Why You Should Start Your New Years Fitness Resolution in December (And Never January)

Author: Billy Storm

2026 is just around the corner, and the worst thing you could do is start planning New Year's Resolutions that you’ll start in January. 

This is true especially for fitness goals. 

If you truly want to be your fittest, proudest, and most high-testosterone self, the time to start is December. 

It’s your best set-up for success, and you’ll be amazed at how much easier it is to cultivate the healthy habits that really change your life. 

Here’s why: 

1. You’ll Own the Holidays 

For many people, the Holidays are the last hurrah for unhealthy living. Between late December and New Year’s Eve, there’s plenty of feasting, dessert eating, and binge drinking. 

But if you have your resolutions set up ahead of time, you can own the holidays instead of having the holidays own you. 

You can still allow yourself to have fun, but you’ll have a plan. It might be something as simple as “One slice of pie only” or “Only 3 drinks on New Year’s Eve.” It might be a very lenient plan, compared to other days of the year.. But you will have something in place. 

Make no mistake, holiday calories do count. Having multiple binges of food and alcohol can mess up your metabolism for a while, and the effects can easily seep into January. It may feel like you just hit the “refresh button” when 2026 comes, but last year really did happen. 

If you get everything aligned now, you’re going to have a lot more self-control, and that creates so much more success in the months to come. 

2. You’ll Own the Gym 

Do you know what every serious lifter’s least favorite month is? 

January. 

Because that’s when all the newbies and New Year’s Resolution types come in. The gym is crowded with people who barely know how to use the machines. And these newbies are not taken seriously by the gym regulars. They’re seen as a nuisance, instead of part of the gym’s community. 

So you can be one of these newbies… or you can be the gym rat complaining about them. 

The good news is that you can be a “veteran” lifter, even if you started going to the gym two weeks before January 1. 

You’ll get that self-righteous feeling of “This is MY island, not yours!” and that’s more than a self-righteous ego boost. It’s an identity shift. It means the gym is your territory to defend. And once you’ve taken that kind of ownership, it is so much easier to naturally have the motivation to keep going to the gym, day after day. 

A lot of getting fit is simply changing how you see yourself. When you take the identity of a man who works out regularly, it’s harder not to lift than to do it. 

So start hitting the gym now. You’ll immediately feel the difference once the January crowd comes in. 

3. You’ll Opt Out of the Peer Approval Trap 

There’s a lot of disagreement in the self-help world on whether it helps to announce your goals or not. On one hand, telling your friends and family adds accountability. That makes it embarrassing if you slip back into bad habits. 

On the other hand, telling people about your goals can give you a dopamine buzz that feels like you’ve already gotten the reward for achieving the goal. 

When you hear, “I’m impressed,” or “That’s awesome! Good for you!” for a goal you haven’t even started yet… you are getting an advance on those good feelings. 

This tends to make often-difficult work of pursuing the goal more tiring. On a brain chemical level, you have less to look forward to, since you’ve already been paid. That means your motivation starts to dry up faster. 

If you start your goals in December, it’s easier to stay quiet about it. No one’s talking about December resolutions, so you can start locking in those habits invisibly. Then when January hits, you already have momentum. You’ll avoid all that self-sabotage that comes from celebrating your wins too soon. 

4. You’ll Skip the 2026 Disorientation 

Do you know why New Year's Resolutions usually fail? It’s not just because it’s hard to change a habit. 

January is a disorienting month, period. Most businesses have a surge of activity, so your work likely gets more intense. Added to this, there’s the tendency for bosses to expect more productivity to make up for the slack of the past month. 

Visually, the landscape changes as all the holiday decorations and songs quietly vanish and everyone tries to pivot back to normalcy at once. 

Even writing “2026” on every check, journal entry, datebook, or sign-in sheet takes some brain power. 

Because of all this, January is one of the hardest months to start a new habit. 

That’s why starting in December lets you hit the ground running. You’ve already got your habit in place, even if it’s been a little choppy around the holiday season. 

You know what foods you’re going to eat. You know where to buy them. You know your way around the gym. If you’ve joined a new running club, you don’t have the awkwardness of introducing yourself to everybody, because you met them weeks ago. 

Instead of “figuring it out,” you are now doing. 

And that’s what makes a resolution stick: the habit of doing. Start bringing those habits together now. You don’t have to be perfect. You just have to start. 

About the Author: Billy Storm is a fitness researcher and creator of the Body of Brutality training system. Storm has spent years studying muscle growth, physiology, and the psychological impacts of different body types across cultures. His work focuses on unconventional approaches to building strength and presence, including research into nutrition's effects on hormone levels and specialized training techniques.