Normally, I focus on a topic and send it out directly to our Renov8 members. The following is an article that Jenn, one of our Apprentices in training to be a Coach submitted. I think it is worth sending in it’s entirety because she clearly talks about the essence of making a commitment to change and how the process works. Moving through the stages of precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance and termination is important if you really want to reach your goals. I think Jenn will be successful and so can you!

Making the changes necessary to realize your fitness goal

by Jennifer DeMartino

Through years of trying to recognize how to effectively make a change in one’s life, like quitting smoking, psychologists have recognized an effective pattern to make behavior changes. It is the same with fitness. There are important steps to making a major change!

The National Academy of Sports Medicine calls this the Transtheoretical Model of stages of change. These changes are not linear, but rather cycle continually with the goal of making it to the final stage and keeping it there.

Here at Renov8 Fitness, we help members focus on all of the stages to reach their goals.

1) The first stage is pre-contemplation: you aren’t even thinking about starting to work out OR thinking about changing how you workout.

2) The second stage is the contemplation: you are thinking about
working out in some way OR change how you workout to realize a different goal.

3) The third stage is preparation: you that are actually going to make that change within the month; your thoughts are transitioned to preparing to take action.

4) The fourth stage is action: you make the actual changes in your life to realize your goals (this stage usually is within the first 6 months of the changes ).

5) The fifth stage is maintenance: you have been exercising in the new way regularly and have been doing so for more than 6 months up to 5 years with less temptation to resort back to previous stages than in the 4th stage.

6) The final stage is termination: you have been regularly exercising in your routines for over 5 years and have no temptation whatsoever to resort back to the old patterns (even due to depression, lack of time, lack of money, loneliness, boredom, etc).

In my opinion, as I’ve been apprenticing with Renov8 Fitness and studying to be certified in personal training, I believe that stage 4 is the best explained reason Renov8 Fitness has a year membership agreement. I believe it’s in the interest of our members to get long term results and the investment is well worth it. I believe that without a commitment, it’s most likely that the realization of your exercise goals will not be as successful. This is because research results have shown this first 6 months of making changes is the stage with the biggest chance of relapse to previous stages and undermines and thwarts all of the progress that has been made over those previous months.

When looking to realize your fitness goals, it is vital that you move beyond the action (6 month) stage so that your happiness with your progress does not turn into feelings of hopelessness for not reaching your ultimate goal!

We hope that this information on making changes to realize your fitness goals has made a difference for you and will help you in your journey.