Why You Didn’t Stick to Your Resolution This Year. Or Last Year…

It has been a little over 7 weeks since the New Year and gyms everywhere are already starting to get empty again. Have you noticed? Or were you yourself one of the sheep this year?

Why is it that most people cannot keep their fitness resolutions? Are their goals too aggressive? Did their priorities change? Did they get burnt out on spinach and egg whites? I have a theory that you may or may not agree with, but I have watched so many people make these mistakes and I can often tell when someone will give up early on a fitness goal. First, let’s go over “SMART” goal setting:

S= Specific. Make sure you know exactly what you want to accomplish. Don’t tell yourself “I want to get in shape”. Round is a shape, but most of us don’t find that flattering. If your goal is in fact aesthetic, then find a picture of yourself or someone else (similar body type!) who you want to strive to look like.

M= Measurable. Are you trying to improve your running pace by 1 minute per mile? Or are you trying to  get your body fat % under 20%? You must first know where you are starting, then make sure to measure how you are doing as you go along. This can be done once per week, or even once per month depending on the type of goal and how aggressive the goal is.

A= Attainable. “I want to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated” isn’t something that most of us will ever accomplish, but losing 2 dress sizes is very doable! If you have a bigger goal, try breaking it up in to smaller, monthly goals.

R= Realistic. You really have to be honest with yourself here. You may want to be at 5% body fat, but do you know what that takes? Are you willing to do the work and make all of the sacrifices necessary to get your body fat down to that level? Why 5%? If you only get to 8% will you be disappointed? Then maybe your first goal should be 10%…

T= Time-bound. When do you want to accomplish this goal? Remember, this helps your goal become measurable, but make sure the time frame you give yourself is attainable!

So why not just leave you with this? Because when it comes to fitness goals, I think that there are a couple of holes in the SMART acronym. In order for you to be able to stick to most fitness goals, you need to change SMART to “SMARTLY”. Now I am not sure if that is even a real word, but hear me out:

L= Life-long. What is it that you REALLY want out of your goal? Is it to look better for your sister’s wedding? To look good in your vacation pictures? If you want to stick to your short term goals, you’d better have some long term goals to follow up with. I will use myself as an example here: I am a married man, and it is important that I live for a long time so that my wife never has to live alone. Because if this I eat better. I try to only eat whole foods (organic when I can), I make sure my weight and body fat % never get above a certain point, and I have cut unnatural things like aspartame completely out of my diet. These things that I do for my Life-Long Goals make my short term goals easier to attain, because I am never far off from where I want to be for MY vacation pictures! 🙂 I also spend more time doing various yoga poses and stretches, as well as certain “core” strengthening exercises, because I not only want to be there for my wife- I want to be able to walk next to her as opposed to having her push me around in a wheelchair.

Y= You. This isn’t anybody else’s goal. Getting healthier because your wife told you to, or getting in shape so your husband finds you more attractive is fine, but what is YOUR incentive? Why is this important to YOU? If there is nothing in it for you, you are far less likely to stick to your program. It is your body. Your health. Your life. Your health is one of the very few things in life that nobody else can control. The way that you will live the rest of your life is (almost) completely up to you. Take advantage of that. Be a little selfish. Think about what you want. Then make it happen…

Need help setting your personal goals? Please email me at: Johnsanchez0@gmail.com