you tell yourself 'just one won't hurt' and before you know it, you're chomping away on the very thing that contributed to your fat gain in the first place.
Here's the deal.
You're an addict.
'Just one' WILL hurt!
Like all addicts you need to go cold turkey to break the cycle of dependence. No ifs, not buts.
The thing is, cheating on your diet accomplishes nothing. it keeps things exactly how they are. It keeps YOU exactly how YOU are!
Don't cheat!
2. You've Lost Your Why
I can't remember who first said it but the quote goes 'those that have a strong enough why will overcome almost any how'. This means, of course, if you have a good enough reason for doing what you need to do, you'll find the way to to do it, even if it's hard.
The flip side of this should be obvious.
If you're not clear on why you're doing what you're doing then practically anything you need to do to accomplish your goal will appear difficult, if not impossible.
You'll experience everything as obstacles rather than opportunities and feel that you're more likely to fail than succeed.
That's not a great foundation to build your goals upon is it?
Identify your why.
Be honest with yourself, why do you want to lose that fat? Yes, to look good in your bikini, we know that but what else? What's the REAL reason? Dig deep and find the real why and you'll increase your likelihood to achieve it a hundredfold.
3. You don't know what you want
Sure, you've set a goal to 'lose weight' or 'get fit' or 'tone up' but you've never absolutely, positively set a specific target.
There's a big difference between a weight loss goal like the ones above and 'I'm going to lose 50lbs by June 1st 2009' isn't there?
See, the thing is, you can't hit a target you can't see. So be specific. Set a big, obvious, prominent target with a specific timeline and commit to THAT timeline rather than being vague about 'losing some weight'.
What goal are YOU aiming at?
This is critical to know. Ignore it at your peril!
4. You're Trying to do it alone
You're not an expert on fatloss. if you were, you wouldn't be trying to lose fat, right? : )
So why are you trying to do this alone or with limited knowledge on losing fat?
Stop it now!
If you didn't know about your car engine, I'm sure you wouldn't attempt to strip down the engine block on your own right? You'd get a mechanic to do the job.
Your body is far more important than your car so stop tinkering with and and guessing and hoping that what you're doing is going to work.
Instead, seek out fat loss experts who'll give you the PROVEN dietary and exercise guidance that they use to get results for their clients, follow their advice and get those results for yourself. Hardly rocket science, but the number of people actually doing this are few and far between. And funnily enough, practically all of them have great physiques!
Take a look at some of these results HERE for women and HERE for men and you'll see what a difference it makes to get professional advice.
5. You're Trying to do it alone part 2
Once you've gotten your professionally designed program, you're not cheating, you know your why and you have a laser like focus on the specific goals you want to achieve then make sure you find and join a support group to keep your motivation high. This is not just a suggestion, it's a necessity!
You see, those who are attempting massive changes in their health, fitness and appearance often undergo massive swings in motivation with huge highs and dramatic lows. It's during the lows that self-doubt and the feelings to quit come into play and, before you know it you've cheated, told yourself you'll never succeed and quit the program that you started out on with such high hopes.
Having support means that this won't happen.
Sure, you'll still get the swings, the highs, the lows but you'll be talking to people that are going through the same as you, experiencing the same problems and feelings and who know what you're going through. They'll drag you back up when you're flagging and you can return the favour when they need it.
This is win-win and is responsible for more people achieving their health and fitness goals than practically any other reason.
Get support and you're most of the way there, do it alone and the goal feels miles off.
There you have, the top 5 reasons why your fat loss goals fail.
And also the prescription you need to make sure they never fail again, right?
Apply all 5 steps and your fat loss is guaranteed!
You know what it's like.
You've tried everything in your power to finally shift that weight that's been hanging on for so long and yet, despite your best efforts (or so you believe) you're still far from the condition you're hoping to achieve and you're baffled.
What's wrong?
Why can't you shift that fat?
From my experience it comes down to one of these 5 things.
1. You're Cheating!
No getting away from this one. We've all done it.
You say you're going to commit 100% to your fat loss goal but then, as soon as you're within sniffing distance of your favourite foods you tell yourself 'just one won't hurt' and before you know it, you're chomping away on the very thing that contributed to your fat gain in the first place.
Here's the deal.
You're an addict.
'Just one' WILL hurt!
Like all addicts you need to go cold turkey to break the cycle of dependence. No ifs, not buts.
The thing is, cheating on your diet accomplishes nothing. it keeps things exactly how they are. It keeps YOU exactly how YOU are!
Don't cheat!
2. You've Lost Your Why
I can't remember who first said it but the quote goes 'those that have a strong enough why will overcome almost any how'. This means, of course, if you have a good enough reason for doing what you need to do, you'll find the way to to do it, even if it's hard.
The flip side of this should be obvious.
If you're not clear on why you're doing what you're doing then practically anything you need to do to accomplish your goal will appear difficult, if not impossible.
You'll experience everything as obstacles rather than opportunities and feel that you're more likely to fail than succeed.
That's not a great foundation to build your goals upon is it?
Identify your why.
Be honest with yourself, why do you want to lose that fat? Yes, to look good in your bikini, we know that but what else? What's the REAL reason? Dig deep and find the real why and you'll increase your likelihood to achieve it a hundredfold.
3. You don't know what you want
Sure, you've set a goal to 'lose weight' or 'get fit' or 'tone up' but you've never absolutely, positively set a specific target.
There's a big difference between a weight loss goal like the ones above and 'I'm going to lose 50lbs by June 1st 2009' isn't there?
See, the thing is, you can't hit a target you can't see. So be specific. Set a big, obvious, prominent target with a specific timeline and commit to THAT timeline rather than being vague about 'losing some weight'.
What goal are YOU aiming at?
This is critical to know. Ignore it at your peril!
4. You're Trying to do it alone
You're not an expert on fatloss. if you were, you wouldn't be trying to lose fat, right? : )
So why are you trying to do this alone or with limited knowledge on losing fat?
Stop it now!
If you didn't know about your car engine, I'm sure you wouldn't attempt to strip down the engine block on your own right? You'd get a mechanic to do the job.
Your body is far more important than your car so stop tinkering with and and guessing and hoping that what you're doing is going to work.
Instead, seek out fat loss experts who'll give you the PROVEN dietary and exercise guidance that they use to get results for their clients, follow their advice and get those results for yourself. Hardly rocket science, but the number of people actually doing this are few and far between. And funnily enough, practically all of them have great physiques!
Take a look at some of these results HERE for women and HERE for men and you'll see what a difference it makes to get professional advice.
5. You're Trying to do it alone part 2
Once you've gotten your professionally designed program, you're not cheating, you know your why and you have a laser like focus on the specific goals you want to achieve then make sure you find and join a support group to keep your motivation high. This is not just a suggestion, it's a necessity!
You see, those who are attempting massive changes in their health, fitness and appearance often undergo massive swings in motivation with huge highs and dramatic lows. It's during the lows that self-doubt and the feelings to quit come into play and, before you know it you've cheated, told yourself you'll never succeed and quit the program that you started out on with such high hopes.
Having support means that this won't happen.
Sure, you'll still get the swings, the highs, the lows but you'll be talking to people that are going through the same as you, experiencing the same problems and feelings and who know what you're going through. They'll drag you back up when you're flagging and you can return the favour when they need it.
This is win-win and is responsible for more people achieving their health and fitness goals than practically any other reason.
Get support and you're most of the way there, do it alone and the goal feels miles off.
There you have, the top 5 reasons why your fat loss goals fail.
And also the prescription you need to make sure they never fail again, right?
Apply all 5 steps and your fat loss is guaranteed!
Monday 6 April 2009
Healthy Eating – Meal Plans to get you in shape for summer!
This week I want to concentrate on the #2 Strategy for Losing Weight. Any idea on what the #2 Strategy for Weight Loss is?
If you guess nutrition then give yourself a pat on the back. Yes Nutrition is the #2 Strategy.
I guess you are now wondering what the #1 Strategy for Weight Loss is?!! It’s not exercise! That comes in at #3.
The #1 Strategy for Weight Loss is Social Support – the support of your partner, your family, your friends and your trainer.
Any way, moving on to nutrition, I wanted to give you some ideas of how to put together a healthy eating plan. Everyone has individual tastes so this might not be for everyone but hopefully it gives you an idea of the types of food and the volume of food you should eat to lose weight.
I have given a number of different options for each meal.
Let me know what you think.
Breakfast:
Start the day with two glasses of water and a cup of green tea, black tea or black coffee (add a small amount of milk if necessary).
• Porridge with skimmed or semi skimmed milk, ½ oz nuts plus blueberries.
• Porridge with skimmed or semi skimmed milk, ½ oz sunflower and/or pumpkin seeds plus strawberries.
• 2 eggs (poached or scrambled) on 2 pieces wholemeal toast plus one piece of fruit
• 2 egg omelette with spinach, mushrooms and low fat cheese
• 3 shredded wheat with skimmed or semi-skimmed milk, banana and glass of orange juice
• 3 weetabix with skimmed or semi-skimmed milk, strawberries and a tablespoon of yoghurt
• Super Shake (see list of shakes)
Morning Snack:
Drink two glasses of water and a cup of green tea, black tea or black coffee (add a small amount of milk if necessary) during the morning.
• 1 oz of almonds or walnuts and 1 apple
• Pineapple chunks, blueberries and 1 cup of low fat cottage cheese
• ½ serving of lunch/dinner option
• 1 sliced apple with 150g low fat yoghurt
• Super shake
• Peanut butter sandwich on wholemeal bread
• Home made muesli bar (ask me for a recipe)
Lunch:
Drink two glasses of water with lunch.
• Chicken breast and stir fry veggies with ½ cup wholemeal pasta and 1 oz cashew nuts
• Chicken breast with mixed salad leaves drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and a piece of fruit
• Salmon and spinach salad drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and a piece of fruit
Afternoon Snack:
Drink two glasses of water and a cup of green tea, black tea or black coffee (add a small amount of milk if necessary) during the afternoon.
• 1 oz of almonds or walnuts and 1 apple
• Pineapple chunks, blueberries and 1 cup of low fat cottage cheese
• ½ serving of lunch/dinner option
• 1 sliced apple with 150g low fat yoghurt
• Super shake
• Peanut butter sandwich on wholemeal bread
• Home made muesli bar (ask me for a recipe)
Dinner:
Drink two glasses of water with dinner.
• Lean steak with broccoli and salad and extra virgin olive oil and fruit salad
• Chicken breast and stir fry veggies with ½ cup wholemeal pasta and 1 oz cashew nuts
• Salmon and ½ cup of brown rice and broccoli and salad and extra virgin olive oil
• Turkey breast and asparagus and salad and extra virgin olive oil
• Grilled white fish with sweet potato, carrots and courgettes
If you guess nutrition then give yourself a pat on the back. Yes Nutrition is the #2 Strategy.
I guess you are now wondering what the #1 Strategy for Weight Loss is?!! It’s not exercise! That comes in at #3.
The #1 Strategy for Weight Loss is Social Support – the support of your partner, your family, your friends and your trainer.
Any way, moving on to nutrition, I wanted to give you some ideas of how to put together a healthy eating plan. Everyone has individual tastes so this might not be for everyone but hopefully it gives you an idea of the types of food and the volume of food you should eat to lose weight.
I have given a number of different options for each meal.
Let me know what you think.
Breakfast:
Start the day with two glasses of water and a cup of green tea, black tea or black coffee (add a small amount of milk if necessary).
• Porridge with skimmed or semi skimmed milk, ½ oz nuts plus blueberries.
• Porridge with skimmed or semi skimmed milk, ½ oz sunflower and/or pumpkin seeds plus strawberries.
• 2 eggs (poached or scrambled) on 2 pieces wholemeal toast plus one piece of fruit
• 2 egg omelette with spinach, mushrooms and low fat cheese
• 3 shredded wheat with skimmed or semi-skimmed milk, banana and glass of orange juice
• 3 weetabix with skimmed or semi-skimmed milk, strawberries and a tablespoon of yoghurt
• Super Shake (see list of shakes)
Morning Snack:
Drink two glasses of water and a cup of green tea, black tea or black coffee (add a small amount of milk if necessary) during the morning.
• 1 oz of almonds or walnuts and 1 apple
• Pineapple chunks, blueberries and 1 cup of low fat cottage cheese
• ½ serving of lunch/dinner option
• 1 sliced apple with 150g low fat yoghurt
• Super shake
• Peanut butter sandwich on wholemeal bread
• Home made muesli bar (ask me for a recipe)
Lunch:
Drink two glasses of water with lunch.
• Chicken breast and stir fry veggies with ½ cup wholemeal pasta and 1 oz cashew nuts
• Chicken breast with mixed salad leaves drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and a piece of fruit
• Salmon and spinach salad drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and a piece of fruit
Afternoon Snack:
Drink two glasses of water and a cup of green tea, black tea or black coffee (add a small amount of milk if necessary) during the afternoon.
• 1 oz of almonds or walnuts and 1 apple
• Pineapple chunks, blueberries and 1 cup of low fat cottage cheese
• ½ serving of lunch/dinner option
• 1 sliced apple with 150g low fat yoghurt
• Super shake
• Peanut butter sandwich on wholemeal bread
• Home made muesli bar (ask me for a recipe)
Dinner:
Drink two glasses of water with dinner.
• Lean steak with broccoli and salad and extra virgin olive oil and fruit salad
• Chicken breast and stir fry veggies with ½ cup wholemeal pasta and 1 oz cashew nuts
• Salmon and ½ cup of brown rice and broccoli and salad and extra virgin olive oil
• Turkey breast and asparagus and salad and extra virgin olive oil
• Grilled white fish with sweet potato, carrots and courgettes
Thursday 2 April 2009
Are You On Track?
by Alwyn Cosgrove
So here we are again...Today marks the 25% point of the year. Sorry - it's not an April fools joke.
The entire first quarter of 2009 has already passed- we are now three months into 2009.
90 days are gone forever.
Are you on track with those New Years Resolutions? Are you on track with your goals?
If you wanted to lose 20lbs this year - are you down 5lbs already?
If your goal was to do 250 workouts - have you completed 62?
It's amazing how time passes so quickly. If you need a "do-over" then I'm going to give you one.
You can REDO your New Years Resolutions right now and get started all over again.
That's right - I'm letting you off the hook - but don't waste a single second.
If your goal is fat loss - start today
If your goal is muscle building - start today
If your goal is (insert anything here) - start TODAY !
25% of this year is gone forever. Will you make changes TODAY or will another 25% pass, then another 25% -- and before you know it -- it's 2010.....
I meet a lot of people in my job, and get a lot of questions via email. I'll talk to guys who track every single macronutrient that passes their lips, and have tried just about every program out there. When I ask them how things are going -- they'll tell me that it's great, or that the program is working well.
However, very few people actually measure and take stock of their efforts. If you are following a plan to lose fat - are you actually losing fat? And I mean at a rate that is acceptable for your efforts? Or are you blindly following a plan that doesn't work, and essentially ignoring that?
I know where my progress towards my goals stand because I measure it.
When I was in the hospital for a stem cell transplant - the medical team took measurements of temperature, blood pressure and blood samples every 4 hours.
When we implement a marketing campaign at the gym -- we track the results. We know for example how many direct mail pieces we send out, the cost of each mailing, how many inquiries we get, how many appointments are made, and how many people join the gym as a result. We know exactly how effective the plan is, and whether the return we are seeing is worth the investment.
We can see that for $X invested, we receive a return of $Y. We need to know where our membership stands - our new members, renewals etc and when our busiest times are - everything is measured and tracked so we can continue to grow and serve our members.
If you remember "SMART" goal setting -- one of the keys is 'M' - Measurable.
Measure your results.
As we enter the second quarter of 2009, it's time to take stock of your efforts.
Has your current return been worth the investment?
Again -- 25% of this year is gone forever. Will you make changes TODAY or will another 25% pass, then another 25% -- and before you know it -- it's 2010.....
Don't waste a single second. Start TODAY.
Where will you be at the 50% point - July 1st ? That's 13 weeks away. Will you be 13 weeks leaner - will you be 13 weeks closer to your goals?
The time will pass anyway....
So here we are again...Today marks the 25% point of the year. Sorry - it's not an April fools joke.
The entire first quarter of 2009 has already passed- we are now three months into 2009.
90 days are gone forever.
Are you on track with those New Years Resolutions? Are you on track with your goals?
If you wanted to lose 20lbs this year - are you down 5lbs already?
If your goal was to do 250 workouts - have you completed 62?
It's amazing how time passes so quickly. If you need a "do-over" then I'm going to give you one.
You can REDO your New Years Resolutions right now and get started all over again.
That's right - I'm letting you off the hook - but don't waste a single second.
If your goal is fat loss - start today
If your goal is muscle building - start today
If your goal is (insert anything here) - start TODAY !
25% of this year is gone forever. Will you make changes TODAY or will another 25% pass, then another 25% -- and before you know it -- it's 2010.....
I meet a lot of people in my job, and get a lot of questions via email. I'll talk to guys who track every single macronutrient that passes their lips, and have tried just about every program out there. When I ask them how things are going -- they'll tell me that it's great, or that the program is working well.
However, very few people actually measure and take stock of their efforts. If you are following a plan to lose fat - are you actually losing fat? And I mean at a rate that is acceptable for your efforts? Or are you blindly following a plan that doesn't work, and essentially ignoring that?
I know where my progress towards my goals stand because I measure it.
When I was in the hospital for a stem cell transplant - the medical team took measurements of temperature, blood pressure and blood samples every 4 hours.
When we implement a marketing campaign at the gym -- we track the results. We know for example how many direct mail pieces we send out, the cost of each mailing, how many inquiries we get, how many appointments are made, and how many people join the gym as a result. We know exactly how effective the plan is, and whether the return we are seeing is worth the investment.
We can see that for $X invested, we receive a return of $Y. We need to know where our membership stands - our new members, renewals etc and when our busiest times are - everything is measured and tracked so we can continue to grow and serve our members.
If you remember "SMART" goal setting -- one of the keys is 'M' - Measurable.
Measure your results.
As we enter the second quarter of 2009, it's time to take stock of your efforts.
Has your current return been worth the investment?
Again -- 25% of this year is gone forever. Will you make changes TODAY or will another 25% pass, then another 25% -- and before you know it -- it's 2010.....
Don't waste a single second. Start TODAY.
Where will you be at the 50% point - July 1st ? That's 13 weeks away. Will you be 13 weeks leaner - will you be 13 weeks closer to your goals?
The time will pass anyway....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
