How NOT to do your New Years resolutions!

It’s that time of year, holidays are rolling around and our days are filed with good food, good company and good spirits. And in our typical fashion we often indulge in lots of sweets, meats and drinks (as we should, it’s the holidays, enjoy yourselves). But the problem often comes not from our holiday fun, but the holiday hangover that comes from days after days of treating ourselves (again, as you should, its been a hard year).

So in the hopes of very quickly atoning for these little moments of sloth (and even gluttony), often people will start their new year with a lightning round of resolutions to run every day, eat less and go to the gym to kickstart their 6-pack for next summer, but this is not the way to start your new year on a high.

There’s a reason why January 18th is known as “quitters” day; because people set their expectations too high and demand too much of their body. Going to the gym, running, eating strictly healthy every day are amazing but often unachievable goals that get too hard and end in either giving up, injury, or often times both.

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One of the biggest risk factors for injury is doing too much too quickly; so instead of trying to change the world overnight, try some of these more attainable and sustainable goals:

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1. INSTEAD OF

Walk 10,000 steps everyday from jan 1

TRY

Take your average daily step count and hit it every day for the first week of Jan, increase this by 500-1,000 each week and by feb/march you’ll be hitting those step count goals!

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2. INSTEAD OF

Go to the gym 5 times a week

TRY

Get to the gym 2-3 times a week for jan, then 3-4 times a week for feb onwards. You’re body won’t quit on you hallway through Jan if you ease it into your gym routine.

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3. INSTEAD OF

Losing 5kgs

TRY

Add 2.5-5 hours of moderate exercise (like a walk or bike ride) over each week and do wonders for your body and mental health!!

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Do yourself a favour this new years and don’t try to change your life overnight, instead work towards smaller and more achievable goals that accumulate into big changes over 2025.

If you start to experience any pain or discomfort, consult one of our Physiotherapists for a personalised treatment plan to help you stay on track with your New Year goals!