8 Steps to Get Fit in 2026 

Getting fit in 2026 is probably on the top of your mind. This is one of the highest energy times of year in the gym. People, including me, are feeling the effects of many holiday gatherings, a decrease in activity because of the winter, and the general grind that is the last 6 weeks of the calendar year every year. 

Fortunately, the compounding effect of those factors are that there is an increase in motivation, energy, and discipline to get back on the train in the new year. 

As a gym owner, I have seen it year over year where folks come in to the gym in January with grand plans and ideas for how their year is going to be, but too often they give in to the busy-ness that life has to offer. 

Coming from the list of reasons why people have fallen off track in the past, here are 8 steps that you can take to get fit and stay fit in 2026. 

8 Steps to a Fitter you in 2026

1. Start with your Why: Simon Sinek is well-known for his book “Start with Why” and for good reason. Any goal, business, fitness, or other should be big enough, scary enough, and challenging enough that it pulls you out of your comfort zone. Consequently, getting out of our comfort zone will leave you wondering why you started the journey in the first place, and potentially quit somewhere along the way. The beauty in the why is that it can be an anchor for you on the hard days. Odd are, you don’t want to get fit just because. It is far more likely that you want to get fit so you can… be a better spouse, parent,  live longer, take care of people in your life, etc. If you dig deep enough, you will likely find a reason for your desired fitness that will carry you through the hard days.
2. Set an end goal: This should scare you. It should make you a little uncomfortable. But it should also be at the far reaches of believable, meaning there is a little belief in you that you could accomplish it. This would be the thing that you want to accomplish by December 31st, 2026. From here, pick smaller, more manageable goals as you build the progress, fitness, and discipline in your pursuit. 
3. Start small: Too often people make the mistake of making these big dramatic pattern changes in their lives that ultimately cause too much friction to sustain. People who never worked out regularly aim to add 6+ hours of fitness per week. Inevitably, the practice and priority isn’t there so other factors begin to interfere with and disrupt the fitness pursuit. Rather, picking a habit that can be done in 5 minutes per day over the course of 6-7 days per week, eventually the results from that small change will redefine the priority and allow the habit to stick. 
4. Consistency over intensity: In the gym, we talk a lot about moving consistently well and then executing intensity where you can move consistently well. The same can be said about how you pursue getting fit this year. The rewards often come from small changes and decisions made over a long period of time. People will greatly overestimate how fit they can get in a month and dramatically underestimate how fit they can get in a year with consistent imperfect actions. 
5. Follow a program : This one is about eliminating friction from the process. You are likely not trained in strength and conditioning or anything in fitness. You probably have the head knowledge to know you should do something, but the weight of picking that something to do for 300 of the next 365 days is probably terrifying. With that said, find a coach or a program that will meet you where you are at and build the program that is perfect to you, whether that is 6x/week for 5 minutes per day or 3x/week for 60 minutes per day. Regardless, find someone or something that will take away the guess work. Then, stick with it.
6. Track your progress: This step is critical, whether you are gauging your fitness on how you look, how you feel, or what your body can do (my personal favorite), then tracking how you progress over time is critical to your pursuit of that goal. For example, if your definition of fitness is to get stronger, then you better find ways to measure and track your strength through this process. It can be something as simple as how many perfect push ups you can complete in 1 minute to a new Deadlift PR. Regardless, tracking through the highs and lows of a year’s worth of training will inevitably show that with consistency, you will trend in the positive direction, guaranteed.  
7. Find a friend: Fitness, progress, life. All are better with friends and people to share it with. No, you don’t have to join a community if you don’t want to. No, you don’t have to even get a gym membership at all if you don’t want to. Yes, you should find someone who is going to walk with you on the days that you don’t want to. Some one who is going to celebrate the small wins along the way with you. Someone is who is going to remind you of why you started this fitness path in the first place on the hardest days to remember it.
8. Put something on the calendar: This is one of my personal favorites. I love to have something on that calendar can provide a little external motivation to show off the fitness that I have been working on. This could be a 5k event, a Hyrox event, a CrossFit competition, and Deka or Spartan Race. The type of “thing” doesn’t really matter in this case, rather have something that you are looking forward to can work in the same way as knowing your why. Seeing the fruits of your labor goes a long way in reinforcing that what you are doing, while hard, is meaningful and worthwhile.  

If you are looking for some help, coaching, or guidance on any of the 8 steps, book a meeting today to talk through them with a coach.