New Year Success
Every year people swarm to the gym with intensions to make the new year a positive one. In a lot of cases they want to undo the impact of the festive season and for others they just want to finally do something about their health and lifestyle.
So why is it so challenging to keep our promises to ourselves after the new year? The simple answer is that we quite often try to run before we can walk, we over commit and then we get discouraged and give up because it is “too hard”.
Let’s be clear, getting in shape is hard work and it requires a great combination of strength training, cardiovascular training, flexibility work as well as a well-balanced nutrition plan and a lot of rest and recovery. No wonder it is so overwhelming, it seems like a lot. There are three basic tips that I can give you to help ensure you are active often enough to be successful.
1. BE REALISTIC The trick is to be realistic, give yourself more than enough time to achieve your results. Rather than giving up after a month give yourself 16 weeks to see what you can achieve. In your first week don’t decide to go to the gym for an hour per day 5 days per week, goal set something that you know you can do, for example get to the gym twice in your first week for 30mins per visit, worry less about what you are going to do there and more about just turning up. In week two maybe commit to twice again however go for 45mins and see if you can achieve a little more than the previous week. These simple, small achievable goals will reduce the pressure, you will achieve them which will make you feel successful and most importantly you will begin to develop the habit which is the single most important link to success in improving health.
2. HAVE SOME FUN We are fortunate enough to live in one of the most wonderful countries in the world, there is a lot of fun and enjoyable outdoor activities and the weather for the majority of the time is fantastic. With that in mind the final part to improving your chances of success is to add into your weekly goals some fun activities outside of the gym that you enjoy and require some physical effort, maybe a day at the beach with some swimming, getting out on a SUP, a walk with friends or family, the list goes on.
