Let’s talk for a minute. About how to actually get fit. About how to set yourself up for success in the new year.

There is no shortage of people telling us what we need. What we should eat, when. How much we should weigh. How we should dress and look more generally. What kind and how much exercise to get. And New Year’s, unfortunately, is a time that has come to mean: “Straighten yourself out! Work harder to meet all those expectations!”

But whose expectations are they, really? Are they yours? Do you actually care?

Here’s a more important question: What is it that you actually want to do for your health and well being? Not just in the new year, but with all of your time, energy, and life. Maybe the reason you don’t go out for runs is simply that you don’t like them — and thus anytime you try to force it you’ll be expending more energy than necessary.

Running can be good, as can many of the other forms of exercise that you might declare in a new year’s resolution. But if you do not care, and you will not actually do it, then what’s the point? Although it is important to know how to suck it up and do things you don’t like to do, sometimes, it does not have to be like that all the time.

Yes, you need to eat food to live — so you’ll have to endure the grocery store. You should probably pay your bills. Call your mom, even if you know she’ll turn the conversation to politics sometimes. Brush your teeth. Those kinds of things.

But if you are reading this, chances are you live a greater life of luxury than you realize. You have the luxury of choice. So, use it! Build yourself a training plan around the things you enjoy, that take you towards the goals of YOUR choosing.

To do that, you first have to figure out what you actually want to do. Do you want to:

• Develop your squat so well that it’s a comfortable resting position?
• Put your own luggage in the overhead bin on a plane?
• Balance on your hands?
• Touch your toes?
• Finally do a set of strong, stable, beautiful push ups?

There are other factors to getting fit, like discipline and nutrition, but it starts with figuring out what you’re actually interested enough in to show up for regularly. So if your resolution is to run every morning, and by day three you’re already bored and hitting snooze, it does not mean you’re a failure — it just means you were trying to make yourself do something that you don’t want to do.

And that’s okay! Life is hard enough without forcing yourself to do EXTRA things that you don’t want to do.

You don’t need a new year’s resolution. You don’t need to get “beach body ready.” You don’t have to follow the “new year, new me!” challenges if you don’t like them. In fact, you don’t have to listen to anyone else in any capacity. (Including us.)

But if you truly do want to get better, let’s figure out the right path for you. Let’s focus on making your training look like something you can and will do — something that makes you more capable, happy, and free.

If you like the sound of that, we know just the place you should start. Come try a class!