Coming Back After a False Start Somewhere Else

You joined a gym in January. You went four times in the first fortnight, twice more in February, and then not at all. The direct debit is still going out.

Plenty of people have a version of this, and the conclusion they draw from it — that they aren't disciplined enough — is wrong.

Let's review. You arrived with no plan. You chose, from about forty options, something reasonable. You did it at a weight you guessed. Nobody corrected anything, there was no progressive overload (the workout stayed the same), and there was no reason for Thursday to be different from Tuesday except that you felt like it. Then February happened.

That's a structural problem, and no amount of discipline fixes a structure. The people still going in March aren't more determined than you. They have something that decides for them.

So if you're going to try again — and September is a much better place to start from than January — look for three things.

A fixed time you've booked. Don't renegotiate a booking at 9pm the night before.

Somebody who knows your name and watches you move. Good coaching is the difference between six months of training and six months of exercise.

A programme that progresses. Ask what happens in month four. If nobody can tell you, you'll be back here next January.

What month one looks like here, so you can compare it against what you had: classes from your first week, and five one-to-one hours running alongside them, covering the movements and testing where you're starting from. You're not left to work it out.

And cancel the old one. That direct debit is a monthly reminder of having failed at something, and it does more damage to the next attempt than the £30 does to your account. Cancel it this week whether or not you do anything else.

The false start isn't wasted, incidentally. You now know exactly what doesn't work for you, which is more than anyone trying for the first time knows.

The vast majority of our members come to us because they've tried something else and either it hasn't worked or it's grown stale.

That call is the whole first step, and it's fifteen minutes. Free, no obligation, no hard sell — Jeremy or Beth at crossfitchiltern.com.