NEW YEARS RESOLUTION – COMMON MISTAKES
The new year is around the corner and people are getting excited about their New Year’s Resolutions. The only problem with New Year’s Resolutions is that most of us can’t stick to them for longer than a month. I’m sure if you’ve ever been a member of a gym you’ve experienced the “January Phenomenon” where all of a sudden hundreds of people sign up to the gym and work out for 2 weeks before they quit and are never be seen again. If this sounds familiar and you identify with this example, then this article is for you.
I want to help you start the new year right! Here are the common mistakes people make when coming up with a fitness related New Year’s Resolution.
1) YOUR GOAL ISN’T SPECIFIC
If you set your goal to be more fit or more toned, how can you measure your progress or success? There is no measurable unit for being more toned. When you set your goal I want you to really think about what you want to achieve and be precise about it.
I AM GOING TO LOSE 10LBS OF BODY FAT.
I AM GOING TO GAIN 10LBS OF MUSCLE MASS.
I AM GOING TO RUN A MARATHON.
Whatever it might be, make sure you know exactly what it is and put it into a measurable goal. Remember, a goal needs to be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and it needs to have a deadline.
2) DOING IT ALONE
Everybody is different but starting a fitness routine isn’t easy and if you don’t have any repercussions surrounding your goal it’s easy to start slacking when it gets hard. Your success rate of achieving your goal is tremendously higher if you have someone in your corner cheering for you / or sometimes yelling. The goal is to make it more difficult for yourself to throw in the towel. Here are some ways to do so.
#1 Get a training partner
When you have a training partner, you care about, it’s really hard to cancel on a workout with them. Trust me, there will be days where you don’t want to go to the gym and your partner will motivate you to go. Same goes vice versa. Some days you’ll be the driving force to get a workout done.
#2 Tell your Friends & Family
Make sure your family, friends, boyfriend, girlfriend know about your goal so they can support you with your journey. They will be the biggest critics but also the most honest people you can trust with your goal. At least out of my experience when telling my girlfriend about a specific fitness goal and I have a weak day and want to order some food she asks me if that’s going to help me achieve my goal faster – which it doesn’t!
#3 Share it on Social Media
If you need some extrinsic motivation post your goal on social media. For some people posting about a goal makes it real. “Now that I posted it I have to do it” kinda thought process. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. You have to decide if you thrive on extrinsic motivation and if you do that might be the way to go.
3) TOO MANY GOALS AT ONCE
You want to run 10 miles a day, work out 6 times a week, take Yoga classes 3 times a week and join a CrossFit gym while reducing your caloric intake and banning all kind of sugar from your diet. Having a ton of motivation is great but if you overdo it you’re setting yourself up for failure.
Don’t overwhelm yourself with too many goals at once. If you haven’t worked out in a while set a realistic goal of 2 or 3 times per week for 30 min. This will shock your body and you’ll see better results than going 19 times per week.
4) GIVING UP TOO EARLY
Let’s get one thing out of the way real quick. Starting a new workout regime costs a lot of effort mentally and physically. You have to be mentally ready to endure the pain to get the dream body you are working for. If you’re not ready mentally and you don’t have the support you need it’s easy to quit even before you’ve even started. This brings me to the next point of creating a realistic plan.
5) NO REALISTIC PLAN
Imagine you want to build a house without a plan. It’s not going to work. You’ll have crooked walls, no electricity and nobody wants to live in that house. Same goes for your body. You live in your body so you better make sure you build it right!
When I say realistic plan I mean a strategic approach to achieve your goal within a specific time frame. If your goal is to run a marathon you wouldn’t start with a 26 mile run, right? You will have to slowly get your body accustomed to the new training stimulus. Maybe you want to start with 1 mile per day and increase the volume / miles each week. As soon as your body is used to a specific training style you need to switch it up to get better each week.
SET A GOAL – WRITE DOWN A PLAN – EXECUTE
6) NOT ENJOYING THE ROUTINE
This is probably the most important part of the journey. Pick something you enjoy doing. If you want to lose weight but you hate running don’t start your journey with 4 scheduled runs / week. Try something else instead. Something that makes you happy and gets you excited to start. Crossfit, HIIT training, join a tennis club whatever it is that makes you happy – go for it. I’m not saying you should abandon all exercises you don’t enjoy doing but focus on sports or workouts that keep you motivated for a long period of time.
7) WRONG REASONS
Too many times I’ve heard clients tell me their motivation to lose weight. Pretty often it wasn’t their goal to lose weight. It was their partners wish for them to lose weight, be healthier or simply work out more. Although their partners only wanted the best for them it’s not the right reason to start a fitness routine. You have to be personally ready to get started otherwise you’ll lose yourself in the process and worst case resent the person who made you start. You have to ignite the fire within you that will keep burning and push you through the hard times.
8) CELEBRATE YOUR PROGRESS
Yesterday I had a conversation with a friend about this issue. We almost never celebrate victories but talk about defeats for days / weeks / months. Reverse that for 2020. When you lost 25% of the weight you wanted to lose – celebrate it. It’s a milestone. You achieved 25% of what you wanted to achieve. We too often focus on the negative things in life or the other 75% of the journey we still have to go.
This is your year and you can achieve whatever it is you want! I’ll be here to support you with workouts, articles and video content to speed up your progress.
