Why you New Year’s resolutions fail & 5 tips to get you back on track

A new year – new bad luck!

And suddenly we’re in a new year… I don’t want to become melancholy and hold a motivational speech like ‘this year is going to be the best year of your life’. Instead, I want to focus on something else for a change: there is a possibility that you won’t reach your fitness goals! Find out why some people should rethink their motivation and why some fall by the wayside in the aerobis Blog. Additionally, we will give you 5 tips that will get you back into training after setbacks.

Maybe you will never achieve your dream body!

Boom, this might have stung a little but it is the truth. Sure, now is the time for New Year’s resolutions, the Woodstock of motivation. Everyone is motivated, full of energy, and free in their decision. Fired up by the endless opportunities of a fresh start, almost high, sentences like these are dropped:

• „I will absolutely lose 10 kg this year“
• „I have to fit into my bathing suit by summer“
• „I must get rid of the winter fat as fast as possible“

These are probably the favorite goals for 2016. In the end, we all just want to look good naked. The membership numbers in the gyms are skyrocketing into astronomical heights like New Year rockets and even discounters lure the couch potatoes out of their hibernation cave with plastic kettlebells. Everything is going to be better, faster, bigger, FITTER!

Bring your resolutions in order

So far, so >not< good! Surely, resolutions are something positive. But you have to align them correctly. Empirically, the number of sport enthusiasts shrinks drastically in the course of the first to months of the year. The sentence ‘I have picked up working out again’ quickly turns into ‘I definitely have to get back into training’ and ends in ‘next year!’. It’s a shame! You have everything in your own hands how you decide to treat your body and soul and how well you feel with it. That is a big opportunity to do something with your life.

Why do so many people fail with their projects?

For one, they want to achieve too much. They often aim too high and small achievements are overlooked because they seem so tiny in comparison to the big goal. So when they consider the results of the first few weeks they are likely to be frustrated! Then, they often don’t set their priorities right. The question everyone has to ask themself is: how important is it for me? And have I given it everything? Okay, okay, that’s actually two questions but the message is clear: only if you are fully aware of this you can use your time, energy, and means to purposefully achieve your goals. Obviously, most people decide in march that they no longer want to ‘look good naked’. There are, however, those that continue. People that surf the wave of euphoria and survive it. Lots of respect for that! It takes lots of discipline, dedication, and patience. But even they can fail. Aiming for realistic goals, setting the priorities correctly, staying at it the whole year round, and still falling short of the goal. That can be hard. From personal experience I can say: life can thwart your plans easily. Some situations will test you, others are heavy setbacks. This can hurt your motivation. I already had to adjust my goals for 2016. The goal ‘fitter and stronger than ever before’ has turned into ‘just keep pain-free’ in the last week. My hip joints, which acted up from time to time, have resorted to constant pain at the end of last year. An inflamed achilles tendon and a more or less constantly strained backside of my legs. Thanks for that! Squats and deadlifts are out of the picture right now, running and jumping is just torture. Basically, I will have to start from the beginning again and see what is actually possible under these conditions. Doctors appointments, x-rays, MRIs, mobility training, and light strength training will accompany into the coming year. I am no professional athlete but I still enjoyed it very much having a functioning body. No wonder that this situation is eating away at me now.

Chin up, Amigo!

So if this is how my body wants to play it then: challenge accepted! Because it is very important to me. My priorities might have changed but they are still priorities.

Here are 5 Tips that will make me the boss again

Maybe they will also help you if you get injured or some other incident comes between you and your training goals.

1. Take the thing serious and approach it! Nothing is worse than dismissing a problem as insignificant and then carrying it around for a long time. An injury that isn’t fully healed might stay with you for the rest of your life. False pride is only counterproductive.
2. Use the situation and work on different things! In my case, this means perfecting my handstand and do more core training. Unfortunately, the hip is a pivotal point of the body and it is difficult to work around it. But when you have injured your arm or shoulder you can work still on your pistols or maybe sprints?!
3. Don’t let the injury dominate your life! After you have directed enough attention at it, let it go. It can be frustrating if you are constantly thinking and talking about not being able to do this and that anymore. Focus on the good things!
4. Take your time! I hate throwing cliches around but Rome wasn’t built in a day. Depending on the severity of your injury or how serious your life situation is it might take some time to go back to business.Lick your wounds and cure completely. If you have to grieve, grieve as long as you need to. If you have to sort things out in your job or family first, make this your priority. Afterwards, you can go back into attack mode!
5. Stay cautious! Do yourself a favour and remind yourself that nobody is invincible. If you have overcome an injury keep taking care of your body. Learn from the experiences and give your body the attention that it needs. This doesn’t mean that you have to train overcautiously and with fear from now on. To the contrary, you will probably come back stronger and more focussed from the break but prevention is better than curing (another cliche…). Mobility exercises, stabilization, the right diet, and regeneration might become more important for you now.

Challenges as chance

Finally, there only one thing left for me to say: every injury or difficult life situation always include a chance as well. Your priorities might change drastically but they remain priorities that need to be addressed with passion and determination. New Year’s resolutions are a good thing! As long as you can look in the mirror after a few weeks and answer the question whether you have done everything to achieve your goals with YES. Even if it all changes in the end you are still a winner. What are your goals for 2016? What are you willing to do for them? Keep it rolling! Your Fabien