Pick your battles – Bad habits are developed over the course of your life.  The key to sticking to your resolutions is to try not to change all your bad behaviours at once, this can be overwhelming.  Work towards one thing at a time.  Remember, positive changes don’t need to wait until January.  Once you feel you’ve made progress, move on to the next.

Bite-size goals – There’s nothing more disheartening than struggling to reach a goal.  Set more achievable goals, you can always raise the bar once you’ve made some progress.

Talk about it – This is all about accountability and support.   The more you talk about your resolutions and goals with friends, gym buddies, co-workers and family, the more they will ask you about your progress.  Share your goals with someone close to you and ask them to give you a nudge if they see you slipping, and congratulate you when you succeed.  Having someone to share your struggles and successes with makes your journey just that little bit easier.

Get professional help – No, I don’t mean see a psychiatrist, meet with a fitness instructor or personal trainer.  They can create a personalised workout program designed to help you reach your goals.  When you book a training session with an instructor or PT, they will keep you motivated and push you to achieve.   At OHLC, we offer free 1:1 training sessions with our fitness instructors as part of all gym based memberships.  Now that’s value for money!

The more the merrier – Attend a fitness class, you’ll meet new people.  There’s tons of research proving the benefits of group exercise including motivation and boosting your mood!

Reward yourself – This is very important! Weekly treats keep your spirits high and help you stick at it for the long run.  It’s also good to set rewards for when you reach certain goals, like that new pair of trainers you’ve been eyeing up.

Don’t beat yourself up – Minor missteps along the way are completely normal. Don’t give up completely because you ate a chocolate bar and broke your diet, or skipped the gym for a week because you were busy. Everyone has ups and downs, move on from the missteps and get back on track.

Don’t compare yourself to others – Pictures in the media set unrealistic ideals which, for a lot of us, we’ll beat ourselves with until our soul is black and blue.  This doesn’t help you move forward, in fact it can have the opposite effect.  Fitness is personal and so are your achievements.  Take a before picture of yourself, and use this to track your progress.  You’ll see your personal achievement.  It’s not just in the media, try not to make comparisons to other people in the gym, friends or family.