Let's Talk Fitness in 2019 - Accountability

MILWAUKEE - June 2, 2019 - PRLog -- Have you heard the adage from C.S. Lewis, "Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is watching?" We tend to put on our best behavior when we know we are under a watchful eye, and maybe slip a bit into a more comfortable mannerism when no one is around to judge or evaluate us. We are naturally responsive to having someone else keep us on track and lending outside accountability to our actions.

One of the most prominent environments where accountability can be vital to achieving the best behavior is the fitness setting. Many times I hear from clients who have come to our Fitness Together studios, is that they couldn't "do it themselves." I was a client, that client. I could not achieve the changes I needed without the help of a team of personal trainers dedicated to ensuring that I stayed accountable to my goals and who focused on attaining wellness results.

I had a gym membership for years and even went to the gym for classes and workouts. Where I fell short was the consistency and the time between visits. I didn't have a clue what it was going to take to achieve my goals, or even identify what a realistic goal should be for where I was and where I wanted my fitness level to be. From the first visit, our clients' complete fitness assessment goals are set, and we work as their accountability partner to ensure they stay on track.  One of the areas where we see the most significant challenges for new and longer-term clients alike is nutrition. Nutrition counseling is a study in itself, but one thing I have found to be consistent is people respond well to outside accountability for their eating habits.

Take a recent scenario – a client was prepping for an upcoming trip. She knew that she would be traveling for ½ day on both ends of the trip, outgoing and returning, was staying with friends that did not necessarily have the healthiest eating habits, and topping it all off, she was taking the trip to handle the funeral and burial arrangements for her elderly parents. While we both realized that this was a perfect storm for her eating habits to spiral out of control for a week, we were able to make an up-front plan that helped her to have permission to have some off-track times but, more important, proactively plan for every meal and snack while she was in a transient state.

Think about the alternative that most of us take when facing this scenario; we usually go for the most convenient or reactive approach. Some of the more disciplined individuals do well with handling on-the-fly choices, but most people I deal with don't even think about meal planning amid the rest of the trip build up activities. For this client, she was able to stick to a pre-determined, comprehensive meal plan and not go off track on her fitness and nutrition goals. She let me know that she benefited greatly from knowing that I was going to check in on how she did when we met again after her trip…. accountability in action!

Taking steps toward wellness can be difficult. Knowing what to do, when to do it, how much to do, and then monitoring to ensure progress is often handled without much certainty and usually yields lacking, if any, results. Getting the proper accountability partner that can help you set and stay on track for your fitness and wellness goals can be instrumental in making lasting changes to your lifestyle. We have found that clients can achieve goals in a shorter timeframe when all the pieces are put together in the right fashion and then followed under the watchful eye of a personal trainer.

Fitness Together has three locations in the Milwaukee area:  18000 W Bluemound Road, Brookfield, Wis., 2525 N Mayfair Road, Wauwatosa, Wis., and 411 E. Menomonee Street, Milwaukee, Wis.

For more information, contact Kevin Baker, owner, Fitness Together, at 262-444-3657, email at kevinbaker@fitnesstogether.com. www.fitnesstogether.com.