HAPPY New Year!

I hope everyone had a great festive season and enjoyed the hard-earned break.

But now it's time to get rid of those excess pounds and make a start on your fitness journeys.

As it is January, people are setting themselves New Year's resolutions and goals to try and achieve over the coming weeks and months.

However, by the time they hit mid-Feburary, those resolutions have generally gone out the window.

This is very common so I want to try and help people find a way around this problem and keep track of their goals.

And I don't mean for a month or two, but for the rest of their lives.

So, when setting your goals, you make them SMART.

1. Specific - make sure they are suited to exactly what you need and want to achieve.

2. Measurable - make sure there are ways to see that you are improving as you go along.

3. Achievable - unrealistic goals can be very demotivating and possibly the key reason why people give up.

4. Realistic - dropping a stone in weight in a week is not going to happen and can be another knock to confidence.

5. Time - set yourself deadlines to reach smaller goals that will keep you on track. For example, 'I want to drop 5% body fat before my holiday at the end of June 2013.' Other great ways to keep you on track is pinning up self motivators around your house, whether it be a picture of someone you want to look like, a dress or trousers you want to get into or words of self motivation. By waking up every day and seeing you have goals to achieve will inspire you to go for that morning run or hit the weights.

Finally, make sure you are prepared for what you are embarking on!

If you fail to prepare, prepare to fail. This could be simple things as making your food at home ready to take to work, always having a gym bag in your car or planning your workouts at the start of the week.

There is no excuse for failure - you just have to decide how much you want to better yourself!

This blog was written by personal trainer and Bracknell Bees ice hockey player Shaun Thompson - for more info on Shaun check out www.tauruspt.co.uk or twitter @tauruspt1.