For New Year beginners, what is one evidence-based habit stacking strategy you personally use to keep a new strength-training routine consistent through January? Would you share one brief example from your own coaching or training?

The habit-stacking strategy that keeps New Year beginners consistent is what I call the "Non-Negotiable Anchor + Tiny Launch Sequence." You tie training to a daily event that already happens (the anchor), then run the same 60-90 second start-up routine every time so getting started takes zero brainpower. Here's how it works: Pick an anchor you never skip like morning coffee, school drop-off, or shutting your laptop at 5 p.m. Then set a rule: "If I finish [anchor], then I put on training shoes and start warm-up." The launch sequence is always the same: Shoes on Fill water Start 2-3 minute warm-up timer or a short WBV session if they have access (2-3 minutes of low stance or calf/hip pulses works great) Even if the full workout doesn't happen, completing those steps counts as keeping the habit. That's the win: you're training the identity of someone who shows up. One beginner client (busy parent, new to strength, full of January motivation but zero margin) kept skipping sessions in the evening. We anchored her training to school drop-off instead: "After drop-off, I drive straight to the gym. Green day: full lift. Yellow day: 20 mins. Red day: 5 mins + mobility + leave. She trained 10 of the first 14 days. Not from willpower, but because the anchor removed the daily debate, and the launch sequence made starting automatic.

I tie my workouts to something that feels good, not like another chore. In January, I tack my strength session onto a short morning oil ritual--five quiet minutes with warm almond oil, some slow breathing, a bit of stretching in front of the mirror. It gets me out of my head and into my body, and it reminds me why I want to feel strong before I even touch a weight. A client of mine did something similar. She paired her glute activation work with a single candle she loved--nothing dramatic, just a scent that made her feel steady and grounded. After a couple of weeks, lighting that candle was enough to nudge her into motion. Those small anchors tell your body, This matters, and we're doing it for you.

I've found that tying a new habit to something I already do without thinking makes it much harder to skip. For me, that anchor is my morning coffee. The moment I put the kettle on, I grab a resistance band and run through a quick round of pulls and presses. It takes the same few minutes the water needs to heat, and because it's built into a ritual I never miss, the training sticks even on days when motivation is thin. I've seen the same thing play out with clients. One woman kept forgetting her supplements and constantly postponed workouts, so we linked both to a tiny cue she already did every morning: setting her gym shoes by the heater. While the shoes warmed up, she took her supplements and did a short warm-up. Within a couple of weeks, it stopped feeling like a new routine and just became part of how she started her day. It's the pairing--more than willpower--that makes the habit hold.

I tie my strength work to something I never skip: my morning espresso. As soon as I finish that last sip, I hit play on whatever I'm listening to and go straight into 10 pull-ups or a quick kettlebell round. I don't leave room for deciding whether I feel like it -- the coffee flips the switch for me. One client did a similar thing with his dog walks. He started dropping to the floor for a set of push-ups right after taking off the leash. It felt a little clumsy at first, but within a couple of weeks it became automatic. Now he knocks out more than 70 push-ups before most people finish breakfast, and he never had to block off extra "gym time." Habit stacking works best when it hooks onto something you already do without thinking.

Being the Founder and Managing Consultant at spectup, what I've observed while working with founders is that consistency in January depends less on motivation and more on friction reduction. The habit stacking strategy I personally use for strength training is attaching the workout to a non negotiable daily anchor that already happens without effort. For me, that anchor is the first deep work block of the day. I do not allow myself to open email or review investor messages until a short strength session is completed. I started doing this during a particularly intense fundraising period when my schedule was unpredictable. Training later in the day kept getting skipped, so I stacked a thirty minute strength session directly before my morning planning routine. The rule was simple, no planning, no calls, no pitch deck reviews until training was done. Because the planning habit was already automatic, the workout stopped feeling optional. I've applied the same approach when coaching founders who want to stay consistent but feel mentally drained in January. One founder stacked two compound lifts immediately after their morning coffee, before checking Slack. The session was short, but it happened almost every weekday. Why this works is backed by behavior science. Habit stacking relies on existing neural patterns rather than willpower. You are not creating a new routine, you are extending an old one. What I learned personally is that strength training sticks when it is treated like infrastructure, not self improvement. At spectup, we talk a lot about systems over motivation in fundraising, and the same logic applies here. When the habit is structurally unavoidable, January consistency takes care of itself.