Resoultion Failure No More

With the New Year here, it’s usually a time when everyone starts to focus on their health, only to fall off the wagon a few weeks in to it. Resolution's, althought the thought is there, are a passive goal.  Resolution's can be acheived with a proactive approach and realistic goals.  Think of your resolution as more of a process, rather than an end product.  Lately, I’ve been thinking about ways to keep people in the healthy habit of exercise and evade falling off track. Here are some helpful tips I put together that will help you start the New Year right, making it a lot easier to create a lifelong commitment to your health and fitness.




1. The first one was a no-brainer for me. Having a buddy system is a great way to not only make your exercise experience fun, but it will also help you reach the results you want. Realize that with all things in life, you will be better off with the help of the individuals around you than you will be alone. Human beings are meant to be social creatures, so why would you make it more difficult for yourself? Having a friend to workout with will build accountability, consistency, and camaraderie! All of which, are the front runner’s for success with your fitness. These will improve your results significantly, I promise you that.



These two buddies love to swim together!



With saying that, make sure your friend isn’t someone who is going to hinder you! Don’t be jabbering the whole time you’re exercising that you don’t get any training benefit at all. Keep your workouts fun and loose, but also have some focus on what you and your friend have to do. Don’t let your friend be inconsistent, hold them accountable, as you do for yourself. If you have minor aches and pains and don’t feel like working out, find ways to train around them and rehab them. Stay focused on why you are exercising in the first place! What’s your motivation?

2. Variety is one trait of successful exercise-goers for many reasons, and it’s a trait that most people haven’t been taught as to why. One reason being that if continue to do the same movement over and over again, your body gets efficient at it. This means you’ll burn fewer calories doing it. Most people either sit or walk all day long, why would you come to the health club to walk on a treadmill or sit on a machine? Step out of your box for once and challenge yourself to learn something new! Try swimming, biking, aerobics classes, resistance training, or a new sport! There are plenty of options you can throw into your routines. Another reason I like to add variety to my workouts is to decrease overuse and injuries. No one likes to have nagging injuries, and adding a little variety to your routine can help with this. Different activities use different muscles and different movements that will help balance your muscle symmetry and your joint structures. Think about it; if I was to take a hammer and hit my hand 10 times everyday, even if it didn’t hurt while I was doing it, eventually it would bruise, callus, and give me some pain issues. Not my greatest analogy, but you get the picture!

3. Tracking your progress is another great trait of successful exercise-goers. You won’t know where you’re going until you know where you’ve been! This can include (but are not limited to) anything from tracking your weekly workouts which will allow you to switch it up every few weeks, to taking before and after pictures or measurements, to video taping your form development on certain exercises, to going to the doctor and getting a lipid profile. Once you start recording progress, you’ll start to see the big picture and it will make your goals more affordable (as long as the goal is realistic!). This can also be used as motivation! Whether you are embarrassed about your starting point and want to change it, or you are tracking how your exercise is benefiting you so far, this can be used for motivation. What better motivation than tracking and seeing your results!?

These are just a few simple ways to help you not only reach your fitness and health goals, but also start (and keep) you on your way to healthier, happier, more enjoyable life.  Stay focused on the task at hand, but keep if fun and enjoyable for you.