Our 12 Week Challenge

Jan 13, 2016

Our 12 week challenge has been running for 15 months now. People can start it whenever they like and can do as many as they like. We started running the challenge to give people the best possible chance at achieving their (weight loss) goals that’s why the challenge consists of 3 x 1 hour personal training sessions a week and full access to the gym and group classes while on the challenge.

We start the challenge with every person, explaining what to expect from the challenge, the gym and the trainers that they have. We discuss with them their current lifestyle and habits and what their personal goals are. We look at what needs to be improved upon and positives they have in their lives already. We give each new participant a FitBit too so that they are accountable of how much they move throughout each day and it helps them to also track their sleeping patterns because sleep is essential to weight loss as well. We also ask for a food diary every week from each participant so that we have a good handle of what they are putting in to their bodies, this allows us to analyse the results that we get through measurements and weigh ins more accurately.

We agreed that with these tools and our support, when we started the challenge 15 months ago, this gave people the best possible advantage to really make a difference to their lives. The 12 week challenge has proven instrumental in getting people to look at their lives and their approach to exercise and completely turn it on its head. We have some participants that are on their third challenge. This is because they enjoy the structure that the challenge brings to their lives. Having someone there that can help them with exercise, to give encouragement and motivation when needed and sometimes to gives them a little ‘kick’ in the right direction when things slip. Some of our participants haven’t lost dramatic amounts of weight (although some have, we have 3 ladies who have each lost 10KGs or more) but over 50% of our participants are now coming to the gym more regularly than they were before they started the challenge. They feel fitter and stronger and actually enjoy coming to the gym! We hold a group circuit class on a Saturday afternoon that a lot of our 12 week challengers attend. And it’s a great forum for people to interact on their own personal journeys, to moan about what they are finding difficult and also to mix up their training sessions because working out with others (and your personal trainer, yes we do the Saturday afternoon class too!) gives you that little bit more motivation to push yourself.

With the 12 week challenge we have created a community at the gym. Not one of trainers and clients, but that of friend’s that support each other, complain together and train together. And we have done this because although each challenge is about structure for that particular participant. The challenge is tailored to that specific person, it’s not a one size fits all challenge. Some people need more support in areas like nutrition than others. Some people need to be given weekly tasks or activities to keep them motivated. And some people just need to know that there is someone there that cares about their fitness journey, just as much, if not more than them.

Success can be measured in different ways, state of mind, measurements, fitness tests, retention and consistency. And we feel through all of these avenues, the 12 week challenge that we offer is a great success. If you are interested in learning more about the challenge or would like to start your own challenge, please feel free to call us at the gym or pop in to have a look at the gym yourselves. We would love to meet you and discuss you goals with you.