We know you’re gonna be making new year’s resolutions tomorrow, and we also know that statistically 80% of those resolutions will be broken by February. We’re used to hearing it, we all are, and we’re sick of it.
Hey you! Yeah you!
We know you’re gonna be making new year’s resolutions tomorrow, and we also know that statistically 80% of those resolutions will be broken by February. We’re used to hearing it from everyone, we all are, and we’re calling out those bluffs.
Here are the top 10 new year’s resolutions based on a UK study in 2015;
1. Exercise more
2. Lose weight
3. Eat healthier
4. Take more active approach to health
5. Learn a new skill/hobby
6. Improve personal wellbeing
7. Build relationships with family/friends
8. Drink less alcohol
9. Stop smoking
10. Find the love of their life
Can you believe that the top 4 resolutions are all aimed at fitness alone? How crazy is that? Yet by the time February rocks around, a whopping 80% of us will have dropped them. A familiar tale for most of us when it comes to new year’s, but it’s because the odds are stacked against us. The only chance we have to get into the top 20% is to understand why we’re going to fail, and fight like hell to stop yourself from becoming a resolution casualty.
Reasons why we fail
No Plan
As the saying goes, “fail to plan and you’re planning to fail”. Not having a plan almost guarantees you’re not going to stick to your resolutions. Think about it, everything you’ve ever achieved in your entire life required a plan. You had to work at it, you had to take your time, and you slowly made your way towards that goal, step-by-step.
The best resolutions are those that involve a plan, a plan with those same steps you’ve followed before, and a plan with measurable results. Break it down, start with your end goal, and work your way back. Try listing out what you need to do in order to get there. If you have those dedicated steps, and you break down those steps into bite-size chunks, you give yourself the best chance to stick to your goals.
Unrealistic Expectations
Without going too deep into this topic, it’s worth us pointing out that what you see in magazines isn’t real! You can’t go from overweight to ripped in 12 weeks, there is no one size fits all diet, there are no shortcuts, and no steroids will not make you look like Dwayne Johnson overnight. Most of what you read is bull crap, put out there to make you spend your money in a multi-billion-pound fitness industry.
So with that in mind, you need to seek out the correct information. You need to read about nutrition (from valid sources), you need to speak to those that have been there before you, you need to listen to a real fitness expert who can help manage your expectations.
You didn’t get to where you are today over the course of a couple of months, it took you a prolonged amount of time, and to reverse that, you need to spend a similar amount of time. You’ll likely find it takes less time to lose the weight you gained than the years it took you to accumulate it. However, if you set yourself an unrealistic expectation, you’ll never stick to your goals.
Going It Alone
There are two different ways to think about this;
Firstly, if you go it alone, you have nobody to hold you accountable to your actions. If you decide to skip a day, or two, or three, who cares, nobody will find out. That in itself is a huge problem when you’re starting out. Having a personal trainer who’s there for you is one way to tackle this problem, or simply having a friend who you can work-out with would also create accountability.
Secondly, have you ever heard the saying, surround yourself with people you aspire to be like? Maybe you’ve heard that you become a product of those who you spend most time with?
Both have a valid point, whether you want to eat healthier, quit smoking, learn a hobby, or whatever your goal, surrounding yourself with others who have the same goals makes you statistically much more likely to achieve your goals.
There are many ways in which we can support you through your new year’s fitness resolutions and we’d love to have a chat with you about it. We offer bootcamp sessions where you can work out with others, or we have personal training sessions where you get our undivided and focused attention, it’s your choice.