Tips On How To Gain Strength, Fitness and Health This Year from a Personal Trainer

Which group would you say you fall into?

1. This is the year! It’s 2022 and my New Year’s Resolution is to get fit, strong and healthy
2. I don’t set New Year’s Resolutions – they don’t work anyway
3. Of course I have goals but they’ve been set long before the New Year and I’ve been trying to work at them all along

It’s also ok to be a little of each. I definitely fall into the ‘I don’t set New Year’s Resolutions’ bucket but then I say to myself things like ‘This year, I’d love to achieve X or Y or Z’.

The New Year is a fantastic time for us to reflect on the past and dream about the future. Typically after a holiday period of indulgence, relaxation and a little less movement than you’d probably like, it’s easy to default to deciding on things like ‘no alcohol in January’ or ‘I’m going to join the gym and go every day’ or ‘No sugar for 6 weeks’.
While all of these resolutions have good intentions, they just aren’t realistic – (well not for me anyway 😉)

As a personal trainer and coach I thought I’d use the New Year to share some ideas on how to go about gaining strength, fitness and health this year:

Drop the ‘all or nothing’ approach. Something is always better than nothing.

A workout doesn’t have to be 1 hour long and get you out of breath.
Instead try this:
5 minutes? Pick ANY exercise and perform 10-20 reps every minute on the minute.
10 minutes? Pick 1 lower body exercise and 1 upper body and alternate each every minute.
20 minutes? Well really now you have time for a full workout or walk outside.

Exercise throughout the day can also be accumulated. Stretch while you’re in the shower, squat while you’re folding laundry, pick things up off the floor while standing on one leg…

Additionally, when you think about setting new goals this year ask yourself a few times, “Am I committed to this 10/10?”

If you’re not committed – why not? What’s stopping you? Can you make the goal more digestible to yield a 10/10 commitment?

Here let’s try it:
“I’m going to workout 6 days a week for 3 months” (HAHA nope – 1/10)
“I’m going to workout 4 days a week” (Hmmm, 7/10)
“I’m going to workout 3 days a week for at least 30 minutes and spend time outside walking or running for however long once per week” (Yes, 10/10)

Accountability is a real thing. Here are some examples of having accountability for your goals:

• Tell people what you’re hoping to accomplish. Better yet – ask those in your own household, family and/or friends to support you with your endeavours.
• Find a friend to workout with you or to check in with you on a regular basis. Showing up to not let someone else down can be very motivating.
• Reward and praise yourself on an ongoing basis. Ultimately – the habits you change over time will be the most rewarding but ask yourself what motivates you? Are you intrinsically or extrinsically motivated? Maybe you need some down time to yourself to binge watch that new Netflix series or maybe you need a trainer to give you a literal gold star after each session? Every person is different so tap into what drives you and use that to reward yourself. Don’t be shy, small achievements and large deserve to be celebrated.

It’s never too late to start. You’re not too old. And it’s ok to ask for help.

Just because you messed up the first week of January doesn’t mean you should give up. If feeling healthier, stronger and fitter is really something you’re hoping to achieve for yourself then don’t give up. It’s ok to have ups and downs (especially in the world right now).
Ask yourself what the most successful version of you would do every time you’re thinking about exercising or making a meal. Try and follow the habits of the person you’re trying to become (if that makes sense 😅)
And if you have no idea where to start, then ask someone for help.

I hope that this gives you a little motivation to pick up those goals this year and just keep chipping away at them slowly but surely 💕

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