How To Make 2025 Your Fitness Year?

The end of January marked 6 months post-injury and my first full month back into powerlifting. It was such an emotional month for me because I had done deadlifts for the first time. Although it does feel like I’m starting over from the beginning, I’m allowing myself to be a beginner again. In fact, it has fuelled me into making 2025 my fitness year. I’m fully locked into my character-building season as I build myself back up into a stronger, more athletic and fitter version of me.

Whether you are new to the gym, struggling to see results or are coming back from a setback or injury, do not be discouraged. This fitness thing is a marathon and not a sprint. It requires a lifestyle change. If you are ready to make 2025 your fitness year, build up your confidence and celebrate your progress along the way, I’ve got you.

You have got to be willing, able and ready to make that change. This was one of the best decisions and investments that I made for myself 12 years ago. Now that I’m fully locked in post-injury, I feel like I’m at the beginner stages right with you. These eight steps that I am sharing with you are things that you can start with today to gradually make it happen.

Making 2025 Your Success Year

When I decided to get into the gym back in 2013, I had done all the research I could do. Nothing made anything possible until I went in there and did the work. While I was grinding, I had to learn a lot of these lessons along the way. Luckily, we are now in an era where information is more accessible and we are able to learn from a variety of people’s experiences.

Building your mindset is something that you will be doing from the very beginning. The motivation of going to the gym will wear off very fast but it is your mindset that will keep you trudging along. When the going gets tough and tough gets going, that very mindset will help you to win.

Clearly Defining Your “Why”

The first thing that you need to do is set clear goals to define your “Why”. What is your reason to make this lifestyle change? Why do you want to get fit? Do you want to be healthier? Do you want to build muscle, boost energy? In my opinion, your “Why” is your sense of purpose. It is your drive behind what you are aiming to do and how you are going to do it. It has to be a strong reason to get you out of bed when you don’t feel like going. In addition, it is your opportunity to make a promise or a commitment to yourself. It is going to give your journey meaning and that will be able to push you for years to come.

Once you have clearly defined your “Why”, it is time to start setting up your goals using SMART. This approach will definitely help you to remain focused, disciplined and intentional as you gauge your progress and measure your success.

Make SMART goals for 2025

SMART means making sure that your goals are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound. A goal that fits into the SMART paradigm neatly is “I will strength training 4 times a week for the next 8 weeks”. It is a very specific goal that does not leave room for interpretation with a numerical value to help you determine your success. At the end of each week, you either performed or didn’t perform your workouts as planned.

For making your goals attainable and realistic, these will always be relative to your current fitness level and tailored towards your life and your health needs. For time-bound, most of your SMART goals should aim to take 1-3 months to achieve. Of course, some goals such as squatting your 2x your bodyweight are going to take longer to achieve, but the smaller short term goals to get there will take roughly 1-3 months.

Without putting a time-bound window on the date of achieving your goals, you are going to set yourself up for failure as there is no sense of urgency. For every goal that you set, give yourself a deadline. Even if you don’t reach it at the due date, you will be able to reassess, and adjust the goal for the next three months.

Create A Realistic Exercise Routine

Now that you have clearly defined your “Why” and set up your SMART goals, it is time to create a realistic exercise routine that fits into your lifestyle and something that you can commit to. Create a balanced workout routine that includes the following:

• Strength training – a minimum of 2-3 times a week and a maximum of 5 times a week.
• Cardio – between 3-5 times a week, depending on your goals.
• Steps – choose how many steps you want to achieve a day.
• Flexibility exercises – yoga and stretching. Aim to stretch every day after your workouts.
• Rest days – your body needs to recover. A minimum of one active rest day and one full day of rest a week.

This is going to look different for everyone depending on what your goals are and your sport-specific needs. Your cardio goal and your step count are two separate things, unless you power walk the majority of the time. For everything that is mentioned here, it is very important to gradually build up to it and not go cold turkey. If you have never worked out or had a long hiatus from the gym, jumping directly into 5 times a week is going to leave you sore. You’ll most likely suffer from delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS).

Make Healthier Food Choices in 2025

Firstly, nutrition is going to be your bread and butter into seeing the results of all the hard work that you have been putting in the gym. In order to make that happen, you need to make healthier food choices in 2025 by focusing on whole, nutrient-dense foods. These include lean proteins, whole grains, healthy fats, fruits, vegetables and fibre. For powerlifters, here’s something if you want to optimise your diet.

I know that nutrition and diet can be very difficult for most people, myself included. Ultimately, I saw more progress and results when I doubled down on my nutrition. Due to my experience with that, I want to make sure that you have all the necessary tools to set yourself up for success. Consider consulting a nutritionist, a nutrition coach or using apps to track your food. Meal prepping is a great approach to set yourself up for success this year. Secondly, stay hydrated! I have harped on about the importance of drinking water since the inception of this blog. Drinking enough water will fuel your workouts and keep your body performing well.

Tracking Your Progress

The key to measuring your success in your fitness journey is by tracking your progress. My favourite ways of tracking my progress are: recording every workout in a fitness journal. Write down the exercises that you are doing, the sets, the reps. Sometimes I like to write notes about how it made me feel, if it felt heavier than usual or cues to help my form the next time I do that workout. Another way to track your progress is by taking progress videos of your lifts and taking progress pictures frequently. You can also take body measurements and track your weight, but don’t obsess over the scale. Progress is often reflected in how you feel and how your clothes fit.

Build Small & Manageable Habits

Now that you have clearly defined your “Why”, set up your SMART goals, set up your exercise routine, how to track your progress and have tips on making healthier food choices in 2025, let’s start to build small habits. The name of the game is consistency and the only way that you are going to get there is by building small and manageable habits. I want to clarify that consistency does not mean that you have to do everything in one day or every day. Consistency will look different to everyone. Mine may look like 5 times a week and yours may look like 4 times a week. The goal is to make sure that you do it week in and week out.

If you want to build a habit to go to the gym 4 times a week to strength train for the next 8 weeks, you have to build habits that you can stick to in order to get you there. For example, you’ve decided that you want to train on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays after your night shift. You know that all you want to do after you come in is go to sleep. Firstly, you want to pack your gym bag before you go to your shift and place it by the door. In sum, you have cut out the excuse that you have to pack your things. You can come in, get dressed and leave to head to the gym.

Accountability

Secondly, have your workouts written out in your Notes app or in your physical journal. That way you get into the gym with a solid plan to follow. By doing this consistently, you are going to build a habit that is manageable for you to stick to it. Then gradually you can build upon that progress.

Learn to keep yourself accountable by finding an accountability partner and rewarding yourself to celebrate a win. A friend of mine lives in Toronto and she wants to make the gym a habit this year. We were having a conversation late last year and she said that she struggles to keep herself accountable. There is no one in her proximity that could be her accountability partner so I offered to be that for her. For her designated four days of the week, I call her to go to the gym. I stay on the phone until she is dressed and leaving to go to her gym. Once she gets there, she sends me a picture of her on the elliptical and in the weight room.

It doesn’t matter where you are around the world, you can find a friend who is willing to be your accountability partner and see you succeed.

Experiencing Setbacks

There are always going to be setbacks in this journey and that is something that you are going to have to overcome. We all had the pandemic as a setback and recently, I had my injury as a setback. What I have learnt from that is it is how you react and adjust to it that determines where you go next. The motivation that you have for the gym is going to wear off fast and this is where your “Why” comes into play. In those times, you’ve got to remind yourself of why you are doing this first place and what will happen if you just give up.

One of the things that I told myself at the beginning is that motivation can be fleeting. You can be motivated today and be in a completely different space tomorrow, yet both days have the same end goal. Motivation is not going to get you to that end point. It is the discipline that you put into those habits that you practice daily that will get you there. When you experience setbacks and injuries, don’t be discouraged. Modify your routine and give yourself grace as you recover.

Positive Self Talk For Your Mindset

In the first few years of my fitness journey, I fell into the comparison game. I kept on comparing my body to others online and that led me down a path of negative self talk. The body dysmorphia was real and it is something that nearly everyone who has made this lifestyle change has gone through. It’s important that you know what you could face. The approaches that continuously help me overcome the comparison game is positive self talk for my mindset and speaking “I am” affirmations daily.

From that point on, I knew that I had to change my mindset. I had to learn to stop comparing myself to other people and seek validation from others. I made a commitment to myself to stop the negative self talk. As I consciously worked on these things, I felt more free. I felt independent and more rooted in who I was. That is how I grew into my confidence.

Whatever you are doing to make 2025 your fitness year, I highly recommend building your mindset with positive self talk and “I am” affirmations. These will help you empower yourself, learn that you are your biggest investment and build that winner’s mindset that you need to succeed.

Make Sure To Prioritise Rest In 2025

Lastly, make sure to prioritise rest and recovery in 2025. I spoke about the power of quality sleep a couple of weeks and it still holds true today. Sleep and recovery are one of the most underrated tools when it comes to a fitness journey. When you rest, that is when your body repairs itself, gets stronger and makes those gains. Aim to sleep 7 to 9 hours a night to help your body recover and maintain energy levels for your next session. In addition, active recover is essential to reduce soreness. Go on long afternoon walks, stretch, foam roll, do yoga or go to pilates to help your body recover.

Final Thoughts

If you want to make 2025 your year, setting yourself up for success is key. You need to approach this year with clear goals, consistency and a positive mindset. Remember to stick to your plan, trust and enjoy the process and adjust when needed. Most importantly, celebrate your wins no matter how big or small they are.

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For the first fitness post of the year, I’m glad this is the one I wrote. I want all of you to succeed and grow this year. I hope this post has given you all the necessary tools and tips to set yourself up for success and make 2025 your fitness year. Make sure to hit that subscribe button to join the community and never miss out on a post. Find me on Instagram, Pinterest and TikTok for more powerlifting and wellness content.

Until next time,

Folakemi