(Hint: It’s Not Perfect Attendance)
If you’re like most adults I coach, you probably looked back on last year and tallied the misses.
Workouts skipped.
Weeks that slipped.
Times life shoved training aside.
And somewhere in there, you may have decided the year “didn’t really count.”
Let me stop you right there.
A good year of fitness doesn’t look perfect.
It looks human.
We’ve been sold the myth that fitness only counts if it’s clean and uninterrupted - perfect attendance, no breaks, no mess. Miss a week and suddenly the whole year feels like a write-off.
But bodies aren’t spreadsheets. They’re more like long novels; full of detours, side plots, and chapters you didn’t plan but still matter.
A good year isn’t one where nothing went wrong.
It’s one where you kept returning.
Here’s the truth:
Strength doesn’t evaporate because you missed a week.
Endurance doesn’t disappear because December got chaotic.
Your body remembers more than your calendar does.
Every rep you completed still counts.
And not all progress is loud.
Sometimes progress looks like:
Walking into the gym with less intimidation
Knowing how to scale without shame
Trusting your body under a barbell
Choosing rest instead of forcing a hard day
Showing up even when motivation is thin
Those quiet wins are what turn fitness into something that lasts.
Fitness is cumulative, not fragile.
You don’t start over, you pick up where you left off.
So before you set new goals, ask yourself:
What did I carry through the year, even when it wasn’t perfect?
That’s your anchor.
That’s what you build on next.
A good year of fitness isn’t spotless.
It’s used, a little beat up, and still doing its job.
You didn’t fall behind.
You were training for real life.
And that kind of progress sticks.
~Coach Christie