With the New Year just days away, it’s the perfect time to look at our new plan: Workout Reboot: Revving Up Your Routine for the New Year. You put in all the work over the last 12 months. Now, it’s time to use what you’ve learned to create your plan of action for the upcoming year. Here’s how:

Take a Moment to Reflect and Assess

Knowing where you want to go is essential, but knowing how far you’ve come is also important (and valuable). Did you start your journey with some “before” pictures and stats? Pictures and stats are handy for helping you remember where you started because it helps assess your progress over the past year. For example, if you lost 16 pounds this year, approximately how much was that per month? This can serve as a gauge moving forward so you can determine what to expect for 2025 and plan realistic goal points.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself to help reflect and assess:

• Where did I start, and how far have I come? 
• Do I feel that I made good progress throughout the year? (Why or why not?)
• Should I aim for about the same level of progress, or should I push myself harder this next year?  
• What were some things I did well?  
• What are some areas where I could improve? Why and how?  
• What were the things that caused setbacks, and how did I handle them?  
• How will I manage setbacks in the coming year? 

Judging from your past year and your progress, what is most important on your list for this year? Do you want to focus more on losing body fat, or is putting on quality muscle more critical? Do you need to rein in your nutritional plan, or maybe you need to employ some stress management, better sleep hygiene, stretching sessions, or more cardio? These questions, coupled with your progress over the past year, can help you reboot your workout.

Revamp Your Fitness and Health Goals with a Revved-Up Routine

Armed with the knowledge you gained from reflecting on last year’s results, you can begin to set fresh goals for the New Year. Look at the timeline and decide what you can realistically achieve over the next year. Next, break these goals down into manageable bite-sized chunks (like losing one pound per week or hitting the gym on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays). 

If you didn’t start with before pictures and measurements last year, now’s your chance to take advantage of these powerful tools. Before taking pictures and progress photos, remember they will serve as a motivational tool to reflect on throughout the year. Capture front, side, and back images, and strive to maintain the same setup, the same time of day, and the same outfit for each series of photographs.

To track your progress, weigh yourself, monitor your body fat, and measure specific areas each month, such as the circumference of your waist, hips, biceps, and thighs.

Track your meals easily with apps like MyFitnessPal, MyNetDiary, or Lose It to log your calories, carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. This, coupled with your other measurement and tracking tactics from above, will help you monitor how well your program is going and allow you to tweak it to better your results.

Additionally, monitor your hydration—most apps let you track your water intake. Get eight glasses of water per day at a very minimum, more if you’re training and sweating.

Monitor your sleep—devices like the Apple Watch or the new smart rings can help assess your sleep quality. Alternatively, note when you fall asleep each night and when you wake up, tracking how long you slept and how you feel.

Additionally, keep your stress levels in check. When stress is high, losing body fat can be challenging, so take steps to reduce your stress. Find coping methods such as meditation, yoga, a gratitude practice, or journaling.

Track your workouts—this is essential for progress! Record your exercises, weights, reps, cardio, and stretching. Indeed, there are apps for that (like Caliber, Fitnotes, or Jefit). But you can also go “old school” with a handy notebook. Just make sure to use “progressive overload” to keep making progress throughout the year and avoid hitting plateaus.

Make Sure Your Routine Is Well Rounded

Look at all facets of your workout plan to come up with a great reboot.

Cardio—make sure to include cardio in your reboot workout routine. It helps you burn body fat, keeps your heart strong and healthy, promotes good circulation, and makes your muscles and joints feel great.

Strength Training—concentrate on perfecting your form and technique. This year, give these aspects your full attention, as they will establish a strong foundation for ongoing improvement and progress.

Flexibility—continue stretching and prioritize flexibility and mobility exercises. This is especially important as we age. Staying supple will benefit you both in the gym and in everyday tasks. Consider these functional exercises a vital part of your program.

Recovery—and remember, recovery is also a crucial component of the puzzle! You won’t make much progress if you don’t allow your body to recover and replenish.

Develop Strategies to Avoid Future Challenges—what will you do the next time you face similar challenges? Consider how you could have approached situations differently. For example, did you attend a party where the snacking got out of control? Or perhaps you gained weight while on vacation. What can you do differently next time? Come up with alternate actions that will bring you closer to your goals versus further away.

And don’t forget to reward yourself for all your hard work! Integrate special reward points throughout the process. Determine what you need to achieve, then break it down into smaller tasks with checkpoints (and rewards) along the way. Create a list of your favorite rewards, so you have something to anticipate.