Life> Health

UK bosses blamed for workers not fighting the flab

(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-01-22 16:38

"In many cases the main psychological barrier is believing we do not having enough time, such as being too caught up with work or family commitments, which in effect dissolves our responsibility from taking action. This conflict of interests can lead to stress which can in turn lead to negative effects in the both the boardroom and bedroom.

"To increase the chance of turning a New Year's Fitness Resolution into a habit that will have a lasting and positive impact on a person’s health and wellbeing, people need to make a psychological commitment and explore the following areas and solutions:

"By saying I am too busy with work or family commitments, I'm really saying I am not worth it ... and I need to make my wellbeing a priority.

Focusing too much on work and family and not enough on myself is a false economy – I am very good at looking after other people – but simply not myself. If I was my own best friend I know I would advise myself to invest in my health and go to the gym.

I need to work out what motivates me to go to the gym – and what my personal 'gain' factors are, such as the increased fitness and change of body shape, or reducing my personal 'pain' factors such as tiredness and poor concentration levels."

Another huge advantage for gym goers is the quality of sleep regular exercise generates – one in three people say they sleep much better after exercising, and 1 in 10 admit that the benefit they love most about working out is they can eat as much as they like.

Not surprisingly it would seem that men have different motivations for attending the gym. 14 times as many men as women admitted their gym use was motivated by the ability to eye up other gym goers. The survey also revealed:

·52% use the gym for health and fitness improvement

·28% use the gym for weight loss

·16% of people use the gym to relax and escape

·8% of people would rather go to the pub than to the gym

·12% would rather spend time with their friends than go to the gym

Ros Saunderson, Fitness Co-ordinator at LA Fitness, comments, "People who have taken the decision to join a gym are on the first steps towards achieving a healthier lifestyle and we are committed to helping them achieve this by providing quality advice, tailored programmes and cash incentives to motivate people to attend and help turn initial New Year enthusiasm into a life changing habit."