Is Pilates Strength Training? Curious Minds Need to Know…
Maggie Schlegel
January 13, 2025
- Maggie Schlegel
- Last updated
Fitness Resolutions – A Happy and Healthy New Year, for a Happy and Healthy New You.
You do it every year, right?
Start with the best of intentions when it comes to fitness… and burn out – quickly or slowly. Either way, the habit doesn’t stick.
At Sultivate, our Reformer Pilates and Group Fitness Studio – we’re all about building fitness goals together.
This means fitness resolutions that don’t have to go down the drain two weeks into January.
Today, we’re sharing our top tips for actually keeping those fitness resolutions.
Care to get started?
Why We Should ALL Be Making Fitness Resolutions…
While we often laugh about the resolutions that we didn’t keep. Making resolutions is actually incredibly important. And they can have a huge impact on our health and happiness.
Both things we prioritize at Sultivate.
So, why do they matter? And how can we set ourselves up for success when we make them?
When you make fitness resolutions you’re deciding to prioritize your health. This has an effect on you physically and mentally. And when successful… it can change your life in an extremely positive way.
But when you give up on your resolution it’s often a more negative effect – right off the bat. So setting goals you can keep… well… it matters!
Let’s dig into some great strategies for your New Year’s fitness routine.
Setting New Year’s Fitness Goals That Actually Mean Something.
“I’m going to workout more”
“I’ll lose weight”
“I’ll get stronger”
Something all of these statements have in common? They aren’t very complete goals. In fact, if you only worked out 5 times in 2024… you could meet your 2025 goal pretty quickly and still not benefit from it.
So how should you set your goals for the new year?
Let’s set some SMART1 goals…
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Relevant
- Time-bound
Next we’ll dig a bit deeper into this topic.
Specific Goals: New Year = New You.
This means: working out more isn’t a specific goal. Instead, give yourself a number to hit. “I will workout X# of times a week.”
We touched on this a bit above… but the truth is, if you aren’t specific… you’re giving yourself the easy out. And it will be easier to throw in the towel. Even if you know it’s not what you meant.
Measurable Goals: So you know when you’ve achieved it.
This will cut out your ability to fudge whether you’ve met your goal. Instead of just saying you’ll lose weight, say: “I will lose 10 lbs in 2025.”
If it’s not measurable, you could find the easy out as soon as you lose 1 lb. And in your heart of hearts… you’ll know that wasn’t what you wanted and that wasn’t what you meant. But it will be easier to tell yourself the lie without measurability.
Attainable Goals: Don’t quit before you start.
Don’t saddle yourself with a hopeless feeling before you even start. Instead of saying “I’ll lose 50lbs in 2025” say: “I’ll lose 5lbs a month in 2025.”
Setting a goal to lose 50-100lbs, or bench a huge amount of weight, or exercise every day…
Well, before you’ve even started… you feel hopeless. Because it isn’t realistic. We all have lives and big numbers can stop you before you even hit the gym once… literally.
Instead, set weekly and monthly goals. This amount of time is much easier for our brains to think about and make a plan for. And you could still hit those larger goals without the overwhelm.
For example, if your “big” goal is to lose 50lbs in a year… that feels overwhelming. But if you tell yourself you want to lose 5lbs a month – that feels a lot more doable.
Plus, 5 lbs a month gets you to 60 lbs for the year OR you can take that extra 10 lbs and allow for the fact that your body will probably plateau several times throughout reaching for your goal.
Relevant Goals: So you actually want to meet them.
Rather than setting a goal about swimming when you live in the desert… set a goal that applies to your everyday life. For example, “I’ll hike this one-mile trail without stopping to rest.”
This is relevant to life in the desert. If we wanted to personalize for someone with kids, we might say instead: “I’ll be able to carry my toddler on our daily walk when they’re tired and can’t walk anymore, rather than pushing the stroller along.”
Choosing goals that mean something to you is huge when it comes to actually trying to meet them.
Time-Bound Goals: Give you an end date to look forward to…
Let’s take the goal from the last example one step further: “I’ll hike this one-mile trail without stopping to rest so I can hike it when the leaves change color.”
Time-bound goals are also good for giving yourself smaller goals to meet. You can make monthly goals instead of just a yearly goal. This allows you to get the satisfaction of meeting that goal sooner.
This will give you the thrill and joy of success many more times and allow those bigger goals to feel more attainable in the long run.
So what does all this add up to?
Let’s Put Your Smart Goals All Together:
“I’ll workout 2 times a week and lose 5 pounds every month in 2025. This will increase my fitness so I’m able to hike (insert trail here) to take pretty family pictures in the fall – without being sweaty.”
Why does it matter? Setting goals that are relevant to your life and have a payoff at the end will give you much more motivation to meet them.
The end result is something our fictitious person really wants. If you don’t care about fall photo’s find a different way to personalize your goal.
Some examples:
- Being able to carry your (grand)kids.
- Stepping on and off curbs confidently without fear of falling.
- Fitting into that dress that’s been hanging in the back of your closet – you know the one.
Whatever your ‘why’ is for your fitness resolution… make it personal.
Now let’s talk about what it actually takes to meet your goal.
New Year’s Fitness Strategies – Meet Your New Year’s Fitness Goals.
Now that you’ve crafted your goal(s) it’s time to craft a game plan to actually meet them.
Without this step, your goals can still feel pretty unattainable. So don’t skip it…
Here’s how you’re going to stick to your Fitness resolutions:
- Start small.2 Remember when we talked about choosing smaller goals and milestones? You should also choose a smaller schedule. One that’s easier to stick to than working out 5 times a week.
- Build momentum. Starting small gives you the flexibility to add more workout days in the future as you start seeing success. You can also build momentum by adding harder workouts.
- Schedule your workouts. You may find time for spontaneity later – but if you stick to a scheduled workout and do it consistently, you’re much more likely to stick with it.
- Make it convenient. Don’t base your fitness resolutions around a gym that’s an hour away. Look for one close to home. Make it as easy as possible to stick to your resolutions.
- Add in flexibility. There will be days you don’t manage to stick to your goals… and that’s ok. When those days come – make a commitment to continue on the next day.
- Most of all… have fun! Choose workouts you enjoy doing. Join a fitness community with other like-minded people. Change up your fitness routine with fun classes. But don’t let yourself get bored with working out… before you even start.
By creating an actionable plan with these 6 steps in mind, you’ll be so much closer to meeting your fitness resolution and attacking it head-on.
But just because you have a plan doesn’t mean it will be easy to stick to…
Keep Your Fitness Momentum Going… for a Happy and Healthy New Year… That Continues.
Let’s talk a bit about strategies that will allow you to stick to both your goals and your plan.
Track your progress.
Whether it’s using a fitness monitor or keeping a workout journal… being able to easily look back and see how far you’ve come on your fitness journey can be a powerful motivator to continue.
Make sure you write down the milestones you achieve as you go. So you can look back and see that it IS making a difference. Whether it’s lifting 5lbs heavier weights, losing 5lbs of weight, or just moving through your life more easily and with more confidence.
Visualize success.
If you don’t believe you can meet or surpass your goal… you most likely won’t. That’s why we talked so much about goal setting at the beginning of this article.
So make sure you’re taking the time to visualize what meeting your goal will do for your life.
This will give you a lot more motivation to keep your active lifestyle choices and make them permanent.
Celebrate your wins.
If you meet a milestone or if you’ve stuck to your fitness plan… congratulate yourself.
Celebrating even the smallest win can trigger a rush of dopamine in your brain. This fuels your motivation to keep pushing forward to larger wins.3
Each celebration will strengthen your resolve and give you more mental resilience to push forward when it feels harder to do.
Don’t continue the journey alone.
Celebrating a win by yourself is powerful. But even better is celebrating (or commiserating) with a partner.
Building a support system of friends with similar goals will help you meet your goals faster and make them feel more attainable.
You could:
- Take a Group Fitness Class
- Sign up for a Reformer Pilates Class
- Find a fitness buddy with similar goals
- Join a gym for a community atmosphere
- Engage in a 1:1 Coaching session to jumpstart your fitness
However you choose to incorporate other people into your journey – you will see the rewards right off the bat.
Facing Challenges to Your Fitness Resolutions… Head On
Let’s face it, keeping to a resolution – any resolution – isn’t easy. It’s why we typically only do it once a year and it takes us a whole year to forget how hard it was and want to do it again…
So how should you meet the hurdles that will try to derail you?
- Manage your time. This can be a tough one. We all have busy lives. So fitting workouts in can feel tough. Start by scheduling your workout ahead of time. Prioritize short workout routines rather than long ones. And consider adding some classes into the mix as a prescheduled element that you commit to going to.
- Battle through burnout. We all do it. We start really strong on something, overdo it, and lose momentum quickly. This is one of the reasons we recommend starting slowly and building momentum over time as you start to see results and celebrate your milestones.
- The dreaded plateaus. No matter what routine you start, you’re going to plateau at some point. Our bodies need challenge to keep meeting new goals. So mix up your workouts. Add some different classes or routines. Increase the weight you’re lifting. Shock your body into new results. You can’t get where you want to go by doing the same thing over and over.
- Stay positive. The journey won’t be perfect. We’re only human, after all. But focus on your wins and not your losses. Celebrate the things you do right and the progress you make. Rather than dwelling on the things that could hold you back if you let them.
We’ve now discussed: creating attainable goals, planning to meet those goals, and common roadblocks that can get in the way.
Now, let’s talk about how to make your fitness resolutions sustainable throughout your everyday life.
New Year’s Fitness Resolutions You’ll Keep
Creating a fitness plan will go a long way toward meeting your goals. But it’s not the only way you should be reaching towards them.
Depending on what your goals are, there are lots of pieces that contribute to success.
If any part of your goal involves a healthier lifestyle. This section is for you.
Because, unfortunately, 20-50 minutes in the gym 1-2 times a week won’t be life-changing unless you add in some other components.
Let’s start with a positive mindset. Something that feels basic… but it’s the basis for your success in your goals. Because feeling like you CAN do something goes a long way towards you ACTUALLY doing it.
You’ll also want to incorporate an element of movement into your daily life. Our motto here at Sultivate: Positivity in Motion. Because we believe that keeping moving is the key to a healthy, sustainable lifestyle.
This doesn’t have to be huge. Something as simple as taking the stairs rather than the elevator. Getting up to stretch during TV commercials. Walking around your office building during your lunch break. Parking farther from the entrance to the grocery store…
Sul-ti-vate (v):
Creating health & wellness from the inside out.
Focus on your food. You don’t have to eat boiled veggies or cut out all carbs to see a difference in yourself through what you eat. Instead, make one healthy food switch per meal. Keep in mind, how you cook something can impact how it affects your health and wellness too.
And remember… the stricter your diet, the less sustainable the change is.
Don’t forget to rest and recover. This includes getting good sleep at night. If you’re worried that a rest day will affect the momentum you’re achieving then don’t stop completely.
Add in a stretching routine one day instead of cardio. Or hit up a Relax Reformer class at one of our Reformer Pilates studios. But don’t hammer your body into exhaustion.
Healthy New Year’s Resolutions to Build Success.
Making a fitness resolution in 2025 doesn’t have to feel impossible, and it definitely doesn’t have to feel lonely.
At Sultivate, we’re all about meeting our goals together. Whether that’s fitness, a healthier “us”, or simply a little more movement and A LOT more fun.
Come take a class with us in the new year and let’s all meet our fitness resolutions (whatever they may be) together!
Resources:
1 Setting SMART Goals – Harvard Summer School
2 Start small – Loyola Medicine
3 Celebrate Your wins – University of Minnesota
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