How To Start a Healthy Fitness Habit in the New Year

As the new year is approaching, many of us are starting to think about our goals and resolutions for the upcoming year. Often times at the end of the year we “give up” and just indulge, with plans to change things up come January 1st. If your goal for the new year is to start a healthy fitness habit, you don’t necessarily need to wait until the start of the new year. But if that’s what will work best for you, then now is the time to start planning so you can be successful at achieving your goal!

Making a big change is never easy. Often times you need to really want to change in order to make it happen. There are other things that need to fall into place too- the right supports, the tools to be successful, time, energy, etc. Let’s dive into how you can plan to start a healthy fitness habit and actually stay on track and be successful with following your plan.

How To Start a Healthy Fitness Habit in the New Year

Write Down Your Specific Goals

Start by deciding exactly what your fitness goals are for the new year. Be specific about them. Don’t just say “start exercising” or “get faster”. Those kinds of goals are great but you can make them better by coming up with ways to measure your progress. SMART goals focus on making sure your goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. So you might say that you are going to run 3 days a week and lift weights once a week during the month of January. Write your goals down so you can go back to them and keep track of your progress.

Think Long Term and Short Term

Once you come up with your main goal or goals for the new year you can think about long term and short term goals. Your long term goal might be to run a sub 4 hour marathon. In order to reach that long-term goal, you can identify some short term goals like complete a long run each weekend, take more fuel on runs, work on mobility 2 nights a week, etc.

The short term goals may help you to accomplish your long term goals, but they can also be celebrated as their own successes. These are also more manageable to think about and may seem less overwhelming when working towards a big goal.

Dig Into Your “Why” for Starting a Fitness Habit

After you write down your goals, write down your “why”. Why do you want to achieve these goals? When it gets hard to keep up with your plan you may need to look back on your “why” to help you stay motivated. Really digging into your why may even lead you to adjust your goals if you realize you don’t really want to do something that you set as a goal.

Figure Out What You Will Need

Next it’s time to start planning. What will you need in order to work towards your goals? If you are planning to run more, do you have a safe place to run that is accessible at the times you are available to run? Or will you need to join a gym? Would having a coach help you to reach your goals? Come up with a list so you can make sure you have everything ready before the start of the new year.

Consider What Can Go Wrong

Often times we start out the new year strong, only to give up on our goals a few weeks later. Why does this happen? I think for alot of people they set out to do something that wasn’t sustainable or that they weren’t yet able to do in the way they wanted to. For example, if you did not run at all and then decided to run 5 miles every day, that would be really hard to do and really hard to keep up with.

So as you are planning out your goals, consider if you are ready to do what you are setting out to do. Remember to start where you are, not where you want to be.

Think about other things that may get in the way of your goals and figure out how you will overcome these challenges. Do you often get held up late at work which could make you miss your gym session? Maybe you can try to go to the gym in the morning. Do you expect that there will be bad weather this winter and you won’t be able to run outside? Figure out a way to run indoors on a treadmill or adjust your runs those weeks so that you can avoid the bad weather days.

Identify The Supports You Will Need to Start a Fitness Habit

Having the right support system can be really helpful when starting a new habit. If you live with a significant other, having them on board with your goals, or at least aware of them, is important. You may need them to help out more or to understand why you can’t be around for certain things in order to stick to your plan. Other supports could be friends who will go to the gym with you, a running club, or a coach. If you are struggling to find anyone you know who can support you in your goals, sharing your journey on Instagram can help you connect with a whole network of other people working towards fitness goals.

Plan Out Your First Month

Start by planning out the first month in detail. Include what days you will do what. Know that this may change as the year goes on. Remember to start small and don’t make a plan that will be too challenging to keep up with.

Schedule Regular Check-Ins

Decide how often you will check in on your goals and adjust your plan. Once a month is usually a good amount of time. This allows you to reflect on a full month to see how it went and what you accomplished, and to figure out how to approach the next month. Remember to celebrate the short-term goals you achieve each month!

Get Yourself Excited

Go into this process with a positive mindset! It is a new opportunity to succeed at something. You can even plan out how you will celebrate accomplishing some of your goals along the way.

Make Tiny Changes Now

Even if you aren’t going to start your healthy fitness habit until the new year, you can make some small changes right away. If you are planning to start running, get out for some walks now. If you want to get stronger in the gym, try to get in a little core work a few nights a week. Even just getting into a workout routine can set you up to make it a habit come the new year.

Be Willing To Make Adjustments

Remember that sometimes we need to adjust our goals, and that’s ok! If you realize that a goal is no longer reasonable or that you don’t want it as much as you thought, go back to planning and figure out what else you can do instead.

Making big changes isn’t easy. Even making small changes is not always easy. Think about where you want to be at this time next year, and try not to lose sight of that vision. “Be stubborn about your goals but flexible about your methods” is a saying I’ve followed over the last 4 years, and it still holds true. When working towards a goal there will usually be things that happen that are out of our control, but learning to pivot and keep going will help us to be successful. It’s ok to adjust, but try to avoid the “all or nothing” mindset.

You may also like:
How to Start Running in 2023
Getting Organized to Achieve your Goals

Do you have any goals for the new year?
How will you start or maintain a fitness habit in the new year?

Now it’s time for the Runners’ Roundup! Link up your running and fitness posts below! Join myself, Coach Debbie Runs, Confessions of a Mother Runner and Runs with Pugs to post your favorite running tips, experiences, race and training recaps, workouts, gear, and coaching ideas.