Unlike all of my friends who seemed to grow up playing soccer, softball, or tennis, I grew up learning how to ace the SAT and play the piano and cello (yes, I fit the typical Asian stereotype. But don’t worry, my mom was in no way a tiger mom haha!) As a result, I never learned how to play a sport that involved a ball. When highschool came around I needed to have an extracurricular sport to round out my resume for college (I had the academics, the after school job, the clubs, etc) and the best option that I found for myself was to run cross-country. I also tried my hand at cheerleading (I really just laugh thinking back to those days!)

Ever since then, running had been my go-to form of exercise for several years. It was the only thing I knew how to do well. It wasn’t until three years ago that I started my hand at weightlifting (which was ABSOLUTELY terrifying!) and then got into boutique fitness centers like Orange Theory and TITLE Boxing. This year, I’m going into my fitness goals with a focus on running (We are running our first half marathon!) and learning new skills at our boxing gym and getting stronger arms.

You probably are walking into 2018 with a goal to make “FITNESS” a top priority..

Here are some of my tips for making sure you can tackle your fitness goals for 2018.

1. Fit Exercise Into Your Daily Schedule

The things that I need to continue living are oxygen, food, sleep, and social interaction. Think of fitness as one of those essential things and fit it into your schedule like you would a meal or a good night’s sleep. If you’ve created a time slot to exercise don’t let anything else take up that time, that time is for YOU!

2. Just Do It

Whoever thought of that slogan for Nike was a genius. The hardest part of working out is always getting to the gym (is it the same way for you?) Do what you need to drag yourself to the gym, set up incentives for yourself, look up workouts that you know you can do and will enjoy doing.

3. Set Attainable Goals

With a fitness journey, you really need to encourage and congratulate yourself for the small leaps that you make. If you took the time to walk for ten minutes one day, congratulate yourself and make plans to walk twenty the next day! Set attainable goals and take it slow. You don’t need to be able to run that marathon in one day and you definitely don’t need to be able to do 20 burpees the first day you get back to working out!

4. Get an Accountability Partner

If you have a fitbit it’s easy to “friend” people and keep up with their fitness goals and you can even participate in competitions for who has had the most steps during a week. Find a person who is motivated to jump start their fitness for the year and make plans to work out together or to encourage each other to workout.

5. Plan and Set Goals

Make goals for yourself that are important to you. For example, I want to run a mile under seven minutes and I also want to get abs. You might want to be able to run three miles or hold a plank for more than two minutes. Whatever your goals are, write them down and keep that in mind as you go into the gym every day.

Next, plan what you’ll do at the gym. For example, some people make Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays their cardio day and then focus their Tuesday and Thursday on weightlifting. I try to go to boxing at least 3 times a week and then will focus the other days on running long distances and focusing on my abs!

6. Be Easy on Yourself

Give yourself a rest day. If you went particularly hard on a workout one day, give yourself the room to have an easier workout the next day. Listen to your body and also make sure that you are feeding yourself the essential nutrients you need especially as you are burning more energy and calories!