It’s that time of year when gyms are flooded with a new wave of members.

Gym owners and sales teams rub their hands together in anticipation of this cycle every year. They do their best to get new members to sign up to a minimum commitment period when they know that a good percentage of them won’t be attending after a few weeks, and even less in the following months. 

Why Most New Year's Resolutions Fail

Every year, countless people set ambitious New Year's resolutions with the hope of making positive changes in their lives. However, despite good intentions, a large majority of these resolutions ultimately fizzle out. 

There are several reasons why this happens-

Over-Ambition

First and foremost, many people set unrealistic or overly ambitious goals. While it's wonderful to aim high, setting unattainable or vague objectives can quickly lead to feelings of frustration and failure. For instance, someone resolving to completely overhaul their diet and exercise routine overnight may find it difficult to sustain such drastic changes, leading to eventual abandonment of their resolution.

If you can barely run, or inefficiently at best then jumping up to attempt a 5k run after seeing a motivational video from Dave Goggins screaming at you to “Stay Hard MOFO” isn’t going to end well.

If you read a Fitness article telling you that a "real man" should be able to lift 2 times his body weight on a Deadlift, but you don’t even know how to hinge your hips properly, then you can predict that outcome!?

If you go from being completely sedentary at a desk all day to going to the gym six days per week, you will quickly burn out. 

If you are really unfortunate, then from these three scenarios above something may get broken in the process. Physiotherapists make a lot of money off the catastrophes created by this pitfall of over-ambition.

Poor Planning

In addition, lack of a clear plan and accountability can contribute to resolution failures. Simply stating a goal without breaking it down into manageable steps and establishing a support system makes it easier to lose motivation and momentum. Furthermore, many people underestimate the mental and emotional challenges that come with making significant lifestyle changes. Without addressing the underlying mindset and habits, it becomes difficult to sustain meaningful progress.

A vague idea of wanting to lose fat without a proper reference point of where you start either through a caliper test, DEXA scan etc. isn’t going to cut it. It's akin to saying I want my company to make a profit of a million pounds when you don’t even know what your monthly profit and loss is. 

Getting to the gym is great, but what do you do when you are there? Do you just randomly do a bit of this and a bit of that? Do you follow that latest workout from Men's Health demonstrated by some adonis personal trainer that is completely inappropriate for your level? For a guy, the first thing that comes to mind is probably training a bit of chest & biceps. How about Deadlift to help build your booty?

Appropriate exercise selection that is scaled to your current level is very important. If you are unable to do a proper push-up, then don’t even think about trying to do a parallel bar dip. A barbell squat might be totally inappropriate for a person who doesn’t have the shoulder mobility to properly secure the bar onto their back. 

A personal trainer is a value ally here and can help properly plan out the steps in a progressive and structured fashion. Additionally, they are someone who can hold you to account. Let's be honest, most of us are generally poor at doing this for ourselves.

Life Gets In The Way

Finally, life's inevitable curveballs often disrupt people's New Year's resolutions. Unexpected challenges, stressors, and time constraints can derail even the most dedicated individuals, making it difficult to prioritize their resolutions over immediate demands.

This ties in with the previous two points. You need to plan a regime that properly takes into account your individual lifestyle factors. 

For example-

If you are a young twenty-something at university without the commitments of a part-time job, then you may well be able to sustain getting to the gym five to six times per week. Recovery from bouts of exercise is generally better when you are younger. 

However, if you are a mid-forties busy city professional with two children under the age of 10 then getting to the gym twice per week might be the most sustainable approach. It’s possible you could plan time to do more short bouts of exercise at home, but it would need to be planned carefully. Your ability to recovery properly from exercising needs to be factored in too. The more external stressors you already have in your life, the less ‘resources’ you will have to commit to exercise. This is where the expertise of a personal trainer can help balance you this carefully.

Summary

Understanding these common pitfalls can help individuals approach their New Year's resolutions with greater mindfulness and intention, increasing their chances of success. By setting realistic goals, creating a solid plan, addressing mindset and habits, and preparing for potential obstacles, people can increase their likelihood of making lasting changes in the new year.