New Years Resolutions: Why they fail and what to do.

We constantly hear, Dream big.  Don’t we?  And, there is nothing wrong with dreaming big.  So why do we often not meet our new years goals, particularly when it comes to our fitness?

A couple of thoughts.

Typically several things happen to stop someone from achieving their fitness goals in the new year.  In the commercial gym world we see it often.  Heres the pattern we see.

Someone out of shape joins a gym and sets incredible goals:  drop a certain amount of weight in a period of time.

They work out hard, really hard every day for a week or maybe two.

They get frustrated, injured or bored for not accomplishing their goals.

They quit and reset their goals next year.

This pattern is typical of an overtraining paradigm.  Overtraining is basically introducing more stress or stimulus to the body than the immune system can repair.  Remember: working out is stress.  If you can’t adaquetely recover from the stress you will overuse / overtrain one of several components of fitness (skeletal, neurological, muscular, physiological, or sensory to name a few)

How do we stop this negative pattern and promote fitness? 

First, I encourage S.M.A.R.T. goal setting.  During New Years, we tend to become very dramatic about what we should accomplish.  I suggest SMART goals:

Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely

Dreaming big is ok.  But take small attainable steps along the way to achieve the big dream!

Next, I suggest patience.  Whatever your goal is the only way to achieve it is to take small steps with consistency and persistence. 

Consult a physician before starting a fitness program and if you have any questions about todays post do not hesitate to contact me at:

Pcmtrain1@hotmail.com

Mo-tate.  Motivate your life to Motion!