Every year we make New Year’s resolutions. Rarely do we follow through. Most of the times, we actually intend to keep up our resolutions. We start out with positivity and vigor, and slowly all of it fizzles out. Have you ever wondered why this happens? Maybe this question can be answered by an age old adage which was given by an anonymous wise man, ”The road to nowhere is paved with good intentions”. This is way truer than the fact that the sun rises in the east.
Art Turock, famous author of many self help and health books, who has written the NYT bestseller Getting Physical provides a sensible argument about this behavior in people. He states that the problem arises from the difference between having an interest in a specific thing and commitment towards the same.
This can be illustrated with the help of an example. Suppose that there is a group of so called interested exercisers who have started working out with a jogging or walking program and there is another group of serious committed exercisers who understand the value of their fitness. One fine day, they wake up and find it is raining outdoors. Their normal reaction would be to lie back down and say to themselves, “I think I will exercise tomorrow.” However, if you are a committed exerciser, then they will get out of bed and say to themselves, “I think I will exercise inside today.”
People who are actually interested in achieving a target, will go through all sorts of adversities. But for the regular people, they will reach their goal it if all goes as planned. But given that they have a hiccup or two in their plans, they will not follow through. But the people who are committed to do something will continue persevering towards their target, no matter what. In other words, they are true to their commitments? Do you also have a goal that you are unable to accomplish?
Maybe it has something to do with physical activity. Weight control and fat loss is an issue which everybody procrastinates for long. It involves a lot of things – improving your lifestyle, changing food habits, including physical activities according to your body and dispensing a lot of health fads. That takes quite a toll on a person’s mind.
Since all of this is tough initially, you would have to focus on becoming more resilient, creative, generous, or empathetic. You need to push yourself in certain areas. These have been described below –
- improve your communication skills,
- get organized,
- do volunteer work,
- or spend more time with your family.
You might have been making excuses for years for sitting down and writing a novel from the idea that has been germinating in your mind for long. Or you might be trying hard to learn to speak French. This blog post may help you move from being interested in doing it to being committed to doing what you have planned, no matter what obstacles you have to face en course.
Beginning January 1, 2020, the Baby Boomer generation has turned 70 at an alarming rate of 10,000 people per day. This rate will continue for 10 more years. Research shows that many people in 2020 do not intend on retiring but will continue to work and play hard. Others can’t afford to retire because of poor retirement planning. Either way, adults and seniors need to maintain their optimal health and fitness.
Januaries see a lot of New Year’s resolutions being made. Thousands of people begin an exercise program with the idea that it will change their lives forever. As March draws to a close, more than 90 percent of those who began the program are no longer a part of it. No, it is not because they have changed their minds. But it is more along the lines of exercise is hard work and they are not seeing immediate results. There are other excuses as well. Whatever be the reason, the biggest tragedy in this is that people don’t follow through on their New Year Fitness resolutions.
But since we care about you and your health, we won’t let you quit! Here are a few steps that will help you in keeping your New Year health resolutions –
Have A Compelling Purpose
Until and unless you do not have a motivational purpose behind your fitness goals, there is no way in hell that you are going to achieve what you set out for. If the reasons are not great as the person himself / herself, there is bound to be failure on the sets. The ground and pound are going to dissolve all the will out of a person. It is in those moments of trepidation, your goals are going to keep you awake and moving forward.
Hire a Personal Trainer
It is actually difficult for people to achieve a fitness level if they are working on their own. They need a personal trainer or a partner to help them achieve what they want to. If your fitness has to be long term, then there is no way you can let this slip by. Now this person, coach, trainer or colleague needs to be a person who can hold you accountable if you have been cheating with your goals. He/she should care about you as much as they care for themselves.
Learn About Situational Leadership™
Situational Leadership™ is something that helps you to monitor your progress and sees that you pursue a project to its completion. It has been used in businesses and various other strategic planning activities all round the world. It makes the process of achieving a target by optimizing the efforts and realizing the objective by eliminating all the hindrances with minimal efforts.
Situational leadership consists of three parts –
- Goal Setting,
- Diagnosing,
- Matching
Any successful project consists of clear cut goals. First you decide what all resources you require for achieving a target. Once you have chalked that down, you start working towards it. Then you break the goal into easily attainable milestones. Slowly and steadily, you complete these milestones while keeping a track of certain parameters. What do you want to achieve from your fitness program is what goal setting is all about.
The second part of situational leadership deals with diagnosing. What needs to be done and when. Here we align everything in order so that the goal tackling is even more simplified. It also accentuates the competence of the person who is a part of the fitness program. So, it is a win-win situation for those who are sweating it out to achieve the optimal level of fitness
Matching is where you come up with allocation of weight loss/fitness resources along with what measures you need to incorporate for achieving your target. It could be picking the right gym training for you. Or what all you need to pitch in along with that.
Develop Age Appropriate Goals
Having age appropriate goals helps your system to achieve a fitness level which is not detrimental to the body. A 50-year old does not have the fitness of a 20-year old. Similarly a 50 year old super fit person could be in better health than an obese 20 year old. So in that case, the 20 year old will not be able to cope with the same program that a fit 50 year old is used to. So the diet and exercise regimen of these two groups are of stark contrast. Age and current fitness levels affects the exercise and the diet planning of a candidate. A one size fits all approach could wreak disaster on somebody’s present health system.
Apart from the difference in every person’s fitness levels, there are psychological differences as well. These differences are based on a variety of factors which include the age, race, mentality, location and vigour of a person. These factors help in deciding what exercises and diet should be recommended to a candidate. Moreover, your focus should not be on losing weight but on gaining health. So you see, age and current fitness level is an important factor in deciding the fitness level of the person.
Provided a younger person and an older person are of the same physical condition, a younger person will be recommended a protein rich diet with a lot of strength training. A middle aged person will be recommended a balanced approach as far as diet is concerned. Proteins in smaller amounts will be coupled with greens, so that the candidate does not put stress on his kidneys. The strength training will reduce and the aerobics will form a considerable portion of the exercising routine. An older person will be given reduced number of proteins, which will be easily digestible. Strength training will be reduced to a bare minimum, keeping the cardiovascular condition of the person in mind. Light walks or jogs will be recommended.
Set Up A Support System To Hold You Accountable
Having a support system in place is always helpful. Have you exercised enough for the time duration you had planned? Were you sticking to the diet plan you had chalked out for yourself? What the support system does is it keeps you on your toes if you slack off a little. But how do you develop a system?
First you ought to have a workout partner. A workout partner could be a gym buddy or a personal trainer who keeps a track of the amount of efforts you are investing in for achieving your pre-planned target. They also help you to schedule your aerobic days and core muscle exercise days. By planning and strategizing this way with your exercise / gym support system, you can maintain your weight and fitness in an easy and effective way.
As far as the dieting is concerned, you may have a few cheat days in the week. But make sure you don’t binge. Your dieting support group makes sure you keep the rich foods and booze under control. So, if you have had a pina colada, it’s okay. But the support group makes sure you don’t end up getting sloshed. Burning away beer belly is quite frustrating. Moreover, alcohol and food renders harm in more than one way.
Make sure your diet support group understands which carbs and fats are essential for the body. You don’t want to eliminate useful items in your diet. Support systems also ensure that you do not relapse because you went back to your old ways!
Call us to hire a personal trainer and coach who can help you stick to your fitness goals this year. Do not let another precious year go by without paying attention and improving your fitness! Maintaining your health is the single greatest gift that you can gift yourself and your loved ones this year.
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