We all know the struggle at the beginning of a new year: All around us, people we like start with resolutions, new habits and rituals. In most cases, the goal is the same: we want to improve our quality of life. It doesn't matter whether it's all about exercising more, eating healthier, getting more sleep, or giving up cigarettes and alcohol. The strongest drive for self-optimization always manifests itself on the first of January. And yet so many of us fail after just days or weeks. Laziness moves in again and becomes more important than the gym. The pizza tastes better than broccoli. Netflix scores higher on the feel-good scale than sleep patterns. And anyway? What's the point of torturing if everything was going its way before, without being compulsively healthy? We'll give you a few nudges that might help some of your resolutions become a reality.
SMART rule: From business administration to everyday life
The SMART rule is a bit hackneyed because it's so often quoted in various marketing seminars and in freshman lectures. And yet it helps enormously. With the help of the called principles you summarize in a concrete and doable way what is otherwise not tangible for you.Specific
Goals must be clearly defined. This doesn't need much explanation. You need a concept to stick to. Otherwise, you'll quickly lose sight of what you're planning to do on New Year's Eve.Measurable
Building castles in the air has never hurt anyone, but it hasn't helped anyone either. Your goal must be set in such a way that you can achieve it. Pay attention to what you want and can do. Otherwise even the best competitive athlete will give up. At the same time, "I want to lose weight" is really nothing that keeps the weaker self from wanting to walk with you. What is tangible is measurable. So make sure that the first days of January are used to take stock. Then you plan your ordeal of fitness as if you were building a house or learning a new language. As they say? One minute of planning saves ten minutes of execution. (If only we would stick to it ourselves...)Attractive
Craving broccoli, spinach and protein powder for the rest of the year? we thought so. Your New Year's resolutions in the areas of exercise and nutrition should cause a tingle, a certain anticipation. Flagellating yourself doesn't make you develop healthy habits. What is fun stays. What is annoying is always avoided.Realistic
Of course, we at wodstore are firmly convinced that you can uproot trees and move mountains. But a ballerina can rarely complete a triathlon, a strongman hardly a decathlon. Each of us fights a different battle. Treat your goals the same way. Taking one step in front of the other sounds simple, but it's not. Practice makes perfect , but nobody learns to run before they can walk. For example, if you want to learn weighted pullups this year, you don't have to throw on a vest and just do one rep maxes. Follow a training protocol that's tailored for you, not everyone else. You can only become a better yourself if you take care of yourself and your personal path.
Terminated
Ultimately, you have to come up with a guiding principle that is equivalent to a game plan in a competition. The following goals could serve as examples:"By 12/31/23 I want to deadlift 20 more kilos while maintaining my remaining strength values."
"From now on, I want to eat only vegetarian two days a week, without losing sight of my nutritional needs and my calorie requirement of (...) calories."
Don't set out to deprive the world
The idea here connects to the possibility of the SMART rule. You don't carry the weight of your entire family or your circle of friends on your shoulders. Not every problem has to become yours. Concentrate on yourself (without being selfish, of course.) What sounds esoteric and truism has more than a grain of truth in it: “Stay with yourself. Everything will be fine somehow.” Every day is a new day. What you make of it is entirely up to you.
Let yourself be infected by others
Functional fitness relies on community in boxes and classes. The WOD's are both suffered within the community and compared in an almost competitive way. Why don't you also look for team members for your New Year's resolutions ? In your circle of friends there are probably some who want to eat healthier. This is ideal for you! Send each other recipes, organize cooking sessions. You're killing two birds with one stone. Your eating habits gain momentum in creative ways. At the same time, you get to know your surroundings on a new level and can enhance your packed day through social contacts.
What applies to nutrition also applies to your training.
A functional fitness class offers a distinct advantage: With the help of scaling and/or cutting in the right places, every athlete suffers the same way in the workout. So everyone is under the same pressure. Shooting together also means getting better together. Every rep your training buddy has in front of you can become your personal nitro. Off for it!
Track your progress
No one sees you and your reflection as often as you do. The following also makes sense to undisciplined athletes: In everyday life, you often judge yourself to be "worse" than you actually perform. Accordingly, it is advisable to keep a kind of diary for yourself. It is up to you whether you use the scales as the means of choice, posing pictures after the workout or benchmark training as a performance meter. However, staying on the ball is much easier when you see what you have already achieved. Remember why you started is a true sentence for the whole year, but it is particularly important at the beginning of the year!Setbacks are not the end of the world
Spoiler Alert: You're Gonna Have Bad Days . A lot of that. You'll get sick, hangover, be stressed out. Sometimes everything just sucks. And yet you are not worth less. Your staying power won't be tarnished by messing up a few things. But you will have to develop bite in order to develop anyway. A bad day doesn't define your week, certainly not your year, and especially not you as a person. Progress is never linear. Hunger attacks, tired bones and poor regeneration occur. The training diary mentioned above can help to find your way back. The good days will outweigh the bad. Promised.
Don't lose sight of the rest of your life
Even though we, as Gymrats, of course welcome it if you keep stepping on the gas: A healthy body is useless if heart and mind are not in harmony with it. The balance between self-realization, social life, social security through work and everything that throws obstacles in between. This is exactly what causes resolutions to fail so often. The balance must be maintained. If that means you can only do three sessions a week instead of four, but sleep peacefully and contentedly, then that's absolutely fine. Three solid units of sport a week are worlds better than throwing in the towel after a few months. One drink too many won't kill you , and a large carbonara won't add ten pounds of body fat. Be tough, but not too hard on yourself. You can not have everything.
Be proud of yourself
The last point is by far the most important for each of us. Self-esteem does not depend on your subjective achievements. Just because you fail a couple of squats or eat one more piece of cake than is good for you doesn't change what kind of person you are and what's in your heart. You work on yourself, you want to move forward. That's enough for now. Take care. you are good enough In this sense:
Happy New Year and happy sweating from your wodstore team!