Personal Training 9a: Barriers to Exercise

This post is part of an ongoing series about my learning process as I train to become a personal trainer.  In this post, I’m going to consider all the barriers to regular exercise that I can think of.  As part of my course, we are invited to think of all the possible barriers to exercise to better convince potential clients of why they should begin a suitable programme.

I’m going to imagine that I’m trying to persuade an overweight, out-of-breath, chair-shaped relative to begin an exercise programme before they pop their clogs at an early age.  This is my cheat sheet as I go into battle.

Being chair-shaped is only a good thing if you are a chair…

(photo credit Sean MacEntee)

Disclaimer

It’s probably an understatement to say that I am not a naturally very sympathetic person.  So, while my motives are certainly very well-intentioned, as you read this, you’ll start to realise that what Damon Hill said about Michael Schmacher can probably be very fairly applied to me as well:

“What you’ve got to remember about Michael is that under that cold, professional, Germanic exterior beats a heart of stone.”

***

#1: Medical

The most weighty category of barriers to doing exercise is the medical category.  It is beyond the scope of this blog to comment on individual diseases, ailments or injuries (although I do link from time to time to interesting articles on these subjects).  However, depending on the type of medical issue, I think that some problems can be worked around, particularly where there is scope to work with like-minded physicians and physiotherapists.  For example:

• Obesity – exercise can be as gentle as required (Mike Boyle suggests warming up with walking followed by resistance band and medicine ball circuits – basically just keeping moving for the duration)
• Injured leg – exercise can be structured to avoid using the hurt leg: one-leg squats (supported or free) and single-leg deadlifts can be used for lower-body strength training, dumbbells can still be used for upper-body strength training (with some care) and hand-cycles can be used for cardiovascular training
• Injured arm – exercise can be structured to avoid using the hurt arm: belt squats, glute-ham raises, lunges, one-leg squats and single-leg deadlifts can be used for lower body strength training, dumbbells can be used for the uninjured arm and kettlebell swings, walking and indoor cycling can be used for cardiovascular training
• Joint pain – where joint pain is due to weakness of surrounding muscles, these can be rehabilitated through appropriate strength training (possibly in conjunction with a physiotherapist) before gentle weight-bearing cardiovascular training is resumed.  In the meantime, non-weight-bearing cardiovascular training such as cycling, arm-cycling and resistance band work can be performed for raising work capacity

 ***

#2: Resources

The lack of resources (gyms, space to work out, equipment) is often merely a failure of the imagination in people unaccustomed to exercise.  In more advanced lifters, it is more often a dislike of doing anything outside of the routine (but that’s not what we are here to talk about).  As far as basic exercise is concerned, you can do a lot worse than:

• Walk – both at work, going out for a sandwich at lunchtime and in the village at home, I see plenty of people, all going about their business on foot.  Some of them are clearly quite happy walking miles and others, to be frank, look quite uncomfortable walking twenty yards to their car.  I think there is probably a fairly good correlation between basic fitness and how far you are happy walking. 
• Cycle – most people, at least in the UK, have an old bicycle hiding away in the garage.  Pulling it out for a spin around the block next summer could be the start of a beautiful new relationship.  It’s not weight-bearing and it’s not great for your posture but it’s tremendous fun and it gets you out in the fresh air.  Plus, if you get into it in a big way, you can use a turbo trainer to get you through the dark winters.
• Swing kettlebells – with a small investment in a kettlebell, anyone can have access to a very simple gym that gives a fun little cardiovascular workout without taking up a lot of space.  There’s a certain level of mobility needed and practice helps get the swing to come from the hip but if you watch the right sort of videos and not the wrong ones, then you should be on the way to getting it down after a few weeks.
• Garage gym – for a basic level of fitness there is not really any need to create a fully-fledged garage gym.  However, I do not think I can overstate how much good you can do to your body with a couple of dumbbells or kettlebells, a foam roller, a resistance band, a couple of boxes and an ab wheel.  Dumbbells or kettlebells are useful for swings and presses (key for upper and lower body strength), the foam roller will improve your soft tissue quality, the resistance band is good for a variety of postural exercises, the boxes are great for box squats and step-ups (key for glute activation) and the ab wheel will sort out your weak midsection. 

***

#3: Time

Let’s be reasonable, here.  Even Tony Blair and George Bush found time to exercise while they were in power.  It comes down to a bit of determination and a lot of careful planning.  And we are only talking about 30 minutes 4-5 times a week for the minimum requirement, anyway.  My practical responses to this barrier are as follows:

• Form habits – forming a habit makes taking 30 minutes out of your day seem like much less of a big deal.
• Prioritise – when I was working in London, I did long hours.  I found that the best way to guarantee that I got my workout in every day was by doing it on the way to work.  That way, the time that got erroded in the evening was the sitting around time and not the workout time.  Getting home and trying to find the motivation to workout when you day is long can be difficult.
• Pick your exercise carefully – if you’re short of time, don’t go and take up swimming, much as it is very enjoyable.  There are too many time-sensitive issues.  The pool is only open certain hours, you need to drive to the pool and back, you need to get changed into your costume, you need to shower before and afterwards… Instead, pick something that only requires you to get stuck in straight-away.  Swinging a kettlebell around in your back garden or garage the moment you get home only lasts the length of the workout and doesn’t need an hour either side of preparation and travel.
• Multi-task – if you need to walk the dog anyway, make the most of it and get out there for a good long walk.  Your dog will thank you and you’ll gain fitness along the way.  Don’t be one of those sad sacks who walk to the nearest bit of open ground and stand there while your dog legs it up and down wondering why you’re so immobile.

***

#4: Children

As I get deeper into my 30′s, I see more and more of my friends having children and immediately giving up all propsect of living into old age being active.  It saddens me but I know from particular examples of one or two dedicated people I know that having children and exercising are absolutely not mutually-exclusive.

• Take turns – if you still live with your partner (hey, I’m not making assumptions, here!) you can take turns watching the kids while you each get a quick 30 minute workout in.  Even if it is just walking around the block briskly.
• Take them with you – if you have the ability to walk out from home without fearing for your life (safety first, people!) then you can bundle small children into a pushchair and trot around the park or even up and down the road if you have to.
• Enlist support – try asking a friend or a relative to watch the kids for 30 minutes while you do a fast and effective workout.  Does that sound odd to you?  I guess you don’t really prioritise your health above doing the weekly shopping or having a night out, then?
• Combine it with other tasks – If you are unlucky enough to be without friends or family nearby, try tying your workout into an already-arranged babysitting session .  You’re going out for the evening, so why not do your gym session before you get showered and changed?  You’re going to get showered and changed anyway and you’re paying for the babysitting anyway.

***

#5: Motivation

I am a firm believer in the idea that there are two types of motivation:

• Towards motivation – this is the motivation that type-A personalities like Donald Trump display in huge quantities.  It is the drive to achieve a particular goal.  It’s the kind of motivation that all of the self-help gurus talk about all of the time because it sounds positive and attractive.  However, to my mind, it’s pretty obvious that for every Donald Trump there are a million people who are content to work for the minimum wage, which means that this kind of motivation is probably largely genetically determined.  You either have it or you don’t.  So what can you do if you don’t have “towards motivation”?
• Away-from motivation - this kind of motivation is rarely talked about in detail – it’s the ugly stepsister of “towards motivation”.  The gurus don’t like it because it comes across as negative and, for some reason, negative is bad.  In my book, negative is simply the opposite of positive.  Anyway, “away-from motivation” is the kind of motivation that you see bathers demonstrate when someone spots a shark’s fin in the surf.  Everyone leaves the water at top speed.  There’s no hesitation and there’s no individual variance.  You don’t see one person miles ahead of everyone else.  What’s the take-home point here?  Well, if you’re not lucky enough to be a type-A personality, getting really scared about failing to achieve your goals can yield remarkable results.  Graeme Obree, a cyclist and the former World Hour Champion, said once that “he was more afraid of failing than he was of dying”.  And Obree achieved not only a world record but a performance that few people even thought possible.  

Get scared and get motivated!  (Photo credit: Miusam CK)

 ***

#6: Shyness / embarrassment

 The simple solution to feeling embarassed about working out or training in public is to train at home.  Apart from my recent personal training exam, I can’t remember the last time I worked out in a commercial gym.  And as we noted above, you don’t need a lot of stuff to do it properly.

***

#7: Cost

Some people think that in order to exercise properly, they need to commit to a gym membership and a personal trainer.  But there are so many great resources on the internet to get you going and a simple home gym for basic fitness is no more than £50 at most.

As you can see, I am running out of steam now, so I’ll stop.  Please let me know if you can think of any other barriers that people have that stop them from exercising.  I am on a one-man quest to tear them all down…