Fitness Tips to Help You Achieve Your Goals

Wednesday, 17 Jan 2024

We may be halfway through January, but you don’t need the start of a new year to make your health and fitness goals a priority. You can start anytime!

If you need some motivation, we asked a few of our fitness experts for their best tips to help you get started and keep you motivated as you work towards your goals.

“Avoid starting with the big lofty (overwhelming) fitness and nutrition goals, this usually leads to fast quitting. You don’t have to change everything in one day to make progress and change. Start with small very attainable (bite size) goals! And then slowly grow your goals weekly.”

-Jennifer H., Fitness Specialist, Sharron Baucom Dale City Recreation Center

“My biggest tip would be to find the type of exercise that you enjoy. If you don’t enjoy an exercise, you will never give it 100%. My other tip is to work with a professional. A certified personal trainer can work with you to find exercises that will be the most effective for you and your lifestyle, help you set realistic goals and give you the moral support to keep you on track to reach your goals.”

-Adrienne L., Fitness Manager, Chinn Aquatics & Fitness Center

“My advice to someone getting started on new health and fitness goals is to make sure to start slow. In the new year we get excited to try new things and start building the habit. Excitement is great, but you do not want to burn yourself out right at the start of the year and then give up on your goal entirely. Instead of going to the gym 7 days a week right from the start, start with just 2 or 3 days and build from there. Instead of changing everything that is unhealthy from your diet, start with one thing at a time. Starting anything new is a shock to your body, it needs time to find its new homeostasis. Be patient with yourself on this journey. There will be ups and there will be downs. Remember even when you have a slip up of missing a workout or giving yourself a cheat day, it does not mean you have to give up on your goal all together. The next day is a new day.”

-Emily H., Certified Personal Trainer, Chinn Aquatics & Fitness Center

Ready to get started? If you’ve been contemplating purchasing a membership pass for one of our fitness and recreation centers, now is the perfect time. Through January 31 you can get 20% off single or dual membership passes for Chinn Aquatics & Fitness Center and/or Sharron Baucom Dale City Recreation Center. You can also purchase youth training packages at a discount through the end of the month. Learn more here.

We also have a variety of fitness and wellness educational workshops where you can learn more about different workouts and fitness equipment. These are free for members, $12 for non-members. Registration is required.

The New Years Resolution Fitness and Wellness workshop series will focus on the following: January 19: MOTR Pilates ARC foam roller smart bells; February 9: Nutrient timing - pre & post workout; March 15: Building muscles with time under tension.

You may also want to check out our Welcoming the New Year with Intention workshops. Embrace 2024 by setting an intention during your sound bath meditation practice. Each workshop will focus on a different themes: February 14, love, happiness, peace and harmony; March 20, releasing pain, transformation, spring equinox; April 17, stress relief, reduced anxiety, mental health.

Want to learn how to make the most of your time in the gym? Check out our Quality Time in the Gym workshop on January 26. In this 2-hour workshop, discover the science-based physical and mental techniques needed to have consistent, effective, quality movements during exercise using deep focus, concentration and specific breathing techniques. This class will include both a lecture and an active exercise session on the four exercise modalities of fitness: muscular strength, cardiovascular endurance, power/speed and flexibility. Registration required.

Looking for something else? You can check out even more in the winter issue of Leisure.