THUNDER BAY -- As the New Year begins, many people feel it’s time to put their healthy lifestyle goals on the front burner.
For many people, the process of where to begin can be intimidating especially for those who have never joined a gym or fitness club.
Sweatclub Fitness Studio owner and personal trainer Jacquie Kennedy said instead of easing in to a new healthy lifestyle people tend to start their resolution off to hard.
“The key is not to make it something that’s not attainable,” Kennedy said. “It has to be something that’s manageable, something you start slow and finish strong with.”
Kennedy added that it’s important for beginners to not go “gung-ho” at the beginning to avoid becoming sore and committing too much time.
For the first few weeks people tend to commit too much time to working out and when they can’t meet their own expectations they feel guilty and eventually stop pursuing the healthy lifestyle they hoped to accomplish for the New Year.
It’s all about starting with smaller increments and smaller actions such as drinking more water, eating smaller meals and eliminating sugar.
“(It’s about) doing thing that you can do and feel good about for carrying that on,” Kennedy said.
The personal trainer has seen many people go through with their New Year resolutions.
“It’s so rewarding and it’s also inspiring for other people that are in the gym to see a person who has made a commitment.”
Supervisor of aquatics and wellness Donna Perrault said each year the Canada Games Complex sees an increase of users and members.
“It’s a new year and they want to start fresh. Christmas is over and everybody has eaten too much and now they just want to move toward that healthy lifestyle,” Perrault said.
Perrault added the increase in fitness popularity tends to drop off after a month because people set unrealistic goals.
People who choose fitness as their New Year’s resolution may set themselves up for failure as oppose to success.
“They may (set a goal of) working out for an hour every day for the rest of the year…well that might not be a very realistic goal for most people,” Perrault said.
“If you are setting really high standards at the beginning of January you can only keep up with that for so long.”
Perrault said finding routines and workouts that work best and getting help when you’re unsure where to start helps.
“You don’t have to have high intensity workouts for two hours a day even if you just get up and walk for 15 minutes or find an activity you like to do chances are that you will keep doing it,” Perrault said.
Perrault wants to remind new fitness enthusiasts to take baby steps when first approaching a new healthy lifestyle.
