Adopt a flexible approach to your New Year’s health and fitness resolutions

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Its that time of year again where we say goodbye to the old and welcome in the New Year with a blaze of optimism and excitement. As always, we make New Year’s resolutions which we are determined to keep no matter what. We tell ourselves this year is our year and nothing is going to get in our way.

Resolutions and goals keep us focused and give us direction with where we want to go. We implement them into both our professional and personal lives but what we tend to forget about is “real life” interruptions. Real human lives are messy and complicated. Real human lives are unpredictable.

There are so many factors that occur around us that we can’t control:

  • Last minute deadlines at work that we need to prioritise
  • Social events occurring all at once; work meetings and events, weddings, birthdays etc.
  • A family member falls ill and you need to visit them regularly in hospital
  • A bug is going around at school and all your kids pick it up

Can you identify with some of the above real life events? Have you been in the situation where real life plays a role in how and when you train or engage in a healthy lifestyle? If so, it is clear why so many resolutions fail. Many of us fall back into our old routine by March and we often forget what New Year’s Resolution we made. We tend to follow an “all or nothing” mindset with our health and fitness plan and when we encounter a bump in the road, like a real life scenario, we break the resolution and never look back at engaging in it again.

So this year lets lose the “all or nothing” mentality and adopt a flexible approach to our health and fitness.  Let’s start 2018 with the attitude of doing a little better every month rather than striving for perfection. This will likely have a positive effect on us sticking to our New Year’s resolutions. The key to a healthy lifestyle is consistency. To be consistent all we need to do is gradually improve, take it one week at a time.

So how do we this?

  1. Consider where you are now in this present moment

Take stock of where you are now with your health and fitness. You are where you are today from previous behaviours. What can you do in 2018 to improve things gradually?

  1. Celebrate the Positives

What have you done up to now to get to where you are today? You might find that there are a lot of aspects you want to change about yourself but focus on 2 or 3 positives from 2017.

  1. Start Small

What can you do right now that will help you with your New Year’s Resolution. What steps can you put in place that will help you achieve your goal for 2018. Do something now that is relevant to your Resolution.

At CoachPACT.com our PACT is to help you master your health and performance. Our coaches will work with you to find a solution for improving your health and performance without compromising your lifestyle.

Here’s to a healthier 2018!

 

 

John has a BSc in Health and Leisure and is a Precision Nutrition Level 1 coach. He has worked in the fitness industry for a number of years and has gained valuable experience in coaching various teams in GAA, rugby and athletics. He is currently the Head of Athletic Performance for the Kerry Senior Hurlers. In February 2015 John was part of a team that undertook an Arctic Expedition in Northern Finland. This experience further enhanced his ability to organize and instruct groups in pressure situations. As part of the expedition he was part of a team that set out on two separate camping trips of three nights and he completed an Ultra Marathon. John sees professional development as crucial to every coaches development. He embraces new research and ideas and has attended many seminars regarding performance, health, fitness and nutrition.