5 Hacks for Sticking to your New Years Fitness Resolutions

Over the last few weeks, gyms and other fitness institutions have been bursting at the seams. The treadmills have been fully occupied for the entire hour that were dedicated to working out at the gym. Indeed, the ‘New Year New Me’ energy level have been on Somizi levels. By the time the year is a quarter way through (yes by April), sadly you and many others will have fallen off your very own New Year’s Resolution bandwagon. At times because of an array of excuses, social and other work-life pressure, or perhaps just because your willpower dwindled as the excitement of being in a New Year faded, quickly. Realistically, many people barely go beyond the first month. But there’s a solution for you. I have it, and it’s not as hard as you might think.

As a start, keep in mind that the aim is not to go cold turkey on old habits. So, do not expect that as of January 1st, 2018 there would have been some dramatic change and you would robotically just stop all your unproductive behaviours. That’s called setting yourself up for failure.

I’m sure what you really want to know it, how do I set myself some realistic goals? Most importantly, how do I keep them throughout 2018?

1. Start Now: Get a Head-start. What are you waiting for?

“It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions, so what? Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful.”-  Unknown

So I finished putting this piece together on the morning of the 1st of January. It’s a week later, and frankly, if you haven’t already started knocking down your list of resolutions by now, you are heading for failure. A Chinese saying goes, “the best time to plant a tree was yesterday. The second best time is today.”

So today is the day that you ought to have started. One of the main reasons I recommend starting early is, well: it has often been said by the greats that excellence is a set of habits, repeated day in and out. Aristotle said something to that effect. So for every great person you have seen excelling at anything, be it sports, acting, professional work, singing and more, success usually ensues because they have developed a habit of doing what they do daily, bit by bit, incrementally no matter how small the effort may be each day.

Also, there is some manner of reward and incentive with each goal they achieve that keeps them fulfilled, confident and motivated. This is essentially how you will build working out, running and going to the gym into a simple, routine, and thereafter a long-term habit. Even if its sore after the first few days, trust me, once you get into the motions, it is a very rewarding habit. But if you want to feel a sense of fulfilment a few months from now, you need to get started. And get started right away.

Here is the trick; you need to get a head-start on your resolutions and start today; as in, right this moment. Let me illustrate; if you have a weight-loss goal for this year (maybe you have been feeling a little overweight, not fitting in your favourite jeans or dresses anymore), stop what you are doing and get on the scale right now. Get on the scale and record your current weight. Write it down in your journal, diary in your smartphone notes, anywhere you will remember it and have easy access. This will be your starting point. It may seem like an insignificant feat, but you will have taken the first step to attaining the body and overall health and fitness you desire this year.

2. Scrap the long lists

Here’s the simple truth that you should know by now: long lists are overwhelming. The idea that ‘less is more’ works perfectly when it comes to attaining your 2018 resolutions. Keep the resolutions specific, goal-driven and simple. The best and most attainable resolutions are those that you can form into short, concise lists that you can tick off monthly, fortnightly, and even weekly upon accomplishment. One of the key factors that make attaining our resolutions challenging is that we largely base our New Year’s goals on the excitement of entering a new season and that once-off, once a year chance at a fresh start to do things bigger, better and more efficient. Granted, we need to feel revived and excited for a New Year, but that doesn’t mean we need to overwhelm ourselves with long-winded lists which end up seeming unattainable by the end of January.

Here’s how to solve this one:

- Set short, concise goals with clear timelines;

- Make your specific goals and overall lists short enough to commit to memory. Affirmations that you can repeat to yourself without always having to reference your list to remember what it is you want to achieve;

- Set goals and resolutions that are intrinsically about your own self-improvement. Try not to have goals that are about showing-off, shutting down the haters, getting back at your ex-lover or other non-productive goals

- Use a ‘Goal Ladder’ approach: set one major goal. Break down the achievement of this goal into two main actions you need to take for it to be realized. Then jot down what you need to do on a daily, weekly and monthly basis in order to tackle the overall goals.

This is what I did. As a kid and well into my teens I could not run more than 500 metres consistently to save my life. Although I was very athletic, running was my frailty; my weak lungs brought on my asthma played a big role in this. However, once I committed to improving my running I started off doing my own 1 to 2km jogs at my own pace. Over time, my pace and overall running times improved, and now I can clear 10 kilometres without the anxiety of dying halfway into the venture.

3. Action vs. Wishing

“An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Here is a simple behavioural principle I follow: ‘you can’t talk yourself out of something you behaved yourself into’. If you had a period in your life in which you overindulged, be it eating, alcohol or perhaps partying or other excesses of life, simply talking about it will not change the behaviour. Beyond that, It is really not worth much talking about what you want to do this year; telling your friends, your colleagues and significant others. The talking on its own takes time. It would be much more worthwhile to use your time early in the New Year to start doing, rather than publicizing what you intend on doing.

It is very important to be disciplined when you have a new set of goals to accomplish. I mean, you do really need to be militant in the pursuit of any goal you set yourself. For instance, if you have plans to quit drinking, or simply to cut back on how much alcohol you guzzle, you really need to keep tabs on your social behaviours. I do agree that it’s not easy as such decisions usually do lead to fundamental changes to your overall lifestyle. But, action conquers fear so it’s best to just start acting.

Here’s the hack: over the next few weekends, keep a very good count and watch on just how many doubles you have on your next night out, and how my six packs you run through at the braai. Perhaps you also need to look into your social circles and the places you hang out; there is a chance that you exhibit unproductive behaviours more when you’re around certain people or when you go to certain places.

Here’s a simple start:

- keep tabs on such behaviours over the next few weeks, so as to gradually reach your goal of limiting or completely quitting the bottle. Once you successfully reduce the average number of drinks you’re used to consuming the next time you indulge, then you have made a positive start towards attaining your resolution.

- pay attention to how you succeeded in cutting down at the first outing then build your momentum. It could be by leaving the bar or party earlier than usual or simply keeping a good count on how many bottles you’ve had. Keep it up, and aim to reach a reduction on how much you drink at your next session, and the one thereafter.

- Most importantly, you need to reward yourself for all your efforts and positive actions. However important such goals may be to you, do not be too hard on yourself. Which brings me to the next tip.

4.Reward and Incentivize Yourself

“The most rewarding things you do in life are the often the ones that look like they can’t be done” — Arnold Palmer

Do you remember that one year when you had jotted down your list of resolutions nice and early? Before the festive season madness began, you already knew exactly what you wanted to accomplish, and what you wanted to change as of the 1st of January the next year? The New Year came, and all the excitement and the rush of a better you propelled you to waste no time but get started working on your self-betterment resolutions, kicking bad habits included. Sadly, by the time April came, your energy was zapped and you didn’t even get through a quarter of your resolutions. Sucky feeling right? Precisely. This is one of the key reasons why people give up on their resolutions so quick because the change they wanted to see didn’t happen as quickly as they had desired.

The hard truth is that any meaningful personal change does not just happen suddenly; change takes time. Sure, your resolutions will always look better on paper, just as most things in life. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t set yourself big goals that will challenge and push you to do and be better. But remember, big, grand goals can be intimidating at times. More often than not, they are so big that you just don’t even know where to start, and it’s easy to lose motivation before you even start. Like, “how am I going to lose the 30kg that I plan on shedding in 2017? How is this going to work? I’m not even really into exercising”

Two ways I have solved this problem:

- find a way to make your goals seem less daunting

- find a way to remain consistently motivated until you’ve accomplished your goal.

Here’s the hack:

- start early and work on your goals in increments, bit by bit, day by day; break the larger goal down into smaller milestones.

- Once you have broken down the bigger goal, set yourself up with a reward that will make you feel good about working so hard and achieving what you planned for yourself. Reward yourself at each new milestone you knock out.

So, if you plan on losing 28kg this year, break this larger goal down into 2–4kg increments. For every 2kg loss in weight, reward yourself, pat yourself on the back and treat yourself; this will not only make you feel happy and fulfilled, but it will mentally give you the fuel and drive you to need to lose the next 2kg. After all, if you look closely at the best athletes and sports stars, they receive incentives and bonuses with each goal they score, each race they win. This is generally why top goal-scorers and best high-ranked performers in any team also generally remain the best players in their squad or sport because the constant rewards for attaining each goal is rewarded, by the team, the public and in other gainful ways. This will keep you happy, fulfilled, and oftentimes becomes an addictive feeling that you want to feel again and again with each milestone you reach.

5. Forget getting a gym membership

There are many people who have the simple resolution of losing weight in 2018. Although the gyms will be packed and buzzing with hundreds of course to attain this resolution, not everyone with a goal to shed some weight will be fortunate enough to make it to a fitness establishment. For some, it will simply be because the work schedule and life priorities do not allow them the luxury to drive back and forth to the gym, some are just too terrified to let bear all their flaws and excesses in front of so many in a packed gym. While for others, it could simply be a matter of affordability. I get it, we don’t all lead the same lives, although our goals may be parallel.

However, this is no excuse for you not to achieve your fitness goals, not at all. Excuses are for losers.

A wise someone said…

“there is a difference between interest and commitment. When you are interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstances permit. When you are committed to something you accept no excuses, only results”  (Unknown).

So my question to you, are you just interested in looking great, or are you really committed to losing weight and smashing those resolutions?

Let’s be honest, being in a gym environment is very exhilarating. The feeling of being around like-minded people who are there to get fit and healthy is contagious. There is an undeniable and unspoken camaraderie in being next to someone sweating and pacing on the treadmill next to you, or flexing their muscle at the various exercise machines. But here is a simple fact; your body itself is a machine.

So there is no need for you to feel like your fitness resolutions are worthless if you can’t get into a gym this year. There are many ways in which you can achieve your fitness goals right from the comfort of your own home, with just your own body, an inexpensive gym mat and a skipping rope.

In addition to a brisk walk or a jog, here are some simple, effective calorie-burning body-weight workouts that you can do in the comfort of your own home.

Lunge

Plank

Skipping (Jump Rope)

Sit-ups

Push-ups

So what are you waiting for?

In summation, I can safely say that year in and out, over the past 3 years these tricks have worked for me in the most remarkable ways. Albeit, don’t get me wrong; these 5 tried and tested hacks are not to say that you will have an easy time getting through your fitness resolutions for 2018. Its never easy; if it was, everyone would be the fittest person they imagine themselves to be, and have the ideal body they’ve always desired. What I can reassure you of, is after following through with these simple but effective hacks, with each passing day, you will feel more motivated, driven, abler and certainly soldier through with a greater sense of exhilaration as you take incremental steps towards being the best version of you. Cheers to a stronger, fitter, leaner and more powerful you in 2018.