Sticking to those New Year Resolutions
I have to admit – and I’m going to be candid with this post: I have a love-disappointment mind set about the “New Year’s Resolution Crowd.” (hate is a strong word, so I’m using disappointment)
On one hand, I love to see new people in the gym with a new lease on fitness. It excites me to see people taking care of his/her health. I don’t mind the crowds so much because these people are getting fit. They are enthusiastic and taking steps to be healthier.
But come late January/mid February, the crowds start to thin out. I’m not sure why it happens. Perhaps they get burned out, bored, frustrated when they don’t see results after three weeks, are not sure what to do to switch up thier workouts, etc.
That’s where my disappointment comes in. I get disappointed that they didn’t stick it out and follow through with their resolution and gave a halfhearted attempt in creating a healthy lifestyle. Or they were looking for a quick fix. And when they didn’t see that quick fix work, they bailed on their resolution.
I want to encourage the folks who are feeling burned out or losing motivation to do a couple of things:
- Educate yourself about exercises and nutrition from reliable sources.
- Take baby steps to build health & fitness into your life. Don’t try to do it all at once. You’ll get overwhelmed. For example, I encourage my new clients to slowly ramp up their water intake and make it a goal to eat one cup of green vegetables each day. Each week they receive challenges that encourage behavior modification and help build healthy habits into their lifestyle.
- If you’re not sure what to do, hire a professional. If it keeps you on track, keeps you motivated, takes the intimidation out of navigating the gym, expands your exercise database, and helps build your knowledge – then it’s money well spent. I can attest to that. When I first started exercising, I thought a good workout was walking on the treadmill at a snail pace for 10 minutes, doing a couple of bicep curls, and a few sit-ups. When I didn’t see results, I hired a trainer and learned everything I could about using dumbbells and machines. I expanded my knowledge about which exercises worked different muscle groups. And the gym became my playground.
- If you can’t afford a professional for one-on-one personal training, find a group fitness class. Bootcamps are a blast! Or try a total body conditioning class. Group fitness is a great way to learn new exercises that you can build into your personal regimen. (My programs begin this Saturday and Thursday and there is still time to sign up. Click here to learn more. Scroll down to the Small Group Training section).
I’d also like to share this article from WebMD entitled Finding the Best Workout for You.
Just don’t quit!
Make your life healthy,
Janet
