From Resolutions to Results: The 9-Step System for Sustainable Health

Ready to ditch the New Year’s resolutions that never stick? In this episode, Aaron Shaw, founder of Healthspan PhysioCoaching, reveals why over 90% of resolutions fail—and how you can break the cycle with a simple, proven system to create lasting habits.

🚨 What’s Inside:

•Why traditional resolutions don’t work (and who benefits when you fail).

•The hard truth: Goals are cheap, but systems deliver results.

•Aaron’s 9-step system to build a workout routine you can sustain all year long.

•How small, consistent actions lead to big, life-changing healthspan improvements.

💡 Whether you’re starting from scratch or need a reset, this episode is your blueprint for turning aspirations into action and building a healthier, longer life.

🔑 Key Takeaways:

•Systems > Goals: “You don’t rise to the level of your goals; you fall to the level of your systems.”

•Start small: Build habits you can maintain for years.

•Be consistent: It’s about showing up, not being perfect.

👋 Let’s Connect:

•Email me with the Subject “System” and the 3 days you’ll work out each week!

•Need accountability? DM or email Aaron for support.

🔗 Get Aaron’s Free 3-Week Training Plan: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/sl/7tsijpD/Kickstarter3Wks 

💪 Live longer. Live stronger. Build your healthspan. 💪

#Healthspan #HealthyHabits #FitnessMotivation #SustainableLiving #NewYearsGoals #MiddleAgedFitness #StrengthTraining #Resolutions

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Transcript

From resolutions to results. Do not make any goals for new year's resolutions. Do not set a body weight goal. Do not set a pushup goal. Do not set a goal for running a 5k or a 10k. Do not set the goal for never having dessert anymore or no more booze. No more traditional resolutions. They do not work. The only

people that benefit from the traditional New Year's resolutions or any resolution for that matter are gyms. They will take your annual dues or your monthly payments knowing full well that 90 % of people or more than 90 % of people who start off a new year with big resolutions, big goals for what they're to do with this next year, 90 plus percent don't actually follow through with it. They don't do it. They are

Sadly, they fail at completing the resolution and they really want to and they really want in their heart and maybe this sounds like you. But ultimately, goals mean nothing without a system. Goals, frankly, they're just not impressive. mean, you can tell me you want to be an ultra runner, but unless you're running all the time now and your life is designed for you to be an ultra runner, it doesn't mean anything. You can have

big, huge lofty goals. Goals are cheap. just, you can spit them out back and, you know, over and over and over again. So they don't matter. The question is, what is your system that is going to get you where you want to be? And because I'm a coach, the conversations that I have a lot of people, with me in social settings, meeting new people that often said, people often say,

Well, yeah, you know, I get these, you know, this is the goal I want to have and I can do it. I know I can totally do it. I just need to go to the gym a few days a week and stop eating so much junk food. Great. So that's not incorrect. But my response is tell me more. Meaning, okay, totally get that. That makes sense. What are you going to do? How are you going to do that? And when I say, me more, it's crickets because once it gets beyond the idea of

in our head, in my head, I, I see myself being this way. want to be this healthy person, this fit person that has this much physical capacity or, know, my metabolic health is good or my body weight is good. And, know, my primary care doctor is going to be so proud of me. That's good to see, but until you have a system, a sustainable system on how you're going to achieve that, the goals don't mean anything. The resolutions don't mean anything. Even when it's a.

big new year's resolution and this is the year it doesn't mean anything. The good news is today in this episode, I'm going to spell out an exact system step by step. It was like eight or nine steps to this, but they're very short, small, simple steps, but I'm going to explain the exact steps that you need to take starting today to be stronger and healthier in the coming months and the coming year and beyond. And

The key with this is that it's a system. It is a system. So regardless of your goals, we need to have a system that will deliver us to where we want to be, not just focus on where that is, what that looks like.

My name is Aaron Shaw. am from HealthSpan Physio Coaching and I have been a strength and conditioning specialist and an occupational therapist and a lover of all things related to longevity and health. I've been in practice since 1996. So you can do the math. It's been a long time I've been in this space, specifically HealthSpan. HealthSpan is the length of time within our lifespan that we are healthy, active, vibrant and free from preventable diseases and conditions.

My clients are not athletes. All of them have been athletic and I would argue continue to be athletic. And I try to encourage people to think of themselves as athletes, regardless of age. But they are certainly not people that if I ask them point blank, are you an athlete? They would say, no, no, no, I'm not an athlete. I'm trying to lose weight. I'm trying to feel stronger. I'm trying to overcome an injury. All of my clients are middle age, dealing with hormone changes, loss of muscle mass.

slowed metabolism, an accumulation of injuries. And since I am in my 50s, I can attest to all of these inconvenient changes. They're very real. I'm not really happy about them, but they are what they are. And it is all that more important, especially as we age, especially as we step deeper and deeper into middle age, that we control the things that we can control. And this is exactly the point that I want to make today and the point that I make with all my

episodes and my coaching is that there is always something that we can control. And today I don't want to talk about controlling your goals, whatever you paint a picture of what your goals are, because frankly, those are easy to come up with. What's much harder and takes more thought and more effort is coming up with a system, a system that is sustainable

the way that we make decisions and the way that we create our lifestyle needs to be so sustainable that if you look at it, I think of it in this way that if you can't do something for seven years, don't do it for seven days. That goes for dieting, that goes for exercising, anything really. And that is where in no small part why so many resolutions, New Year's resolutions or seasonal resolutions or birthday resolutions or this is gonna do this big change.

is that we often come out of the guns ablaze and thinking, okay, starting today, I'm going to go to the gym seven days a week and I'm going to be a vegetarian and I'm going to drink five glasses of water a day. I'm not going to have any dessert ever and just do these things that are so extreme and that perhaps on paper are very logical on your physical health for a period of time may actually improve, but it's not sustainable.

And so therefore people set themselves up to fail. And it's because they are overly ambitious, a little bit unrealistic, and ultimately don't have a sustainable system that is not just going to help, drop those few pounds or get a little bit more muscle or build your cardiovascular health a little bit, but you can do them today, tomorrow, next week, next month, six months from now.

One year from now, you could see what your weekly schedule looks like and think, yeah, I can totally do that. That's not a big deal. That's reasonable versus if you were, if you decided to do intermittent fasting and every other day you're not eating anything at all, or you you're doing these big long fasts, you know, suffering through those for the first few days and think, my gosh, is this going to be the rest of my life? I'm going to feel this hungry all the time. Well, maybe that's not sustainable. My system, which I will.

spare the big details of, but basically my system for my lifestyle, for my health has enabled me to maintain a level of health, maintain a level of fitness, constantly pursuing. constantly trying to improve. But I'm recording this on what I've tracked here. So this is Thanksgiving week that I'm recording this. This is the 48th week of the year. And I apologize if this sounds like a little brag-ish, but

I just want to say this as a reflection of a system that is really automated. My life is automated. is arguably repetitive and boring, but I have been to the gym 130 times so far this year, a little bit less than three days per week. And that's great. So it's resistance training. I'm in my 50s. need to, my body is only trying to become more more frail day to day, moment to moment. I have to invest in a way to

maintain my healthspan, my lifespan, my longevity, and that requires going to the gym requires resistance training. And I do that about on average, almost three times per week. Equally, I do the same number of times per week on cycling, whether that's indoor training or out of my mountain bike, ideally. And I sprinkle in seasonally, skiing and snowboarding. I've gone on several days of hiking and also plenty of rest days built in there.

those numbers, it was nice for me to kind look back and say, wow, those numbers have really started to add up, but it is sustainable. It is a system. I don't think about it. And if you were to ask me, as we're kind of approaching a new year, as I record this again, do I have any new year's resolutions? You know, what are my goals? Well, I don't really have them. You know, my goal, if you will, would be to just have this sustainable system continue. You know, I can always finesse things here and there a little bit, but

having just this system, these habits in my life that enable me to consistently show up and do the things that improve my health, that's the win. The health that follows is the result of the system, the result of these habits. Lifespan, this physical durability, resilience, quicker recovery from illness and injury, happen. is emotional strength and stability, it's better self-esteem.

And these are, these occur for all of us, not because we have goals because I mean, if goals were just by saying them, you achieve them, then everybody would be perfect and live forever and do amazing things. It's entirely because I have a system. So has this ever happened to you? If you ever started off the year with high hopes for a resolution that ends up kind of fizzling, fizzling out the end of January, the end of February. So.

That is very common. You're in good company and I can certainly look back to the time of my life where I was in the same boat and we can relate to the highs and lows on the excitement of like, I'm to do it this year. I'm going to, you know, achieve these things that I really wanted to achieve. And then it gets tough and in this frustration. if you're, unfortunately, if you're like the majority, they fizzle out and nothing really changes.

So what we need to do is come up with a playbook, if you will, that will make sure that that buzz you have early in the resolution phase or goal setting phase, a system that will make it sustainable.

I will have to point out that you are not alone in feeling frustrated, perhaps frustrated with yourself. When you're not achieving the goals that you set out for yourself or your resolution, your personal resolve doesn't match where you want to be, doesn't enable you to achieve the things you want, it's not because you're weak, it's not because you're lazy, it's not because of anything other than

having a lack of an infrastructure to help you achieve the things that you want to achieve. So there are some common pitfalls with setting resolutions and setting big goals. Number one, they are often far too vague. if, again, if I had a penny for every time somebody said, I want to get healthier or I want to lose weight. Great. Those are great things perhaps, but it is so vague. How do you measure getting healthier?

without having clear numbers, measurable things, it's really hard to know when you've even achieved these things. Another common pitfall is people want to, they try to do too much at once. So for example, I'm gonna change my diet, I'm gonna change my sleep time, my wake up time, I'm gonna change what I have for breakfast, dinner and lunch. I'm gonna change the shows that I watch, cause I end up staying too late to watch the shows.

And I'm also going to start going to a brand new gym or starting to take a new fitness class, which I've never done before. And I'm going to do that certain class on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, another class on Saturday and Sundays. It's like, my goodness, like that is like for me, if somebody started from scratch, everything I just said there, that's a lot. And I wouldn't even try to put the pieces together for nine months to build that in any sort of way that even might be possible to sustain. I'm not even sure if it would be.

So people try to do too much at once.

Which reminds me of there's this quote by James Clear, Atomic Habits. So if you haven't read that book, please read that book. He said, you do not rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems. You do not rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems. I think it's a good thing to remember that the systems, or perhaps the lack of a system, which is another common pitfall.

the lack of a system or the lack of accountability is a major problem with achieving resolutions, with achieving goals for health, fitness and everything, frankly. Another common pitfall is scrolling social media to find your next workout. And if you're scrolling social media on YouTube and you're watching this right now, yes, this is generalized advice, generalized information, not entirely specific to you, but if you find yourself on social media,

scrolling your way through like, am going to do for a workout? What are my next things I should be doing for my nutrition or the gym? That is a common pitfall. is not the worst thing in the world, perhaps, if you happen to stumble upon some information that fits nicely with where you're at and what you're looking for, but it's kind of a roll of the dice. Not the safest way to, or even the best chance for you to achieve the goals that you want for your health, healthspan, longevity.

Another common pitfall exercise, be exercise is being hard to be clear. This goes for people who kind of seeing a local personal trainer down the street, who their job is, it's a tough job to be in because they need to make sure that their clients who are coming in feel the value. But simply making exercises hard or workouts hard isn't enough. Anybody can make an exercise hard. Anybody.

But it is harder to make exercise routines sustainable. It's harder to make an exercise routine a habit that occurs for days, weeks, months, and years. That takes far more skill, far more patience, far more resilience, a lot more accountability and really leadership and a really good relationship either with yourself and your own programming of what you're doing or a close relationship with a coach or a trainer.

to make sure that what you're doing is the long haul. We're talking about lifespan here.

Last common pitfall I will mention is not having a plan. So not having a plan and just thinking that to go back to what I mentioned at first, I'm going to go to the gym a couple of days a week and, and eat better. And that's not really a plan. That's just spit balling and saying words, but without a plan, the chance of success is small.

So let's think about impressive health accomplishments. And these, these, should ring true for everybody. Cause I think we all know somebody who's run a marathon or run a half marathon or even 10 K somebody who is, we know somebody who's trained to run a 10 K and they said, this year I'm going to run a 10 K and they, you know, followed a plan. They ran their 10 K and then they kind of stopped running. And of course you get the medal and you get the t-shirt. That's great.

And in that moment of completing it, a 10 K or half marathon, that's great. There's obviously a lot of, demands that go into being able to achieve that. But to me, what's even more impressive would be to meet somebody who says they run three days a week and they've been running three days a week for five years straight or 10 years straight. And maybe they've never run an event. They've never pinned on a number.

and run a 10K or a 5K or a half marathon or marathon, but they run all the time consistently. So this person would have to have a system that enables them, the habit to continue to train on and on and on and on. Now that is impressive. And to me, it's far more impressive than somebody who had the quote goal of running a 10K or running a half marathon in and of itself.

So we're going to today, we're going to go through the system that's going to help you make sure that you are the person more like the person who runs day in day out, year in year out, as opposed to somebody who comes in with one specific pinpoint goal does it, and then falls off the wagon.

Because the hard truth that we have to talk about is there's a difference between having systems or discipline over motivation because motivation is fleeting. motivation kind of comes and goes. And if you're going to wait, if you're going to depend on waking up on any given day and being motivated to move your body in the right way, sleep the right way, eat the right way, forget about it. You know, and from somebody who, again, I

Exercise often, almost every day and eat well and all that other stuff. or excuse me, motivation is not part of my equation. It is discipline. is routines, it's systems that carry me through when, the excitement of a goal wears off when the excitement of something new wears off. The reality is exercise in and of itself is boring. Exercise is tedious.

Nowhere else is boring and tedious. Brushing teeth. But yet I do it twice a day and you probably do it twice a day. It's boring. Nobody thinks, yay, I get to brush my teeth again. No, it's boring. I have to do this thing because I don't want my teeth to fall out of my face. That's it. That's why I'm doing it. And yet we do it because we've integrated it into our habit, into our system, our system of waking up before we take on the day, our system of shutting down for the night. We have a system for brushing our teeth.

And it happens. It's not a matter of being motivated or unmotivated. It doesn't matter. We should do it anyhow. It doesn't matter anything else. It is systematized. So when we think about

Discipline I want to make sure that we're focusing on not being perfect and all the things that we do But it's about showing up. It's about showing up and Again to reflect on the numbers of my days that I you know show up to the gym I show up for a bike ride or a ride or a training ride where I'm really trying to specifically gain fitness It's not always coming in at a hundred percent, you know, sometimes it's 60 percent 70 percent It's just showing up and making sure that regardless of motivation

Regardless of anything else going on, my world is designed in a way that I show up, I do the best I can with the fuel I have, the mental headspace that I happen to have in that moment. And I do the thing. I invest in my physical fitness, invest in my healthspan.

So even give yourself a little slack and permission that even when you don't feel totally up to doing something, when you know it's the right thing to do, your system is going to say, just show up, just keep doing it.

So I want you to write this down. This is exactly how to have a successful workout habit. This is kind of assuming you're starting from zero. So if you're starting from zero and thinking, man, I just need to not just talk about getting fit and talk about being healthy. I need to actually do the thing, I had, you've had trouble starting and stopping sticking with it. Here is the system for you. Write this down. The first.

part of this system you're going to like. You may have already done it.

The first thing you're going to do to have a system for consistently exercising to improve your physical health, your lifespan and healthspan. Number one, buy some exercise clothes. Yeah, thankfully most people in the U S have drawers full of clothes that are really designed like the latest technology that will wick sweat and be comfortable and be tolerant. All you're jumping and moving around. That's great. Step one, if you don't have, if you're one of the

If you're the one person who doesn't already have this stuff, invest a little bit into some exercise clothing that is going to feel good to wear, be a little motivating, get you started. Number two, invest in a gym membership, something local to you, something that's easy to access, extra credit if you find kind of a smaller shop, independent business, great. Invest in a membership. Put your money where your mouth is, put your money where your heart's going to be.

where you want your future better self to be, you're worth the investment. Number three, pick a specific time of day that you're going to exercise three days a week. It could be 7 a.m., could be 5 a.m., could be 5 p.m., could be 7 p.m., could be noontime, whatever that is, three days a week. What exact specific time of day are you going to exercise? And write this down. Number four,

You're going to pick three days that you're going to go to the gym. Only three days. Do not pick five days a week, six days a week, seven days a week, three days a week, absolutely no more than three days a week.

and make sure that those days are going to be compatible with your routine. So if you have crazy work days on certain days, then maybe don't pick those days, but also acknowledge that there are going to be some changes that are going to have to happen, perhaps, if you're not going to the gym currently, if you don't have a bunch of open time to do something.

So that was the fourth thing. So, so far you've bought clothes. Awesome. You've got yourself a gym membership. Great. You've picked specific times to go to the gym three days a week. You've picked the specific days of the week. You're going to go to the gym, get four things done. That's great. The fifth thing you're going to do in your system to exercise consistently is to have a plan. What are you going to do when you get to the gym?

You can find plans online. I will attach a free three week training program that I put together that is free. It doesn't cost anything. It's actually designed specifically three days a week. Very simple to follow. No previous experience necessary, but have a plan when you go into the gym. That's number five. The sixth thing that you should do is meet a trainer, meet a personal trainer at your local gym and interview them. them.

you know, some tips to get you started, maybe point you in the right direction, maybe give you a free session or two and get you started on the right foot. But please be open, honest with your trainer, with your personal trainer, and let them know of any aches or pains you've had, any injuries you've had, your exercise history. And with all due respect, if your personal trainer happens to be, an 18 or 20 year old kid who's

never been injured a day before in their life and they're full of all these beautiful hormones that make them strong and beautiful and awesome. You may need to kind of tell them to tap the brakes a little bit. If you are like me, a middle-aged guy, like, yeah, I'm not going to start doing crazy Olympic lifts. So have an open and honest conversation with them. Ask them if they have worked with people that fit your demographic, that are like you, that are your age, that have your aches and pains. The seventh thing, and this is

Obviously not in specific order, but probably the most important thing is you will need to go into the gym. So you've got your days, you've got the time of day, you've got your fancy clothes, you've got the gym membership. Maybe you've already had an intro with a personal trainer. You have to walk into the gym. You have to go to the gym, open the door and walk inside. And when you do this, hold your head high. It is very respectable and I don't care what you think your body looks like. You could be 500 pounds.

overweight, never exercised before a day in your life. You could feel completely foreign to you. But 99.9 % of the time when you walk into a gym, when you walk into a place that you are going to intentionally invest in yourself, you are surrounded by people that are trying to do the same thing. And I can assure you that everybody is so self-conscious of themselves that they couldn't give a crap about the way you look, about your experience with it, about how awkward you feel.

It's just you doing your thing to take care of yourself. Maybe with the help of a personal trainer, just to kind of make sure you're safe doing things, but walk in, hold your head high, ask questions. You're in a safe place. If for some reason you go into a gym and you're getting kind of, you're feeling like you're getting some weird side eye or some questionable comments around you, then you're in the wrong place. Go to someplace else. Should be a very, gyms should be a very safe place for everybody. All experience, all shapes and sizes.

Doesn't matter.

The eighth thing to do in your system that you're building in is to do three exercises, no more than three exercises of moderate intensity. So no matter what these exercises are, they should not be brutally hard. They should feel pretty safe, a little bit challenging, but just leave it at three. Three exercises. Again, this is for those of you that are starting out trying to get a habit formed.

I don't want you doing any more than three exercises and I would want you to go to the gym seven days a week. It's just too much to start with. What we're doing here is building a sustainable system, a sustainable habit, very easy to sequence, very approachable, not overwhelming. You do the three exercises and then what do you do? Then you move on to step nine of this system and you leave. You walk out the door. That is it. You're done. So from the top, these nine things, these nine

Steps of the system are as follows. Some of these you just do once. You don't even need to keep doing them. You go by gym clothes, number one. Number two, get a gym membership. Number three, pick a specific time to exercise. Number four, pick three specific days to exercise. Number five, have a plan. Number six, meet with a personal trainer. Find a good one. Number seven, walk into the gym with your head held high.

Number eight, do three exercises. Three exercises only, moderate intensity. Not crazy hard, moderate intensity. Not super easy, but moderately hard. Last but not least, number nine, you leave, you go home. And if you go home and you feel like, I feel like I could have done more, fine, that's great. Because the good news is in another couple of days, you're gonna go back to the gym, but you're gonna repeat the system again and again and again and again, and you're gonna keep doing it.

And the results will be as follows in three months. So in 12 weeks, you're going to have gone to the gym 36 times. That's pretty impressive. You will. mean, if you're doing any sort of effort. Over the course of those three months with those exercises, with those three exercises, 36 times, you are creating physiological changes in your body. Your body is literally changing. Literally changing for the better. mean, all.

There's I've done other other episodes on the, you know, the physiological benefits of health benefits of exercise, of resistance training. And the list is very, very long. 36 times that's in just 12 weeks. If you do that for a year, you're well over a hundred visits to the gym three days a week. You've picked the three days. You've picked the three times. You've got your nice gym clothes going on. You've been doing three exercises and yeah, of course, after six months or so, will you probably be doing more than three exercises when you go to the gym?

Yeah, probably. But even if you just did three thoughtful exercises, three days a week of moderately challenging effort with all these exercises, your body is going to change. Guaranteed. That's the way your body works. It will adapt in ways that will help you live a longer life and reap all the benefits of, of having stimulated your body to change. You will live longer.

you will be, you will be the person who is in charge of your health. You will be, that guy. And when you go to the gym, often enough, you will recognize similar people, similar faces, and you will see, if you look across the gym, like, there's that guy who's always doing pull-ups or there's that woman over there who's always doing bridges. You're going to be one of those people because I'm going to see you doing your thing.

And there's that person doing XYZ. There she is doing that. There he is doing that. it's, it's Tuesday at two o'clock. This guy's always here every Tuesday at two o'clock. Yeah. You are going to be that person. You will live longer and you're going to be a role model for your family and friends. And I feel like I've, I don't always mention this in my podcast or, you know, when I talk to clients sometimes, but you should be exercising first and foremost for yourself, but I am

pretty damn sure that you have people who love you and who want you to be alive and want you to be a part of their life and want you to be healthy and free from preventable illnesses or diseases or whatnot. do this for yourself, but also it's an investment in your relationships and investment with the people that you love, your family, your friends, your parents, your kids. It is worth developing a system that is sustainable for you to be healthier.

as part of your resolution. And whether this is a New Year's resolution, whether it's a birthday resolution or whether you just woke up today, accidentally came across this podcast and today you're going to resolve to start something new and start something that you can sustain because you're going to create a system. Great. One thing you can do today to extend your healthspan is comment on this video if you're watching on YouTube or shoot me an email if you're listening to this on

any of the podcast platforms. there's a way to email me directly from the podcast platform and just say the word system and the three days of the week that you plan on training. Just shoot me a message says system Monday, Wednesday, Friday, I will reply to everybody who does that. And I want you to use me as a resource. Use me as an accountability partner. If you get, if you try doing it and you've, after a week or two, you kind of fall off the wagon or you have a hard time kind of like pushing through.

Use me as a resource. If you don't feel comfortable doing that, use your personal trainer as a resource. Use your neighbor, use your family and friends. Get some accountability around you to help. We all need help. We all need some support to make sure that you are tweaking and fine tuning your personal system that makes sure that you will achieve, achieve big goals over time. And first and foremost, it is the,

breath of healthspan, this long duration of time within our lifespan that you are healthy. That is key. That's what I'm here for. That's what I love talking about. I appreciate your time and attention. always, if you have any ideas on future episodes, shoot me a message. And as always, stay healthy, build a system, stick with it. Cheers.