“Ninety percent of the world’s woes come from people not knowing themselves, their abilities, their frailties and even their real virtues” Sydney J. Harris, American Journalist and Author

Our members surely know what they want from life – and specifically from your time here at Thrive. But what if you can be more. Could you surprise yourself and become so much more than you may have imagined? We believe you can. And this series of blog posts are designed to help you do just that - to complement your workout and your journey with us, so you may learn something you may not have known about yourself.

In our last blog post, we discussed how we are all here to get to different destinations – how we are all driven by specific and unique motives. Now we would like for you to give some thought to what your end goal means to you. For instance, “getting into shape” could mean being healthy, flexible, balanced, toned, strong and happy.

Who does not want to be strong?  

Conjure up your vision of strong. Now Girls, this may be a bit of a hot button we are pushing, but this facet of a good workout is equally important to the you and can improve your quality of life more than you could imagine. Remember, strong need not mean bulky, think lean, toned and proficient.

Getting stronger can translate to holding a proper form while doing your plank, and being able to do it for longer. Or even doing a proper set of pull-ups without half killing yourself with exertion. Perceive strength in terms of improvement and how amazing it will feel to accomplish your idea of the best workout and beyond. This is one of the most important factors of a workout, because without building strength there is no improvement, no matter what your ultimate goals are. Stronger muscles contribute towards resistance to injury, and will (especially the ladies) in later years fight against bone loss and osteoporosis.

Now how to get there:

“Find something you like and DO IT! Gone are the days of needing to spend hours in the gym to accomplish your goals! From our wide variety of classes from Tabata to BodyPump, from battle ropes and Sandbells to free weights and machines, there is something for everyone of every age to find something that challenges them and helps improve their strength, both muscle and cardiovascular.” Says Alicia Santiago, Manager and Certified Personal Trainer at - Thrive Community Fitness, Oak Harbor

In her blog post on strength training, Group Fitness coordinator at Oak Harbor, Dani Sanusi advises: to ‘keep personal goals in mind’ and to “make sure that every couple weeks you are increasing your weight by a little bit.” She also recommends “increasing somewhere between 5-10% at a time. Be sure to listen to your body, and back off weight if it’s too much.”

So whatever your choice of exercise or your personal goals, you will find qualified and passionate trainers to help you get there.

What to expect?

Sore muscles – this is a sign of challenges accepted and triumphed. We are not talking about serious pain here, but some reminder from your muscles that they have worked.

Some weight gain – but remember this does not mean fat gain, but rather muscle mass. And come on, we all know muscle mass is what helps burn fat ;)

Some challenges and setbacks – this is what makes us human, and here we are, all at Thrive. Make use of our assistance and expertise!

Improved health – by being stronger you have less risk of injury and a better functioning body as a whole.

Definite improved physique – Whether you want bulk or lean, stronger means closer to your goals.

Let’s see… what more? A sense of accomplishment while having loads of fun along the way. Progress and new goals and horizons. Look out for our next feature when we will discuss flexibility, and how that contributes to your best workout.

A big thank you to Thrive Community Fitness, Oak Harbour’s Alicia Santiago and Dani Sanusi who supplied the expertise in this article.