Having waved goodbye to 2018 and with 2019 among us, the time to act on resolutions and implement a plan to reach our newly set goals is now. For many of us, we set resolutions around fitness, becoming more active, getting stronger or losing weight. GREAT! There’s nothing like having goals related to our health and wellbeing, after all investing in our body is the best investment we can make. Too often however we see people set goals which they fail to reach. Unfortunately in most cases, these people are set to fail before they even start due to lack of preparation. This blog post serves to take the guesswork out of giving yourself the best chance to reach your goals and make sure you start 2019 with a bang!

  1. Create a plan and prioritise your goals

    Ask yourself a few questions…

  • When will you exercise? Research has shown you are more likely to stick to a program if you do so at a similar time each day. People tell us regularly they struggle to find time in their schedule for exercise. Lock a regular time slot for exercise into your weekly schedule and don’t alter it at all costs. Priortise your health and let the rest of your week shape around it.
  • How many times per week will you exercise? We recommend at least three times per week when starting out but make sure to schedule rest days in between your sessions. Rest days allow your body to make all those great adaptations as a result of exercise, and not to mention working out fatigued can increase the chance of injury!
  • How long will you exercise for? Start small and increase your duration weekly. Start with a 10 minute walk if you’re starting on your cardio journey increasing to 30 minutes over the space of a month. Weight train twice a week if you haven’t strength trained in the past and build from there over the months ahead.

2) Find something you love! ♥

If you look forward to a particular physical activity, do it! If you like dancing, try Zumba classes. If you’re a keen golfer, hit the links and walk the course. Just because the traditional forms of exercise like running and bike riding are great cardio, doesn’t mean you have to do them. It seems quite obvious but you are much more likely to stick to a program that you enjoy doing, rather than a program you find boring or monotonous. We advocate a mixture of resistance based workouts and cardio are ideal for your general wellbeing, but any physical activity you can do consistently is better than the one you don’t.

3) Be Patient and Realistic

  • Significant and long lasting changes take time, so don’t be discouraged if you don’t see results straight away. For example, we know that meaningful strength changes occur between 6-12 weeks. We also know you can’t get a rippling 6-pack in just a few weeks. Try and take little wins each week to keep you motivated. For example if you could run for 15 minutes before having to stop the week before, and you could do 16 minutes the next, celebrate it! If you lose 0.5kg rather than 5kg, you’re still losing weight…it’s a win! 
  • Setting goals is great, but make them achievable, start of slowly, develop a solid foundation of fitness that you can build upon as your body’s capacity for physical activity increases. When this happens, so will the magnitude of your goals.

4) Ask for help

  • Particularly if embarking on a strength program, seek help. Your form is extremely important when doing resistance exercises such as using dumbbells or kettlebells. Find someone who has experience with prescribing strength training exercises to ensure you are safe when doing so and minimising your risk of injury.
  • If you have a history of aches, pains or niggling injuries it’s always a good idea to check in with your Physiotherapist before starting a new fitness program. Injuries can very quickly derail a new health regime so ensuring you are doing everything you can before, during and after exercise to keep your body injury free is crucial to maintaining consistency.

If you or someone you know has a health related goal for 2019, share this article with them, give us a call on 8490 0777 or book online here.