If your New Year’s resolutions included aspirations to lose weight that never materialised, then don’t worry as you’re far from alone. According to the University of Minnesota, 80% of resolutions are doomed to failure, with the majority already abandoned by the second week of February. It’s easy to give up when the early motivation fades away and you feel stuck in a rut again, but with the weather warming up, help could be just around the corner.
Researchers at the Université de Sherbrooke asked a group of participants to complete an hour-long cardio and weight training workout, three times per week. Half of the group sweated out their sessions in a gym, while the rest tackled the programme in the great outdoors. At the end of the 12-week-long experiment, the open-air group had missed fewer workouts than those confined within four walls, attending an impressive 97% of their training sessions.
Unlike members of the indoor group, who experienced a dip in motivation as the weeks rolled by, the green team remained raring to go throughout. The researchers found that they were also more active for the rest of the day than their gym-shackled counterparts and reported greater levels of tranquility, presumably because they didn’t have to wipe someone else’s sweat off the equipment before starting their run.
So, if your motivation need a reboot, take advantage of the improving weather and take your workout outdoors, where your motivation can soar away. You’ll supercharge your focus, cultivate much-needed inner peace and really get going this year immensely fitter and stronger than you started.
