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: Determination can be a weak word. You may be ‘determined’ to shed a few extra kilos and get back into shape. But, a week later you’ll find your motivation level nose-diving and instead of burning calories on the treadmill, you’d be feasting on French fries sans guilt. Some “find it difficult to find time to exercise”, others “feel too tired to workout”, and few others “drop out because their efforts yielded no results.” Really, a dictionary of excuses could be compiled in no time.

“Research suggests that nearly 50% of the people who join a fitness programme tend to drop out,” says Wellness Expert and Clinical Exercise Specialist Namita Jain in Mumbai. She explains the phenomena: “People promptly join a gym when they realise they need to lose weight. However, they don’t anticipate the kind of efforts they would have to put in. Often personal trainers are not very sensitive to the clients’ personality types. So, either the people can’t relate to the exercise techniques or they tend to hurt themselves. In either case more than often they just tend to drop out.”

Sounds familiar? The idea then should be to engage with the personal trainer and also find the “fun element”. Whether the aim is to lose weight or gain muscle there definitely will be a fun way of doing it. Celeb fitness trainer, Jeremy Cheong of Fitness First suggests an easy way of doing it, “get together a circle of friends who share the same interest. Peer influence plays an important role and will keep you away from dropping out.” It also helps to buy fitness books or surf the net to be clued in. It helps creating a conducive environment.

“The routine should not become monotonous. One, the human body reaches a plateau very soon and two; the effectiveness of a particular exercise fades away gradually. Try walking, swimming, yoga, pilates, hiking… anything that you’d like doing. “Even body builders don’t just go and pump iron, there are a lot of other exercises they indulge in,” adds Cheong.