As we approach 2025, it’s time to celebrate another rollercoaster of a year and look forward to the next. Whether it’s your health and fitness or something completely different, January is the time to set a solid foundation. After enjoying some well-deserved time off with friends and family, now is the moment to refocus and progress.

Take a look online or stroll into your local gym and you won’t be able to escape it. Everywhere you look, 2025 New Year fitness resolutions will take center stage.

The start of the year doesn’t have to mean a completely new you. However, it can be a great time to start as you mean to go on. That’s where our New Year challenge comes in.

If you’re not sure where to start on your new fitness journey, you’ve come to exactly the right place. Our New Year fitness challenge builds the physical fitness and mental resilience needed to get you through the year ahead. Here’s how it works!

2025 New Year Fitness Challenge Overview

As a New Year’s challenge, you ideally want to start on January 1, 2025. However, you can start at any point provided you stick to the general structure. Starting on a Monday would make it easier to follow the set workout schedule.

The basic principle of the challenge is simple. Each workout day is designed to improve a different aspect of physical performance and health. You’ll spend five days focusing on different aspects before using two of the days for active rest. 

Each week will involve the same workouts. The main thing you’ll change is the amount of sets you perform. For the active rest days, you’ll increase the time rather than the sets. 

This method of progressive overload means you increase the workout volume from week to week. When done consistently, this can improve muscle growth, strength, and body composition. 

Here’s how a typical week will look:

• Monday — Functional Strength Development.
• Tuesday — Plyometrics Blast.
• Wednesday — Active Rest Day.
• Thursday — Calisthenics Challenge.
• Friday — Body Composition Builder.
• Saturday — Active Rest Day.
• Sunday — Cardiovascular Circuit Work.

The challenge structure means that you’ll perform the same workouts over a four week period. Week one starts with two sets per exercise. This slowly builds up each week before ending with five sets per exercise in week four.

Here’s how it looks:

Monday: Functional Strength Development

Day one focuses on functional strength development using a mixture of dumbbell and bodyweight movements. The primary goal is to build functional movement patterns that improve general mobility and performance.

You’ll need a suitable pair of dumbbells to complete two of the programmed movements. If you don’t have access to dumbbells, heavy household items can be used. Use a raised bar for the pull-ups and a pair of chairs for the chest dips if you can’t access parallel bars.

Tuesday: Plyometrics Blast

Day two focuses on plyometric exercises that require no equipment and use body weight as resistance. These are designed to build explosive strength, speed, and power. When done correctly, this can improve function and aspects of sports performance. 

While skipping traditionally should use a skipping rope, it can also be done without one. Change this depending on your available equipment.

Wednesday: Active Rest Day

Day three is an active rest day. The aim is to allow sufficient recovery while using movement and light activity to enhance it. This gives you a break from intense activity without promoting too much inactivity.

Like your normal workout days, your active rest days will become longer as the weeks progress. This will be from 30–45 minutes. 

These can be structured based on your preferences and daily schedule. Light aerobic activity may include normal activities such as walking your dog or light gardening. Flexibility and mobility work may include things such as light stretching and foam rolling. 

Ensure that you perform a combination of both throughout the active rest period. You may use your own free choices if desired. Make sure all activities are classed as light meaning they don’t significantly raise your heart rate.

Thursday: Calisthenics Challenge

Day four provides a versatile calisthenics challenge. The main focus here is on functional bodyweight movements that use minimal equipment. 

Calisthenics training is a great way to improve strength and mobility. Furthermore, it helps to enhance posture and body composition when performed consistently. 

Each of the programmed exercises uses compound movement patterns meaning they work multiple muscle groups. The end of the session focuses on the plank exercise to build core strength and stability.

Friday: Body Composition Builder

Day five focuses on bodybuilding-type exercise movements with the sole focus of improving body composition. We’ve used a higher starting exercise volume to promote muscle growth.

Each exercise requires minimal equipment or uses body weight as the main resistance. Leg raises have been programmed at the end for some added core strength work.

Saturday: Active Rest Day

Day six follows the same structure as day three. This is your second active rest day designed to promote better recovery. 

Choose from the example choices above or use your own ideas. Like the first activity rest day, ensure that both use light activities or movements. 

Follow the same duration of 30–45 minutes depending on the week. Split the light aerobic activity and flexibility or mobility work across this period. 

Light aerobic activity examples:

• Walking.
• Light Cycling.
• Light Swimming.
• Gardening.
• Cleaning.

Mobility and flexibility examples:

• Light Stretching. 
• Foam Rolling.
• Yoga. 

Sunday: Cardiovascular Circuit Work

With cardiovascular disease causing 32% of global deaths in 2019, poor cardiovascular health remains a huge issue. Increased physical activity is one way to combat this. It can be used to improve health and reduce common risk factors such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

Day seven ends the week with some cardiovascular circuit work. The session is split into three circuits that use a mixture of high-intensity, cardio-based bodyweight movements. These are designed to get your heart rate up and improve cardiovascular fitness.

Why You Need To Start This New Year Challenge

A New Year fitness challenge provides a great starting point for the year ahead. It allows you to set and build on a solid health and fitness foundation. During this, you learn to break old habits and build better ones. 

Use this challenge as a fresh start. Forget about any possible problems or setbacks from the previous year. Refocus and look towards the year ahead as a new beginning.

Our New Year challenge gives you the building blocks for a new start. We’ve organized it so it works on all aspects of your health and fitness over the four week period. This includes strength and power, muscular endurance, functional fitness, and cardiovascular health. 

After completing the challenge, you can go away with your newfound fitness and confidence. Use the principles you’ve learned and focus on the aspect that you’ve most enjoyed throughout the challenge. Whether it’s specific power development or purely mobility, you’ll have the foundation to go into the year ahead.

Start as you mean to go on. Find what you enjoy doing from our challenge and you’ll likely never look back!

Tips To Stay Motivated To Finish The Challenge

Completing our New Year’s challenge isn’t meant to be a total walk in the park. Here are three of our best tips to stay motivated so that you’ll finish the challenge in style.

Track Your Progress

Tracking progress is the idea of monitoring your progress toward a particular goal over a set period. In this case, this would mean tracking your progress towards completing our new year’s fitness challenge.

Tracking progress is important for several reasons. It allows you to monitor how you’re doing, make adjustments if needed, and help you to stay on schedule. This can be done manually or by using wearable technology.

When doing the challenge, take note of the sessions completed, identify any areas for improvement, and track your progress. Write down the weight lifted and sets completed, building on this each week by using our guidance. 

Print our calendar and put it on your wall or any place where it’s easy to see. Take a look at the great progress you’re making to boost your confidence and provide motivation. 

Perform It With Your Family And Friends

Sticking to an exercise schedule isn’t always easy. You’ll undoubtedly have barriers to overcome and hurdles to navigate. 

One way to work together and combine this is by exercising with your friends and family. Our fitness challenge provides an excellent opportunity to do this.

Performing the challenge together can help to build healthy habits together, enhance motivation, and provide added accountability. On a social and personal level. It can strengthen and build strong bonds. This provides an opportunity for shared fun and enjoyment by overcoming a challenge together. 

This challenge won’t be easy, but it can still be made enjoyable with the right approach. You can even set mini challenges within the challenge with your friends and family!

Set Appropriate Goals

Goals are things you want to achieve. They can be personal or professional and be set as short, medium, or long-term goals. 

Setting goals related to our fitness challenge can provide several benefits to help keep you motivated and on track. They provide purpose, focus, and added structure to the challenge. Achieving the smaller goals throughout the process can build confidence and improve efficiency.

Set appropriate short and medium-term goals within our workout challenge. A weekly goal could be to complete all the challenges according to the schedule. A medium-term goal could be to progress your lifting numbers from the previous week. 

The beauty of goal setting is that you have the freedom to set appropriate ones for you!

Safety Notes

• Follow The Correct Technique Cues — Each exercise should be performed using the technique cues provided. This allows for target muscle focus and reduces potential injury risk. Search the relevant exercises on our website for detailed technique guides.
• Perform A Suitable Warm-up And Cooldown — The purpose of a warm-up is to prepare the body for the subsequent activity. A cooldown helps to prepare the body for the next exercise bout and reduce muscle soreness. Both should be integrated into each of the sessions above. 
• Fuel Your Workouts Correctly — Consume enough protein, carbohydrates, and fat to fuel your workout requirements. Aim for 0.7–1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. Hydrate consistently, consuming 2.5–3.5 liters of water daily.
• Prioritize Sleep — Sleep is a vital period that can be used to improve cognitive performance, mood, and general health. It helps to repair and restore your body and brain. Aim for at least seven hours of sleep each night.
• Listen To Your Body — Being aware of your physical and mental state allows you to make informed decisions before and when exercising. Stop exercise immediately if you feel sudden pain or discomfort. Consult a qualified professional before continuing. 

Conclusion

Reaching the end of our article means you’ve taken the first step toward a stronger and fitter 2025. You’ve learned what to do and the benefits of doing it. Now it’s time to put the theory into practice and get your workout shoes ready.

So, what are you waiting for? Use the start of the year to smash our fitness challenge and build a solid foundation. Take what you’ve learned forward and you’ll set yourself up for a year to remember!