Hannah Cockroft’s exclusive new column Here is how you can make those resolutions stick
FOUR OF the top five most frequently made new year’s resolutions involve our health.
Here is how to make 2021 the year you tackle your goals.
Start off by making your resolutions more specific.
‘Lose weight’ should mean being happy with losing a kilogram.
Plan how you are going to lose the weight; is it through signing up to a gym, cutting out the weekly takeaway or by taking the stairs at work?
By starting small, the simple task of weight loss will not seem as a big of a mountain to climb and it will be easier to monitor along the way.
Keep a log of your progress. If your resolution is to ‘exercise more’, then write down, or use an app to keep track of your improvements.
I have kept a training log throughout the 13 years of my career, and it is amazing to look back at how far I have come.
For example, my 800m personal best in 2009, my first year of racing, was 2:18.28, it now stands at 1:49.85; almost 30 seconds faster!
Of course, over the years, it has jumped in massive chunks between season bests being faster and slower, and it is so easy to be disheartened when the times do not reflect the work I feel like I have put in.
For example, in 2011 my season’s best was 2:03.34 and in 2012 it dropped miles back to 2:10.35.
But, put into context, that year I became 100m and 200m Paralympic Champion, so my training changed, and I focused more on my sprints training than my endurance work, with an end goal in sight.
You might not be breaking world records, or running personal bests every session, but you will start to see patterns in your chosen exercise. Find what works for you and be proud of your body for getting you through it!
Most importantly, be sure to choose something you enjoy! We are lucky to live in a beautiful town, surrounded by fields and space, so get out and use it.
I spent every Saturday on the hills around Halifax training with my dad when I started wheelchair racing. It is free, it is fresh clean air, and it is freedom. Do not get me wrong, it is hard work but my dad always told me that if you can push fast up a hill, you can push faster on the flat, and it is something I have always stuck by.
If hills are not your thing, find a yoga class online, go for a walk with friends and family (when we are allowed), or join your local gym.
For me, my resolution will be simple; work hard and have no excuses on the start line.
My intent will probably involve all the above stereotypical aims; to lose weight, eat healthier, look after my self-care more and work harder in my exercise, but all with the end goal in sight; the Tokyo 2021 Paralympic Games.
Even as an athlete these are all things that I can still improve on because they are things that we can never perfect or get 100 per-cent right.
If your resolution this year is just to keep happy and healthy, then I wish you all the best with what 2021 has to offer.