Meet Your Fitness Goals With These Expert Tips

As a former semi-professional soccer player, Manni Katopodis knows a thing or two about staying in shape. Three weekly training sessions with the team meant that it was easy to maintain peak condition between games. But during the offseason, he had to create his own fitness regime.

“One of my friends owns F45 in West Lakes, so I’d go there during the offseason to keep fit,” he recalls. “I really loved the way the workouts were delivered -  I found them challenging and good at keeping me fit while I was away from soccer – so I decided to take over F45 Norwood in December last year.”

Fortunately, the F45 classes aren’t only for professional athletes. The high-intensity sessions are well suited to time-poor professionals who don’t have the expertise to create their own workouts.  “We make it easy,” says Katopodis: “you come in, the workout’s all set up for you and then you’re done in 45 minutes.”

Two personal trainers are on hand for every session to make sure everyone is using the equipment safely, and to push them to get the most out of their time at the gym. And the mix of bodyweight, weight and cardio stations allows each gymgoer to focus on their personal goals, whether that means weight loss, muscle building or overall fitness.

“When people are here, they usually have no problem pushing themselves and working hard – the environment that we create helps you to do that,” says Katopodis. “But when you're away from the gym, that’s where some people struggle. Luckily, there are a few simple ways to get the most out of your gym membership.”

Manni Katopodis’ Top Three Tips For Sticking To Your Gym Regime

Find Your Tribe

Always have someone else who can keep you accountable. There are going to be some mornings, especially in winter when it's three degrees outside, where you don't want to get out of bed. But if you have someone else who’s relying on you to show up,  it gives you that little bit of a kick in the bum to get up and get to your workout.

Set A Sustainable Pace

A game of soccer ends once the ref blows his whistle, but personal fitness is an infinite game; the goal is to stay healthy for the rest of your life. That means it’s no good joining a gym for four weeks then jumping off the bandwagon. If you want to stick with it, you need to set reasonable goals and choose something that you can do for a long period of time. That also goes for nutrition – there’s no point in crash dieting in a way that’s unsustainable because once you get off the diet, you’ll end up back where you started and be demoralised.

Enjoy Yourself

The most important thing is to find something that’s fun. If you enjoy it, you’re a lot more likely to turn up. It’s why we’ve always got high energy music playing and no F45 workout is ever the same – every time you come in, we do something different so you don’t get bored.