How to Stick to Your New Year's Fitness Resolutions

Introducing new fitness habits can be a challenge, but the New Year is the perfect time to set some fitness resolutions. After a relaxing holiday season, it can feel like a time for new beginnings.

But it's often the case that New Year's fitness motivation doesn't last. Luckily, there are some steps you can take to help you stick to your New Year's fitness resolutions. Here are 10 to get you started:

1. Pick Realistic Resolutions

The first tip for sticking to fitness goals for the New Year is to pick goals that are achievable. This step shouldn't feel like a restriction — instead, it's meant to make you consider what goals are realistic. Consider how much time and energy you can dedicate to your resolution. For example, exercising for 30 minutes a day is a great starting point.

2. Create Good Habits

Long-term goals aren't usually achieved by taking a small number of big leaps — they're made by taking lots of little steps. For fitness goals, these little steps are the daily habits that you should develop. When something becomes a habit, you do it without thinking about it, meaning there's no resistance to overcome.

These habits could be:

• Doing sit-ups before bed.
• Going for a walk each morning.
• Drinking a smoothie with breakfast.

Together, small habits like this can help you achieve your bigger goals.

3. Break Your Goals Up

Breaking your larger goals up into smaller goals makes them much easier to achieve. Start with bite-sized goals as you build good habits and settle into a routine that works for you. After a while, your goals can steadily get more ambitious and challenging. This strategy can also help you build resilience.

4. Track Your Progress

To keep yourself motivated, track your progress. It's easy to forget or overlook your achievements, but by tracking your progress, you'll be able to see exactly how far you've come. This is another benefit of giving yourself small goals.

You can use different tools to keep track. For example, try downloading an app or keeping a physical journal. You may even want to keep your progress front and center on a calendar or whiteboard. No matter your preference, you'll be able to keep smashing those goals.

5. Celebrate the Wins and Milestones

Celebrating your achievements is just as important. Whether it's a new 5k personal best, 100 days of consistency or pushing through a mental barrier to stick to your routine, celebrating the wins can add to the elation you probably already feel at hitting those goals.

You don't need to celebrate big every time. Instead, try and make your celebrations match your win. A small win could be celebrated with your favorite meal or a tasty treat, while your absolute biggest wins could be celebrated with a dinner out with friends, a party or an indulgent gift to yourself.

6. Find a Fitness Partner

Having someone to support you and keep you accountable can help you stick to your goals.

Your partner could be someone who's further along in their fitness journey and able to give you advice and encouragement. They could also be someone at a similar point in their fitness journey to you.

With a fitness partner, you'll both get a boost from encouraging each other and knowing that you helped your friend meet their goals. You can also develop a friendly competitive rivalry that pushes you both to go the extra mile.

7. Join a Program

Another way to get support is to join a program, club or class. These group settings will expose you to people in various stages of their fitness journeys, each of whom you can learn and gain encouragement from. Plus, the social aspect can make it much easier for you to want to keep going.

8. Be Flexible

A lot can change after you create your fitness goals. Don't be afraid to move the goalposts. For example, if your goal was to run a marathon by the end of the year, consider moving this to a half-marathon if you didn't quite meet your original goal. If you're on the other end of the spectrum and find that your resolution was much easier to stick to than you expected, set a new goal.

Whether you're narrowing or widening the goal posts, make sure your resolutions and goals are a healthy balance between challenging and realistic.

9. View Setbacks as Lessons

If you do experience setbacks, it can feel like a sign that you'll never stick to your fitness resolution. However, setbacks are a great learning opportunity, and should never be viewed as an end to your fitness goals.

Instead, reflect on why you experienced that setback and take steps to ensure you don't make the same mistake again.

10. Have Fun

Maybe the most important tip is to have fun. If you enjoy yourself as you meet your goals, the process can become much easier. You'll feel more motivated to put the work in and will be less likely to look for reasons why you can't stick to your routine each day.

Helping You Stick to Your Fitness Resolutions

From the health advantages to the social aspects, fitness can be massively beneficial to people of all ages. But even with these benefits in mind, sticking to a new year's fitness resolution can be challenging.

At the Greater Philadelphia YMCA, we're proud to support people of all ages in sticking to their resolutions and achieving their fitness goals.  

We offer various personal exercise programs that include personal training and small group training to all of our members, led by friendly and knowledgeable trainers. If you prefer to exercise independently, we also provide well equipped fitness centers, open gym, and open swim sessions.

So, whether you want more advice on how to stick to your weight loss resolution or you simply want a friendly face to provide encouragement, we're here to help. To find out more about our programs and facilities, book a tour at your local Y branch today.