Fitness Questions, what questions should I be asking

[Evil Dave]

Hi folks, I'm sorry if my writing style sounds a little terse, I'll blame it on the old army guy in me. I like to help people get to their fitness goals and some people do not know what questions they need to ask themselves along with asking for advise. What is the right question to ask? Here is almost always the first question I ask someone when they ask me for advise:

What are your big picture goals?

This is my standard response to such questions as, I want to bench/squat/dead/etc 200lbs, and how do I get there? Why do you want to get there? Your answer to this question tells me which of the many avenues to follow to get to your goals. Don't worry if you actually don't know the answer to that question, you may not know how to define what your goals are. You can start the conversation with I want to bench/squat... and we can work from there.

Some other standard questions are: what are you currently doing? What is your time commitment to put into the goal and any time limits if any? What is your equipment availability? Do you have any issues that may limit or distract you from your goals? Once again, if you don't know the answers to these questions, that's all right. At points in our fitness journey we may not know the answer or even see it when it's right in front of us.

So what do you ask? If your not sure then just start the conversation and hopefully you will find your answers. One of the nice things about starting a conversation is that you may discover what your goals are when somebody asks a question in 'just that way'. If you can, start by asking yourself what do I want to do? Do you want to loose weight, pump more iron, better fight performance, etc. From there it is easier to work down to the specifics of a routine for you.

[sperki]

I think the question about the big picture is spot on. Do you want to bench 200 for a weight lifting competition? Body building? It's your benchmark of chest strength? Massive pecs are hot? You'll hit harder? From there you can help develop a program that will encompass somebodies total fitness goals.