I spoke with a member recently who said he hadn’t been coming to the gym much.
At first he said life was busy. A lot going on.
But when we talked more about his program, the real reason came out.
There were two days he didn’t like.
One day had lunges and hamstring curls on the ball.
Another had single-leg RDLs and step-ups.
These are great exercises.
But for him, they were frustrating.
He struggled with his balance.
Sometimes he’d lose it.
He said it felt a little embarrassing.
Over time, those workouts became the ones he wanted to avoid.
So we made a few changes.
We kept the workouts effective.
We just swapped out a few exercises.
He also mentioned he’d love to train back and arms more, so we worked that in too.
About a month later I ran into him again.
He told me he was now coming to the gym four days a week and really liked the program.
That’s a big win.
Here’s the takeaway.
No exercise is mandatory if it makes you not want to come to the gym.
If changing a few exercises helps someone show up twice as often, that’s a huge improvement.
The difference between lunges and another good leg exercise is small.
The difference between coming to the gym two days a week versus four is enormous.
Our goal isn’t just to give you a “perfect” workout on paper.
It’s to help you actually enjoy coming here and keep showing up.
If there’s ever an exercise you really dislike, tell your coach.
There’s a good chance we can find something that works better for you and still gets great results.
– James Pratt