The other day while I was leaving the gym a personal trainer approached me and asked me how many days a week I workout. My response shocked him. Earlier that day during my own workout I had a gym member ask me how much weight I squat. My answer confused him. And I would have to say at least once a week I get asked by random strangers at the gym as to what my total macronutrient intake is for each day. And my reply usually annoys them.

As a fitness professional it's my job to motivate and educate others on how to live a healthy and balanced lifestyle when it comes to nutrition and exercise and I try my absolute best to practice what I preach on a daily basis. I stress the importance of planning ahead when it comes to reaching health and fitness goals. I provide tips on meal prepping, how to make wise food decisions and finding time to fit in a quick workout even when living a hectic, demanding and stressful lifestyle. Because of this though I think my clients believe that I myself have the perfect workout routine and the cleanest diet and that I go through each day as if I were a machine that requires little to no rest and that has no tastebuds whatsoever. Well, to be brutally honest, I don't have the "perfect" workout routine nor do I have the cleanest and healthiest diet plan. And I'm not a robot, I am a human. Therefore I do sometimes feel tired, bored and stressed which does sometimes lead me to miss the occasional workout or have the occasional slice of pizza or piece of chocolate cake. However unlike most fitness enthusiasts and workout addicts I actually don't feel bad when I take a break from my diet and training. In fact I feel pretty damn good. And here's why - "Cheating" or "Being Bad" on one's diet, is in my opinion actually good for you!

As we begin to hit the tail end of Spring we can now feel that the Summer Season is on the horizon. Here in Vancouver, we've had absolutely fantastic weather as of late. I for one like many others love the warm sunny weather that comes along with this season and try to spend as much of my free time outdoors soaking up the Summer festivities as I possibly can. I always know that Summer is close when the atmosphere in the gym starts to change as well. All of a sudden there's a line up to use the pec dec machine, every single treadmill in the gym is in use and you can forget about using the squat rack as most "seasonal lifters" like to claim the racks so that they can perform every single damn exercise in them except for squats!

Nevertheless most gyms are insanely busy at this time of year which is definitely not a bad thing, especially if you work in the fitness industry. So let's say that you're not a seasonal lifter however you are using the summer season as your own motivation to get yourself into the best shape of your life. Wouldn't it make sense to hire a professional who can help take you there faster then you could do it on your own? I would like to think so. But what exactly should you look for when you are seeking to hire someone to help you lose body fat and build muscle? I mean if a trainer has his or her license, is fully certified and even has a few years of training along with hundreds of hours of on floor experience shouldn't these attributes be credible enough to provide confidence to you the client that you are in good hands? Well, no, not necessarily.....

I recently read a statistic in the North American Health Journal that stated that 4 out of 5 people who start on a diet and exercise weight loss program usually quit and give up within the first 3 months. I for one was shocked when I read this because from what I've seen over the years it seems as if the majority of the population tend to give up on their health and fitness goals within the first 3 weeks from when they first got started. Sure there are the select diehard few that make it until the very end but that's because in my opinion to them (and to myself) there really is no end. These are the people who have decided to incorporate healthy eating and physical exercise into their daily routines. Exercise to them has become a permanent lifestyle change instead of some "4 Weeks to a Better Beach Body" fitness gimmick. But rather then focusing on how theses fitness gurus and gym rats are able to maintain a somewhat restrictive and disciplined lifestyle, let's take a look at the obstacles that get in most peoples' ways when it comes to becoming fit, active and overall more healthy.