How to kickstart your fitness goals in the new year

New Year. New You. New Goals.

We are two weeks into the New Year and many of us have new year’s resolutions that we have just added to our daily schedules. Many of these resolutions typically have to do with eating healthier or exercising more.

I generally don’t believe that we should be “starting over” at the beginning of each year when it comes to our health and fitness but the truth of the matter is, the year-end slump hits many of us and we end up parking our healthy and active lifestyles.

So when the year begins we start scrambling to the gym, hastily hitting the road for a run or two in an attempt to shed off any extra weight gained over the festive season. This is also when many of us set the New Year’s resolutions and half the time they have to do with looking better, feeling better, exercising more, eating healthier and so on.

We all know that healthy eating and regular exercise should in fact be a lifestyle that is season-less, but life has its ups and downs and that’s a given.

The trick is finding a way to pick yourself up and get moving again. We often need inspiration from others and that’s why I’m here to share with you some tips and tricks on kick starting yourself and getting on with your 2019 program.

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One thing is for sure, this year cannot be like last year so if you haven’t decided what your 2019 fitness programme looks like it’s time to level up, spice it up and kick it up a notch to avoid monotony.

First things first, there is so much variety out there and with that being said, you really don’t have to force yourself to do something that you don’t particularly enjoy. The truth is, if going to the gym is not your thing and you force yourself to get a gym membership, a few weeks or months down the line it might start feeling like a chore and you give it up. Or the opposite might happen and you fall in love with it and it becomes your new thing. It’s a Catch-22 situation.

My advice to you before you make any commitment to any particular activity is to ask yourself what specific physical activity or “movement” you particularly enjoy. For example, you might say “I’m not a sporty person at all and the only type of movement I enjoy is going out for a night of dancing with my friends”. Well, therein lies your answer!

Many people don’t realise that dance is an actual sport and is very good for toning and strengthening muscles, burning calories and great for flexibility as well. This of course depends on what type of dance style you choose. So in this case my suggestion to you would be to sign up for a few lessons and if you enjoy it schedule to attend two to three classes per week to achieve your weekly quota of recommended exercise.

Just a reminder, the World Health Organisation recommends a minimum of five days of 30 minutes of exercise per week for general health. That is only 2.5 hours per week, which I know is definitely achievable.

My other tip for you is to schedule your training sessions in your diary like you do with meetings. These are meetings with yourself, to improve your health. If you falter with these meetings and don’t prioritise them, you are compromising yourself.

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To avoid being too harsh on you, think of it this way: If regular exercise and healthy eating keep you healthy and everything in your life works well, what do you think happens when you don’t prioritise them?

You could potentially compromise the function of your entire value chain. You get sick and become unable to function optimally and therefore everything else that you are liable for receives 50% or less of your full attention and things fall apart.

The trick is to keep it simple. I’ll give you an example of my plan for the first part of this year. I’m training for a marathon in June (which I have already signed up for) and my simple training programme for the first two months is road running on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and strength and flexibility training on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Simple. Straight to the point and it’s all diarised. If I can achieve anything over the weekends, it’s a bonus for now.

So with that said, start off by deciding what your chosen activities are, create a simple training schedule around them, set them as appointments in your diary and let’s get moving!

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