How to Pick the Right Fitness Center

When you look around these days, there isn’t a shortage of fitness options. You can pick up your phone and scroll through every high-priced fitness contraption that man has to offer. Outside, you can bike, run and walk – assuming you can bear the oppressive Louisiana summer heat and humidity. On the street, there’s a fitness boutique on almost every corner offering a one-hit popular fitness option at a premium price.

But maximizing your wellness might require a more comprehensive solution that includes a blend of virtual programming, using a gym with a pool, taking group exercise classes and utilizing Ochsner’s Eat Fit options, which are available across Louisiana.

Finding a gym that has more than one “note” of fitness could be important to developing a more robust wellness regime. So here are five things to consider for more optimal fitness routines.

Find Your Tribe

 It’s important to find a group of like-minded fitness folk and essential to vary your routine. That’s why finding a gym with several different kind of exercise options makes it so you aren’t hitting the same muscles with the same type of fitness everyday. You might be missing cardio options and only use the weight room.

You might be running everyday and missing the benefits of interval training or weight training. Or you might be a member of a boutique gym that only offers, for example, spin classes. Group exercise, commonly offered at multi-purpose gyms, is a great way to sample the menu of fitness iterations out there.

Complementing that routine with yoga, core, cardio and strength as well as splashing in dance or fun class options is the key to keeping it fresh mentally and magnifying the benefits of exercise. Plus, you have built -in motivation when you make friends who encourage you in class and motivate you to come when you are feeling like skipping.

Water Magic

 When you work your muscles on land, there is usually a measure of impact in what you are doing. Or, if you only take spin and do no other types of cardio, you are only accessing some of your body’s muscles. Taking a splash in the pool to find fitness minimizes or eliminates impact on joints and swimming works every muscle in the body.

If you aren’t a nature lap swimming, most gyms with pools have water aerobics or water balance classes, which keeps your body moving without impact. If you want to become a more efficient swimmer, many gyms like Ochsner offer adult swim lessons or adult swim teams, which leverage “group sourcing” for form correction and motivation. If you can find a gym with both indoor and outdoor pools, rain or shine, winter or summer, you can keep moving in water to your fitness goals.

Atmosphere

If you like working out by yourself everyday and are always out of bed, everyday, around the calendar getting your workout in, that’s an incredible thing and keep on with that! Most of us tire or slack off exercise when it’s just ourselves and it can be hard to organically develop fitness friends unless your neighborhood happens to be a haven of triathletes.

Finding a place with a warm, inviting atmosphere to meet fitness folks is important. I was in the best shape of my life when I was working out with a small group of friends who not only did the classes and workouts I liked, but they also encouraged me to try what they liked, forcing me to diversify my routine. We hung out after workouts, grabbing a coffee at the café before heading off to work. That connection inspired me to get out of bed for 5:30 a.m. workouts. 

If you don’t naturally have that group of motivating people in your life, a gym is a great place to meet people who like to exercise. Places with hangout areas like cafes or poolside bars are great post-workout spots to meet new fitness friends or expand your bonds with the ones you have. If your workout place currently doesn’t have “hangout” opportunity or spaces, you might be missing that connection.

Whole Family Options

Another obstacle in our busy lives is trying to configure exercise without drawing precious time away from family and children. But if you can take your children with you when you work – and belong to a gym with childcare, the whole family gets in the habit of making family time for workouts. Kids can blow off steam in childcare play areas of the gym while you catch your favorite spin class and then everyone can meet up afterward for a swim in the pool. Contrary to taking time away from your kids, you are modeling a fit family lifestyle that they will likely mimic when they are older.

Personalization

Part of integrating wellness into our lives is finding solutions that are tailored to our specific lifestyle and routines. Some people like to workout late at night, some like to workout early in the morning. Does your gym offer 24-hour options or early and late morning operational hours? Another consideration is identifying a place with professionally trained fitness experts who can develop a program aimed at improving on weakness and enhancing strengths.

It’s not really about whether you know how to work out or how to operate the treadmill. I’ve trained many clients who had great baseline fitness and already regularly worked out, but they wanted more – some of them wanted to break into triathlons or marathons; others wanted to learn how to do Olympic lifts in the weight room. Discovering a place that can put together a program for YOU is a key piece of surging to your best self.

Combining the considerations above with virtual programming, like the Ochsner FITT Lab app’s on-demand classes, is a great way to navigate wellness in 2021. To find out more information about Ochsner Fitness Center, please contact ochsner-fitness-centers@email.gymsales.net.