Are you ready to rumble! Are you prepared to wrestle with your new year’s resolution? Do you want to be successful or get pinned down in the ring? Most times, resolutions fail because people are trying to force them. It is a nice energetic high, but in reality, too much force causes them to come crashing down. You lose steam to keep it going. You can’t force a resolution, even if it is something you want to do. It has to have its place and time on your schedule.

We create resolutions to spark the fire, to get us excited about getting in shape, building muscle, losing weight, or eating better. Joining a gym does not need to be a part of your fitness resolution. Joining a gym is lovely; it is social, good for mental health. Buying a membership seems like a good investment. But you don’t need to do that.

Fun and Fitness

When creating your fitness resolution, make fitness fun. You don’t need to join a gym. Fun is the sure-fire way you way stay interested in your fitness routine. And the perfect way to always make time for it and keep it on your schedule.

Group Fitness Classes

Again, it has to be fun. However, when it is fun, you will socialize, and socializing is another key aspect of maintaining a fitness program. The gym is intimidating, an extensive facility with many metal machines that looks more like a maze than a gym. You can go to a fitness studio and do pay for classes. This way, you get the class you want, it is more private, and you share the same goals as the people in the class. If group fitness is not your style, many YouTube channels focus on fitness classes you can do at home.

Don’t Set the Bar High

Don’t even set a bar. The bar should be set to fun and interesting. That is what keeps you coming back for more. I am sorry to say it. Will power only last so long before the foundation cracks. If the foundation is constructed with and the bar is set to fun, need I say more. Who has ever walked away from something fun?

Relax Your Excitement and Anticipation

It is great to be excited; however, being enthusiastic means, you may try to take on the world with all your super motivation, energy, and enthusiasm. Channel it. Harness it. If you don’t keep things in check, you may take on too much and lose interest and motivation too quickly. You have to have time to work out, be healthy, and eat well. Doing too much at one time; will set you up to fail because it is belaboring. Start small, then expand. Thinking big requires small accomplishments first.

As quickly as you are motivated, you can become unmotivated. You walk into the gym sign the contract. After a month, the record scratches, and you begin losing interest. The intimidation sets in. It is too crowded all the time. It is not fun anymore. So, you quit. It is not what you thought, and super crowder means more time than you allotted to workout.

Here are some helpful fitness and nutrition tips to help you at home.

Fitness and getting in shape are made super complicated. Yes, I too put my hand on my forehead, look down, shake my head back and forth and say why? It is not complicated. And, anything and anyone that likes to complicate things, back away from. You can use resistance bands, body weight, furniture, dumbbells, kettlebells, etc. You don’t need to do the new exercise everyone is trying to do, hurting their back because it is cool and has 1 million views and shares on Instagram.

Choose one fitness and nutritional change for now. Accomplish and then conquer more. Get use to accomplishing first.

Easy In-Home Fitness Tips

1. 1Do some HIIT. HIIT has a bad rap with some people so let me explain. HIIT does not have to be balls to the wall angry dog growling and salivating workout. You can move between 70-85% intensity for 15 seconds and then rest for 15 seconds. The key to HIIT is more about the time and recovery, not the intensity. The intensity comes later. Repeat 3-5 times and do a few circuits. HIIT is great because you can mix resistance bands, dumbbells, kettlebells, jump rope, bodyweight exercises etc. all into one circuit.
2. If you are not down with HIIT, then train using bodyweight movements. Squats, pushups, lunges, in-place skips, and jumps will get your blood going. You can do all these in your home or at the park within 20 minutes. And, you don’t need to fight for parking making you angry before you even get into the gym. Furthermore, you can choose your own music.
3. Try to make fitness a habit and exercise every day or five days a week. The key here is a little bit each day for about 15 minutes a day.
4. Train your legs on Monday and your upper body on Tuesday. On Wednesday, go for a run or jog. Thursday train legs and Friday upper body again. And on Saturday, jog or run. Great for time management and can be done in-home or outside.

Nutrition

Changing how you eat will significantly impact your health and energy. However, go easy, tiger, and work with one change at a time.

1. Prepare and eat easy meals and avoid processed foods. Make hard-boiled or scrambled eggs. But and eat bananas 2-3 times a day. There are many healthy and easy to make and grab foods you can choose from.
2. Increase your fruit and vegetable intake. It does not matter if they are frozen vegetables and fruits. Just make the change. You can buy fresh vegetables in bulk, cut them, and freeze them. Freezing fresh vegetables and fruits will maintain their nutritional potency and density.
3. Try to make something healthy for lunch, like a chicken breast sandwich. Or even you can eat the famous Elvis-inspired peanut butter and banana sandwich on whole-grain bread or Ezekiel bread. Ezekiel bread is made from whole sprouted wheat, barley, spelt, millet, soybeans, and lentils. It is very healthy. The peanut butter has some fat, but overall pretty healthy, however, you can use low-fat peanut butter.
4. Choose fresh or frozen over canned.
5. Eat more proteins like eggs, nuts, and seeds. Pumpkin seeds are delicious and healthy.
6. Cut your salt and sugar intake to enhance your energy.

You don’t need a gym to be fit. And, good nutrition always starts in the home. Keep it simple. Make fitness and nutrition convenient to create success. That’s what it is all about- doing and accomplishing. It is hard to change habits and create resolutions- trying to demand more from your intentions. It is not about demanding more from yourself with an unachievable list or wish. That has more sever detrimental impact.

The small changes you make and accomplish evolve into bigger ones and lead to greater achievable aspirations. The small things are often so underestimated that lead you to believe it has to be dramatic and big.

You only need a spark to start a fire.