How to keep a Long term relationship with fitness

There is a statistics which says that the number of gym memberships goes at its peak during new year’s eve but it’s not a long term relationship.

But it falls gradually after January

Have you wondered why it happens?

Let’s explore this first

Why membership goes up during Dec to Jan

There is a term called new year’s resolution, it means setting a goal or target for the rest of the year & compare the result to see how far we’ve come

Every year thousands of people make a promise to themselves to get fit in the upcoming year 

We get the motivation for various reasons

New Starts: A new year makes people feel like they can start over, and they are motivated to make good changes.

Holiday Guilt: Many people feel like they have to get back in shape after overindulging over the holidays.

Peer influence: When people see their friends and family making exercise goals, it can motivate them to do the same.

This fire of working out & getting fit doesn’t always burn high

Immediately after joining the gym more than half of the member falls off

Let’s checkout few reason why people leave gym early

Unrealistic Goals: Setting goals that are too high can make you feel let down and cause you to give up when you don’t see results right away.

Absence of proper routine: If you don’t make working out a part of your daily or weekly schedule, it’s easy to skip practices.

Loss of Motivation: If you don’t see results right away or have a clear plan, your motivation will fade quickly.

Now all this joining & leaving happens because we cannot establish long term relationship with gym

What’s the long term relationship with the gym?

Let me tell you a story

I started working out in 2012

Back then I was a student & could easily accommodate workout schedule but in the next semester I couldn’t get the desired timing & my workout routine was gone

Very soon I realized that, it’d be very difficult to maintain my daily workout schedule

So start looking for home exercises, started to buy new equipments & started to arrange all the things that I needed to transform my home into a gym

Of course it’s not as good as actual gym but it fulfills my requirement

And decision has helped keep a long term relationship with fitness

Like any other relationships, consistency is far more important than intensity. This is where we need to put our focus

Let’s explore why we need to have a long term relationship with fitness

Long-Term Health Benefits: Regular exercise is good for your health in the long run and can lower your chance of getting long-term illnesses.

Mental Health: Regular exercise is good for your mental health because it lowers worry and anxiety.

Progressive adaptation: Working out regularly can build muscle & strength over time & when body gets older it can take heavier stress and doesn’t surrender to age easily

Making Habits: When you’ll workout for a longer period of time it helps building the habit & when the habit is built everything becomes easy & achievable 

You know my story about how I kept on going after all these years

And I also don’t want you to end up like a new year resolutionist. I want you to keep a healthy relationship with fitness

But you need to be tricky & aware of what may come in the future.

Because so many things might go wrong in the future which may look perfectly ok for now

Things like…

Changes in your life: like getting a new job, moving, or taking care of family duties, can throw off your schedule.

Injury: Getting hurt can make you lose motivation to work out and stop.

Boredom: If you do the same workout exercise over and over, you might get bored and give up.

Lack of Time: It can be hard to find time to work out when you have a lot of personal or work obligations.

Problems with money: Gym memberships and tools can be pricey.

Now you know so many things might go wrong in the future. So know your way and plan accordingly

Thing for at least 3 years ahead before taking any big fitness related decision because the thing about fitness is that, people so easily get demotivated 

Here are few ways to keep a long term healthy relationship with fitness

Set realistic goals: Break your goals down into steps that you can take to reach them.

Set up a flexible routine: If your life changes, you should be able to change your workout plan.

Find Fun Things to Do: To stay motivated, do workouts that you enjoy.

Change things up: To keep from getting bored and to work out different muscle parts, switch up your workouts.

Stay Responsible: To keep yourself responsible, find someone to work out with or join a group.

You see this is not easy to keep long term relationship with fitness but if you are smart & value fitness you’ll be able to achieve it

So gear up & go