It’s the beginning of a glorious new year and many have probably set themselves a few fitness goals and seeing as this post will be published at the very end of January I wouldn’t be surprised if many have started training and then took a deep dive off the fitness wagon. It happens to most people in January everyone flocks to the Doran’s and training studios and once February show up they are relegated to support members. In this post we will look at a good number of tips on how you can make 2025 count and how you can get really fit this year :) Click the read more to read on :-)
1: Don’t start to hard.
The healthy way both mentally and physically is to look at “fitness” as a journey or a marathon. It’s not a sprint. Many are eager and think they are in a better shape than what they really are. They make programs and plans that are just not sustainable. Do yourself a favour and start slow. It’s much better to hold back for a month or two and then gradually increase your “resistance” (could be weight on the bar, distance or time running, hours trained each week etc). If you are suddenly starting lifting weights for instance start with light weights and learn proper form and teach yourself the habit of showing up instead of starting all out. If you only practise taekwondo, don’t start training hard every day of the week because that is what you want to do. Limit yourself a little, and then ramp up gradually once your body has started getting used to training.
2: Get yourself into a daily fitness habit rather than a few times a week, or a “sometimes habit”.
This might seem contradictory to tip 1, but it really isn’t. Let’s say you want to practise taekwondo every day, and you belong to a dojang where this is possible. Use tip 1 to go 2 times a week to the dojang (maaaaybee 3) and train hard. These are your “proper” training session. On the other days you can do less taxing but still viable training like stretching, forms, ki-gung, meditation etc. you can even enjoy taekwondo free days where you do something else like going for a long walk with a friend or something. The point I, trying to make is that you do something to move everyday, but you don’t have to go all out all days if that makes sense. Do 2-3 great sessions a week and then use the other time for active recovery. The off days you still move but take shorter sessions or less strenuous activities. This will keep your momentum going and it will ingrain a training habit stronger than if you did it a few times a week only. A habit is easier to ingrain the more repetitions you have. So someone who trains daily will ingrain the habit 5 times faster and 5 times stronger than someone committing to 2 long and hard sessions a week.
3: If you have physical pain rest, if it’s emotional push through
I’ve never regretted a completed training session. I have regretted skipping training sessions. Regret seems to only be the sessions you didn’t do. That said if you are in physical pain you should change it up. Your knee is physically aching you shouldn’t try doing 500 squats or do 100 kicks. You could however train your arms or doing something else to make the knee pain go away (see a doctor or specialist in this specific example and Google knees over toes guy online). If you don’t want to train that is emotional and that is something you can push through. So always keep moving but listen to your body, and if you don’t feel like training because insert excuses here) you can push through and do it anyway because feelings are woke (me trying to make a joke).
4: It’s ok to suck
If you haven’t trained in a while and you are getting back at it or if you are doing something new, remember that it is ok to suck. I one starts out doing perfect kicks and punches, or lifting heavy weights with perfect form. We are literally training to become better versions of ourselves. So don’t get discouraged if you can’t make that sidekick at the height your aiming for, or if you feel people are looking at you judging you. It’s ok to be a beginner, and it’s ok to be out of shape. By the very fact that we are doing the thing we currently suck at, we are already doing something about it. Remember this if you feel clumsy, uncoordinated, overweight or out of shape. If it helps, always remember you have my permission to suck if you need it :-P
5: Have a plan, eliminate the need to think.
If you have a plan, it will be easier to maintain your training streak. The plan can be as detailed or loose as you need it to be. The important thing is that if you eliminate the mental hurdles of thinking, planning and organising beforehand it is much easier to simply do. For instance sit down sunday evening or morning and make at least a rough sketch of your training week. I will train hard monday, wednesday and friday. I will do softer training and active recovery on the other days. I will train at this time, at this location. If something happens I have alternative time and location here. I will train X in this session and Y in this session. I find that the more detailed it is if you train alone the easier it is. If your "real training sessions" is at a Dojang where an instructor makes the training for you, you only need to plan out your active recovery. I do suggest you have a "crisis at work/family" alternative already set. For instance: I will train at the Dojang Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 18:00-19:30 (that means 6PM to 7, 30 PM for those who need that info). If something comes up at work I will practise a general warm up, 10 kicks on each leg, 10 reps of each hand technique, 3 reps of each poomsae (form) and do a 15 minute stretching at 19:30-20:30 in my garage. In the military when I was an instructor I was told to always have a lesson in my back pocket in case of down time or if something changed (double booked venue, equipment not delivered on time etc). Having a back pocket training session is great, because even if theres a work or family emergency you do not have to think or organise, simply do.
6: Have an accountability partner if you can.
It is easy to tell yourself that you will go for a 3 mile jog at 5 AM, but when the alarm goes and you hear the rain coming down its also easy to stay in bed for a few hours instead. If you have promised a friend to join him or her for a jog, odds are that you will push through (if you are tough and keep your promises). It is so much simpler to motivate yourself to go and practise if you have someone that you answer to. No one wants to dissapoint a friend. So if you can, schedule training sessions with someone else. It is more fun to train with someone than alone (I think).
7: Walking is grossly underrated.
For active recovery, for keeping the streak going, for the days when the energy levels are dangerously low, or the days where everything goes wrong walking is a grossly underrated way to exersise. If you train for 1 hour hard in the day but sit for 15 hours and sleep for 8 you are probably better off if you get your 10K steps in sprinkled through your day. It is low impact, but you can keep on with the activity longer. It is great for recovery, and if you have a friend or someone you have not spoken to for a while invite them for a walk. Some of the best conversations I have had with other peope have happened at hikes and walks, and you still move your body and burn calories. If you have a dog, and everything goes wrong so you can not make the training, what if you at least go for a 30 minute extra walk? I am sure the dog will not mind getting an extra walk :-) Or go for a walk with you spouse. They need fresh air as well, and I hear talking with your significant other is great for your relationship. People do tend to look at their own phones these days.
8: Something is better than nothing.
As martial artists we often chase perfection. The perfect side kick, the perfect form, the perfect training session. If it is not a 1 hour sweat inducing real training, it is not any point of training at all. That is wrong thinking, and we should wrap our heads around the fact that absolutely EVERYTHING is better than nothing. If all you can do is 15 minutes of training, do the 15 minutes of training. Too many think that if all you have is 15 minutes, there is no point of doing it since it is "only" 15 minutes. What if you are strugling with flexibility? If you have your Dojang sessions 3 times every week and you are crazy busy with everything else all other days find 15 minutes and stretch and work on passive, active flexibilty and dynamic strength and you will spend 1 whole hour on this every single week (in addition to time spent in the Dojang covering the same thing). It is insane how much you can improve just focusing in on what you need and then spend 15 minutes every day. The problem is that in training we do not see the results right away, we need to stick to it for some time before we notice improvement, and this is where having a plan really shines. Make a 60 day plan (8 weeks ish). That is not so long that it is impossible to do, but it is long enough generally to see improvement and that improvement will motivate you further.
I hope this was helpful, and I really did write this as much for myself as for anyone reading this. I too need to keep these tips in mind, and sticking to my own advice becaus I am far from perfect myself :-) Let us make 2025 the year when we crush our fitness goals ;-)
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