Maintaining Momentum in Your Fitness This Year
We are officially 1 month into 2024. Let’s check in. Did you set health or fitness resolutions for 2024? Are you starting to lose motivation to keep going with your new routine? Do you feel stuck in a rut already?
If you answered “yes” to any of those questions, let’s talk about reframing your goals and learning ways to maintain momentum, even when it gets hard.
Here are some good rules to follow as you establish and maintain your fitness goals.
Rule 1: Figure out your “WHY”
It is difficult to stay motivated to work toward an arbitrary goal. Often at the start of a new year, people will say “I want to get stronger” or “I want to lose weight” or “I want to start running again.” While these are not bad things to aim for, they are not specific enough. Instead of settling for an arbitrary goal, reflect on why you want to achieve it.
In doing so, “I want to get stronger” becomes “I want to get stronger, so I can build better bone strength for healthy aging.”
“I want to lose weight” becomes “I want to lose weight, so I can feel comfortable in a swimsuit for my beach vacation this summer.”
“I want to start running again” becomes “I want to train to run a 5K so I can keep up with my kids and coach their soccer team.”
Make it specific. If you have that foundation driving you forward, it will be much easier to maintain momentum despite all the little obstacles along the way.
Rule 2: Establish intentions and build habits
Once you have established your WHY, it’s time to figure out HOW you are going to accomplish it. Here is your game plan. Instead of simply setting a goal and seeing what happens, establish an intention and build habits that will help you work towards your WHY.
If you want to get stronger for better bone health this year, a good intention would be to increase frequency of resistance training. You can do this by performing heavy resistance training 1-2 days a week. That could include a rotation of deadlift, back squat, clean and jerk. With consistency and a willingness to challenge yourself, you will gradually see improvement over time in each of these movements.
Now let’s talk about habits. Most people struggle to successfully overhaul their routine and stick with it from 1 day. Instead, people have more success by gradually building new habits until they have established a sustainable routine.
A good place to start to develop good habits is by identifying your weaknesses. Do you routinely hit the snooze too many times then don’t have time to get to the gym? Are you exhausted at the end of your work day and don’t have the energy to workout? Did you buy a gym membership, but don’t actually use it? These are great places to start building habits to change your behavior gradually.
Here’s an example. If you want to start running again this year, start by adding a few key habits to your schedule to overcome those weaknesses.
Intention: Gradually increase running frequency. Start with 1-2 short runs a week rather than immediately jumping to running every day
Habit 1: To make morning runs easier, set your clothes out the night before, speeding up the time it takes to hit the road in the morning (you can also set your alarm across the room to avoid the snooze button temptation)
Habit 2: Prep your pre- and/or post-run meal ahead of time to speed up your commute to work (and ensure adequate fueling and timely arrival to work)
Once you have established a foundation, you can gradually increase your mileage and number of runs per week to continue to progress toward your 5K goal.
Little habits build and strengthen over time. Identifying key weaknesses and negative habits that prevent progress toward your fitness goal will help initiate and build momentum and keep you working toward your WHY.
Rule 3: Write it down
It’s simple…put pen to paper. First, write down your WHY. Place it somewhere that you regularly see so that you are reminded of why you are putting in the work.
Write down “for my older self” on a note and place it next to your gym bag so that when you look at it and debate if you should go to the gym that day, you are reminded why.
Write down “for my kids” and put it next to your stack of clothes for your morning run to help motivate you when it is cold or raining outside.
You can also write down your intentions and habits to act as a reminder of HOW you are making those changes. This may look like:
Strength train 2 days a week
Week 1 - Monday: Deadlift, Thursday: Back Squat
Week 2 - Monday: Clean & Jerk, Thursday: Deadlift
Run 2 days per week
1 mile on Monday, 1.5 miles on Wednesday
Clothes out the night before
Breakfast ready
Another key thing to write down or track is the progress you make. Seeing measurable change in your fitness is incredibly motivating and will help keep your momentum going. Things to track:
Load in weightlifting
Running distance
Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) - a measure of how difficult a movement, set, or workout felt on a scale of 0-10
Energy levels during your workout and day
Rule 4: Don’t wait for motivation to come
You have to start. Use the rules above to help you. Once you start, motivation will continue to increase. Momentum will build. With consistency, you’ll start to see progress and that will change your outlook and encourage you to continue to challenge yourself and push toward your Why.
Notice your progress. Check in with yourself and your progress on a regular basis. Whether weekly or monthly, it is important to see the change that you are making in your life.
Find accountability. A little friendly competition can be a great motivator. Ask a friend to help and encourage you when progress slows or you lose momentum.
Summary
Don’t wait. Your WHY is worth it. Though that sounds like a cliche, it is important to remember what is driving your fitness and health journey.
Know that there will be times you will want to quit or skip the gym or your run. That this is normal. There are always ups and downs as we work toward something worthwhile but hard. Try not to let that slow or reverse your momentum.
Take a look at those 2024 Resolutions you made and make some changes, or simply start from scratch. What change can you make in your health and fitness journey? Challenge yourself and see how much you are capable of!