The New Year is quickly approaching. And you know what that means — New Year Resolutions!
This is the year to accomplish big things, and it’s definitely going to be the year you reach all of your health and physique goals.
Yep. You’re going to start eating better, dropping body fat, and building a great looking body you’ll absolutely love.
The truth is, many people approach their health and fitness New Year Resolution in a similar way. Let’s take a look at the typical regimen people say they’re going to follow to eat better and get fit:
The “Typical” New Year Resolution approach:
- Go to the gym 4-5 times per week
- Do cardio 5-7 times per week
- Kick things off right with some type of “cleanse” or elimination diet that promises fast, rapid, noticeable results
- Choose a popular diet to follow
As you see, most peoples’ New Year resolution means revolving their life around the gym and some crazy new fad diet. They follow a diet that revolves around restriction and elimination of certain foods and/or food groups and other obsessive eating habits.
Unfortunately these diets, in addition to being unsustainable long-term, generally lead to episodes of binge eating in many people.
And to top it off, most people combine these unrealistic and stressful diets with a rigorous and time-consuming gym schedule.
Those things, in my opinion, are not a recipe for success, but failure. And it’s why most people begin their New Year Resolution with determination but quickly give up after only a few short weeks.
That’s why I encourage you to abandon your initial New Year health and fitness resolutions (if they’re similar to those above) and opt instead for the Lift Like a Girl approach for the New Year and beyond.
By following the Lift Like a Girl resolution method, outlined below, you’re going to set yourself up for success from the very beginning. And as you’ll see, the Lift Like a Girl approach is all about keeping things simple.
And when it comes to achieving your goals, simplicity trumps complicated.
Let’s take a closer look at the approach you should take to achieving and maintaining your health and fitness resolutions.
The Lift Like a Girl Resolution Approach
Without question the most important element for your health and fitness resolution is simplicity.
If you keep things simple — with your nutrition and workout program — then you’re much more likely to be consistent with your plan. And consistency is what leads to results. AND, if your plan is simple, you be able to follow it long-term. This is the complete opposite of the traditional approach people take to reach their goals, as shown above.
Most people follow a stressful, rigid, and complicated plan that they inevitably abandon soon after starting.
But the Lift Like a Girl way is the complete opposite. It’s simple, flexible, and can be maintained long-term.
So keep things simple and you won’t abandon your plan after a week or two like most people (and like you’ve probably experienced personally in years past). You’ll keep going strong months down the road. This is why I encourage you to get back to the basics of nutrition and strength training.
Here are some other useful tips:
- Follow a plan and workout program that fits easily into your lifestyle and schedule. If you know you can only commit to hitting the gym three times per week, then don’t even think about following a program that calls for four or more workouts per week.
- Sets goals that are positive, motivating, and that focus on performance. We all want to look great, but setting goals that you can measure (such as getting stronger and focusing on actions instead of outcomes) are much more motivating, and if you achieve those goals, you can rest assured you’ll reap the rewards of a better looking body.
- Make sure you’re doing something you enjoy. Whether you like lifting heavy weights and seeing how strong you can or you prefer a faster paced workout, make sure you’re having fun. Likewise, you can find some fun recreational activities that get you moving instead of striving for more “exercise”. This is what I personally do and it’s much more enjoyable. For instance, I prefer to go hiking instead of engaging in traditional cardio like walking on a treadmill.
- Have action based goals instead of specific goals. Wanting to “exercise more” or “eat better” is incredibly vague and won’t allow you to track progress. However, setting goals such as “perform my first chin-up” and “make a delicious breakfast at home instead of hitting the drive through” are much more specific.
- When it comes to nutrition, keep it sane and simple for long-lasting success. Nutrition is easily the most confusing component of a health and fitness regimen. Forget about embarking on the latest fad diet – follow some proven, simple, flexible, stress-free guidelines that you can tailor to your lifestyle and preferences that are free of obsessive eating habits.
- Remember, focus on establishing enjoyable habits that you can sustain months from now. We all want immediate results, but they’re meaningless if you can’t sustain them in the long-term. Keep it simple, take things slower if necessary, and build a body today that you can maintain tomorrow with ease.
Chances are strong you’ve set New Year health and fitness resolutions before using a typical approach as shown above. And I’m willing to bet you did what most people do: give up after only a few weeks or so.
Don’t repeat past mistakes. Take a different approach. Keep your plan sane and simple and finally get results that you can maintain for months to come.
How to (Practically) Guarantee Success
Want to achieve your health, fitness, and physique goals for 2014? Here are a few additional tips that will drastically increase your success.
Do NOT focus on immediate, drastic results. There are some big problems with rapid fat loss approaches, and I encourage you to stay away from them. Sure, they may provide some immediate gratification, but the results won’t last.
Make sure your plan is practical! No matter what path your choose to follow, make sure it’s practical and that it fits easily into your life. If you have to revolve your life around a program, then you know your chances of sticking with it for more than a few weeks is very slim. Remember to set yourself up for success from the very beginning.
If you don’t know where to begin, follow a proven system If you want a proven, done-for-you guide that details everything you need – from a workout routine that calls for only 3-4 workouts per week depending on your preferences, demonstration videos for all exercises, simple and diet-free nutrition information, and a step-by-step success guide — then click here to check out the Train to Be Awesome Guide. The Beginner Blast-Off Program is an excellent place to start.
And finally…
If you’re going to have a single goal for the New Year, make it this one: become the most awesome version of YOU.
I’d like to close this article by encouraging you to take a different path this year than most people and what you’ve done in the past.
Don’t focus solely on losing fat or building a great looking body like most people do with the beginning of a new year. I encourage you to instead make it a priority to become a stronger, more awesome version of yourself. By doing so you’ll not only achieve the health, fitness, and physique goals you have, but you’ll also improve your self-confidence, discover what you’re truly capable of achieving, and you’ll have a blast along the way.
For more information on how to put this into action, please read Redefining Fitness.
Here’s to you reaching your goals and becoming the most awesome version of yourself!