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3 common Reasons Why New Year’s Resolutions Fail
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For some years now, exercising or getting in shape has been one of the most popular New Year’s resolutions. Unfortunately, at the end of January, between 80 and 90% of those who intend to exercise, give up. And precisely the third Monday of January seems to be key to continuing or quitting our New Year Resolution.
Your New Year´s Resolution of getting in shape is falling apart? 3 tips to avoid the pitfall and succeed this year. I hope this article helps you to continue training or give yourself another chance. I will explain the most common difficulties that we all face and how to overcome them.
Change the "All or Nothing" mentality
It’s very easy to get caught up in the euphoria of changing your lifestyle and planning to exercise 5, 6, or even 7 days a week. What is not usually taken into account is fatigue, soreness, and some other muscular discomfort that appears after training.
It happens that, after the first week of training almost daily, you are tired and parts of your body that you did not know existed, ache. And instead of considering reducing the intensity or frequency of your workouts, you think “this isn’t for you”, “it’s too hard” or “I can´t do this anymore”.
This is the typical “All or Nothing” mentality: either I do everything perfect, as I had imagined it would be, or I give up. Things rarely turn out as we have dreamed, and hoping so is an unrealistic strategy.
If you’re thinking of quitting because things aren’t going the way you planned, don’t quit. Readjust your plan.
You had planned to exercise 5 or 6 days a week and now it is becoming very difficult for you. Don’t give up. Take a couple of days off while you plan your next workouts, but this time only 3 days a week. This is often enough for any beginner to see changes in 4-6 weeks.
On this journey, you will find more than one obstacle. This year you may have a sprained ankle, you may have to put in extra hours to finish a project at work, or you may have to spend more hours than you thought studying for an exam. Life is full of unforeseen events and obstacles. What will you do then? Stop training because your circumstances aren’t perfect? Accept that you have to adapt your training to your circumstances and that rarely there will be nothing that will not interfere with your plan to get in shape.
It’s not about doing it perfectly, but about doing it better than you’ve been doing it. If you didn’t exercise at all last year, training 3 times a week this year is a giant step forward.
Do not copy the workouts of a professional
Many times we admire some famous or celebrity with a spectacular physique and find (supposedly) the training routine they do to get those bodies. Of course, we follow the same workout without stopping to think if that workout is right for us.
I have made this mistake a couple of times. This one I remember with special “love”. Arnold Schwarzenegger explains in his book “The Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding” the routine that he followed when he was about 18 years old. When I was 20 years old, I remember thinking, “if he started here, me too.” The training was just brutal and after two weeks I wasn’t shattered, I was completely annihilated.
If you decide to follow whatever training you come across, for whatever reason, follow it to the best of your ability. It’s okay to try to train like your idols, it’s okay to try to push your limits, but don’t go to the point of tearing yourself apart. You train to feel better, to look better, not to punish your body to exhaustion.
Do fewer sets, skip exercises that cause you discomfort, or leave you totally exhausted. That is, adapt that training to your abilities and skills. You will progress and you will be able to do better and better.
Make your training your priority.
Usually, we all have a long to-do list. If you intend to exercise this year, it cannot be just another task. It must be a priority. Why? Because surely there will be more important or urgent things that you must do. You will postpone your training until you have completed these other tasks, so the chances that you end up skipping training are multiplied.
Think about it for a moment, what are you going to do first? An urgent job order or your training? Are you going to tell your son that you can’t take him to a friend’s house because you have to work out? Aren’t you going to meet a friend you haven’t seen for a long time because you have to exercise? There are many things in your life more important than exercising.
That is why exercising should be a priority for you, in the sense that you should be alert and take advantage of the first free time you have to exercise and remove that task from the list as soon as possible.
Maybe you can get up a little earlier and do your workout first thing in the morning. If one day you wake up and you don’t feel like training, you can always take advantage of that time to do other tasks and you will have more free time throughout the day.
Or maybe you have a free moment where you just watch TV or get lost on the internet. Turn off and start training. TV and Internet will still be there when you finish your workout.
If you leave your training to the end of the day, it is very likely that you will not do it because you still have other tasks to do. There are always tasks to do.
Summarizing...
Before you give up on your resolution to exercise this year, take a moment to think about whether you’re doing any of these three things. If so, change your perspective and give yourself another chance. Don’t give up.
- Re-Set
- Re-Adjust
- Re-Start
- Re-Focus
As many times as you need to. Just don´t quit.
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It's very easy to get caught up in the euphoria of changing your lifestyle and planning to exercise 5, 6, or even 7 days a week. What is not usually taken into account is fatigue, soreness, and some other muscular discomfort that appears after training. It happens that, after the first week of training almost daily, you are tired and parts of your body that you did not know existed, ache. And instead of considering reducing the intensity or frequency of your workouts, you think "this isn't for you", "it's too hard" or "I can´t do this anymore". This is the typical "All or Nothing" mentality: either I do everything perfect, as I had imagined it would be, or I give up. Things rarely turn out as we have dreamed, and hoping so is an unrealistic strategy. If you're thinking of quitting because things aren't going the way you planned, don't quit. Readjust your plan. You had planned to exercise 5 or 6 days a week and now it is becoming very difficult for you. Don't give up. Take a couple of days off while you plan your next workouts, but this time only 3 days a week. This is often enough for any beginner to see changes in 4-6 weeks. On this journey, you will find more than one obstacle. This year you may have a sprained ankle, you may have to put in extra hours to finish a project at work, or you may have to spend more hours than you thought studying for an exam. Life is full of unforeseen events and obstacles. What will you do then? Stop training because your circumstances aren't perfect? Accept that you have to adapt your training to your circumstances and that rarely there will be nothing that will not interfere with your plan to get in shape. It's not about doing it perfectly, but about doing it better than you've been doing it. If you didn't exercise at all last year, training 3 times a week this year is a giant step forward.
If you decide to follow whatever training you come across, for whatever reason, follow it to the best of your ability. It's okay to try to train like your idols, it's okay to try to push your limits, but don't go to the point of tearing yourself apart. You train to feel better, to look better, not to punish your body to exhaustion. Do fewer sets, skip exercises that cause you discomfort, or leave you totally exhausted. That is, adapt that training to your abilities and skills. You will progress and you will be able to do better and better.
Usually, we all have a long to-do list. If you intend to exercise this year, it cannot be just another task. It must be a priority. Why? Because surely there will be more important or urgent things that you must do. You will postpone your training until you have completed these other tasks, so the chances that you end up skipping training are multiplied. Think about it for a moment, what are you going to do first? An urgent job order or your training? Are you going to tell your son that you can't take him to a friend's house because you have to work out? Aren't you going to meet a friend you haven't seen for a long time because you have to exercise? There are many things in your life more important than exercising. That is why 