There wasn’t much of a change this year from last year, but here is the 2023 list of the top 10 NY resolutions for the USA:
- Losing weight
- Getting in shape
- Eating healthier
- Spending more time with family and friends
- Saving more money
- Getting organized
- Drinking less alcohol and/or smoking less
- Reducing stress
- Learning a new skill or hobby
- Improving mental health
Here’s how X Gym can help with literally ALL of these, where traditional gyms might help with half of them (and that’s being generous).
New Year’s resolutions are a time-honored tradition that many people use to set goals and improve their lives. When done right (about 7% of the time – that’s another post coming soon), they can be very effective, but when done wrong, they fail miserably (the remaining 93%).
Losing weight is one of the most popular resolutions, as many people want to improve their physical health and appearance. This can be achieved through a combination of diet and exercise, such as eating more protein and vegetables, cutting back on processed foods, and incorporating regular exercise into one’s routine. To be clear, strength training is a LOUSY way to lose “weight” but a great way to trade fat for muscle, so while it might not show up very well on the scale, it sure shows up well in how clothes fit and how you look naked.
One of my favorite stories is when an X Gymer came into my office after being with us for about four months and said, “You owe me $7,000!” I said oh boy, how is that? He replied, “I had to buy all new suits, thanks to you.” He went on to explain, “My suits have to be tailored now because my shoulders, chest, and butt are too big compared to my waist, so they all have to be custom tailored now because normal people aren’t shaped like that. I merely replied with a smile and, “You’re welcome.” And he had GAINED five pounds since he joined but lost 10% bodyfat, so that’s a great example of how strength training is a lousy way to lose weight.
Getting in shape is another common resolution, as many people want to improve their physical fitness and overall health. Most normals do this through regular exercise, such as jogging, cycling, swimming, or joining a gym, as well as incorporating healthy habits. For normals, at traditional gyms, this starts with workouts requiring at least an hour, three times a week. Then, if it works, it only does for a while because they start to plateau, and then must add more time per week to keep getting results.
At X Gym, the sweet spot is 21 minutes, twice a week to get ever faster and better results. Then, as they get in better shape, they simply get better at the methodology and are able to put more into the workout, therefore getting more out of it, and never need to add more time as they get in better and better shape, avoid those pesky plateaus along the way.
Eating healthier is also a popular resolution, as many people want to improve their diet to have more energy and mental clarity, and reduce their risk of chronic diseases. This can be achieved by eating more meat and vegetables, cutting back on processed foods, eating cleaner foods (i.e. organic), reducing sugar and starch, cutting out vegetable oils, and proper hydration. The reason this is easier at X Gym is due to the online (optional) course everyone gets when they join, explaining the how and the why of all this.
Plus, X Gymers get PJ’s health and fitness newsletter, regular posts on things like nutrition tips, and even his exclusive brain type test to help figure out how to make the whole process easier and faster, with fewer hurdles, struggles, and less reliance for willpower. X Gym also has its own recipe site, packed with quick and easy fat-burning and metabolism-boosting recipes designed for busy people like those who are drawn to X Gym due to its 21 minute workout.
Spending more time with family and friends is a resolution that many people make, as they may want to improve their relationships and increase feelings of social support and happiness – especially after the lockdowns, which created a deficit in this area. The X Gym is a social place because of our personal training and group training, where people get to interact in an uplifting and non-judgemental environment. People often make friends at X Gym, too, without ever expecting that to be an effect. Humans are pack animals, so being alone – even as an introvert – is actually unhealthy and can speed aging and even disease. Getting out and around other humans is good for the health and good for the soul.
Many people nowadays are concerned with their immune systems and cautious of other people, both due to concerns of catching things from others, and also spreading things to others. Exercise is the single best thing you can do to boost your immune system, so doing it regularly makes you more resistant to catching things and passing things when you are being social. This helps people feel more confident about being around friends, family, and those they love and enjoy, so they tend to do it more.
Saving money is also a common resolution, especially now with the highest inflation in decades. Most people do this by setting a budget, reducing unnecessary expenses, and cutting back on luxuries like eating out or buying expensive clothes. It just so happens that the X Gym is about HALF the price of traditional personal trainers because we take less time, so we can! When times get tough, people tend to quit their trainer at their conventional gyms and switch to X Gym to save costs. Then they are pleasantly surprised that they are also saving time AND getting better results than where they were before!
Getting organized is a resolution that many people make, as they may want to improve their time management and increase productivity. This can be achieved by decluttering, setting priorities, and creating a schedule. All this is easier to do when you are physically fit because you have more energy, drive, and motivation, are less likely to procrastinate, which makes it easier to start those projects, but also to finish them. Plus, setting aside only 21 minutes twice a week for exercise leaves more time to do those projects!
Quitting smoking and/or drinking less is another common resolution. We all know smoking is a leading cause of preventable deaths and drinking is a leading cause of weight gain – especially visceral fat, which is the most unhealthy fat. Breaking these habits can be challenging, but there are many X Gym resources available to help, especially PJ’s brain type test and the custom brain training techniques that go with it, depending on your unique brain type.
Reducing stress is also a popular resolution, as stress can have negative effects on both physical and mental health. This can be achieved through exercise (the best way), as well as practicing relaxation techniques such as meditation, or deep breathing, or by finding healthy ways to cope with stress, such as by talking to a therapist or counselor. Many X Gymers have actually fired their counselors because of the amazing stress release, thanks to X Gym’s unique methodology and its vastly superior stress reduction benefits. We never recommend people quit their counselors, and even recommend against it, or at least talk that decision through with their therapist because that can be very helpful for many, but quite a few have done it anyway.
Learning a new skill or hobby is a resolution that many people make, as they may want to improve their mental well-being, increase their knowledge, and enjoy new experiences. This is a great thing to do for the brain and is best achieved through learning the unique methodology at the X Gym, which is quite different than traditional training (which is vastly simpler). The X Gym methodology is so unique and different that it intensively trains the brain as a result – even to the extent where people with Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, MS, and Muscular Dystrophy find amazing success.
Improving mental health is also a common resolution, as many people want to reduce stress, anxiety, and depression and increase overall well-being, especially coming out of the lockdowns and other measures imposed on society. This can be achieved by many of the same reasons and mechanisms mentioned in the paragraph above, but also through the unique movement patterns embedded in the X Gym methodology, along with the X Gym’s high intensity, yet safe exercises (not found at other gyms). This type of exertion has been show to have amazing benefits on mental health, as the neural changes in the brain are stimulated, thanks to BDNF and other chemicals and neurotransmitters being produced and released. Even depression can be alleviated with our style of exercise. When people leave their workout, just 21 minutes after they arrive, they always feel so much better and happier. It truly is remarkable!
Overall, New Year’s resolutions are a great way to set goals and make positive changes in one’s life. By focusing on the list here, or others for your own situation, you can move forward in life as you get healthier and happier with the help of the X Gym, either at their Kirkland WA gym, their extensive live online training, or their phone app.
