Everyone has their own individual reason for joining a health club, lose a few pounds, tone up, lower your blood pressure, strengthen a bad back or shoulder, perform better in sports, or just keep in shape by playing some basketball or racquetball. By joining gym you have shown a time, and a financial commitment to achieving your goals, congratulations!

However, joining gym is only first step.

Did you know that only about 2% of health club members actually use gym?

Some gym member leave because they injure themselves and cannot work out, many others leave because of lack of results. The reasons are endless.

However, I have been a doctor for over eight years now, and I have seen new gym members come in with good intentions only to make same common mistakes others made that set them up for failure, or an injury.

I am sure you must be wondering why I care about your goals for joining gym.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) reports that as many as 250,000 lives are lost annually due to lack of physical activity or a sedentary lifestyles. That is 200,000 more than number of lives lost as a result of car accidents, which are 50,000.

Most of problems myself and other doctors are treating such as high blood, arthritis, chronic pain or stiffness, overweight, low energy, stress and tension are often result of years of neglect. Most of these chronic problems could have been prevented with proper guidance. The good think is that many of these chronic problems can still be helped, again with proper guidance.

Hopefully, by sharing what I have seen over years will help your achieve your health and fitness goals. So, here are most common mistakes I have seen over years which results in injury, or failing to reach their goals whether it is weight loss, muscle toning, rehabilitating an injury, getting of all those pain medications or whatever reason was for initially joining a health club was.

Mistake #1:Not seeing a QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL before beginning an exercise program

This sounds like common sense right? Every piece of exercise equipment has a similar statement on it right? There is a reason for that, exercise can be harmful or even deadly, and I do not care if you think you are good shape. How many times have you known of someone suddenly passing away from a heart attack and you say to yourself, he looked so healthy.

So schedule an appointment with your primary doctor and have your blood pressure check, get your resting pulse rate, get your body fat tested, have your heart and lungs listened to, have your muscles, joints, and any injuries evaluated before you begin your exercise program. If you do not want to schedule an appointment with your doctor, you can have these test done here for free, no additional charge, this exam is included with your membership.

Why, we want you to enjoy gym and achieve your goals, but first we want you to be safe. It also does not look that good when you see gym members rolled out to ambulance parked in front of gym entrance. It happens. Call your doctor up or if you are in Phoenix area stop by and see us.

Mistake #2:Not getting any Initial Baseline Numbers

Again, this goes back to mistake number 1. How can you monitor your progress if you do not know where your were when you stated.

If you are a little over weight or trying to lower you blood pressure, don’t you think you should know what your blood pressure is before you begin your program. How are you going to monitor your weight loss if you do not know what percent of your body is fat, before you begin your program.

A brief note here, you know I mentioned percent of body fat and not weight. How much you weigh does not matter much, but your percent of fat does.

Lets say we have two overweight new gym members both weighing 200lbs. One joins gym and is going to try use scale to monitor his progress; other stopped by our office and received their evaluation, which was included with their membership. At this evaluation we found that second new member weighed 200lbs. And had a body fat percentage of 40%. This means that 40% of his body is made of fat 80lbs. The other 120lbs is what his muscle, bones, organs, etc. weigh, (everything but fat).