A FIT & HEALTHY NEW YEAR

Tips to keep your New Year's health & fitness resolutions

With every New Year, comes a fresh start. It is the time to put some things behind you and charge forward into the new. A lot of people take this time to set goals for themselves in areas of which they feel they need some improvement. This time of year is the busiest for gyms because its the time of year when people are the most determined to get fit and healthy.  Unfortunately, the gym buzz tends to die down around mid-February because most people fall off and lose motivation.  This trend can easily prevented with a few easy tricks.

1. Make obtainable monthly goals:

Use the SMART model to set your goals (specific, measurable, achievable, results-focused, and time-bound.) Resolutions should be both specific and measurable. A recent study shows that setting vague, non-specific goals can make people depressed. For example, "I want to lose weight" is too vague.Get to the root of why and how you want to accomplish it. Bringing some deeper intentions into your workouts can make all the difference. Set goals that are specific, realistic. Then, write them down. Creating a list of your goals, helps you to decide the exact steps needed to be taken in order to get there.

 2. Keep a schedule: 

What's your game plan? Make a schedule and stick to it. Each time, consider it a date with yourself. Break down your goals so that they look less intimidating on paper. So, you know what you want to accomplish, how are you going to get there? How many days a week? What time of day? Look at your current schedule, look at your goals, and have a sit down with yourself. 

3. Make it interesting: 

Try something you have always wanted to try but were too chicken. Get out of your comfort zone. Our brains thrive on challenge! Sign up for a community rec team in a sport you love. Are you looking for a new group of friends and you want to get in shape? BOOM! There you go. Run that 5k that you have thought about for years but you decided to just raid all the swag booths instead of racing. Switch it up! If you do what you have always done, you are going to get the same result. 

4. Don't do it alone:

 Those new buddies you made on your rec team that you love playing softball with, invite them to the gym! Ask them to be your accountability partner for the year. Sadly enough, though working out alone may be your preference, you are far less likely to cancel an appointment with someone who is counting on you. The buddy system works!

5. Ask for help: 

Just because you have no idea how to do a turkish get up and you have never heard of eka pada Jathara Parivarttanasana doesn't mean that you should give up working out all together. The most awesome traits about almost all health & fitness professionals is that they care about people and they love what they do. For this reason, don't be afraid to ask someone for help. Most doctors, dietitians, and personal trainers provide free consultations to give advice. 

6. Treat yourself: 

Whenever you hit a benchmark on your journey, give yourself a treat. If you just ran 30 minutes everyday for a week for the first time in your life, go have dinner at your favorite restaurant or pamper yourself with a manicure or massage. You did the work, you deserve it. 

7. Re-evaluate your goals regularly: 

If you started taking a kickboxing class and you decided that kicking just isn't your cup of tea, go try something else. Just because one plan didn't work, doesn't mean you should allow that failure to derail you from achieving your goals. The great thing about the fitness world is that there are endless options to try. If one thing doesn't work for you, something else will. 

8. Don't be afraid to scale down: 

Sometimes we make goals for ourselves and they don't line up with what life has in store for us. Instead of beating yourself up if you can no longer make it to your 5pm spin class 3x per week because of work, switch it up or scale back. 

9. Be patient and forgiving of yourself:

Life is a journey full of success and struggles. The only way to obtain growth and change is to be patient with the process. Don't give up!!!