WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — It's a new year, and folks take this time as an opportunity to start fresh and set some New Year's goals to work on themselves.
Some use it to work out.
Bri Nelson is General Manager at Warner Robins' Crunch Fitness gym. She says that working out is one of the most popular resolutions. We're going to break a sweat and break that down.
"Yes, we see kind of an ebb and flow with our numbers throughout the year," says Nelson.
She explains that working out is a popular resolution, especially after COVID kept people indoors.
"With my experience in the past four years, once the new year hits, I would say we average about an extra 50 to 100 memberships a day. They start to taper off around the April- June timeframe," Nelson says.
Clinical psychologist– Dr. Jennifer Guttman– says health and wellness resolutions are so popular because of our current culture.
Body image is a huge problem. Over emphasis on body image and appearance– and social media certainly doesn't help," Guttman says. "That's why appearance became a major part of this idea of 'I'm going to change myself.'"
Guttman says keeping resolutions is hard because we set big and unattainable goals for ourselves.
"We think we're going to do it right this year, but we fail at that last year, and our brains are hit to that, and we become discouraged really easily," Guttman explains.
Nelson says the key to sticking to your fitness journey is small steps.
"I would say be incremental. Kind of start with micro habits, right? So if you know that your goal is to lose weight, I would say add a couple more minutes onto your workout routine daily. Something very small and achievable, and with those micro habits come bigger habits, so that will enhance your workout routine," she says. "This will also give you a better way to program your workouts every single day and build healthier lifestyle habits."
Nelson says it's also essential to keep track of your 'why.' She says that means the reason why you're in the gym in the first place. She says it all comes down to feeling better about yourself and being kind to yourself along the way.
"Be proud of the little steps that you're taking to a healthier lifestyle," Nelson says. "Take those wins as wins because you can control the controllable."
Nelson says having a gym buddy to hold you accountable and journaling about your goals can keep you on track and build healthier lifestyle habits.