When it comes to health and fitness goals, we tend to overcomplicate things. We come to the end of every year, realize that we’re not where we want to be with our fitness goals, and we are determined to do better next year.
The problem is twofold:
- We’re pushing off our goals for a magical January start date
- We’re simply not prepared when that start date inevitably appears.
If this sounds like you, don’t feel bad. We’ve all been there and done that. But this year, we can commit to doing things differently so that we’re always on top of our wellness aspirations, and when we inevitably fall off the wagon here and there, we’re ready to jump right back on.
I’ve been a personal trainer and health and wellness coach for 6+ years now. Over the course of these years, I’ve learned that a little preparation, commitment, and goal setting will go a long, long way. So let’s help you get set up and ready to roll for the New Year, shall we?
Here are my top 3 tips for getting started on your New Year Fitness Resolutions now.
1. Make a Plan and Commit to It
We’re all familiar with the saying “when you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” As annoying and cliche as that sounds, it’s the truth, especially when it comes to your fitness and nutrition goals. You can have the best of the best intentions, but without a solid, sustainable plan, you’ll likely end up stalling out or spinning your wheels.
This is precisely why having a plan is so crucial. Here’s my step-by-step guide to putting one in place:
Step 1: Determine your desired outcome
What is it that you want to accomplish? Do you want to lose weight? Gain weight? Build muscle? Get stronger? Hit a PR? Run a Marathon?
There’s no shortage of goals, and no one goal is more important or meaningful than another. This is highly individualized. I really encourage you to take some serious time to think about what you want to achieve. Ps. you can absolutely have one more than one goal!
Step 2: Write it down and build a roadmap
Grab a journal and jot down what your goal is and when you’d like to achieve it. For example, maybe your goal is to start strength training for the first time in your life. This is awesome! But you can’t just head to the gym, grab a barbell, and get to work. You’ll need to break your goal up into measured progress markers. Progress marker number one might just be the act of getting into the habit of working out X times per week. Progress marker number two might be being able to do one full push-up on your toes.
Get granular about what you want to achieve and when you want to achieve it. This will change as you progress, so keep that journal handy and plan to continue to update your goals roadmap with new goals as you hit each milestone.
Step 3: Remind Yourself Why
Keep reminding yourself why you’re doing this. In order for you to commit and keep at it, you’re going to need to know why you’re doing it in the first place. Your “why” has to be stronger than your excuses or you’ll never stick with it.
Perhaps your why is so that you can finally lose the excess weight and be healthy, to feel good in your skin, to fit into that pair of jeans that have been taunting you from the back of your closet, to have more energy, etc. When the going gets tough, refer back to this.
If you desire something bad enough, you’ll do what it takes to get it done. Even if you falter, mess up, or derail every once in a while, a solid why will help get you back on course every single time. This kind of commitment is what will ensure you get the results you deserve.
2. Get Your Home Gym Setup Ready to Go
Heading into the New Year, home workouts are here to stay. If you haven’t already jumped on the home workout bandwagon, then there’s no better time to do so than right now.
Worried that home workouts won’t be as effective? Don’t. Studies show that those who work out from home have higher adherence to their workouts and to their dietary plan as well. So, the odds are in your favor!
I mean, isn’t it that much easier to get up and work out when you don’t have to physically drive anywhere? Not to mention dealing with the other common pitfalls of the gym like dealing with other people, paying a high membership fee, waiting for machines, etc.
Thankfully, home workouts have undergone a complete change over the past couple of years. Instead of popping in the same old VHS tape and repeating that same workout until you can’t take it anymore, smart fitness is now accessible to everyone. And I mean everyone!
Whether you have a dedicated home gym space or your living room is doubling as your home gym, you can easily find smart gym equipment that suits your space, preferences, and needs.
My recommendation: Tempo
You might already be familiar with the Tempo Studio, which made a giant splash onto the fitness scene in 2020. But the Tempo team recently announced the launch of the Tempo Move, a smaller, more compact way to enjoy all the benefits that Tempo has to offer.
I won’t go into the details of the difference between the Tempo Studio and Tempo Move. However, I will tell you that Tempo offers one of the largest libraries of home workouts out there and that each one is led by expert trainers and coaches who know how to get you to where you need to be.
Furthermore, Tempo’s built-in AI Technology ensures that you’re working out safely, efficiently, and with proper form. So, it’s like having your own personal trainer that you can access 24/7. Live classes, on-demand classes, dedicated workout programs -- Tempo has it all.
I love recommending Tempo to folks who are either new to working out or who have a very specific fitness goal (hello, New Year Resolutions!) because they have curated programs that will take all the guesswork out of accomplishing that goal. I've compared Tempo vs MIRROR vs Tonal (and many others along the way) and it's flat out a cut above the rest of the smart home gyms on the market today.
For example, let’s go back to that person who wants to begin strength training but had no clue where to start. With Tempo, you can get started with building strength in their introduction to the strength training program. Tempo's great for beginners. You’ll get help selecting weights based on your current strength level, ensuring that you have proper form, and Tempo will even count your reps for you. Very little brain power is required here! Show up with your goals and intentions in mind and execute. That’s why I love Tempo.
3. Start Implementing Healthy Nutrition Habits
My final tip is to not neglect your nutrition habits. You can’t outwork a bad diet, so let’s commit to cleaning it up a bit before sailing into the New Year. Again, this doesn’t need to be complicated! There are a handful of simple things you can start doing right now to make sure you’re ready to go all-in in the New Year.
Drink Plenty of Water
Drink up! Start aiming to drink 100 oz of water per day. Maybe that seems like a lot right now, but I promise you that it won’t once you start incrementally increasing your water intake. By hitting this water goal each day, you’ll start to notice things like more energy, clearer skin, better digestion, less hunger, and more. Grab a big ol’ water bottle and get to work!
Start Tracking Your Nutrition
When’s the last time you took some time to honestly track the food you’re eating each day? Unfortunately, it’s the “ignorance is bliss” approach that can have us winding up with excess pounds that we don’t want. I challenge you to spend a week or so tracking EVERYTHING you eat. That’s right, even those bites, licks, and innocent little tastes. Track it all inside an app like Myfitnesspal or the 1st Phorm App.
Armed with this data, you can then review where you’re at nutritionally vs where you need to be to hit your goals. Both of the apps I mentioned will help you to determine where your calories and/or macros should be, so you can start to flesh out your plan for getting on track with nutrition.
Prioritize hitting your protein goals
Did you know that it’s recommended that we get 1.6-2.2 g of protein per kg of bodyweight? This is likely much higher than where your current intake is at if you’re like most of us. So start finding some ways to incorporate protein into your diet. Some ideas include; grabbing some protein bars (here’s my 4 favorite), doubling your normal protein serving i.e. an extra chicken breast, drinking a post-workout shake, etc.
By increasing your protein, you’ll be getting your body ready to lose weight, build muscle, and recovery better post-workout.
Remember, this isn’t an all-or-nothing thing and you shouldn’t plan to make drastic changes overnight. Start by implementing one small change at a time and work your way from there. For example, if you find yourself finding your kid’s plates every night, make a deal that you’re going to stop doing that and solely focus on that one thing until it’s no longer an issue.
Final Thoughts on Setting Up For New Year Fitness Resolutions Now
Setting an intention to get on track with your fitness and health goals for the New Year is amazing. However, I am a firm believer that you need to have a well-executed plan established in advance if you truly want to hit the ground running come January and be set up for success.
In this article, I talked about my top 3 tips that will help you get started right now so that you can confidently slide into your New Year Resolutions without feeling like you’re winging it and without making drastic changes that will prove to be unsustainable.
I often get questions about whether or not I like resolutions, and the answer is yes! I think they can be very helpful in starting off a new year with a fresh set of foals and determination. But I’m also a realist and a big believer that one of the biggest reasons why people quit and fail is due to their lack of commitment and planning.
So start making that commitment to yourself right now, write down your goals, draw up a roadmap, start prioritizing getting your water and protein in, get yourself set up with home gym equipment like what you can find with Tempo, and start exploring which workouts are going to be most motivating and effective for you and your goals.
Let’s kick off the new year stronger and more dedicated than ever to our health and wellbeing!
Get Fit, Get Healthy,
Get Tempo!
