Why do it?

It’s 8.30pm and I’m sitting in my trainer’s gym. I’m one hour into the session with two more to go and I’ve got three sets left on my deadlift.

I find myself doing what everyone who has started a health and fitness adventure does when they have a big workout ahead of them.

I’m wondering: why am I training?

Now I have 2 hours to go, so there’s have plenty of time to think about this question.

When you first start out with your gym, sport or personal training you have a reason. Maybe it’s to lose weight, to tone and build your muscles or even just to look good naked. With that in mind, you hit the ground running!

More than likely you sign up with a plan of attending every class, going 5 days a week, or playing a whole season of your sport. For the first few months you even make it, going most times and maybe just missing the odd session here or there.

But something happens along the way. Maybe six or even three months in, you start to miss a few classes at the gym, or that training session for your team. By now you are well on your way to achieving the goals you first set out for, yet you still start to lose focus.

You have forgotten the most important thing for your training and that’s not a healthy diet, it’s why you started out on this adventure in the beginning.

When you hit this point, more often than not you have already achieved what you wanted. Those 10kg are gone, you feel ok looking at yourself in the mirror and your once soft body is now strong.

So what next?

This is your chance to re-look at your health and fitness and adjust your goals for the next three months. This is your chance to get excited again about health and fitness, maybe even find a new passion like taking up a new activity to give you a new way to maintain your new body and to enjoy fitness.

If you have already hit your goal, or you are almost there, you need to start thinking or even dreaming about where you could be 12 months from now.

For me, still on this bench at 9.15pm and about to do my third set, I start to think about the rest of my week and the amount of hours left of training. I quickly remember what’s important for me: personal bests. In December I will have the chance to achieve this when I reach a new PB of a 260kg deadlift.

But just like you, once I hit my goal I will then need to work out ‘why am I doing this?’ all over again. The funny thing about achieving your goals is that by the time you hit them, your mind is already wondering ‘what next?’. What should you be aiming for in the next 12 months? Just remember one thing: you just achieved what you want and if you know what you want again you will achieve that too.

For more information, advice or two weeks free personal training view Brisbane Personal Trainer Jonny B Bad’s website at http://www.jonnybbad.com.au.