The new year is always a wonderful opportunity to take stock, learn from past errors, and become a better-than-ever version of yourself. Unfortunately, it’s also a time for many of us to set unrealistic goals, fail miserably, and spend the next three months curled up in the fetal position. Hmm, which would you rather choose? 

At Studio SWEAT onDemand, our fitness philosophy typically goes against the New Year’s resolution rigamarole, because we believe in dedicating ourselves to our health every single day. But if you do want to use the close of the year as a jumping off point towards your goals, there’s nothing wrong with that — so long as you do it intelligently, and we’re here to help you do just that! 

The key is to set New Year’s resolutions that challenge you, but that are also manageable, practical, achievable, and able to fit in with your lifestyle. By making subtle changes in your day-to-day routine, you can achieve those massive goals later on down the line. So let’s jump head first into some creative New Year’s resolution ideas that are simple, kind of fun, and that might even actually work! 

Pick Up a Big, Fancy Water Bottle

Our first fitness resolution focuses on your hydration. Drinking enough water each day is key to staying healthy, lifting our mood, clearing your mind, and staving off many would-be food cravings. And a simple way to make sure you’re getting those ounces each day is to purchase a big, fancy water bottle. Although you can always just fill up that old Gatorade bottle you’ve had since high school (maybe give it a quick scrub down, please), there’s something mildly motivating about drinking cold water from a flashy, colorful bottle. Sure, it’s a bit superficial, but it works. 

Schedule Fitness Reminders

Sure, it’s easy to commit to fit on January first. But where will you be on March 9th, August 17th, or November 23rd! One nice way to ensure your connection to your fitness routine is to set little reminders in your phone calendar throughout the year. These could be little motivational messages, links to inspirational videos, or questions like “what have you done for your fitness today?”. Just little electronic nudges that keep you coming back to your commitment to fitness. 

Get Intuitive 

If you know anything about us, and by this point we should hope you do, you’ll know that we’re all huge proponents of Intuitive Eating. This game-changing food philosophy is an amazing approach to building a healthier relationship with food. And the “intuitive” part of the title means it’s actually quite a satisfying way to live. Do you really, really, really need a donut right now? Ok, go on and have it! Doesn’t that feel nice? Plus, that soothing sense of yum also leads to better food decisions down the line. Now, it can be tough to commit to a whole new food routine in one go. So for our next healthy new year’s resolution idea, it’s simply to pick up two books on Intuitive Eating, and read them at some point this year. 

Set Up a Motivation Corner 

Now, this next one may seem a bit esoteric, but we’re talking about motivation here, so esoteric is kind of the point! As we fight the good fight when it comes to our fitness, we can all lose our way from time to time. So it’s important to have a space in your home dedicated to fitness motivation. This could be a spot in your closet, or next to your bathroom mirror, with inspirational quotes, maybe a couple photos of yourself when you were at your fittest, even a “why” list, filled with reasons you’ve got to get and stay healthier. 

Commit to Three Walking Days Each Week

This cannot be understated, but the real day-to-day calorie burn we’re looking for can be found in the simplest of activities — walking. This doesn’t mean do a marathon every single day, it just means that if you can take the stairs instead of the elevator, if you can stroll to your local brunch spot, and if you can pace around the room when dealing with long, drawn out phone calls — all the better. One practical way of doing this is to shoot for three “walking” days a week. These will be days when you’ll be mindful of your movements, and attempt to be a wee-bit more active doing your mundane tasks. 

Take Rest & Recovery Seriously

Now, this is one of the easiest and most pleasurable activities on our list. And guess what? It’s also one of the most effective! Rest and recovery are fundamental for keeping our bodies working at their best, but also to keep our minds energetic and motivated. As with all resolutions, we’ve gotta be as clear as possible when it comes to our goals, so try these two: 1) make a commitment to sleeping in one day a week (we mean REALLY sleeping in, eye mask, no alarm, hitting the hay early, the works); and 2) scheduling three rest days in your workout routine (and actually spend that time resting). When you take your recovery time seriously, you’ll be more inspired to work harder when you’re back at it!  

Find a Fitness Buddy 

We’ve said this before, and we’ll say it again — you want some fitness accountability? Find a workout buddy. Latching onto someone else who’s also trying to get healthy, particularly someone at your same fitness level, is an easy way to stay on your fitness path throughout the year. Work out with this person, check in with them, talk about your challenges, and give them all the support you’d like for yourself. And then basically watch the magic happen! 

Try a New Workout Routine Each Month

Keeping your fitness routine fresh is all about spicing things up. And there’s no better way to do that than by trying new workout routines every single month! You’ve probably heard of a whole host of fit-activities, yet never had the oomph to try them out. You may have heard yourself asking, “Tabata sure sounds fancy, what is it?”, “Is Barre what ballerinas do?”, “What’s the big hubbub around Indoor Cycling?”, “Do I need army fatigues to do a Bootcamp class?”, and “What do the two i’s in HIIT stand for?”. Well now’s your chance to answer all those questions and more! And with an All Access Pass with Studio SWEAT onDemand, you can explore all these classes, and a whole bunch more, from the comfort of your home! We were named “Best Fitness App for Variety“ in some of the biggest exercise publications in the land, so we know a thing or two about fitness selection. Plus, with our 7-Day Free Trial, you can try before you buy. 

Well that’s it, ladies and gents. We hope your year is filled with motivation, inspiration, commitment, and most of all…fitness!