In a few weeks, I’ll hit my 20th New Year chasing my own fitness goals.
Twenty.
That’s twenty Januarys of “this is the year,” twenty waves of motivation, and (if I’m honest) more than a few years where the spark didn’t survive past spring.
If you’ve felt that yo-yo, you’re not broken. You’re normal. Roughly 80% of people abandon their New Year’s resolutions by February. Another study found only about 9–10% actually see them through. It’s not because everyone suddenly becomes lazy. It’s because the way most of us are taught to “do resolutions” is fundamentally flawed.
But after two decades in this game training myself, coaching Warriors, and building Infitnite, I’ve seen what actually sticks.
So in this Intellect post, I want to strip away the noise and give you the only tips you actually need to hit your fitness goals in 2026… and keep them.
No hacks. No “new year, new you” fluff.
Just a few core principles you can actually live.
Tip 1: Stop waiting for January. Plant the tree today.
You’ve probably heard the quote:
“The best time to plant a tree was 10 years ago. The second best time is today.”
When it comes to your health, that’s not a motivational poster. That’s physics.
Your body doesn’t know what the calendar says. It only knows what you repeatedly do.
Most people live in “Resolution Mode”:
“I’ll start on January 1st.”
“I’ll start on Monday.”
“I’ll start after the holidays / this trip / this busy season.”
But every time you delay, you train one thing: the habit of waiting.
Behavior scientists like BJ Fogg (Tiny Habits) have shown that big, dramatic goals tend to fail because they rely too much on motivation, which naturally swings up and down. What works better? Tiny actions you can start now.
Plant the tree by doing something so small it’s almost stupid:
1 ten-minute walk after dinner.
1 glass of water before your first coffee.
1 push-up every time you boot up a game.
Logging just one meal per day.
You don’t need a full 6-day split, a perfect macro plan, and a new wardrobe to “begin.” You need one seed in the ground.
2026 doesn’t start in January. It starts the moment you take a real action.
Tip 2: Pull the weeds before you plant more trees.
Here’s where most people mess up:
They keep trying to “add” more good habits on top of a garden full of weeds.
When I say weeds, I mean the stuff that actively chokes your progress:
Late-night snacking on autopilot.
Scrolling in bed until 1–2am.
“Pizza + drinks + Uber Eats” every weekend.
Skipping the gym anytime stress hits.
Snacking through movies or gaming sessions without thinking.
There are two levels to dealing with weeds:
Trimming – You reduce the frequency or size.
Example: You don’t quit gaming snacks forever, but you move from seven nights a week to two.
You don’t cut Netflix, but you set a hard cutoff time and stick to it three nights a week instead of none.
Uprooting – You rip the weed out by the root.
Example: No food after 10 pm.
No soda in the house at all.
No “door dash roulette” on weekdays.
The key is self-awareness:
What are your biggest weeds right now?
When and where do they show up?
Are they worth trimming, or do they need to go?
Before you obsess over the “perfect” workout plan, look at the weeds that are stealing 500–1500 calories a week, wrecking your sleep, or nuking your recovery.
You can’t grow a strong tree in a garden full of weeds.
Tip 3: Fix your soil and sunlight: design your environment to win.
You can’t grow an oak in concrete.
Your “soil” is your environment both physical and digital. If your environment is built for convenience, distraction, and instant pleasure (which modern life absolutely is), you are fighting uphill every single day.
A few examples:
Kitchen:
Snacks on the counter? You’ll eat them.
Water buried in the back of the fridge? You’ll “forget” it.
Phone:
TikTok food pages and late-night scrolling? That’s engineered for dopamine, not discipline.
Fitness content that’s all aesthetics and no education? That just creates comparison, not clarity.
Workout space:
A toxic or judgmental gym where you feel watched, not supported.
A “home gym” that’s really a corner of chaos, toys, laundry, and distractions.
Environment > willpower over the long term.
So your job for 2026 is to become the gardener:
Move the junk food out of sight or out of the house.
Keep water visible and ready.
Curate your social feeds: follow people who lift you up, not just people who “look” how you want to look.
Choose a training space that actually motivates you:
A community gym with good energy.
A quiet hours schedule where your home is distraction-free.
A club, class, or online community where people are actually doing the work.
In Infitnite, a big part of our design is this:
You’re not just grinding alone. You see other Warriors logging quests, sharing wins, asking for help. That’s intentional environmental design. It quietly reminds you: “People like me do things like this.”
Your environment should make the right choice easier and the wrong choice less convenient.
Tip 4: Use a real map, not random side quests.
Most resolutions die not because the person lacks effort… but because the plan is nonsense.
What most people do:
Grab a random workout from YouTube.
Copy a bodybuilder split that was never meant for beginners.
Jump onto the latest diet their coworker swears by.
Try to train 5–6 days a week when they’ve barely managed one.
Then when life hits, the whole thing collapses.
A real map does three things:
Connects all three disciplines:
Combat – your training (strength, cardio, mobility).
Alchemy – your nutrition (calories, protein, habits around food).
Intellect – your mindset and habits (sleep, stress, self-talk, environment).
Most people focus on one, dabble in a second, and ignore the third. No wonder things fall apart.
Matches your actual life, not your fantasy life.
If you can realistically train 3 days a week, build around that.
If you travel, have kids, or work shifts, your plan needs to account for that, not pretend you live in a training montage.
Includes a plan for plateaus and “life happens” moments.
What happens when you get sick?
When you blow your calories out at a birthday?
When work explodes for a week?
If your plan doesn’t already have “what to do when things go wrong” baked in, it’s not a plan. It’s a wish.
In Infitnite, that’s why we use Avatar Programs and Skills: structured, tested quests that line up training, nutrition, and habits into one coherent path instead of twelve random side quests.
In 2026, stop winging it. Use a map.
Tip 5: Choose habits you can keep for life.
Here’s a question I wish more Warriors would ask before starting a program:
“Can I see myself doing some version of this for the next 5–10 years?”
Not perfectly. Not every day. But in spirit.
Because here’s what the stats tell us: vague, extreme, or all-or-nothing goals fail. Goals that are specific, realistic, and broken into small steps have a much higher success rate.
Examples:
Unsustainable habit: “No carbs, ever again.”
Sustainable habit: “I’ll have protein at every meal, and I’ll plan higher-carb meals around training.”
Unsustainable habit: “I’m going to train six days a week, two hours a day.”
Sustainable habit: “I’ll commit to three solid training sessions per week, and anything extra is a bonus.”
Unsustainable habit: “I’ll get shredded by March, no matter what.”
Sustainable habit: “I’ll aim to lose 0.5–1.0 lb per week for the next few months and reassess.”
Sustainable habits feel almost too easy at first.
They don’t impress Instagram.
They don’t sound hardcore in group chat.
But they stack.
When you plant trees you actually want to keep, instead of “seasonal decorations,” your whole forest looks different in a year.
Tip 6: Respect boring consistency before chasing optimization.
There are a lot of good plans out there.
What most people don’t have is the ability to follow a decent plan consistently.
This is the ugly truth:
Many Warriors are following their plan at 20–40% consistency and judging it like they’re at 90%.
You follow your nutrition 3 days, wing it 4.
You hit 2 workouts, skip 2, and “restart Monday.”
You sleep well two nights, then scroll until 2 am for five.
Then the thought slips in: “This isn’t working. I need a new program.”
No… you need real adherence.
Before you change plans in 2026, ask:
“Have I truly followed this at 80%+ for at least 8–12 weeks?”
“Or have I been half-in, half-out, and blaming the system?”
Execution beats optimization, especially in your first year or two of serious training.
Tip 7: Evolve the tree when the roots are stable.
I’m a big believer in evolution.
But timed evolution.
Most people do it backwards:
They change programs every 3–4 weeks.
They switch diets after one “bad” weekend.
They chase novelty any time progress slows.
The result? They never get past Level 1.
Instead, think of it like this:
Establish the roots.
Get consistent with your current habits and program for at least 8–12 weeks.
Track something (weight, strength, steps, sleep, calories) so you can see trends.
Wait for adaptation.
Your body will adapt. The same workout will feel easier. Progress will slow. That’s normal.
This is not failure. It’s a signal: “Time to evolve.”
Then, evolve with intention.
Your evolution can look like:
Adding a bit more weight, sets, or reps (progressive overload).
Improving exercise quality instead of just quantity.
Tightening up nutrition (like adding a protein target or planning your “flex” meals).
Important: Don’t change everything at once. Nudge, don’t nuke.
In our Skill System inside Infitnite, this is literally baked into how skills upgrade from Common → Uncommon → higher rarities. You don’t jump from zero to perfection. You earn evolution through repetition, then level the habit up.
Tip 8: Don’t try to do all of this alone.
One more truth after 20 New Years:
Trying to do everything solo works for a tiny percentage of people. For most, it just delays the moment they finally ask for help.
You don’t have to figure out:
Your own periodized training.
Your own nutrition strategy.
Your own habit system.
Your own environment design.
Your own accountability structure.
All at once. All by yourself.
You just need a system that:
Turns the work into clear quests.
Rewards you for showing up, not just “winning.”
Keeps your Combat, Alchemy, and Intellect working together instead of fighting each other.
Surrounds you with other Warriors so you’re not grinding in the dark.
That’s literally why I built Infitnite.
If every New Year has felt the same… this is your chance to change your story.
If you’ve spent year after year:
Starting strong in January, then fading.
Hitting your goals once, only to slide back.
Or never quite getting the momentum you know you’re capable of…
Then 2026 doesn’t need another resolution.
It needs a different system.
Infitnite is the Fitness Fantasy RPG I built to solve these exact problems:
We take everything I’ve talked about here like habits, environment, Combat / Alchemy / Intellect, long-term strategy and turn it into a game.
You don’t just “try to be disciplined.” You play through quests, skills, and Avatar Programs that quietly teach you how to build sustainable habits.
You’re not alone. You’re surrounded by other Warriors, guided by systems and mentors who’ve walked this path.
If any part of this hit home, here’s your next move:
Level 1: Pick one weed to trim or uproot this week. One.
Level 2: Write down 3 tiny habits you can plant today that you could see yourself keeping all year.
Level 3: Join the Infitnite waiting list and let us help you turn 2026 into the year you finally stop restarting and start ascending.
You plant the tree.
We help you grow the forest.
And if you’ll let me, I’ll be right there as your Master Wizard, making sure this is the last year you ever have to “start over” again.
About the Author
Walter Chambers, the visionary Founder, Lead Designer, and Master Wizard at Infitnite, brings 15 years of holistic transformation experience. He holds a comprehensive suite of certifications, including Pain-Free Performance Specialist (PPSC*M) Master, NSCA Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Mental Performance Mastery Coach, Certified Conditioning Coach, and Certified Metabolic Nutritionist.
As a lifelong gamer and fitness expert, Walt created INFITNITE, the world’s first Fitness Fantasy RPG, designed for anyone seeking to break through plateaus, discover inner motivation, or push themselves to new heights. Infitnite offers a structured, gamified approach that combines cutting-edge fitness methodologies with immersive gaming principles, guiding individuals on a personalized path to transform their body, mind, and spirit. Through this innovative system, Walt empowers others to unlock their inner warrior and achieve their infinite potential in both personal health and professional life.
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After 20 years of New Year resets, I’ve distilled the only fitness principles you actually need to finally hit (and keep) your goals in 2026.