Top 5 excuses heard in the gym

I hate gym changing rooms. Not because of the smell, or the person who stands next to you while you are naked because they are too scared to tell you that you are in front of their locker. It is because they are a breeding ground for gym myths and pity parties. Someone overhears a member telling another member about a cabbage soup diet and before you know it, it comes back to me as a sworn way to lose weight. It can also be a place where lazy and demotivated people congregate to feel sorry for themselves about how they can't get fit or in shape. Here are the top 5 excuses I hear from people and the truth about what they are saying.

#1 I have tried everything and nothing works.

These people haven't tried everything and cling to the hope that they have done everything they can. They tend to be those who have a regimented gym routine which they have been doing for 20 years. They will spend hours training in their 'fat burning zone'. They will read a newspaper on the exercise bike and will not have changed shape since you have known them. They sometimes tell me what they will and won't do at the start of a class. They try a new diet every week and love giving health and fitness advice. My reply to their excuse is, "have you tried selling your TV and joining an athletics club? What about nailing your cupboards shut? " These are extreme measures but evidence that these people haven't tried everything.

What they are really saying is, "I have tried lots of ways to lose weight but have realised that the problem is me. I hope that in telling you this, you will feel sorry for me so I can feel sorry for myself at having this burden inflicted on me."

If you have the misfortune of meeting someone like this at your gym, smile, walk away, ask for the manager, cancel your membership and never go back. If you let this person infiltrate your life, it will be the end of everything you have worked hard for.