Why Your New Year’s Resolutions Fail (Physical Therapist Explains) | The Art of Wellness Podcast #15

0:04
What’s up? It’s Dr. Gerry. Welcome back to the podcast. Today, I want to talk about why you fail at your New Year’s resolutions. Actually, my goal this year resolution is to actually do this podcast more regularly. So, I’m kind of talking to myself in this podcast as well. But I came up with four reasons as to why people usually fail at their goals this year or this coming year. And also, I made up a three-step system for you to hopefully follow and actually accomplish those goals.

0:50
So usually by mid-February people start to well mid-February early March people start to fail and they stop doing their New Year’s goals and resolutions. I see it all the time being in the fitness and wellness and strength and conditioning realm. People just kind of they want to go all-in. They go super hard January, February, and then they start getting aches, pains. They start getting a little bit tired, fatigued, and they quit. And that’s it. And there goes their goals for the new year.

1:23
Every January as a as a physical therapist, I see the same thing. People start getting hurt. They start getting, like I said, achy. They start getting these twinges in their muscles because they haven’t really built that tolerance of exercise at all in their lives. And it takes a while to build that. The human body needs to adapt. So again, people go all in. They train super hard. They ignore the recovery. They push through pain. And then they wonder why they’re burnt out and they get injured and they come see me, which is good for me. I get good business from it, but also I don’t like to see it.

2:04
And you know, the problem is that a lot of these goals and resolutions, we’ve been taught that motivation is the answer. And when motivation is actually the weakest part of the equation. So what’s actually going on? Why does motivation not stick? You know what’s actually happening in your nervous system when all this is happening? When you watch a motivational video and you’re like, “Oh, I can do this. Let’s do it.” And then you do it for two weeks and then you hate your life or you just stop.

2:38
And you know, this episode is great especially if you want to stay healthy, active, be pain-free in the new year and of course long term because this is a lifestyle decision. It’s a lifestyle change. It’s not just something you do for a year and then you stop. You have to keep it consistent and it takes building that mental muscle and it takes a while to build those habits. But there’s ways to do it where you just actually keep it consistent. You don’t just quit.

3:37
Let’s talk about why we keep failing with what I call the New Year’s trap. Being in the fitness and wellness realm, being a performance physical therapist, I see it all the time again, that uptick in injuries and pain in people. Your body doesn’t care that it’s January. It doesn’t care that the calendar flipped to a new year. Your habits don’t magically reset just because the calendar changed. But what does change is expectations. And we suddenly expect ourselves to completely overhaul our lifestyle.

4:45
Social media doesn’t help either. You’re on Instagram or TikTok seeing these influencers doing these extreme challenges. That’s not practical. That’s not real. And they’re just trying to sell you something. And it makes you feel like you’re behind when obviously, as we all know, comparison is a thief of joy. And that emotional high you feel, that motivation you feel, it’s real, but it’s temporary. It’s a fleeting emotion.

6:40
Reason number one I have is you do too much too fast. And this is probably the biggest reason why people fail. January comes, more workouts, higher intensity, less rest, more stress, all in one period of time. And your body’s like, “What the heck just happened? I haven’t done this before.” Well, what do you expect’s going to happen? Your body’s going to fight you. You have to emphasize recovery. People intuitively know they’re doing too much too fast, yet they still do it. A big part of my job is to kind of help them scale back.

8:46
The second reason I wrote down here is you focus too much on outcome goals and not on process driven goals. Sounds familiar, right? Focus on the process, not just on the end goal. It’s never the end goal that you want. It’s the whole process that you go through to actually get to that end goal. The big mistake is people focus on big outcome goals, like they want to lose 20 pounds. Those aren’t bad goals, they’re good goals. At the same time, your brain can’t execute them super fast like you want them to.

9:39
But what your brain does execute is behaviors. And when the scale doesn’t move fast enough, motivation drops and then you just stop. Process goals are different. You know, things like I want to train once a week, I want to walk for 15 minutes a day, or I want to go to bed an hour earlier. Little things like that add up and they’re a lot easier to accomplish. Small wins build momentum. Momentum builds consistency and consistency beats motivation every single time.

12:00
Reason number three I have is there’s no real identity shift when trying to accomplish these goals. A lot of people try to do fitness instead of actually becoming someone who trains. The more you do those little things, the more it becomes your identity. You want to be someone where it’s just automatic. You wake up, you go to the gym. You’re not thinking about, “Oh, I got to wake up and go to the gym. I hate it.” It becomes a part of you. If you’re dreading it, then you’re doing it wrong. Plain and simple.

14:21
Now that I’m older and even more busy, I have no time to work out that much. But I just go two to three times a week and I feel great and I look forward to it every single time. It’s not as much as I used to work out, but it’s something and I feel great. Fitness shouldn’t be a nuisance in your life. It should be integrated in your life. It should give you more energy, not drain your energy.

15:06
Heads up, guys. This episode is brought to you by Thorne Supplements, and I’m a proud partner of Thorne, and you could use my link in the description. Here’s a bottle of their multivitamin that I use. I love their multivitamins. Again, I personally use multivitamin and creatine as well. Great stuff. Thorne products are backed by science, trusted by health professionals and athletes. Many Thorne products are NSF certified for sport, meaning what’s on the label is what’s in the bottle. Thorne focuses on high quality ingredients and clinical testing for purity and potency. Thorne offers personalized health solutions across nutrition, sleep, focus, energy, and recovery. Every product is designed to help you feel, perform, and live better every day. So, click on the link below that I have on Thorne. There might be a QR code here somewhere. And thanks again for Thorne for sponsoring this episode.
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16:08
The fourth reason I wrote down as to why you fail at your goals in the new year is—and people get this backwards a lot—is ignoring recovery and wellness. Most people try to solve everything by doing things harder, by training harder, by being hard all the time. When actually you have to do it the other way. Get the recovery down stuff first and then add in the intensity stuff. If you don’t have your sleep schedule down, managing your stress well, you’re not hydrating correctly, the gym’s going to feel crappy. You’re not weak. You’re just fatigued and under-recovered.

17:51
Recovery isn’t soft. It’s strategic. It’s smart. You don’t have to stay hard all the time and be intense all the time. You’re going to have days where you feel off and you have to be smart about it. Live to fight another day as I tell all my patients. If it hurts, take it easy at the gym. Live to fight another day. I promise if you do that, it’s going to help you in the long term easily.

19:15
So, I have a three rule system that I came up with to help you with your goals. Rule number one that I have written down is to find the minimum effective dose. Going to the gym once a week is fine. Twice a week, walking every day for 10 minutes, it’s better than nothing. Minimums keep streaks alive. It keeps you consistent.

20:49
Number two is to stack wellness or recovery before intensity. Intensity should come after sleep, after stress management, after nutrition and hydration habits. When you flip that order, injuries, aches, and pains start to creep up and burnout sets in.

21:34
Rule number three is to commit. I put commit to 30 days—let’s change that to commit to 20 days. Stop committing to the whole year. 20 days, build confidence, build proof, add in those minimum effective doses and then repeat from there. After those 20 days, assess how you feel, adjust it as needed.

22:25
Let’s talk about some things that I see people should stop doing. Let’s stop chasing soreness. Just because you’re not sore doesn’t mean it was a bad workout. Let’s stop copying influencer programs. Stop comparing yourself to those influencers. Stop punishing yourself for missed workout days. And stop this all or nothing thinking. Balance is key. Consistency is key.

23:54
If you want this year to be different, stop chasing motivation. Start building your own system. Take the one that I just gave you and kind of make it your own. Find something you can do daily, minimum effective dose, commit to 20 days, and just do it. It’ll become a part of you and it becomes automatic. Pick one habit, comment it in the YouTube channel, DM me on Instagram. If this episode helped you, share this to your friends.

25:48
Hopefully this episode helped you. And remember to subscribe to my channel. I’ll be doing it much more this year. And comment, like, subscribe, all that stuff. My newsletter is in the description as well. It’s called the PT Handbook. Follow me on Instagram, AP Dr.G. And I’ll see you guys next time. Peace.