How to Set and Conquer Your New Years Resolutions & Fitness Goals
Happy New Years! I wouldn’t be a fitness blogger if I didn’t make the typical “New Years Resolutions” blog post; so here we are!
How to set and conquer your 2020 New Years Resolutions
Be specific
Create an action plan
Measure your progress
Focus only on 1-2 big goals
Start small
Don’t be afraid to re-assess and set new or different goals
Be Specific
Many of you starting off know generally what you would like to do, for example:
Lose weight
Gain strength
Eat better
Look better
Feel better
From my experience as a trainer and coach, those who set vague goals like this don’t tend to achieve their goals because they haven’t sat down to really define what their specific goals are.
Even if your goals are more “open” or you’re not sure how much weight exactly to lose, how much strength you want to gain, etc, you still want to set goals that are measurable to hold you accountable and keep you moving forward.
Without specific goals in mind, you don’t have a specific end result, which means you don’t have a specific action plan to get there.
Without an action plan, the only way you’ll achieve your goals are by accident. Read that again.
Here are some examples of what your specific goals may look like.
Weight loss: I want to lose 15 pounds by March 10th. I want to lose 6% body fat by March 10th. I want to lose three inches around my waist by March 10th.
Not sure how much weight you should lose? Check out this guide!
Strength goals: I want to deadlift 225 pounds by April 30th. I want to increase my total by 30 pounds by April 30th. I want to enter my first powerlifting meet by April 30th.
Create an Action Plan
Now that you have a more defined (and specific) goal in mind, this is where you’ll get into the real dirty part of achieving your goals; this is the part that is hardest for most people: the action plan.
This is your blueprint. This is the stuff that is easily said, but hard to stay accountable and committed to.
Your start day of your action plan is today and your end date is whenever you set it.
Let’s use the weight loss example. Let’s say you want to lose 15 pounds by March 10th.
Your action plan may be to start lifting 3x/week, incorporating cardio 2x/ week, and following a nutrition plan that’s aimed to aid in losing just over a pound per week. You will also increase your water intake by 30 fl. oz.
Your action plan guides you to the exact goals you want to achieve by the exact time that you want to achieve them. An action plan is calculated and specific, just like your goals.
Measure Your Progress
Measuring your progress is important in showing that what you’re doing is right for you. If you’re not paying attention to what’s changing in your body as you go through the action plan, you may not actually be achieving much progress at all— or on the other hand, you may be going too quickly, leading to a crash and burn.
Measuring progress keeps you accountable and certain that you’re on the right path.
I recommend measuring or tracking your progress in more than just one method (because errors can happen in measuring progress and our bodies do fluctuate).
Here are some ideas for tracking progress:
Weigh-ins
Circumference measurements
Body fat measurements
1RM strength tests
Cardiovascular tests
Focus on ONLY one or two big goals at a Time
Sometimes when the New Year comes around, we get so excited about all of the big things ahead of us that we’d like to accomplish (guilty as charged). While being eager is great, being too eager oftentimes leads to not being focused in on just the one or two big things that you’d like to achieve, leading to achieving none of it.
Once your bigger goals are achieved, then you can focus on the next, but each big goal that you have requires time, dedication, and discipline.
Coming from someone who also has this issue of being overly-eager; have respect for the goals that you have and understand they require a large amount of your attention.
Start Small
If you want to lose weight, but don’t know anything about nutrition and have only stepped foot in the gym a few times, don’t expect to completely change your habits overnight. Start small.
If you’ve never been committed to working out, then working out 4-5x/week may be unrealistic, but 1-2x/ week may be perfect to help you build habits and get you closer to your goals more quickly than you think.
If you only bench 1x/week and want to increase your bench by 20 pounds, you may not want to start benching 4x/week, but increasing to 2x/week may be perfect!
Overtraining isn’t something I’ve talked about on here yet, but overtraining is something many beginners experience when they get into the gym and try to keep up with the people they follow on social media who have been doing this for years. There’s method to the madness and it’s important to understand that you must work up to that level, not dive straight in.
Don’t be afraid to re-assess and set new or different goals
This is one that I’ve really struggled with in the past; I remember for a couple of years I would aim too high with my goals, thinking I was capable of much more than I was. For two years, I set the same deadlift 1RM goal and failed both times, until the third year I finally got it.
Both of these times I had to learn during the process what was realistic and what wasn’t. I had to learn to lose my ego and realize that my action plan wasn’t failing me; my expectations were. I wasn’t respecting the work that I needed to put in to get the results I desired.
Do not be afraid to re-assess your goals or even set new ones if you find that your goals have lead you to a different or new passion.
Do not let ego or what other people may think of you be the reason you don’t go for what you want.
And even more important; do not let the fear of failure stop you from setting big goals.
Nutrition Coaching Deal for 2020
On that note, I’m offering a nutrition 𝖈𝖔𝖆𝖈𝖍𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖉𝖊𝖆𝖑 for the New Year — $50 / month • Includes cardio plan, 5 month commitment required.
𝕬𝖇𝖔𝖚𝖙 nutrition coaching:
Nutrition coaching is individualized. Your program is ran through Google Sheets, where you will also do your weekly check-ins.
Generally, I’ll give athletes or more serious recreational lifters 𝖒𝖆𝖈𝖗𝖔 and 𝖈𝖆𝖑𝖔𝖗𝖎𝖊 𝖕𝖑𝖆𝖓𝖘.
If you’re not the above, I tend to start out more from the educational aspect, with “𝖒𝖊𝖆𝖑 𝖕𝖑𝖆𝖓𝖘,” while also using these meals to teach about macros, calories, and portion sizes (𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔦𝔣 𝔶𝔬𝔲’𝔯𝔢 𝔴𝔬𝔫𝔡𝔢𝔯𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔴𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔦𝔰 𝔞 𝔪𝔞𝔠𝔯𝔬— 𝔶𝔬𝔲’𝔩𝔩 𝔩𝔢𝔞𝔯𝔫 𝔞𝔩𝔩 𝔬𝔣 𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔰 😃).
Everyone’s meal plans, macros, or calories will be different, based upon you as an individual to achieve the most efficient and realistic results (which will generally also improve gym performance, brain function, energy levels, etc).
If you’re 𝖎𝖓𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖊𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖉 𝖎𝖓 𝖈𝖔𝖆𝖈𝖍𝖎𝖓𝖌, we’ll first start with an assessment and move forward from there.
You can start as early as next week if you schedule the call within the next couple of days.
