2023 is approaching rapidly, and if you’re anything like me, you’re still confused that we’re not still in the 20-teens or even the naughties! (2012 was only like, 2 years ago right??) Whatever year it is though, a new one is about to start and that means new years resolutions.
One of the most common resolutions is to go to the gym, whether it’s to get strong, lose weight or simply to get fit. Take it easy though, this advice comes directly from my own experience and extensive study.
So a LITTLE about me
Feel free to skip if you just want the advice. At 18, I was 6′ and 170 lbs and had been playing rugby for 11 years – I’d played across Britain and even been on tour to South Africa and Namibia. I was fit, strong, but still had no abs. A few years later, I was at university with visible abs and up to 212 lbs – my shoulders had finally filled out and I’d started to grow some muscle. It helped that I was getting my butt in the gym and actually working with weights too.
Another few years later and I’m up at nearly 250lbs. The abs are gone and so is my cardiovascular fitness, but at least I’m still strong-ish… That’s why we’re here though – it’s new years resolutions time.
How to stick to your resolutions
Whatever your resolutions are, this advice holds true – I’m just writing in the context of going to the gym because it’s one of my resolutions this year. I’ve learned these methods from failing my resolutions in the past. Now I want to help you avoid my mistakes.
1. Start REALLY small!
No, really. Start so small, that you almost want to laugh at your resolutions. I was super fit in the past, and I’ve recovered a few times after surgeries, so I should be better at this. Today I went to the gym fort he first time in a while. A tiny bit of cardio (5 minutes on the stairmaster) to warm up, followed by some light squats to get the blood pumping. Too hard, too fast. Not for the first time, life has given me this lesson today. Take it real easy to begin with. If you’re starting from zero, just do a little bit on the treadmill to start working on your heart health and progressing towards realising your resolutions.
2. All progress should be celebrated
Remember, you might be the fattest, weakest, least fit person in the gym, but you’re there and working on yourself which is more than any of the people who are not there. Focus on your positives, however small, because you’re making progress towards achieving your resolutions. All progress is worth celebrating. Say you can only manage 5 minutes of walking on the treadmill. It’s 5 minutes more exercise than the day before when you didn’t go to the gym at all. Tomorrow, that 5 minutes might be a little faster, it might be 5 minutes and 30 seconds, it might be on a slight incline. Even if you repeat exactly what you did yesterday, it’s progress compared with not doing anything. Go you! Keep up that amazing work!
3. Take a friend
Scary word time – accountability. If you have a friend to go to the gym with, or even a digital pen pal to keep each other going, the motivation will keep you going. Sometimes, you just need a reason to go and work on your goals and that can be as small a text from a friend to say, “Are we still going to the gym?” This way, you’re both working on your resolutions, even if you’re in different parts of the world.
4. Resolutions EVERY day…?
No. You don’t have to do it every day. In fact, I’m giving you clear instructions NOT to do it every day. Don’t even try to do it every day. Try to take at least 2 days off per week because you do not want to burn yourself out too quickly and fail to achieve your resolutions. Particularly if it’s the gym, you actually need time to physically recover from the exercise so you don’t want to be there every day anyway. If you’re super excited to go to the gym on day 6, go and do a little bit of cardiovascular exercise but also give yourself permission to have a day off if you’re struggling with that motivation.
5. Measure your progress, celebrate your achievements
If your resolutions are to “walk further” or “get stronger”, how will you know when you achieved that goal? If you said you want to squat 60 kg, or be able to walk 1 mile, that’s easy to measure and break down into small goals. Can you squat 20 kg, 25 kg, 30 kg? You either can, or you can’t, and that’s how you’ll know you’re making progress. In 3 months, you’ll look back and see how fast you progressed, and how far you’ve come. These lessons will last a lifetime. It’s celebration time.
Resolution progress, it’s just that easy
It wasn’t really that hard was it? Whatever your goals are, you should be able to apply these techniques to help you reach them. Whether your goal is to be fit and strong, look good on the beach, learn to draw, learn an instrument, learn to give good presentations, these techniques are still applicable. Your resolutions, whatever they are, are achievable. Tell me, what are your resolutions for this year and are there any other techniques you like to use?
BONUS technique to save your resolutions
If you’re anything like me, you want to learn and know more. It’s not enough to just go and lift weights, it’s not enough to just grab a pencil and start making lines – I like to learn techniques and understand what I’m doing and why. For me, learning around the topic of my resolutions is really important and inspirational. So go and search out people who are good at what you want to do – Eddie Hall or Brian Shaw if you’re a strength athlete, maybe Steve Jobs or Elon Musk if you want to know about communicating. There is an almost infinite amount of information online if you want to deep dive into learning about how other people have done things, and plenty of places to find real books too if you prefer those.
I’m not sponsored, so these website suggestions are purely for the love of free learning.
Workout and nutrition columns:
www.muscleandfitness.com/
Books you probably never heard of:
www.forgottenbooks.com/en
Free to download sheet music:
www.imslp.org
Nerdy maths gear:
www.mathsgear.co.uk/
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