It’s the new year, and right around this time is when you’re either starting to hit your stride with your New Year’s gym and nutrition plan, or the magic of it is starting to fade into the daily grind again. Is it the beginning of another failed resolution cycle?
Here are some strategies to make this time different:
- This time, do it for yourself: New Year’s resolutions are a cultural and societal phenomenon. It wasn’t really your idea, it’s just something you were taught young, and that is pushed every year through media and culture. And because it’s pervasive, it catches our attention and interest. But you don’t own it, so you don’t own the process it takes to see it through. This time, make it about your goals and habits that don’t depend on a time of year or popular media telling you what to do. Do it because it’s important to you. Own it. Tell people about your resolve rather than your resolutions.
- This time, get the support you need: It’s lonely out there at Planet Fitness and 24 Hour. I’ve also done my time in there solo, and it is what it is. Surrounded by people sure, but with their headphones and hoodies on; mostly zoning out doing their own thing, lost in their phones and wandering around from machine to machine with no real plan. It’s ironic for these gyms to be so full and yet so missing that vital human element. Research shows that belonging and human connection are basic human needs. You are far more likely to make your workout and nutrition routine stick if you’re actually doing it with other people, and have a coach or teacher looking out for you. You wouldn’t send your kids to the library and tell them to read all the books to get an education. Why would you put it on yourself to go it alone?
- This time, seek expertise rather than shiny objects: Are you going Keto in 2019? What about Intermittent Fasting? How about a juice cleanse? All these buzz words and phrases get their 15 minutes of fame, because that’s all they exist for. To get you to click, to buy an automated product, to try and fail and invite you to try again in a few months with some totally different and greener grass. Don’t be a sucker. Instead, seek real-life expertise and mentorship. Fitness and diet social media are largely marketing systems to get you to buy things that don’t require anyone to actually invest their finite time in you. You know who will tell you the truth? A Coach who is sitting on the couch right next to you, who is investing their time in educating you and guiding you to success. Because if they’re not, they’re also wasting their own time, because you’re not a dummy, and will go do something else if it doesn’t work. Internet systems and programs can afford to lose you because they never had to invest their own time to help you in the first place. Be smarter, invest in those who will invest in you.
- This time, make it a lifestyle: All the results you want will take longer than a few weeks or months. It will take 3-6 months of doing smart work to see meaningful results that you can see and feel. But it will still fall short if you have in your mind that this is a temporary fix to get you “beach ready,” or if you have a specific date in mind where you can go back to the way thing were. What’s the point in being in shape for a week or a month, just to let it all wash away after? And starting over again? Ugh, it sucks. The point of real fitness education is to make it a lifestyle. The point of CrossFit gyms is that we realize this is best done through coaching, accountability, and community. This time, seek sustainable practices that you can keep doing and enjoying indefinitely. All those fit people with abs that you admire online, their secret is they don’t ever stop, because being healthy and fit is as normal as brushing their teeth getting out of bed in the morning. It’s routine and a part of who they are and want to be. So it will be with you, if you want it to be different this time.
Interested in making it stick this time?
Start with our 4-Week Ignite Fitness & Nutrition Challenge. Then see it through.
New Members: crossfitcypher.com/ignite
Current Members: crossfitcypher.com/memberignite
-Mauricio
Cypher Health & Fitness