2020 fitness goals

Everyone starts the year with New Year’s Resolutions that can normally fall short come mid-January.

So, February is here, and it is time to set some realistic goals, not only just inspired by the New Year. This is the beginning of a new decade and our plans and goals should be much bigger and better than ever.

Motivation alone won't be enough to keep you focused to achieve your goals, so let's plan out how you can achieve them.

How to stay motived throughout the year? 

If you just keep your focus on exercising but without a proper plan or knowing why and how to do it, it gets harder to stay motivated. Let's analyse some topics you need to consider to help you stick with your health goals.

Try different Fitness Activities. 

Trying different activities during 2020 is a great way to avoid getting bored with your fitness routine. Most people start the year on the gym floor because weights will indeed give you quicker results but if you get bored too soon you won't be able to keep up with the routine, so mixing up your workouts is the secret.

Make sure you are mixing strength classes, cardio and mind-body classes such as Pilates, Yoga or even meditation. You have a better chance to stick with your weekly goals if you try different fitness activities.

Location, location, location. 

Sometimes we hear about an amazing studio, a fancy swimming pool or great facilities but it is far away from your home or work. 

Keeping the routine up when you are tired is hard enough let alone if the studio or gym is beside your house. If you must get a car, a bus or walk for longer than 30 minutes, believe me, you are making your life even harder.

Your chosen place of gym or studio must be on your way from/to home or work, besides your work (so you can go on lunchtime) or beside your house.

After 3 months of working on your New Year’s health resolutions, you will need to keep your focus more than ever and the ease of the close location will be a great help.

You need to have clear goals.

If you start the year only thinking I want to lose weight or I want to look like someone you get inspired by, I can guarantee: It won't be enough.

You need clear and accountable goals and you need to spread them throughout the year. Let's go through some examples:

• If you want to lose weight, you need clear goals about how much you are going to lose every month (remember to be realistic) and you must measure yourself once a month.
• If you want to get stronger, you can use a measuring tape around the main muscle areas you want to see the difference, and you also need to measure them monthly.
• If you want to get healthier, you can measure your hours of sleep, for example having a good fitness tracker would be a good idea. This will allow you to analyse your patterns daily and see what affects your mood and your sleep. This can then encourage you to try and change those patterns to benefit your routine. Make clear notes about your daily activities and food intake as these logs will help you on a fitness level but also from a general health perspective.

It doesn't matter what your goals are, you will need to find a way to give yourself monthly goals and keep measuring them as consistency is key. This is a great way to stay motivated and focused.

Try group exercise classes

According to ‘MINDBODY’s 2020 Fitness Trends in America’ report, group fitness is hotter than ever (for good reason!). Working out with a group leaves people more satisfied with their fitness level, generally happier and closer to their friends, family, and communities. Another bonus: people who worked out the most in 2019 did it to live longer, healthier lives rather than to lose weight (sweating for self-confidence—we love to see it!). ⁠

Group exercise classes will give you more motivation. 

Science shows that group exercise is ideal for long-term results. Back in 2011, Dr Jinger Gottschall and a team at Penn State University set out to explore how group fitness could nurture a long-term love of exercise and drive key health benefits.

Over the 30-week study, 20 out of 25 participants never missed a class.

A study from 2019 showed that the participants experienced an increased level of individual enjoyment, exertion and satisfaction as a result of group exercise.

Group classes are a key element to help you to get the results you want in 2020.

Group exercise classes provide certified trainers.

This is another factor to consider. When you start exercising by yourself at the gym, chances are you are doing some random exercises that maybe are not the best ones for your goals or you can even injure yourself because you are executing the exercises in the wrong way. 

Having a certified instructor in front of you will make you feel more confident about what you are doing simply because they know what they are doing. The benefit is also that they need to tailor a class for each individuals level of fitness within the class, so they can cater to all levels. 

Try to find an instructor you like (or love). When you have a busy day or when you feel too exhausted to even think about putting your gym gear on, thinking of the amazing instructor and how he or she makes you feel afterwards will give you the extra push to go.

Get organised and persist 

It will be difficult at times. We get lazy, we can have busier weeks than others, it hurts do to that extra repetition but you need to persist.

Open space in your diary for your workout by planning ahead. Check the class timetable, check your meetings that week and always try to fit 3 sessions a week. It doesn't matter if you want to lose weight and all your studio or gym has is a meditation class. Going to classes is creating the habit, it is learning how to keep up with the commitment you created for yourself, for your body and for your mind. Stay strong with whatever you scheduled for yourself but be flexible to stay, go later or earlier if something changes last minute.

I can guarantee, the feeling of "I’ve made it" is one hell of an accomplishment.

One more thing, try to find out what time of the day works best for you. Some people love a morning workout, others simply don't work in the morning at all. Finding your ‘sweet time’ will help you to persist with your fitness goals.

Why OSLO?

At OSLO you will find a great variety of group classes to keep you motivated for the whole year and you will also find amazing and motivated instructors.

• For strength, try our OSLO Bootcamp class, our Barre class, Rip:60 Suspension Training, or Strength & Conditioning.
• To stretch, work your breathing and relax after a stressful day, try Restorative Yoga, Vinyasa Yoga, Yin Yoga, Warm Yoga Flow and Vinyasa by Candlelight.
• For a mix of Cardio and strength, try Cardio Pilates, Power Yoga, Strong Yoga Flow.
• Don’t forget about our Pregnancy Pilates & Yoga and our Mummy & Me Pilates & Yoga where your baby is welcome to join the class and will be looked after by our trained instructors so you can still get in your workouts.

Why not share with us your main goals for 2020 or for the whole decade?

If you never been to our OSLO HEALTH studio, try our Introductory offer: 2 classes for €20. Call us:

01 563 8300

If you still have any doubts about our classes or how to hit your goals, leave us a message and we will come back to you with a plan.

See you soon at our studio.