Welcome spring! How are you doing with your New Year’s resolutions? In the fitness category may be the typical weight loss goal of 20 to 30 pounds or something as ambitious as your first marathon.

Hopefully, you are working hard and on your way to obtaining those goals. Or, possibly you’ve given up out of frustration or lack of motivation. Often, when overzealous people set their goals it’s because they feel bad about eating all that holiday food, or they were inspired by a friend who just finished a marathon, so after a couple of glasses of wine, they think, I can do that!

Unfortunately, the reason most New Year’s fitness resolutions fail within the first two months is because set goals are unrealistic and/or those who made them are not truly serious about obtaining them. They don’t want to put in the time it takes to achieve their fitness goals, mostly because they set the bar too high.

If you are still serious about achieving your resolutions, it’s not too late. You simply need to find ways to keep yourself accountable and make the time to work your way towards your goals. Here are some ideas to stay focused and/or get back on track towards your 2022 fitness goals:

Journaling

Keep a daily journal and be detailed. It is one of the most effective ways to stay on track. Something about seeing the progress on paper gives people that extra motivation to succeed.

Have friends push you

Some people need motivation from others to stay focused. Having a group of friends with similar goals will definitely motivate you to stay on track.

Be consistent with your daily routines

Managing your time is crucial for success. Creating a dedicated time slot every day to work toward your fitness goals is very important.

Don’t let work or life’s distractions stop you

Life has the ability to get in our way, especially at very inconvenient times. You must find a way to keep this from happening. Of course, serious family concerns are an exception, but meetings, scheduling conflicts, etc. need not be excuses.

Stay mentally tough

Find ways to stay mindful through meditation, books, etc. as this will help keep you mentally strong, which in turn helps you block out distractions.

Get a life or fitness coach

If all else fails, enlist the help of a coach who can walk with you through the process and help motivate you to stay on track.

These are just a few of the ideas I always share with clients, as I have coached hundreds to their successful finish by year’s end. Believe me, once you get past three months and start to see and feel the changes, it becomes a lot easier. Now get out there! I know you can do it.

Michael Butler is owner of Kinetix Health and Performance Center in Palm Desert and welcomes questions from readers. He can be reached at (760) 200.1719 or [email protected]. He is the author of four books on training and performance available at Kinetix or on Amazon.