Already ditched your New Year fitness goals? Peloton instructor Adrian Williams has some advice

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If you have either let your New Year’s resolutions go or have yet to even kick them off, no matter what they are, you’re far from alone.

By the second week of January, many people have abandoned their New Year’s resolutions. In fact, ditching your New Year’s Resolutions around the second week of the month has become such a phenomenon that the second Friday of January has been unofficially dubbed “Quitter’s Day.”

There are plenty of potential reasons driving the phenomenon, including what Peloton trainer Adrian Williams suspects is a lot of people setting the bar for their goals too high. Or potentially overcomplicating things for themselves at the start.

“Anytime with New Year’s resolutions, especially when it comes to working out or anything related to nutrition, we all, a lot of times, reach way too far,” he said.

“We set goals that usually don’t have structure or may be too unattainable,” the 41-year-old fitness pro explained, though he doesn’t advocate  against reaching high.

“I’m saying in the beginning of anything, when it comes to your process, especially in the beginning of the year, if you’re embarking on this new journey, do the thing that gives you the most confidence and makes you feel good,” he continued. “And sometimes that’s not the hard workout.”

Williams explained that sometimes it’s better to focus on something simple, like building strength.

“Strength should be everyone’s base for being able to do anything well,” Williams said. “This is outside of working out. This is just being able to move well for the rest of your life.”

Williams sat down with theGrio to discuss the new Peloton Strength + app. He said the app offers custom workouts and programs with some of the industry’s “best” instructors across a range of disciplines. The workouts in the app are dedicated to simplifying and tracking training, and as the name suggests, strength-building.

“It’s so essential that folks, especially as we age and get older, build muscle,” he continued. “Muscle keeps your body healthy. Muscle keeps your body safe.”

He noted that women, who are more likely to avoid muscle-building workouts, begin to lose muscle mass in their 30s and 40s. While many who avoid strength-building workouts out of fear they could develop a physique like a bodybuilder, Williams said it actually takes a lot to build muscle like that.

“Folks don’t understand that if you lift heavy weights, yes, your muscles can grow. If that’s what you’re doing,” he explained. “Or you can build strength.”

In addition to strength-building, Williams noted general mobility is another simple yet highly impactful fitness goal.

“Range of motion is important,” he added.

Williams understands that when a lot of people hear “mobility exercises” a snooze fest comes to mind, but he said folks might be surprised by how much they will love mobility workouts and the results.

For others, another simplified goal that usually sticks could be increasing your overall capacity for exercise. Williams said many peoplebecome overwhelmed when they force themselves to commit to a strict 30-minute-a-day plan or a challenging new workout course.

“A lot of times, when something is too hard, it is defeating for a lot of folks,” he noted. “I always say, do something that’s a little bit lighter.”

Williams suggests that instead of trying to work out five or six days a week, maybe cut that down by half. And If you were trying to lift more weights, consider adjusting how much and for how long. It’s ultimately about building your confidence with fitness.

“Once you build the confidence, it becomes part of what your body craves,” he explained. “Once you build confidence and you feel good during workouts, then it’s like, ‘okay, maybe instead of 10 minutes today, I’m going to do 20. Maybe instead of 20, I’m going to do 30. Maybe instead of 30, I’m going to do an hour.’”

If a person feels confident and satisfied after hitting their walking pad for 15 minutes, Williams encourages them to continue doing so. Increasing fitness in your life, he said, is about doing what makes you feel good.

“I always say, go to the thing that makes you feel good,” he said.