Plan Your New Year’s Fitness Resolution
It’s almost that time of year again! The time of year when everyone vows to hit the gym more, eat right, and put their phone down more often. Setting a resolution is sometimes for naught but can often inspire real change. When it comes to setting a resolution, what better way to improve your health than to commit to a fitness goal in January? Let’s talk about how to sustain your New Year Fitness Resolutions!
Have Specific Fitness Goals
When coming up with a resolution, start with something realistic. If you haven’t run a mile since your 7th grade PE class, it is not a good idea to set a goal of competing in a marathon. But if you want to set an attainable goal that will improve your health, why not sign up for a 5K a few months down the road? Setting a goal that you can actually work to will keep you motivated, and the chances of you keeping that resolution are more in your favor! Just remember to keep your goal SMART:
- Specific or Significant.
- Measurable or Meaningful.
- Attainable or Action Oriented.
- Relevant or Rewarding or Realistic.
- Time-bound or Trackable.
If you make specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and trackable goals, you can and WILL have better chances of achieving them!
Health Goal
Setting a health goal could be something like, “Work out 3 times a week.” This doesn’t have to mean making it to the gym–though if you sign up for a gym with interesting classes or a great juice bar, your odds of going may improve. Instead, it could be doing a workout video off YouTube three times a week with your home gym equipment. Think resistance bands, medicine balls, and a pair of dumbbells. Wanting to set a health goal is a very admirable thing. Stick with it and set yourself up to succeed.
Appearance Goal
You could also try setting a goal about your appearance. This could be, “I would like my arms more toned.” That is a specific goal and one that could be worked on daily. Whether it be doing push-ups, using free weights, or holding a plank for one minute three times a day, small changes can cause big results.
Wanting to get healthy can have a domino effect on your life. You start moving more, maybe you watch less TV. You want to make it through a workout without huffing and puffing, or maybe you finally quit smoking. Your mental health will improve. If you feel good, you will look good.
Working out has so many benefits. Losing inches on your waist is just an additional benefit. And if you don’t lose any weight while on your fitness journey, that’s OK too. Weight is not always reflective of your health!
Difficulty of Exercise Goal
You can set a difficulty/ complexity goal. This may be going from 20 LBS dumbbells to 25 LBS during strength training sessions. 5 LBS can feel like a big jump, but if you start with doing a few reps and then work to more, this is a very realistic goal. This could also mean upping your incline on the treadmill. At first, walking 3 miles on the treadmill may be hard enough. But after a week or two, adding a 3% incline can push you as your body is showing improvement when it comes to completing your workouts.
Write it Down – Small Steps to Big Goals
Anything worth doing is worth doing with a plan. That means setting goals, checking off milestones, and getting a great boost of confidence in your self-worth once you get further and further along your journey! Write down your progress regularly, such as once a week. For example, if you are exercising to lose weight, you might like to record your exercise sessions, daily diet, and weekly measurements. Include achievements like feeling more energetic or eating healthier. Give yourself plenty of ways that you can succeed. Writing down goals increases the likelihood of achievement by a whopping 42%.
Milestones
To start, begin setting milestones for your end goal. What do you want to accomplish? And where are you starting? Look at where you are and assess what your first step should be.
If you want to run a 5K start by looking at where you are. Do you already run a few times a week, or have you been a couch potato the past year and are just getting back on track? If so, why not start with “I would like to start moving every day.”
Whether it be a brisk walk or doing a pilates video, milestones need to be specific. “I want to get 10,000 steps in a day.”
Milestones need to be measurable. “I can track my steps and increase the amount I move by 1,000 more steps a week.”
Milestones need to be achievable. As stated before, if you are just beginning to run, don’t set the goal of a marathon (at least not this year). Start with a goal of a 5K.
Milestones need to be relevant. Walking 10,000 steps a day actually applies to your goal of finishing a 5K. A milestone of eating less sugar is on your list–that may be a great all-over goal, but it doesn’t totally apply to running that 5K.
Take it one at a time. Set a milestone and achieve it, then move on to the next one. Write it down. Writing down a goal and making a list of steps you can take to achieve it improves your chances of reaching that goal. Reward yourself along the way! If you make your goal for the week and achieve that milestone, treat yourself to a massage or a new pair of running shoes–something that helps you to feel an accomplishment is worth achieving.
Accountability is also a great motivator. Share with friends that you want to run a 5K by summer. Maybe get one of them to join you by signing up! Being accountable with a friend may mean that they encourage you in ways that you would otherwise not have support with. Like agreeing to go home with you from Happy Hour before that 3rd drink instead of ordering another round so that you can make that early morning walk the next day!
Track Your Workout Progress
There are many ways to track your progress. Even the Health App on your iPhone can keep track of your steps for you! You could also download a fitness tracking app like My Fitness Pal. Or, if you are great at Excel, create a doc that you can track the amount of exercise you put in, the time it took to complete the exercise, and how many days you achieved that goal.
– Quantity of Workouts Steps Achieved
– Time Spent
– Set up Rewards for Fitness Progress
- One great reward could be an Apple Watch. An Apple Activity app displays your fitness in a very clear and color coded way.
- The red Move ring shows how many active calories you’ve burned.
- The green Exercise ring shows how many minutes of brisk activity you’ve done.
- The blue Stand ring shows how many times in the day you’ve stood and moved for at least one minute per hour.
Spa or Massage Visits
Treating yourself to a massage is another great way to reward yourself (and your aching body.) Giving yourself some time that doesn’t involve achieving your goal is a great way to regroup and also help reward the work that your body has put in.
Special Dinners
Another great way to reward yourself is by finally booking that reservation at a restaurant that you have been dying to try. It’s a fantastic way to take some time to get out of your gym clothes, put on a cute dress, and sit at the sushi bar getting in some protein or trying a new sake that is listed on the menu. This is also a great time to get together with friends and let them know how your fitness journey is going and get some support as well.
Reach Out for Support
There is something to be said for support for a goal! This also could be in joining a walking group or even a group of others all working towards the same goal. Look at your local coffee shop. There are often fliers that post for groups like this in your neighborhood. If there isn’t, why don’t you be the one to hang the flier?
You will find that many others share a similar goal (it doesn’t have to be the exact same goal) and would be willing to give you the support you need.
Online Coaching
Another option would be to find an online coach! Online personal trainers are great for people who want targeted, structured plans to help them meet their goals. If you need guidance and support but could do without a bunch of other people in your group class with a trainer, if you need flexibility in terms of when they complete their workout, or if you don’t love the gym vibe.
Maybe you want to focus on outdoor workouts or home workouts and are not keen to join a gym when it comes to achieving your goal. And if you cannot pay a lot, an online coach is far less expensive than a personal trainer.
Here are a few subscription services and online personal training packages to check out:
1. Future: Future pairs you with a trainer, who then designs a custom program you complete on your own time. Future is $150/month for unlimited access to your trainer for questions and encouragement and sends you an Apple Watch to track your progress. Right now, it’s only available on iOS, but will be available on Android in 2023.
2. WRKOUT: WRKOUT was a top pick in Good Housekeeping’s 2022 Fitness Awards for personalized online training. In this case, you have an initial consultation with your trainer, and then you literally set up your screen so your trainer can see you and you can receive feedback in real-time. You can also ask your trainer to give you solo programming for your off days. WRKOUT offers packages ranging from $350/month for 4-6 real-time 50-minute workouts a month on up to 12-18 sessions a month for $960.
3. Flexit: Flexit also offers 1:1 training that you schedule at a mutually convenient time. Unlike some of the others, you are free to mix it up and use any trainer on the site to find your ideal fit or to take advantage of that trainer’s specialty. You can also use some of your monthly sessions with nutritionists, physical therapists, and other health professionals. You can purchase a plan with between four and 12 sessions a week ($268-$734 a month), which roll over if you don’t use them all and never expire. Connected Training is $75/month.
Friends & Family Motivations
Your friends and family can also be a great motivator. Maybe you have been worried about your health because of your weight or unhealthy lifestyle. If you have kids you want to make sure you do everything you can to be there when they grow up! Or you want to be able to run around the playground with them without being winded or needing to sit out while they are still wanting to play. Your children are always watching you, and taking care of your health and making working out a priority is a great way to start them on a lifestyle that includes fitness as well.
Get New Years Fit with Hampton Home Gym Products
Let us help you achieve your fitness goals with some of our versatile and effective Hampton Fitness Products! If you want to start building your home gym, you can start with our resistance bands, stability balls, and a pair of low-weight dumbbells. The HeroStrength® “STABILITY” Balls are a great tool for toning up with small, controlled movements. Hampton Jelly-Bell Dumbbells are easy to store at home or the office. Keep your New Year Resolutions by setting a goal, creating milestones, getting support, and rewarding yourself! There is no better investment than in your own health!
