Wednesday, February 8, 2012

New Year New You - Or - New Year Same You?

“Insanity – doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” – Benjamin Franklin

Well…the holidays are over and the Super Bowl is fast approaching. At least I’ll look forward to this one since the Giants are playing.

This year the big story remains the economy. For the past few years people have changed their spending habits, even if they don’t have to be frugal. I’ve always believed that this is a good idea – I don’t believe that anyone has money to just throw away.

But….what if you go for a low-cost alternative to something and end up actually paying more in the long run? Do you go to a doctor or dentist because their price is less expensive, or do you choose your physician by his or her expertise?

A couple of weeks ago a woman came in for a consultation. She told me that she had been going to a local fitness studio for over 4 years with little or no results. She finally (!) decided that she didn’t care for them because they did not do any type of follow up to check her progress. I discussed our services with her and she told me she would get back to me with her decision; she was going out of town for a week (coincidentally a large portion of the general population has to go “out of town” after they have had a consultation at our Studio).

In any case when I told my wife about this consultation she told me that I would never hear from this woman again. She said that this woman, like so many others, was used to going to a “discount” studio and would probably never want to pay more than she was paying, even if it meant that she wasn’t getting the results that she wanted to get.

On the other hand, last week my wife congratulated one of our clients on her 4-Year Anniversary with our Studio. The client told her that she couldn’t believe it had been four years; the time had gone so quickly. This particular client had gone to a discount studio before coming to us, and was unhappy with the results she had achieved there. She told my wife that she was so happy she invested in her health at our Studio. She said she knew that if she tried to exercise on her own she probably would never make the time. Also, she loves the fact that she knows she is doing every exercise correctly, because her trainer makes sure she uses correct form at all times.

So, what do you usually get at these “discount” studios? Most of them offer interval training, which is just moving from one machine to another for 4-5 minutes at a time. Rarely does this entail any type of progression so results, if any, are a very long time in coming.

I actually saw a website for a fitness facility where you could sign up on-line for any group class. This means that, without any prior knowledge of how fit you are or what limitations you have, you are just put in any group class with members that have much more or much less experience than you have.

What these Studios do provide is economy; perhaps $30 per month in membership fees. They also often provide a type of social gathering place versus an actual exercise facility.

How are we different from other facilities? What we provide is a Personal Training Studio where serious clients achieve their fitness goals. We work with every client closely to make sure that each and every session maximizes that client’s strengths so that they are not wasting their time or money in any way. The Value we provide well exceeds the cost of our services.

We readily admit that we are not for everyone. Some people just like to say that they are exercising, and others actually are. And I know that our clients are definitely in the latter group.

2012 – New Year, new things, new ways to make the most of your life and make things “better”. Will you go the “economy” route, or actually do something more to get and stay fit and healthy?

Remember, if you do the same thing over and over the same way you will get the same results – no matter how hard you want to believe otherwise.

No comments:

Post a Comment