How to stick to new year’s fitness resolutions and build momentum

While motivation may run dry after the first couple of weeks following the new year's fitness resolutions, there are a few steps that can be taken to build momentum and sustain the fitness journey.

The idea of kicking off a new year with a laundry list of goals and achievements to realise and taking your fitness game to a new level is nothing new. There’s a reason why gym memberships peak during the time of the new year. But while the motivation to go on the first few runs and getting a few workouts in place during the first couple of weeks remain extremely high, the actual difficult lies in sustaining that momentum and maintaining a disciplined diet.

The absence of immediate results, overambitious idea of what’s attainable or general difficulties regarding work schedule and timings are some of the commonly attributed factors that result in people hanging their gym bags to dry in a corner by the time February rolls in.

This is a huge problem as it obstructs people from working on their physical health and forces them to give up. However, there’s a solution around it and working on a few steps may have the answers.

Build your journey with small benchmarks

One of the biggest reasons why people give up on their fitness journeys and lose motivation easily is that they set huge and lofty goals to begin with. When those results aren’t achieved immediately, they become discouraged. While beginning with long term goals and big expectations is not a mistake, they should be properly combined with or broken down into smaller, more achievable and realistic goals in order to fuel momentum and progress.

Smaller goals can look objectives look more attainable and can keep one on the track for progress. It maintains the interest beyond the first few weeks of the year and makes it easier to build rhythm.

Fitness should be looked as a priority instead of a challenge

Every thing that we do and accomplish in life is done on the basis of a priority system. Therefore, it is imperative that we keep our fitness goals and aspirations on top of our priority list and feed it enough time, attention and focus. Otherwise, there’s a chance that we will forego the responsibility that we owe to it and focus on other activities instead.

While it may be a challenge in the first few weeks to give it time and attention every day, especially for beginners, these actions will soon make it easier for it to become habit and become intuitive after a point. The attention we provide to our fitness resolutions inevitably lead to a positive return on investment when it comes to wellness, fitness, and mental health.

Sometimes life can get in the way and that’s okay

It is extremely normal that sometimes job, career, and household responsibilities can get in the way of our daily fitness regime. Sometimes, these tasks may take up our schedules or force us to miss the gym sessions or an evening run every once in a while. While the realisation may sting because of these unforeseen circumstances, it is important that we do not let the disappointment get to our heads.

Life can often be unpredictable and missing a workout or two doesn’t completely deteriorate all the progress you’ve made. Instead of focusing too much on the missed workout, it should be thought of as an extra day of recovery instead. But more importantly, one cannot allow a few schedule readjustments to become the norm. Missing a day or two is fine, but one cannot let it slide into three weeks.