One Month Into The New Year: How To Stay On Track For Your Resolutions

There are many benefits to starting the year on a clean slate. Without saying, many of you will begin the year with the ambition to do better in all other areas and not just fitness.

 

But when it comes to making new year resolutions, living a healthier and more active lifestyle takes the number one spot. We all have lifestyle ambitions that we hope to achieve – perhaps shedding several pounds, reevaluating your diet and food choices, increasing muscle mass and strength, and more!

 

Making plans is the easy part, and following through is another, probably why you are reading this. Truthfully, not many get to realize the full potential of their ambitions, with more than half losing theirs in just a couple of months.

 

No matter how realistic your fitness goals are, you must be in the right mindset to make headway.

 

A simple method of navigating this unpleasant situation is to spread several simple objectives over a practical timeframe. For example, it is daunting even to think that you can hit 20 pullups on the first try. Instead, set a target of about 5-7 pullups on the first session as you gradually seek to improve on subsequent workouts.

 

Besides having strategic milestones and structuring your objectives, there are more recommendations to help you stay on track for your resolutions.

 

Here are some recommendations for your smart fitness goals:

 

How-To Strategies For Your Fitness Resolutions

In reality, many resolutions made on January 1 will never be followed through to the year’s end. So, let’s start with some valuable tips to make your new year’s fitness resolutions worth it!

 

Start With Manageable Resolutions

We asked our experts for some valuable tips and simple ideas to change how you see fitness.

 

There are straightforward tricks that all of you can implement right at the gym or at home.

 

These include enrolling in a weight lifting or strength training program, learning the proper movement and posture for various workouts, eating a healthier diet, working out for at least thirty minutes each day, running an extra mile each month, and more!

 

Aim for simple and achievable resolutions. Remember that aiming too high and not achieving the milestones will be heartbreaking and demotivating.

 

Essentially, you must evaluate your current shape and tailor the objectives to your current schedule.

 

Setting goals is important in every aspect of life, your career, academics, personal growth, or body fitness. Setting fitness goals is a way to hold yourself accountable.

 

Create a Consistent Workout Plan

Being consistent is the key to your ambitions, both outside and inside the gym. Whatever your end goal, pushing with constant effort takes you one step closer to reaching them.

 

Consistency lets your body get used to routines, the key to building habits and improving your adaptive response to new patterns.

 

Speaking of routines, if you have a schedule and don’t follow through, your body will not sync with it, and your results will not be as impeccable.

 

So, whether you are in the gym to lose weight, increase your muscle mass or nurture your strength, you stand a higher chance of getting better results if you have a clear-cut workout program.

 

However, keep your routines simple to give your body time to adjust when starting. But as you progress, extend them to more complex and robust exercises. It is simpler to focus on your goals when you have a clearcut program

 

Tweak Your Diet to Suit Your Objectives

You can hit the gym on the double, but everything loses its meaning if you don’t watch what you eat. Thus, you don’t have to be a daily gym patron to understand your eating habit’s pivotal role in your fitness resolutions.

 

While diet is one aspect that allows some degree of fluidity depending on your desired outcome, you must always keep it at the top of your mind to eat healthily.

 

Besides that, there are several ways you can tweak your diet to reach your objectives faster.

 

For example, you should increase your daily protein serving when looking to increase muscle mass. But on the other hand, to make the best out of your weight loss goals, it is best to limit carbs consumption and try more plant-based diets.

 

It is also possible to bulk under a vegan diet when you add highly nutritious plant-based food to your daily menu to build lean muscle mass.

Most importantly, drink enough water – experts recommend at least 2 liters (or half a gallon) each day, with a bit more, especially during workouts.

 

Take A Step Back to Reevaluate Your Progress

The year has taken off, and you have made several changes – eat healthily, exercise more – so that you turn a new leaf this year.

 

However, a few weeks later, negative thoughts run through your mind. Ideas such as “I cannot do it” or “I’m tired” thoughts that make it harder for you to stick to your resolutions.

 

If you feel lost on your journey, why not talk to our trainers, who are more than eager to guide you back on track. Our trainers are the best at what they do and will give you as much attention as you need as you zero in back to your former state.

 

Additionally, you should assess your workout plan. Many workout enthusiasts make one mistake overly dependent on a single routine. In other words, you are staying in your comfort zone. As trivial as it may seem, you don’t want to do the same workout for months because this leads to a fitness plateau. Blend different types of exercises occasionally so that your body is constantly challenged.

 

Most of all, monitor your progress. This may mean watching your body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, your mood before and after each workout and not focusing only on weight loss or muscle mass.

 

Listen to Your Body – Take Some Time Off

One of the most critical yet often overlooked aspects of training is recovery. Our bodies are continually exposed to undue stress during workouts, which is why the recovery phase is essential.

 

Unlike machines, we reach a point known as burnout where you cannot push any further, and any added effort becomes counterproductive.

 

The recovery phase is vital for two main reasons. First, it facilitates the elimination of toxic lactate that causes sore and painful muscles. Second, muscles develop better when given time to recover and remodel microscopic areas of stress arising from strain and pressure.

 

So, maybe you should take a day or two of rest because overlooking the recovery phase can also cause injuries.

 

Think About SMART Goals

Hinging on unclear and inconsistent objectives is the easiest way of handing yourself the short end of the straw. On the contrary, your routines must be based on SMART goals.

 

1. Specific – Narrow down your objectives and focus on what matters most. The more you refine your ambitions, the more likely you will achieve them.
2. Measurable – How will you gauge your progress? Are there metrics you can use to assess your journey? For example, weight loss, arm or waist circumference, number of pushups, etc.
3. Attainable – Are your objectives reasonable and within grasp? Set goals you can achieve to boost your psyche for each workout.
4. Reasonable – Your resolutions should be unique to your ability and not what others expect from you. In other words, think about how your goals will contribute to your long-term goals.
5. Time-bound – Give yourself time within which your objectives can be achieved. Remember that nothing happens overnight in fitness, and therefore patience is critical.

In the bodybuilding journey, the most fulfilling engagement is the joy of lifting weights. Although it can be difficult at the start, the gains make every pain worth it.

 

As time passes, you will find that you will push heavier weights when bench pressing, deadlifting, bicep curling or lunging. These are just some of the exercises to ground your gym experience this year.

 

After you comprehend the fundamentals of bodybuilding, you can progress to lifting double your body weight, and it is best to enlist the services of a trained fitness coach. Never be in a hurry to reach the end of the scale. Remember your SMART fitness goals and choose to make a difference this year.

 

What to Do If You Miss A Workout

Even with the most intricate of planning, life is always unpredictable – missed workouts happen to the best of the best too.

 

Missing a workout is nothing to panic about. The important thing is pushing back harder in the next session to get the best outcome.

 

Even if your lifestyle is busy and it feels almost impossible to reach your fitness goals, you have several options. Here’s what you can do:

1. Continue with your workout program as usual and use the missed day as a rest day so that you don’t have to worry about rescheduling.
2. Add the missed day to your workout schedule if you have enough fuel.
3. Another solution is pushing the entire schedule back by a day/ week. Even though this is a fan-favorite technique, going for this option means that your program will last more days than planned.
4. Finally, you can skip the day and move on as per the program. The only issue is that you can miss the workout without reason and set yourself up for failure.

 

Ironically, sometimes difficulties are something we should be thankful for. Whenever you face a challenge and lose focus on your goals, use the opportunity to reevaluate your objectives. Perhaps there is something you are not yet doing right apart from other issues that need ironing out. Don’t be discouraged – focus on revamping your technique and getting back on track.

 

The Bottomline

There are several reasons why our well-planned fitness resolutions crumble by February. Sometimes we set ourselves for failure by not having clear or realistic targets apart from vague “losing weight” or “eating healthier.”

 

Hopefully, this year will be different, and you will give this new approach a try. So, get your training shoes, plan, and stay focused on your goals!