Tips for keeping fitness resolutions past New Year’s
Published Dec 20, 2021 | Updated Jan 12, 2026
Written by Headspace Editorial Team
There are many reasons why improving your fitness is the most popular New Year’s resolution. Some people want to become stronger, others want to lose weight, and some simply want to get moving and feel healthier. These are all perfectly reasonable goals, and setting an intention is a great place to start when trying to make positive change. Yet 80% of resolutions have been dropped by the second week of February. So what might help you fully embrace your fitness goals for New Year?
Meditation can help put you in the best mental shape to make a physical change. When your mindset shifts, you approach exercise with a sharper, more focused mind, clear in your motivation. It’s the reason why more athletes, coaches, and trainers are turning to meditation: mental strength is a core component of performance and fitness.
What’s more, you can take that same mind and try a walking meditation around the block or a hike along a local trail, even if your goal is to get out and about to enjoy nature. When you combine physical workouts with a regular meditation practice, you’re synching body and mind to be in tip-top condition simultaneously.
Key takeaways
Once we’re clear about what’s motivating you, you can approach your fitness resolutions with a more open and accepting mind
Connecting the body and mind can help you get the most out of a workout
Try 6 meditations for keeping fitness New Year’s resolutions
Watch Get Moving Mindfully with Headspace
Get Moving Mindfully With Headspace
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How to mindfully approach your fitness resolutions
Most people know the benefits, but if you still need help getting motivated to work out, then try listening to the experts. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, regular exercise is an effective way to manage weight, reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, and improve mental health. So, for your overall wellness, it’s worth trying to stick to those fitness New Year’s resolutions.
But as with many things in life, just because you know something’s good for you doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll try it. You need purpose, because the power of purpose keeps you motivated. It’s why, in meditation, intention and motivation go hand in hand — you make the commitment to yourself, you understand why you are doing it, and you follow through.
Once you’re clear about what’s motivating you to make the change, you can approach your journey with a more open and accepting mind. It’s like setting a positive intention: “I want to move more so I feel better” instead of a negative one: “I want to move more so I don’t feel bad.” The phrasing of the resolution may not seem that important, but if you’re able to show yourself self-compassion and purposefully shift away from negative self-talk, you can create the right conditions in the mind to manage stress and boost your self-esteem more effectively. And it so happens that research shows how 10 days of Headspace results in increased positivity, so adding meditation to your regimen can also help you with how to find motivation to work out, too.
Cultivating self-compassion and presence
Not only does positivity help you to build a more unshakable resolve to stay on track, but it also encourages you to treat yourself with kindness. If you skip a workout, or even a few, that doesn’t mean your fitness New Year’s resolutions have failed. It means you’re human. Meditation can teach you to simply accept, let go of any kind of inner judgment or critical inner commentary. As Headspace co-founder and former Buddhist monk Andy Puddicombe puts it, “Forget the idea of progress, let go of the need to judge. The important thing is to show up, and as long as you do that, you’re on the right path.”
Again, looking at working out through a meditation lens, there’s no destination point or end goal; you simply take each session or each workout day by day, without getting in your head about results and outcomes. Otherwise you stop being present as you exercise, which is key to engaging your body and mind and enjoying the process. While it can be good to have big dreams in life, aiming for a specific, ambitious goal can cause you to grow disheartened if you feel like you aren’t progressing fast enough. Expectations in the mind can lead to resistance in the mind.
Andy applies the step-by-step theory to working out on the rower, as well as his meditation practice. He says, “I actually count the strokes in the same way that I would count my breath if I was meditating, and I'm just with one stroke at a time. It doesn't feel like an hour on the rower. It feels like lots of one-strokes.”
Meditation can help you be more present in the moment, by first learning to be present in your practice, and then in applying that to your life. You train the mind to be in the here and now, anchored to the moment and, over time, you tend to find the mind is not so easily distracted. Research found four weeks of Headspace improved focus by 14%, so we can increase your ability to stick to other tasks, like training your body. And by concentrating on each movement, your workout will be more effective. Andy adds, “If you talk to elite athletes, it's actually about the little things that they do every single training session. You see someone winning gold at the Olympics—in a way, that's just an outcome. It's a great achievement, but it's all the little things that have created that effect.”
How to stick to your fitness resolutions
Mindfulness can help you with how to get motivated to workout, while also offering other proven benefits like increased resilience to help you towards your health goals. But if you can harmonize the body and mind, then you can really get the most from your workout. Headspace’s Move mode is a great resource for combining physical and mental exercise. To make sure your minds and bodies are in tune, and to help you stick to your health and fitness resolutions, try these 5 components of mindful exercise.
1. Intention
Even before you lift a weight or take a step, your workout routine has begun. That’s because your mental intention, and the awareness you bring to it, really impacts how effective your exercise will be. Intention is all about mental preparation. It’s your motivation to do the exercise, understanding of its function, preparation of the body to engage, confidence in the required breathing, timing and form, and finally, your commitment to go for it. Sounds like a lot to think about? With practice, you can bring awareness to it all in just a few seconds and get every workout off to a really strong start.
2. Breathing
Your muscles need oxygen to move. Deprive them, and you feel tired, tense, and nauseated. So you won’t hit your New Year’s fitness goals without being intentional about your breath. Focus on breathing steadily — in for the less strenuous part, out during the most effort — for a balanced and energizing workout. Also check that you’re not hunching your shoulders, as this limits your capacity to take oxygen on board.
3. Timing
Rhythm is vital. Whether it’s a nice, long stretch or an explosive jump, every exercise has its own inherent tempo to recognize. By using this rhythm to give exercise a natural, flowing, easy style, you can forget robotic, stiff, or tense movements and instead apply the right timing to perform the exercise most effectively.
4. Form
Good form takes exercise across the entire range of movement, targeting every part of the muscle. It can make any exercise a thing of beauty, but is often hard to achieve and maintain, especially when you’re sweating your way through an intense workout. But with focus, it’s possible. Posture and alignment really matter, so you must be aware of them. Think less about reaching the end of the workout, and more about every single muscle movement. This way, the best results from exercise come naturally.
5. Recovery
Whether it’s recovery between workouts or between exercises, an awareness of your physical, emotional, and mental well-being during this ‘downtime’ is essential. So don’t switch off. Instead, stay alert and focus on the breath and other physical sensations. Is your breath indicating you could work harder, or that you should ease off? Recovery periods are essential for a healthy, well-rested, and injury free body.
6. Engagement
True exercise isn’t just about movement, it’s about awareness. Encourage your personal focus on every sensation that arises during workouts: the feeling of your feet against the ground, the rhythm of your breath, the sound of your environment. Bringing awareness to tactile, visual, and auditory feedback transforms a routine activity into a more mindful experience. This kind of engagement builds presence, enjoyment, and a deeper connection to your body and life. When you give your full attention to each repetition, each breath, and each day, you strengthen not only your muscles but also your capacity for focus in every area of work and well-being.
7. Adaptability
No two workouts ever feel the same, and that’s okay. Every person is also different. A mindful approach means recognizing that your strength, energy, and mobility can shift from one week to the next. By adjusting intensity or weight based on your current ability, you give your body space to grow safely and prevent injury. Avoid comparing yourself to others; even a personal trainer will tell you that steady, consistent progress over time is what leads to lasting success. Every day, meet yourself exactly where you are — and celebrate the small steps forward that make a big difference in the long run.
Try 6 meditations for keeping fitness New Year’s resolutions
Don’t know how to keep your New Year’s resolutions on track? The Headspace mental wellness app offers members several courses and single meditations to help us get moving and stay on track, including:
Climb the mountain. Your mind is at the top.
Practice setting clear intentions while training.
Progress happens in the present.
Get familiar with a relaxed, precise kind of focus.
Practice treating yourself with unconditional kindness.
Ground yourself in your reason for moving.
Meditation can help you unlock the intention, awareness, and focus to help motivate you to work out and stick to your training, even if you face setbacks on the way. The best way to keep your New Year’s fitness goals on track is to resolve to be present in each exercise and each moment, as you harmonize the body and mind.
Sources:
1. YouGov. (2021, December 23). What are your 2022 resolutions? [Graph]. Statista. Retrieved January 19, 2025, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/378105/new-years-resolution/
2. U.S. News & World Report. (n.d.). Why New Year’s resolutions fail. Retrieved October 21, 2025, from https://health.usnews.com/wellness/articles/why-new-years-resolutions-fail. Accessed on October 31, 2025.
3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2024, April 24). Physical Activity Basics and Your Health.https://www.cdc.gov/physical-activity-basics/benefits/index.html. Accessed on October 31, 2025.
4. Mayo Clinic Staff. (2023, November 21). Positive thinking: Stop negative self-talk to reduce stress. Mayo Clinic.https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/positive-thinking/art-20043950. Accessed on October 31, 2025.
5. Bennike, I. H., Wieghorst, A., & Kirk, U. (2017). Online-based mindfulness training reduces behavioral markers of mind wandering. Journal of Cognitive Enhancement, 1(2), 172-181. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41465-017-0020-9. Accessed on October 31, 2025.
6. Champion, L., Economides, M., & Chandler, C. (2018). The efficacy of a brief app-based mindfulness intervention on psychosocial outcomes in healthy adults: A pilot randomised controlled trial. PLOS ONE, 13(12), e0209482. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0209482. Accessed on October 31, 2025.
