HAPPY 2017! HERE ARE 12 TIPS TO MAKE THIS YOUR FITTEST YEAR EVER!

Happy New Year!  Its 2017 and we all just have to be thankful for being alive to witness it, great things are in the pipeline, I can feel it in my bones! My first idea for 2017 was to write a proper rant article about how much I hate New Year resolutions; I personally consider them an exercise in futility! However I decided to save that particular rant for next week’s article and instead go with something more positive and uplifting, hence the twelve tips of New Year, but if you still want to see me rant about resolutions, please click on the video below.

Moving on, I was inspired to write down these 12 tips by the fact that we all make new year resolutions of one kind or the other, and we mean them for good. The problem is, a lot of the time we make them based on emotions and they end up not being practicable. These tips are not resolutions, they are basic guides to achieving fitness and life goals and I assure you that they will work for you if properly implemented. Apply them and you will not be disappointed, thanks and have a great year everyone.

1.      DON’T JUST START EXERCISING!

I know you are excited and have resolved to be fitter in 2017; however a common mistake people make in the heat of the moment is to just rush to the gym or field and just start running or hitting the iron, please pause for a second amigo! First set your goals and get a plan to achieve it, don’t just pick any fitness plan online, do your research and find out what works best for you, so that you can actually last!

2.      SET ACHIEVABLE GOALS- AND ACHIEVE THEM!

It’s great to have big dreams; big weight loss, big increases in strength and great distances cycled or run. Note that they will only happen if you start small, please make them achievable. This will give you a chance to succeed and motivate you for greater gains, if you focus on the large goal, it can look out of reach and frustrating. You can always create a new more difficult goal once you’ve achieved your existing one. Build confidence first, and then build results based on it.

3.      DON’T FOCUS ON YOUR APPEARANCE!

It’s human to want to look good and the last thing I will do is to lie to you that it’s not important. Being too focused on your appearance can however make you lose sight of what is important, as you work out this year, remember that the goal is better fitness, strength, stamina and health. The six pack is just a bonus! If you place too much stock on your appearance you can get discouraged that you don’t have Cristiano Ronaldo abs in 3 months, while overlooking the fact that you can now run for 45 minutes without getting tired! Enough said!

4.      TREAT YOUR WORKOUT LIKE A BUSINESS MEETING!

I bet you planned a lot of workouts in 2016 but abandoned them as soon as life got in the way right? I am also willing to bet that you didn’t treat as many business meetings with such levity. One of the tricks to achieving fitness in 2017 is to treat workouts like a business meeting between your body and the gym. Have dedicated days on your calendar and only let an act of God stop you! Protect this time to invest in your body because nobody else can or will!

5.      FIND A FITNESS FRIEND!

This tip has been well flogged and I am flogging it again with good reason, while fitness can seem like an OYO goal, it doesn’t have to be. If you can find someone to share the excitement with you are more likely to stick to your workouts and less likely to quit when the going gets tough. A fitness friend will help push and motivate you, and you can do the same for them, don’t be selfish!

6.      JOINT A GROUP FITNESS CLASS!

If you are one of those people who can’t work out alone or need more than one workout buddy, then this is for you. Some people do better with a more social fitness experience than the typical; me against the iron or clock workout. If this is you then join an aerobics, spin or cycling class, whatever keeps you motivated!

7.      BE SERIOUS ABOUT FOOD!

In 2017 become a foodie! Food is serious business, especially if you want to lose weight. Many people focus on the exercise end of fitness and are careless about what they eat, not anymore, what you eat is more important than the weights you push! This year become more educated about what you should eat and what to ditch, and how much to eat as well as the right mix. You have to experiment and find what mix works for you.

8.      TRAIN ONE DAY AT A TIME!

Please do not get wrapped up in the big picture; this is a situation whereby if you don’t train every day, you think you have failed! Treat every workout as a victory in your battle for fitness and every good meal choice as well. Victory in fitness is an ongoing process and you need not become obsessed by it and make it an all-consuming task. If you get obsessed by training, you are going to lose all the joy it can give you.

9.      INCREASE YOUR INTENSITY LEVEL!

This year you need to get more intense! I recommend that the inculcate High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) into your routine. For example when jogging you can start sprinting for as long as you can, then dial it down to a slow jog until you recover, then sprint again, recover, sprint etc. HIIT has been proved to burn more calories in a shorter time period. Apply it, and you could turn your hour long walk or jog to a 20 minute compact exercise. HIIT will keep your metabolism higher for longer and can help you get rid of that stubborn fat that has been hanging around for years!

10.  CHANGE YOUR LIFESTYLE IN SMALL DOSES!

When you make the decision to change you fitness life, it is possible to look down on what you are doing now and look down on all the people who are still doing it, stop it right now! All of a sudden everything you or your friends eat becomes evil, please resist this urge to judge and make only small incremental changes in your lifestyle otherwise you may suffer a relapse as your brain and body rebels. People fail to make change when they go at it full speed but then can’t keep up the pace, slow and steady wind the race.

11.  BE CONSISTENT BUT FLEXIBLE!

I know change would happen quickly if you followed a restrictive diet, worked out every day of the week and stopped hanging out with friends and just camped out in the gym. While motivation is a great thing, what happens when you run out of energy or are just not in the mood to lift, you start to beat yourself up mentally and can actually become depressed. ditch the all or nothing approach to fitness this year and be flexible,  do your utmost to make every workout, run etc, but don’t beat yourself up if you fail, just start again. Aim for fitness consistency in 2017 not perfection, nobody is perfect.

12.  BE FEARLESS IN THE FACE OF CHANGE!

Yes building a fitter life will feel like a great battle at times. No, you will not always progress in a straight line. Yes, you will be tired, hungry and discouraged at times. No, it will not always make sense to those around you or maybe even to you, don’t worry just keep going! Your fitness journey is not about becoming someone new, it’s about becoming the best version possible of yourself, just take it one day at a time and you won’t believe it when you get to the top of the mountain!

Thanks and have a great year!!