Well, here we are getting nearer to January again…it always seems to me that January is about 6 months long and then the rest of the year goes by in about a week, doesn’t it?! One thing we consistently see in the gym in January, is an influx of new members (or returning old ones who haven’t been for a while!) who come armed with their new year resolutions to exercise more and live healthily, and we love it. It’s fab to see so many new faces through the door and to be able to help so many more people on their health and fitness journey. Sadly though, statistics show that of those new members, up to 50% will cancel their membership within the first 6 months, so the question is how can we beat the odds and create lasting change?
The first thing to consider is that with a new year comes an opportunity to press the reset button on your life and how you live it. When it comes to health and fitness, having perhaps been more ‘indulgent’ over the festive period you could say, we are often keen to get started on a healthier lifestyle and we tend to throw ourselves into that wholeheartedly and with the best of intentions. How we go about that though, will be the key to whether we manage to make a lasting change.
New year’s resolutions and the mentality around them in our culture often compels us to believe that we must, suddenly, live a perceivably ‘perfect’ version of whatever our goal is. Suddenly, we must be at the gym 3 times a week, drink 2 litres of water every day and eat a model diet. We should consider however, that change, even positive change, has the ability cause a stress response in our brains and the bigger the change, the bigger the stress response. That’s not to say that it’s not achievable to do it this way and for a very small few, it may create lasting habits but for the majority, that stress response will sooner or later create a ‘burn out’ point and our best of intentions become unsustainable.
The question then, is how do we achieve that ‘holy grail’ of a lasting change? The answer is to introduce sustainable habits in a manageable way. Introduce one thing you can change and do it consistently until it feels like part of your routine…for example, join a gym and pick a class you enjoy and go to it weekly. Then maybe find a second class or introduce a gym workout weekly. Once that’s ticking over, add an extra glass of water or 2 into your day. By drip feeding these habits into your lifestyle, we minimise the stress response in our brains and slowly create lasting habits which gives us the best chance possible to avoid being a part of that 6-month gym statistic!
We at Body Happy, are ready and waiting to help you achieve whatever your goal is, in a way that will create lasting change. Contact us to book in with one of our trainers today!