Getting Back to the Gym After Christmas and New Year’s Break
Hey Angels and Alphas,
With Christmas and New Year’s right around the corner, it’s time we take a step back, reflect on the year that just passed in front of our eyes, and enjoy the holidays.
But while we’re spending time with our family and friends, cooking and enjoying delicious meals, or just relaxing all throughout the holidays…
It’s important that we remember that the New Year is right around the corner, and with it come an entire new year of setting and achieving fitness goals.
That’s why today, we’re going to talk about the 4 most vital steps to getting back on track to our fitness goals after the holidays, and learn how to walk out of the holidays motivated, inspired, and ready to crush your goals in 2021.
EMBRACE WHAT YOU’VE LEARNED THIS YEAR
While you have some free time during the holidays, I suggest you sit down, grab a pen and paper (or your phone), and start venting.
- What did you learn this year about your health and the goals you have for your health?
- Did you find new, more effective, and more sustainable ways to train, diet, and live?
- What are the 3 biggest lessons you learned this year?
And don’t just write about your successes – write about your failures. Embrace failure as an important part of your journey, and write down the mistakes you honestly feel you make (or the things you think you could have done better.)
The answers to these questions, as well as the lessons you’ve learned throughout the year, will serve as the catapult that will skyrocket your progress in the future.
SET THE RIGHT GOALS FOR 2021
Whether you’re someone who likes to set New Year’s resolution or you’re a downright goal-setter and goal-chaser, you still have to make sure you’re setting SMART goals.
SMART goals stand for:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Relevant
- Time-sensitive
This time of year is a great opportunity to revisit your goals and make sure they’re still following the SMART model. Many people tend to set goals that, with time, get more vague, unrealistic, unattainable, and downright irrelevant.
But you’re a smart, savvy goal-chaser. You’re going to set a list of practical, smart goals for 2021, and you’re going to follow this blueprint until you achieve the physique you want.
The goals you set are going to give you the initial motivation and willpower you need to jump back into your routine. From then, you can optimize your goals based on how fast you can get back to pre-holiday shape (and what results you achieve.)
EASE BACK INTO YOUR ROUTINE, DON’T RUSH IN
The more rest and time off you take during the holidays, the more careful you have to be when you’re trying to restart your routine.
Remember to ease into it. If you’re all about strength training, act as if your first week back in the gym is a de-load. If you’re all about cardio, don’t rush into high intensity training or long marathons as soon as you come back.
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you need to go all in as soon as you step inside the gym.
You’ve given your body time to rest, and with good reason. And while picking up where you left off might sound empowering and exciting, it’s only going to cause you trouble, pain, overtraining, and even possible injury.
Instead, when you ease into your routine, you’re going to build the momentum you need to bring back your pre-holiday shape, and you’re going to be back to peak performance in only a few weeks.
KEEP YOURSELF ACCOUNTABLE
Getting back on track to your fitness goals, or taking the first step on a fitness journey, always requires accountability. Not only because motivation is not enough, but because keeping yourself accountable is a beneficial process that shines light onto other parts of your life.
Here are two of the most powerful ways to generate endless accountability in your life.
Write down your progress in a journal.
If you’re someone constantly juggling career, school, family, and countless other things, you might find yourself constantly lost in thoughts. But journaling, and writing things down, helps us organize and structure our thoughts.
Studies have shown that writing your goals down not only increases your chances of achieving those goals, but brings you more motivation every single day by keeping you accountable.
(Especially when it comes to new goals. If you finish off the year and you’ve achieved everything you wanted to achieve in the gym this year, you’ll likely develop a new set of goals for the New Year. Writing down these new goals helps you visualize and organize your thoughts, track your progress, create checklists that keep you productive, and so much more.
Get back into the gym with a friend.
Getting back to your pre-holiday form is easier said than done, but having a friend along who has the same goal as you helps a ton.
When you have a friend to keep you accountable for your progress, your exercise form, and your dedication inside the gym, you’ll both have a much easier time reaching the performance you had before the holidays.
Friends will be there to keep you in check so you’re not doing too much too soon (or so you’re not doing too little.) Plus, it’s a ton of fun!
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