Big Box Gyms: Yay or Nay?

And how do they compare to working out with a personal trainer? Amy Hudson and Dr. James Fisher look at big box gyms and the benefits of working with a personal trainer.

You’ll hear about everything from motivation and habit-building to fitness results, and will walk away with clarity on which option to go for to make the most out of your time and exercising efforts.

• Dr. James Fisher kicks things off by sharing a frightening stat: only about 10% of the population engages in regular strength training.
• What’s interesting is the fact that only about one-third of people attend big box gyms, meaning that about two-thirds of people don’t actually even attend once per week…
• Dr. Fisher and some of his colleagues have done some research and have identified a lack of motivation, not being supervised and advised by a personal trainer, and not seeing progress from your workouts, as key factors that lead to that phenomenon.
• Did you know that 50% of new gym members will stop their membership within the first six months because of non-attendance?
• True, big box gyms provide you with the space and equipment you need… but if you aren’t already engaged or lack a certain level of understanding and commitment, you won’t attend regularly.
• To some degree, gyms are reliant upon a degree of non-attendance – if all of their members showed up at the same time, they would have to turn some people away because of maximum occupancy.
• Dr. Fisher touches upon a couple of big social elements that play a crucial role in the big box gym context.
• Ask yourself this: “When thinking about the gym, do I go there for the health benefits of exercising or for the social element in that environment?”
• Amy Hudson talks about the lack of time aspect that’s often part of the equation for many people who are thinking about strength training.
• Dr. Fisher and Amy discuss how a model like the Exercise Coach Studio’s one differs from big box gyms and helps people succeed.
• Studies on exercising motivation show that, unlike other groups like people who focus on CrossFit, people engaged in supervised strength training reported higher motivation for things such as ill health avoidance and health-related benefits as key reasons for exercising.
• Amy lists one of the key motivators for having a personal trainer: it collapses the timeline for you to get where you want to get to.
• As she points out, getting people to that place of seeing results faster will lead to them being motivated and wanting to continue with exercising regularly.
• Amy shares a question they often ask their Exercise Coach: “If you and I were sitting here a year from today, what things would have to happen for you to feel very satisfied with your progress?”
• Amy and Dr. Fisher go into studies in which participants were paid to go to the gym… but were still unsuccessful with exercising regularly.
• A good reminder from Amy: motivation is hard to keep, and it’s important to stay honest about that.

Mentioned in This Episode:

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This podcast and blog are provided to you for entertainment and informational purposes only. By accessing either, you agree that neither constitute medical advice nor should they be substituted for professional medical advice or care. Use of this podcast or blog to treat any medical condition is strictly prohibited. Consult your physician for any medical condition you may be having. In no event will any podcast or blog hosts, guests, or contributors, Exercise Coach USA, LLC, Gymbot LLC, any subsidiaries or affiliates of same, or any of their respective directors, officers, employees, or agents, be responsible for any injury, loss, or damage to you or others due to any podcast or blog content.

What does aerobic fitness really mean — and how can personal training help you improve it?? Amy Hudson and Dr. James Fisher break down VO₂ max, heart rate, and the science behind combining strength training with interval workouts.

From boosting cardiovascular health to reducing fatigue and disease risk, they explain how targeted personal training can transform your conditioning and overall well-being.

• Amy Hudson and Dr. James Fisher look at the benefits of having increased aerobic capacity, how to increase it and the role of both strength training and brief interval training in aerobic capacity.
• One of the most common terms used in scientific literature is VO₂ max which represents the maximum volume of oxygen our body can take up and use.
• Dr. Fisher explains that whenever we talk about cardiovascular fitness or cardiorespiratory fitness, it’s about how well oxygen can move around our body.
• Dr. Fisher and Amy talk about why VO₂ max and CO2 (carbon dioxide) are important in terms of their fitness.
• Did you know that your conditioning level, to some extent, can determine what exercise level or exercise intensity you can work at to maintain working aerobically?
• Not only daily fatigue but also your sleep, risk of depression and anxiety, risk of coronary artery disease and hypertension, and the risk of diabetes are all positively impacted by an improved aerobic conditioning.
• Dr. Fisher approaches the audience question: Does knowing one’s resting heart rate indicate anything to that person about their current state of cardiovascular health or aerobic capacity?
• As you improve your fitness, you improve what’s called cardiac output and stroke volume.
• If you’re curious about your maximum heart rate, you can calculate it by taking the number 220 and deducting your age from it…
• Amy brings interval training and glycogen into the conversation.
• Dr. Fisher explains that the importance of having a strength training workout and then doing concentrated cardio at the end is actually great because it serves as this glycogen dump.
• Dr. Fisher goes into EPOC – Excess-Post Exercise Oxygen Consumption – and the specificity of an action and, specifically, a sport itself.

Mentioned in This Episode:

The Exercise Coach - Get 2 Free Sessions!

Submit your questions at StrengthChangesEverything.com

This podcast and blog are provided to you for entertainment and informational purposes only. By accessing either, you agree that neither constitute medical advice nor should they be substituted for professional medical advice or care. Use of this podcast or blog to treat any medical condition is strictly prohibited. Consult your physician for any medical condition you may be having. In no event will any podcast or blog hosts, guests, or contributors, Exercise Coach USA, LLC, Gymbot LLC, any subsidiaries or affiliates of same, or any of their respective directors, officers, employees, or agents, be responsible for any injury, loss, or damage to you or others due to any podcast or blog content.

What’s the secret to an effective workout? More reps? More sweat? More weights? In this episode, Dr. James Fisher and Amy Hudson break down the science behind strength training, revealing why muscle fatigue, not time or reps, is the real key to results.

From type-2 muscle fiber recruitment to recovery strategies, what you’ll hear will help you rethink how you train and why less might actually be more.

• Dr. Fisher and Amy address the “million-dollar question:” What’s the secret to effective exercise?
• Dr. James Fisher is a fan of questions such as What is the stimulus? – He likes that once we have in mind that the exercise is the stimulus to adaptation, we can just stop blindly going and doing as much as we can.
• Dr. Fisher and Amy Hudson share the secret of effective exercise: fatiguing the muscle or working it at the right level of intensity.
• Dr. Fisher touches upon type-1 and type-2 muscle fibers – and why you should want your workouts to recruit type-2 muscle fibers…
• Amy and Dr. Fisher list a few signs that you may have recruited your type-2 muscle fibers the right way.
• Dr. Fisher cites some of his research on dissociating effort from discomfort and some interesting findings related to it.
• Some studies have shown that people who are averaging 6-10 hours of sleep per night will build strength in muscle size quicker than those sleeping an average of less than 6 hours.
• Remember: the workout is the stimulus; it’s the time after the workout that allows that muscle adaptation.
• “All the wonderful benefits that strength training delivers happen during those recovery days between your sessions,” says Amy.

Mentioned in This Episode:

The Exercise Coach - Get 2 Free Sessions!

Submit your questions at StrengthChangesEverything.com

Previous episode - The Truth About Muscle Soreness: Myths, Recovery, and What to Do Next

Previous episode - The Truth About Sweating: What It Really Means for Your Exercise Routine

This podcast and blog are provided to you for entertainment and informational purposes only. By accessing either, you agree that neither constitute medical advice nor should they be substituted for professional medical advice or care. Use of this podcast or blog to treat any medical condition is strictly prohibited. Consult your physician for any medical condition you may be having. In no event will any podcast or blog hosts, guests, or contributors, Exercise Coach USA, LLC, Gymbot LLC, any subsidiaries or affiliates of same, or any of their respective directors, officers, employees, or agents, be responsible for any injury, loss, or damage to you or others due to any podcast or blog content.