A Different Approach to Achieving Health and Fitness Goals

The New Year is just around the corner, and regardless of who you are, you probably know that means people are going to start getting their fitness on. By the masses people will be flocking to gyms, health clubs, and other venues in hopes of starting their body transformation journey (for many, again) and prioritizing their health and fitness. You likely also know that most of these people will eventually fail at their health and fitness goals, many of them giving up for good, or waiting to try again next week/month/year. That’s not to be harsh, it’s just the facts. 


In fact, statistics from the Statistic Brain Research Institute (via an article on CNN.com) showed that almost half the population (42%) made New Year’s resolutions in 2016, for the following year, 2017. Of these, roughly 25%were fitness and/or health related. After tracking these same people and their progress toward their goals, they found that less than 50% of those people were successful. Over half of them at the 6-month mark had not achieved their goals,with many of them giving up. This doesn’t bode well for you if you’re looking to shed a few pounds this New Year, and improve your health, but thankfully,you’re not a statistic.

You can be different, because you are different. You’re not just someone who’s going to start a diet and get into working out for a few months, you’re in this for the long-haul and understand that great progress takes time. You are going to be prepared and ready to rock out every workout, nail your nutrition plan (80% of the time, because life should enjoyable), and give your body and mind the respect and attention they deserve. 

If that super motivational speech didn’t get you fired up and feeling like you can take on the world, have no fear I have some legitimate and actionable information I am going to be passing your way. If you want to make a change in this coming year and start showing yourself the love you deserve by taking care of your health and fitness, you will want to continue reading and implement the strategies below. 

Getting Started

When it comes to achieving success at anything, having a plan is the first and most important step, but you must know what you want to achieve to be able to plan for it. It’s hard to understand how to get where you want to go, without building a plan and the steps to get there. Before you do anything, there’s some due diligence that needs to be done by you in order to give you the best opportunity to succeed. Below are some questions you should ask yourself, as they will guide to in your planning stage.

What are your goals? 

Goal setting can be such a valuable component to succeeding on any venture, and fitness is no different. Goals should be SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound)and should always be written down to improve your chances of achieving your goals. If you want to make the goal-setting process even more valuable, share those goals with someone else, and put those goals in plain sight. I even have clients who post their goals on their bathroom mirrors, or above their beds, so that they are constantly reminded of what they want to achieve.

It’s important to remember that goals should be process oriented, focusing on habits and behaviors, in addition to outcome-based where the focus is on more tangible aspects like weight loss and waist line reductions. Process-oriented goals are important because they focus on things that you can control: habits, behaviors, and the daily inputs that you truly have control over and ultimately, will lead to your outcome-based goals. Outcome-based goals are great but can also set you up for disaster as many of those goals are outside of your control. While you can certainly control the foods that you put in your mouth, and the exercise that you perform, you can’t control whether you lose or gain weight. That number on the scale will only change if your daily habits, behaviors and inputs change.Focus on what you can control, and the process of reaching your goals will be far more successful and enjoyable. 

By writing your goals down, making them SMART and focusing on both process and outcome-based goals, you can set yourself up to achieve nearly any goal you set your mind to. If you’re looking for help in assistance in setting both process and outcome-based goals, don’t hesitate to reach out to me via social media (Adam Son on Facebook and adamchosenson on Instagram) or send me an email at achievefitllc@gmail.com. 

How will you achieve your goals? What will you need to be successful?

After you have figured out your goals, it’s necessary to reverse engineer those goals to understand how you will achieve them. Ask yourself, “what do I need to achieve my goals(skills, behaviors, environment, etc.). This is an important aspect of the planning stages, as it aligns what you want to achieve with how and what you need to attain it.

If you want to become a world class power-lifter, or just build insane strength, it’s likely that you’ll need a barbell and adequate weights for progressive overload, adequate calories to ensure that you’re able to recover and gain strength, and a training program that will take you from where you are, to where you want to be. The same can be said with any goal, whether you want to lose weight, improve your health, or build muscle and get “strong like bull”, it’s important that you understand what it will take for you to achieve those goals. 

During this part of the planning process, it helps to reach out to others who have achieved what you are aiming for and can walk you through the process, or at least give you information and insight on what it takes to achieve your goals. If you know someone personally who has gone through the same process as you intend to, reach out to them and ask them what it takes to achieve their level of success. If you don’t know anyone who has traveled the path you intend to, then reach out to a professional who can assist you. Experience is something that is hard to replicate, so picking the brains of those who have it can be a huge boost to your chances of success.

The internet is another valuable resource but can also be a double-edged sword. While it’s true that there’s all the information you could ever need to find the answers, you seek for any goal you may have, there’s also far too much information out there and it can make finding what you need very difficult. The great thing about the internet is that anyone can post, but that’s also the bad thing about the internet, because anyone can post like that crazy old guy down the street who swears that aliens are among us, or like this article from PETA, an animal rights organization, posting about dietary needs based off your astrology sign (hint: there’s no merit to this,and the fact that an animal rights organization is writing about health and nutrition, using astrology as its basis, is absolutely absurd) . Unfortunately,people tend to believe that everything they read on the internet is true (which it most certainly is not), which becomes an issue when reading about fitness and nutrition where there’s so many conflicting ideas and information.

When it comes to figuring out the”how” of achieving your goals, it’s important that you do your research and gather information. Ask people you know questions, reach out to a professional, or perform your own research (just make sure you can sift through the B.S.). Use this part of the process to build an understanding of exactly what it will take to succeed in your endeavors. Doing so will make it much easier to outline your plan of action and achieve success. 

Build a Plan of Action

One of the biggest mistakes I see people making when embarking on their fitness and health journey is that they try to do it without a plan for what they’ll actually do. Goal setting is just the start, from there it’s important to build a plan for what you’re going to do in the gym, as well as one for what you’ll be doing outside the gym to improve your nutrition and daily habits.

This is where you would either find,create, or have a training and nutrition program created for you. It doesn’t have to be anything advanced or crazy, especially at the start, and should fit into your current lifestyle as seamlessly as possible. This means a busy person, say a parent with multiple children active in sports and other extracurricular activities, working out 5 or 6 days a week may not be feasible. Instead of trying to find the most advanced, difficult, or “hard-core” plans,find or create something that you can succeed at, especially in the beginning when consistency and habit are at their lowest.

The same can be said for the nutrition portion of your program. You may have heard about the Keto diet and are interested in some of the proclaimed benefits, however, if you’re someone who enjoys carbs or would struggle to eat large amounts of healthy fats (not just sauces and junk food, like I was known to do when eating Keto), Keto may not be right for you. Remember, there is no “best” nutrition plan or diet when it comes to losing weight, building muscle, or increasing strength,the best plan is the one that you can stick to and this usually means it fits into your life and is at least somewhat enjoyable.

Ditch the training and nutrition programs out of magazines or from your favorite “fitspo” model and focus on the basics and building a strong foundation to work from. This will set you up for success in the long term, rather than starting off at 100% intensity and eventually burning out, as well as make the process as easy and enjoyable as possible.

Be Aggressive in Your Actions and Patient with Your Results

This is a quote I heard once and it has stuck with me ever since. It’s also something that I used to struggle with on a consistent basis. I would have grand plans and goals that I wanted to pursue and achieve but would lack the aggressive action needed to achieve them and/or the patience to see it through. This led to me starting and stopping a million different projects or goals, without every achieving them (something I still struggle with to an extent). What changed everything for me was learning and cultivating patience by understanding that it takes time to achieve great things. Like they say, “Rome wasn’t built in a day” and neither will your dream body.

If you’re looking to embark upon a transformation journey of health and fitness, it’s important that you have the understanding that it will take time and the patience to see it through, as well as consistent and thorough action on your part. For most people, this is where they fail. They want the easy route, the pill or wrap or magic diet that will allow them to achieve their goals in a matter of days, or weeks,rather than months or years. I’m sorry, but for most people those results simply won’t come that fast (either that or your goals aren’t large or challenging enough).

That’s why it’s so important to focus on the process of achieving your goals, rather than the goals themselves.It gives you the ability focus on the things you can control, while making small, daily progress that eventually leads to long-term success and goal achievement. Keep your goals in sight but understand that focusing on the daily habits and behaviors is what will ultimately lead to you achieving those goals. 

Win Early and Often

Have you ever noticed that it’s not always the best team or athlete who wins in a contest?

Oftentimes the winner of an athletic is decided by momentum. Which team has the crowd on their side, who’s players are on hot streaks, and teams that seem to “click” at the right moment, are all examples of momentum in athletics. The same principle can be translated to success in health and fitness, as well as every other aspect of life.

If you want to succeed, you must build, maintain and use the momentum of your successes to propel you forward.This means you must be able to win early and win often to improve your personal momentum and increase your chances of success. Therefore, when working with clients, especially at the start, we begin with simple, almost impossible to not achieve, goals. This allows them to “win” early in the process and often, letting those clients feel the positive effects of momentum and use it to propel them forward. 

If you want to make a change to your body, health, or life, it’s imperative that you focus on achieving success,even in small ways, early in the process. This will build buy-in, increasing your level of motivation, enthusiasm for the process, and engagement, making it easier to sustain your habits and continue progressing. For you to get those wins early in the process, make sure you are setting achievable goals for yourself. If you haven’t worked out in 10 years, and eat fast food every day of the week, telling yourself you’re going to work out 6 days per week and eat a whole-food based and healthy diet is a recipe for failure. Make small,sustainable changes in your daily life to achieve those early and often wins,which will build momentum and make achieving your larger, grand scheme goals far easier to achieve. 

If you’re someone who has health and fitness goals, regardless of if they’re tied in to your New Year Resolutions,it’s necessary to have the right approach and mindset if you want to give yourself the best chances for success. This means setting goals and building a plan of action to achieve those goals, which allows you to visualize what success will feel like and understand how you will get there. When it comes to taking action toward those goals, remember to be patient with the results, as they do not and will not happen overnight. Finally, regarding that action don’t forget to build positive momentum by setting yourself up for wins that happen early on and often in the process. By following this approach to your health and fitness goals, success will be far easier and more enjoyable to achieve.Just remember, it took time to get where you currently are, and it will take time to get to where you want to go.

P.S. If you’re looking to start a fitness and nutrition program in the New Year, stay tuned for article(s) to come on choosing a quality gym/training facility and how to feel comfortable and achieve success within that facility. These are two items that will be a huge component to success in your journey and can be the difference between sticking it out through the struggles in a gym you love and feel comfortable ino r giving up when things get difficult in a gym that is unwelcoming, not supportive, and doesn’t align with your goals and personality.