As you pen your New Year resolutions for 2016, get ready to rethink the way you make fitness goals. Have you ever lost motivation to make it out to the gym or given up on your diet by the time February rolled around? If so, it might have something to do with the type of fitness goals you set for yourself. Having ambitious goals is great, but trying to do too much too quickly can often lead to milestones that are unrealistic, and frankly, unachievable. To help you start 2016 out right, here are five achievable resolutions for better fitness.
1. Short-term Cardio Goal
Keep things simple and straightforward with a short-term goal for cardiovascular exercise, which includes anything that gets your heart pumping and your lungs working. Focus on a goal that involves an activity that you enjoy and that easily fits into your schedule. For example, you might make it your goal to go jogging for thirty-minutes three times a week or to jump rope for fifteen minutes four times a week.
2. Strength Training Goal
Strength training is all about building endurance and muscle tone, as well and boosting your metabolism. You can start with thirty minutes once or twice a week and focus on working various muscle groups during each workout. You should work towards increasing weight resistance, repetitions, or frequency weekly or monthly, as part of your strength plan.
3. Short-term Flexibility Goal
Setting a short-term flexibility goal is a great way to help yourself feel better in general. You will find that you have great ease of movement and less back and joint pain. You could simply decide to stretch for five minutes before waking up each morning or you could sign up for a yoga or Pilates class that meets twice a week.
4. Realistic Nutrition Goal
Rather than trying out the latest fad diet this year, consider making a more realistic nutrition goal for yourself, one that will help build healthy eating habits. For example, consider making it a goal to eat more healthy snacks that have fewer calories. You might also consider making it a goal to eat more fruits and vegetables, or to try learning a few new healthy recipes you can make yourself.
5. Social Fitness Goal
Finally, you might want to consider getting a friend involved in your fitness goals this year. Not only can having someone to work out with make exercise a little more fun, but it can increase your motivation to get up and get active. Invite a friend to make a joint resolution with you to play tennis once a week or to go for a walk around the block every other day.
So often our New Year resolutions fade away long before the year is over, leaving us feeling discouraged and disappointed. However, that does not have to be the case with your fitness goals this year. With some careful thought about yourself and your lifestyle and some realistic planning, you can create achievable fitness goals for 2016 that will lead to a better, healthier you this year.