For those of you who do not need one on one personal training, or small group training, and have the consistent habit of exercise built into your weekly schedule, consider the following:
Often those who are disciplined to exercise simply repeat the same exercises over and over, week in and week out, often going on for years. This is certainly better than being sedentary. However, the pitfalls of this approach are fourfold: first - it leads to monotony as the routine lacks variety and becomes boring; second - repeating the same workouts over and over may lead to overuse injuries; third - if you do need to lose weight or improve other areas of fitness, doing the same exercises the same way for long periods of time causes the body to adapt, therefore, becoming nearly impossible to create change; fourth - many people work on their strengths only and are unaware of their weaknesses, thus, they are not making their discipline truly count.
Solutions:
1. Try a personal trainer for a short period of time - 4, 6, 8 or 12 weeks. Approach personal training as if you are taking a class to learn and increase your knowledge of a subject. In the same way you have worked for degrees or certifications in your vocational life to better equip yourself to be effective, a short stint with a trainer can help you learn how to make the discipline you have truly count.
2. Have a personal trainer do a functional movement assessment. The trainer can build a program to follow and teach you any of the exercises you need to learn. Then you can go out on your own and truly make your discipline count!
3. Maybe you know how to build a truly well rounded program for yourself. You may even know how to change it up appropriately but maybe you could use some help on how to properly perform certain exercises or how to use certain equipment safely and effectively. Taking even a one hour class from a trainer on exercise technique or how to use certain equipment / machines properly can help you have a safe and more effective training program.
Make your discipline count in 2018 more than ever!