Finishing Touches - Fitness and Construction
Posted by Barry Duncan on Fri, Sep 18, 2009
What do construction and the fitness industry have in common? A lot of the principals that you need to be a success in the construction industry are just as critical for you to run a successful fitness business.
Here is what happens when someone that has a working knowledge of construction takes on a project, is this what is happening in your fitness business or are you the professional that we really need to call to finish what we started? I consider myself a handy guy able to fix and build things; I have the power tools to prove it. I enjoy going to Home Depot just to look at tools and drool over the latest and greatest table saw or compressor. Nikki is also very handy with a cordless drill or nail gun so between the two of us we create all kinds of goals and projects to use these fantastic tools and of course to buy more tools.
Over five years ago we bought a house, a do it yourselfer's dream come true, we know have more projects than time! So far we built a deck off the back, no railings on the stairs yet; redid the bathroom, the base boards and back splash aren’t installed yet, built a new bedroom closet, no doors. You can see the trend here.
We love to do the fun stuff demo and build but we lack the finishing touches. It is these touches that are needed to make the home safe and beautiful but still they pile up. The compound effect is now getting to the point where we almost want to rip it all out and start over again!
So what does this have to do with fitness, absolutely everything? We all love the fun, dynamic and new exercise that allow us to test our skills, knowledge and new tools but we often forget the finishing touches and for some the prep work needed to get results. Think how much better the paint job looks if you actually fill the holes in the wall before you paint it.
What are the prep and finishing touches to exercise? I have created a quick list, please add your prep and finishing work so that others can get out there and make their exercise programs safe, effective and complete.
Prep work
- Fuel – we need it or we die
- H2O – Keeps us alert, hydrated and agile
- Warm up – choose your method but it is a must in exercise
- Build a foundation – know what you want and start from the basics building up
- Complete before progressing – finish your phase of your program before you advance
Finishing Touches
- Fuel – without it you do not rebuild muscle
- H2O – again it is critical to success read Carmon Bots latest article on this.
- Tapering – All exercise programs should have a taper a point in the plan where you take it easy on the body let it rest then shock it again
- Cool down – take your time to let the body adapt from go to stop
- Stretch – each muscle worked, I like short yoga routines
Now what about your fitness business? What do you need to do to prep for success and what do you need to do to finish? That is for another day, in the meantime share your knowledge with other fitness professionals and let's take this industry to the next level