I was chatting to one of my personal training clients today and we were saying, it’s that time of year again, that time of year when everyone goes bonkers for fitness and starts eating healthy, DryJanuary has kicked off, the bars are empty and the gyms are packed.
Peoples intentions with new years resolutions are in the right place, but come Febuary how many are still going to be at the gym and sticking with their fitness resoultion?
I thought I’d share with you some of the advice I give my personal training clients about setting resolutions/goals and hopefully it will help you stick to yours.
Think of health and fitness as a lifestyle change rather that something you are going to do to shed a few Christmas pounds.
Don’t set crazy goals, loosing a stone/7kg in a week is not going to happen, but you could easily lose that over a month with a bit of commitment. My favourite personal training phrase is, don’t over estimate what you can achieve in a week, but don’t underestimate what you can achieve in a year.
Set realistic goals, on the other hand don’t aim to lose 2-3lb/1kg when you know you really need to lose 2-3stone/12-19kg. If you are overweight be honest with yourself about how much you need to lose.
Progress VS Goal, some of my personal training clients work better focusing on progressing their fitness rather than having one big goal, especially when they are new to fitness and not quite sure what they want out of it. Aiming to improve on each session is just as good as setting a big goal.
Don’t get overwhelmed by your goal, I’d say that any fitness goal is achievable, pressure and stress come from a looming deadline. If you want to run a marathon in 2 weeks time but have done no training, well that is going to be tough. If the marathon is a year away and you start training now it will be super easy. Some people need that time deadline to get them going, others work better with on going progression.
Lifestyle, set a resolution that is going to fit in with your lifestyle. If you want to take up running but you get home at 7pm when it is dark, this could be a problem. A better goal would be to do a workout in your lunch hour at work every day. Think through the logistics of your goal so that it is going to fit into your lifestyle.
Commitment and consistency, the personal training clients I work with that get the best results are the ones that are committed to their goal, they are doing it for them and nobody else, and they are consistent with their workouts, they are sticking to their workout program over a number of weeks/months.
Hope you found this helpful, if you would like some help with your health and fitness CONTACT me and we can have a further chat. 07947 049889 pete@petegriggs.com . Personal training sessions avaliable it Sutton, Cheam, Wallington, Banstead, Epsom, Ewell, Mordon, Clapham, Streatham, Balham and all over South London and Surrey.
