So I had coffee with a great friend and inspirational woman today and we got onto the subject of females and personal training.

She mentioned that her significant other said to her the other day, “Why do you need a personal trainer still? You’ve worked with a whole bunch of different ones enough that you know a ton about working out already. You could easily design your own workouts.”

She said her response to him was, “But I don’t want to have to make the decisions. I don’t want to have to decide what exercises to do and what weight to use. I already have to make a bazillion choices every day!”

She then looked at me and said, “Having a personal trainer, having your workouts designed for you, is one less decision we, women, who are already overloaded with choices every day, have to make.”

Life is a balancing act…why add one more thing every day to our plate?

Working out for many women is their one chance during the day to really do something for themselves. A time when they don’t have to make any decisions or worry about what anyone else needs. It is a chance for them to focus on themselves- to have some ME time.

And while I know that not everyone is like me and that some women do, in fact, enjoy running, I think that many women turn to the cardio machines because it is an EASY decision. They don’t have to think about what they are going to do – they can just get on and go until they are tired.

Whereas coming up with a workout when you get to the gym (and figuring out what equipment to use when a lot of the weight room space taken over) is more challenging and not near as relaxing.

So some women either avoid lifting weights or they turn to classes and personal trainers.

And while, of course, I’m in favor of using a personal trainer, I do think that you CAN great your own workouts without adding in the stress of making a whole bunch of decisions when you get to the gym.

And one of those ways is to sit down and plan out your workouts for the week, or even the month, ahead of time.

I mean think about it…It is way less stressful when you plan out, and even cook, your meals ahead of time. Then when you are tired and stressed out during the week, you don’t have to figure out what to make and then spend time cooking it. You also don’t get the urge to just eat anything because you are too tired to care.

Same thing goes for working out. When you create your workouts ahead of time, and I don’t just mean earlier that day, you create workouts that will challenge you and help you grow.

Whereas a lot of the time when we have to design something in the moment, we design something based on how we feel – which sometimes can mean doing 10 push ups instead of 20…or using half the weight we should be using.

It can even mean that we skip the workout altogether because we just don’t have the energy to make another decision.

So take a second and think…After a long day at work, do you do the workout that requires the least amount of thought or the one that will get you the best results?

Maybe planning out your workouts ahead of time (or getting a personal trainer) may be just want you need to hit your goals!

Do you plan out your workouts?