Fitness and achieving your goals really is a personal thing. While you can enlist the help and expertise of a trainer, in the end it comes down to you. You are the one one who has to put on those shoes and work up the sweat whether you head outside or go to the gym. No one, no matter how much they can speak words of encouragement and motivation, is going to do it for you. Self motivation is key, just like achieving anything else, but that isn't necessarily inborn in everyone. Or at least it is directed to different sources for each individual. I may be motivated to get in my daily workouts but if you asked me to get up each day and solve peoples' tax problems I'd be groaning with the best of them. People have different interests and that is fine, that's what makes the world go 'round and keeps us from turning into a planet full of droids.

But in getting back to workout programs, getting in shape, and losing weight, a big factor does come from self commitment, and what you put in is what you'll get back. All too often I'll hear people complaining to their gym trainers or coaches that they just don't want to do it, or they out right refuse to do the exercises, the full amount of time, or the second set of reps. This happened just the other day when a lady was complaining she 'just didn't feel it' and when asked to just do a five minute warm-up she said no. The trainer put in a token effort to persuade her but finally just conceded and moved on. But this isn't right for a few things; one, the trainer should know that warming up is important to prevent injury and also just gets things started of right; two, if the woman is going to PAY someone to train her why waste the money if she's going to do her own thing anyways; and three, it is just disrespectful and the trainer should have told her that if she didn't want to do the fitness program she has planned then she is more than welcomed to go elsewhere or do her own thing. The fact is, I'm sure this lady is the same one who complains that she isn't getting the results she wants and says, "I workout with a trainer and I still can't lose that weight." She'll blame everyone but herself and in the end won't make progress because she isn't will to put forth the effort.

I apologize for the generalization; I don't really know this lady outside of what I observed and perhaps 99% of the time she is a model exercise client and I just caught her on the one time she put up a fight. But I've seen it on sports teams; there is always the person who doesn't want to do the training and argues with the coach, looking for the short cuts when they come. This is hard for the coach because they are never going to be able to provide their best to someone not listening and it's not fair to the team and others who do care enough to do all the work.

I understand that everyone has 'those days'; it is true that there are times your body is overly tired, over worked and stressed, and does need a break. But that's when you work with your coach and trainer to identify WHY. And if you are for the most part one to follow directions, the times you actually do say you are tired then others are much more apt to believe you and take you for your word than if you continually complain. Fitness and achieving your goals can be helped along by proper guidance and motivation from others, but at some level the biggest driving factor has to come from within.