Did you resolve to exercise more in 2013? If this graph from Google is any indication, you've got a tough road ahead of you.


Habitual joggers and gym-goers have probably already noticed the swell in this year's tide of fitness enthusiasts. Those among us who exercise on a regular basis have come to anticipate the annual ebb and flow: this January 1st, like every January 1st, millions of people resolved to get more exercise, spend more time at the gym, and log more hours at their local yoga studio. And this year, like every year, millions of people will fail to to stay on the fitness bandwagon.

It's a pattern long supported by anecdotal evidence, practical conjecture, and even hard data. Falling into the latter camp are these charts from Google trends. Operating under the assumption that the frequency of a search term like "exercise" can be used as a litmus test for the population's interest in and active pursuit of physical fitness, our tendency to make fitness-related resolutions, and our apparent inability to commit to healthier lifestyles, is impossible to miss:

For those in need of hand-holding: the annual spike in search frequency for each of the terms listed corresponds to New Year's.


Yes, we realize that this is correlational data and that Google search trends are not, strictly speaking, 100% indicative of a population's commitment to physical fitness. Having said that, were we forced to formulate a hypothesis, we'd be willing to bet they're pretty accurate.

Oh, and those hellbent on making their fitness resolutions stick this year would do well to try these strategies on for size.

HT TheBird47