New Year's Resolution

With the year coming to an end, and a a whole brand new year about to unfold, almost everyone i meet is asking me 1 question:-
What is my resolution for next year? My resolution for next year - to quit making resolutions i don't intend to keep.

Needless to say, many out there will have a resolution to hit the gym (again), lose some unwanted pounds, get fit, start that diet etc... but sad to say, 90% of the people who do this during the new year, end up quitting after about 2 months. Why is there such a high drop out rate for this? Simple.. people don't have specific goals and people want miracles in terms of their fitness results. So before you make your resolution to be a fitter person this year, just follow this simple guide and i hope you won't be one of those people who quits prematurely.

Specific Goals
Before you begin your fitness lifestyle, it is important for you to set specific goals. Like lose an inch of my waist in 1 month or lose 2 Kg in one month. Most people just join gyms, pay a shit load of money and don't even know what to do or why they are doing it. If you don't know why you are doing something, you will get bored.. that is guaranteed. So make sure you have a goal or target and make sure it is specific - it must have an amount and a time frame to achieve that.

Realistic Goals
Besides being specific, it has to be realistic. Realistic goals are goals that you can achieve... unrealistic goals can only be achieved when you are day dreaming. So make sure your goals are realistic. If you are a overweight male with 42 inch waist, please do not set a goal like a waist of 32 in 6 weeks. It's going to be virtually impossible to reach that goal. Start small.. how about 1 inch of your waist for each month... in fact, that is a pretty safe and easy goal to achieve.

When advicing people on how to set goals, i like them to just work out for one month and measure their before and after. Once you have that, you can calculate the progress you have made and use that as a measure for future goal setting. So if you lost 4kg in your 1st month, then you can safely say that your goal is to lose 4 kg a month, and that is your realistic goals.

The reason why people quit, is because they set goals which are unrealistic, and when they don't achieve it, they get frustrated and often times claim that they are NOT seeing ANY results. So set realistic goals which you can reach, it will make you feel good and get you on the right road.

Start small and improve slowly
I have seen so many new comers / beginners do this. On their 1st day in the gym, they run on the treadmill for 20 minutes on high speed. Wow... good start dude. Then they are missing for the next 3 days. When i approach them and ask them what happened? Oh, my legs hurt too much the next day so i could not come.

Please, start slow and work your way up. Rome was not built in a day and neither will your muscles and their ability to cope with the work out. Because the work outs become torture sessions, people are inclined to just throw the towel and quit.. why do something which hurts so much. Working out is a little hard i admit, but its not supposed to kill you and make you feel like you are about to die. If your work outs are that way, you are over training and most probably heading into what i cal burn out.

No such thing as a miracle
People also often expect miracles. They think 6 weeks of hard sweating in the gym will give them whatever results they want. It doesn't work that way. Losing weight takes time. What i like to tell all my clients is, give yourself at least 6 months... ie you must continue this routine, diet, lifestyle for at least 6 months. Then and only then will it be safe for you to have results that people can see and complement you on. and when you get compliments, you will be self motivated to continue the routine. So whatever you do, make sure you stick with it. Don't expect miracles where you will suddenly look in the mirror and see 5 inches off just like that. it always happens gradually and it takes time. So be patient.

So there you have it. Some simple tips to help you kick start a fitter lifestyle and of course with the hopes that you will stick with the program and not just quit after 6 weeks.

Before i forget. Happy New Year and Happy Holidays everyone. May next year be a better year for all of us.

PS: I sincerely hope 2009 is a better year than 2008 as this has been a truly crap year for me. For those who are close to me, i am sure you will know why.