Topic of the Month: How’s that New Year’s Resolution Coming Along?

You set a New Year’s Resolution, now what? How are your goals coming along after the first month of the year? As I talked about last month, we all try to set New Year’s Resolution goals, but a lot of the time they are hard to keep going.

Setting shorter goals and starting small is a great way to keep motivation going. If you set a big goal (I want to lose 30 pounds) and you don’t hit that in the time you want, people tend to get frustrated. Start smaller and keep working toward your next goal.

For example, I started small by tracking my food and macros at the beginning of the year. I use an app called MyFitnessPal. This free app can be downloaded to your smart phone and then used to log all the food you eat for the day. The app breaks down foods by how much fat, protein and carbs you are eating each day.

I have also set a goal to keep increasing my weight after each set. For example, when I bench, I make sure to increase the weight of each set of 10 I do. Even if it’s 5 pounds, I always increase it. I felt I wasn’t pushing myself as much as I could and by setting a small goal like this, I can continue to push myself and get stronger at the same time.

Here is an article about goal setting to share even more helpful tips.  Motivation for workouts can be tough to keep going, especially if you have been working out for awhile. I get in a funk sometimes and it’s hard to get moving some days or even get to the gym all together. I have found that changing up my workout every week or two helps me a lot. Changing your workout means adding in some different exercises you normally don’t do, or changing the amount of reps you do each time. When you keep the same routine every time you go to the gym, you run the risk of becoming bored and not pushing your body. I know it can be intimidating trying new machines or exercises but it is key to making the difference in your workouts.

To help keep you motivated and encourage you to try new things, we’ve got a fun and engaging fitness contest starting in February open to all members! Members will get cool prizes for completing different wellness and fitness tasks and if you complete all the challenges, you’ll be entered into a drawing for a $100 gift card to refresh your fitness gear. Look for more details coming VERY SOON!

As always, if anyone has questions about certain machines at the Lied Activity Center, be sure to ask myself or Sonja for tips on using them.

Want more LAC news and current events? Find the full LAC At a Glance Newsletter here!