NPR

During the holiday season, many people make New Year's resolutions to get healthy and back into a fitness routine. However, sticking to these resolutions can be challenging. Motivation is often the biggest roadblock. Understanding your intrinsic and extrinsic goals and sharing them with a trainer can help. Building trust and communication with your trainer is also important. To stay motivated, it's recommended to commit to smaller goals rather than overwhelming yourself with too much too fast. If you think Christmas is coming quickly, the New Year is right behind it, and with the New Year comes New Year's resolutions. Some of the more popular resolutions are getting healthy or back into a fitness routine. If that sounds like something you've told yourself year after year, here is our own Christy Claxton who has some motivation tips that may help you stick with it this year. On holidays, getting back to the gym may help drop some of those extra pounds that came in your stocking. However, if you're like most, setting up resolutions is easy. Sticking to them is the problem. I recently asked Emma Smith, a flexologist at the Stretch Lab in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, what she thought the biggest problem when it comes to preventing someone from reaching their goals. Motivation. Hands down. There's a ton of psychology behind motivation. There's extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation. There's just so many different types, and it's, you know, a big part of my schooling is learning how to motivate people because that is the biggest roadblock you'll come across when it comes to getting someone into a fitness routine or getting them into a stretching routine is just staying motivated. So, you are motivated. You know you want to work out. Do you know why you want to work out? Knowing your goals and sharing them with your trainer may help give them an idea of what you're striving for. Emma mentioned intrinsic and extrinsic goals, but what exactly are the difference? In self-determination theory, Edward Deasy and Richard Ryan explain intrinsic motivation is doing something because it's inherently interesting or enjoyable. Extrinsic motivation refers to doing something because it leads to a separable outcome. While it may not be the first thing you say to your trainer, Emma discusses trust. I think it's building trust and communication. Even like, you know, when you first find a therapist, you're not going to tell them your entire life story, or when you first make a new friend, it's like you want to show them the good parts of you before you actually say, oh, hey, you know, I have this X, Y, and Z, or this is what's going on. And you know, that's when you really get into, like, the more vulnerable moments. You have your goals and your motivation. How do you keep going? Rebecca Doran, a fitness instructor for over 30 years, has some suggestions. I like to take the approach of this is, you know, your workout, your body, your journey, or whatever it wants to look like. And, you know, as hard as it is sometimes, I think we really need to stop comparing ourselves to other people and really doing what's best for us. Whatever your health and fitness goals may be for the new year, Rebecca, who also teaches yoga and Zumba classes, suggests committing to smaller goals. She notes too much too fast is not advisable and may not be sustainable. Working out every day may be too much. Commit to smaller goals.