Just in case you weren't already sick of hearing those "new year, new me" mantras, here's someone else to rub your face in it. After spending Thanksgiving and Christmas gorging on turkey legs and pumpkin pies, there's no better time to kick your fitness regime into touch than January 1.
Whether it's quitting smoking, embracing Dry January, or going vegan for Veganuary, the clocks strike midnight, and we try our best to dive into those New Year's resolutions. Let's be honest, though, how many last beyond the first week of January?
It's said that 23% of people tend to quit in the first seven days, while only 60% of us actually make it to the end of January. If you want to take it even further, that whole idea of "I'm not going to drink in 2026" likely won't last into those hot summer evenings when you're craving a cool cider or wine in the sun. Apparently, only 9% of people will see a resolution through to the end of the year.
One of those people is YouTuber James Stewart Whyte, who remained committed to doing 100 pushups a day for a full 365 days.
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Saying that he struggled with focus in college, Whyte explained how he wanted to find something that could give him a daily routine without having to stump up for a gym membership or get out on the road every day.
100 pushups seemed like an easy answer to his problem, with Whyte adding: "I wanted to give it a shot, knowing that if I started working out every day, I could later add more intense workouts to the already established habit."
Kissing the carpet back in January 2019, Whyte admits that progress was slow to start with.
The first month didn't see his killer 100 get any easier, although he says that it finally became a habit at the end of January.
Deciding that his abs needed the most attention, he then added 200 crunches to his routine in February 2019.
Heeding his own advice, Whyte says you should reduce the barriers that might get in the way of your routine, because this is how people tend to quit. If you want to go to the gym every day, pack your workout clothes the night before. If you want to journal every day, leave a notebook and pen by your bed.
It was around summer that Whyte and those around him started to notice he was building muscle and becoming stronger, then adding six or eight-mile runs to his routine as well. We'd argue that this isn't quite just doing 100 pushups a day to get results, but you've got to admire him for his commitment to the cause.
We're also not sure what RFK Jr.'s new dietary guidelines would advise, but around this time, Whyte started looking at his diet as he upped his protein to fuel himself.
He then improved his form based on what others in the fitness community were saying, helping refine his 'perfect' 100 pushups in the day.
As for the all-important final results, you've got to admit that the YouTuber has had quite the transformation.
In terms of what he’d say to others, Whyte concluded: "You have to establish a habit and then give that habit time to work. Small progress each day is often much more powerful than trying to make more significant, but less frequent, leaps."
He ends by reminding us that you don't need to wait until January to kickstart a routine like this, but as we're there now, there's no better time.