Whether you’re focused on building muscle, improving your balance or working on your ability to complete longer, sustained workouts, one thing’s for sure: you’ll need to take small, actionable steps to reach your fitness goals.

Remember, you don’t need to drastically overhaul your life on January 1. In fact, before making any major changes to your dietary pattern and exercise routine, it’s best to have a conversation with your doctor first, especially if you live with any chronic conditions. In the long run, you’ll most benefit from taking small, actionable steps to help achieve your fitness and nutrition goals, the experts say.

We asked fitness experts to break down their top tips to help you kick off 2026 stronger than ever.

How to fit exercise into a busy schedule

If you’re hitting the reset button on your fitness routine, start small and choose an exercise you enjoy, says Dr. Kimberly Burbank, a primary care sports medicine fellow and team physician at UCLA Athletics. You don’t necessarily need to do the movements traditionally associated with exercise to get a good workout in, either. “I really encourage people to choose (a movement) they actually enjoy doing, because they will probably stick with it more,” she says.

To help set attainable fitness goals, one route is to use the SMART framework of goal setting, recommends Dr. Brandee L. Waite, a professor and vice chair of Wellness & Community Engagement Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at UC Davis School of Medicine, the medical director of the UC Davis Health Sports Medicine Clinic and the director of Lifestyle & Longevity Medicine Innovation.

The SMART acronym stands for goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time bound, and what’s great about using this framework in an exercise context is that you’re able to approach fitness as you would any other appointment — if it’s scheduled on your calendar, there’s a greater likelihood you’ll honor it, Waite says.

A new year usually brings new fitness goals, fueling spikes in gym memberships and social media feeds filled with workout selfies. Yet, just as quickly as this wave of motivation appears, it usually recedes.

Why does this cycle repeat itself year after year? Well-meaning individuals often start with intense, all-or-nothing approaches that are difficult to sustain, fitness experts say. Life gets in the way, motivation wanes, and the pressure to see immediate results leads to burnout.

A commitment to fitness is a common challenge, and finding a solution is crucial for long-term success, according to Steven Hale, M.D., a primary care sports medicine physician with Baptist Health Orthopedic Care. To get expert advice on this topic, award-winning journalist Johanna Gomez hosted a new Baptist Healthtalk podcast featuring Dr. Hale.

He emphasizes that the most effective plan is one that fits into one’s life seamlessly.

“If it’s in your schedule every day, then you’re going to have to do something active,” Dr. Hale explains. “Whether that’s mobility, maybe you only have 20 or 15 minutes to stretch. Maybe you have an hour this one day because you got off work early. Now you can do some more strength training and maybe some increased cardio.”

This approach shifts the focus from overwhelming daily workouts to simply incorporating movement into your daily schedule. Building on this foundation of practical advice, Dr. Hale answered some of the most common questions about starting a new fitness routine.

I haven’t worked out in a long time. What’s a good way to start without getting overwhelmed or injured?

Dr. Hale: It really depends on your previous activity level and experience with exercise. Someone who was a college athlete or has a lot of experience can probably go back to the gym, start with lighter weights, and build from there. For someone who is less experienced or doesn’t enjoy the gym environment, I often recommend starting at home. You can look up fun follow-along exercise videos on platforms like YouTube.

Classes can also be a great option for those new to exercise, as they provide guidance from instructors. Personal trainers are another fantastic resource if they fit your budget. The key is to start slow to minimize your risk of injury. Don’t go too hard in the beginning. The first few workouts might not feel great as you get back in shape, so making it fun and enjoyable will help you stick with it longer.

Diet and exercise are both important, but which one should I focus on more if I want to see results?

Dr. Hale: As a doctor, I have to say they go hand-in-hand; I can’t recommend one without the other. Diet is just as important, if not more important, than exercise when it comes to seeing results quickly. In the short term, diet probably has a slight edge. We often talk about creating a calorie deficit for weight loss, which means the calories you consume should be less than the calories you burn.

It’s much easier to consume calories than it is to burn them. A single high-calorie meal can easily undo the effort of an hour-long workout. However, for long-term health, diet and exercise are equally important. What you put into your body for nutrients is just as vital as staying active. Instead of overhauling your entire diet at once, which is hard to stick to, try making one small, manageable change each week. For example, cut out one specific snack food or fast-food meal. This slow progression helps you build sustainable habits.

How do I know the difference between normal muscle soreness and an actual injury?

Dr. Hale: It’s a great question because many people enjoy the feeling of being sore after a good workout — it’s like a victory. Soreness is typically a dull ache that you feel after exercise, and it usually goes away within a few days. Pain that should concern you is more severe. On a pain scale of one to ten, anything greater than a three is something to pay attention to.

Concerning pain might also be sharp, or you might have felt a ‘popping’ sensation during your workout. Other warning signs include mechanical symptoms like a joint feeling unstable or locking up. These are more serious symptoms that indicate you should probably see an orthopedic specialist. It’s important to listen to your body and not push through sharp or worsening pain.

The phrase “no pain, no gain” is very popular. Is it true that I need to push through pain to make progress?

Dr. Hale: That is one of the first myths I address in my practice. The “no pain, no gain” philosophy is not a good approach for orthopedic health. If you feel pain, it’s a sign that there is inflammation in that area. Pushing through that pain will only worsen the inflammation and delay your recovery.

Instead of pushing through it, pain is a signal from your body to rest or modify your activities. Give the affected area time to heal and for the inflammation to calm down before you return to that specific exercise. If you continue to push through pain, you risk causing the issue to last longer or become more severe. You can likely push through discomfort that is less than a three out of ten on the pain scale, but anything more than that requires attention.

I want to stay consistent, but I’ve heard working out every day is bad. How often should I be exercising?

Dr. Hale: This depends on how you define ‘workout.’ If you’re doing intense strength training where you are really stressing your muscles, those muscles need time to recover. Overtraining can lead to inflammation, pain, and a higher risk of injury. In that case, you need to build recovery days into your schedule.

However, you can and should do something active every day. I recommend having something in your schedule daily because it makes it harder to use excuses and push it off. We can think of these as ‘mobility days’ versus ‘strength days.’ A mobility day could be stretching, yoga, or going for a walk. A strength day involves more intense activity like lifting weights or jogging. For example, a good plan could be three or four strength training days per week with active recovery like walking on the other days. This way, you are moving your body every day while still giving your muscles time to recover. Any activity is beneficial.

I recently took a longevity fitness test, an element of which included a grip strength assessment with a hand dynamometer. Research links grip strength to longevity, as it is considered a good indicator of overall physical strength and risk of frailty, as well as neuromuscular function (or the connection between brain and muscle).

How is grip strength linked to longevity?

“Handgrip strength is measured with a handheld dynamometer as the peak force produced by a maximal isometric contraction of the forearm muscles. From research, it is proven to give a quick, reliable snapshot of global muscle strength and is considered a biomarker for physiological reserve, rather than just hand function,” explains Athanasios Tzoumaris, strength and conditioning coach at London-based gym and health clinic Hooke Fitness, where I took my test.