Small steps and reasonable goals to good health

So, you would like to have a healthier lifestyle – exercise and eat better – but you’re already overwhelmed just thinking about the big changes you’ll have to make and the expenses you may incur. The truth is, starting with small steps and reasonable goals – and spending little or no money – you can achieve major health benefits no matter what your age or current physical condition.

“Beginning the health and fitness journey is about building up,” said Jackson D. Sosin, a personal trainer at Crunch Gym in Las Cruces. “You don’t do it all at once. Pick things you enjoy, things you can do, and slowly build on that.”

The all-important first step is to “get moving, get active, start exercising,” said Sosin, 29, who became a certified professional trainer in 2020 and has been training people at Crunch for more than two and a half years. He graduated from Centennial High School in 2015 and was Division 5A New Mexico high school boys state tennis singles champion that same year.

With “frequency and consistency,” Sosin said, you can make exercise into a habit that is an enjoyable part of your regular routine.

You could try walking, hiking, running, swimming, working out with weights at home and/or signing up for a fitness class. Do an internet search, starting with lascruces.gov. (Enter “fitness classes” in the question box to find a wide range of activities at little cost.) The City of Las Cruces also has an Olympic-size swimming pool that is open to the public.

Or, you could join a gym. Do an internet search, or visit a few and find one you like. Memberships are often less than $20 a month.

“Many people don’t realize resistance training (working your muscles against an external force) two to three times a week is going to be very, very good,” Sosin said. Even people who start working out in their 60s and 70s “still get phenomenal results,” he said.

In addition to free weights, workout machines and cardio equipment – and often other amenities like group exercise, saunas and swimming pools – joining a gym has an important social aspect, Sosin said.

“It allows you to be introduced to like-minded individuals who have similar goals,” he said. You can also “ask people at the gym for advice” as you learn about the equipment and develop your workout routine.

“You don’t have to be an expert,” Sosin said. “Start with the basics. Just do it.”

At the gym, you could work out by yourself or with a partner. You could also hire a certified trainer, like Sosin, who knows how all the equipment works and can be a motivator who helps build your confidence and gives you someone to be accountable to – someone who “lights a fire,” Sosin said – to get you started and keep you going.

Among Sosin’s clients is a young woman who could only do three pushups when she started working out with him. After three months, she could do 22 pushups.

“She surprised herself,” he said.

And, because diet goes hand in hand with exercise as part of a healthier lifestyle, Sosin also mentioned two clients in their 30s, a man who has dropped from 215 pounds to 175 since he started working out with Sosin, and a woman who has dropped from the mid-240s to the low 190s.

Just like beginning an exercise program, a good way to approach a change in diet is to “experiment with different foods you like that are healthy,” Sosin said. “Not all or nothing. Just pick things you enjoy and, on a moderately consistent basis,” avoid highly processed foods and eat more whole foods, lean meats, fruits, vegetables and whole grains, he said.

Regular visitors to a gym recognize that “physical exercise in general reduces stress and anxiety,” Sosin said, and “works as well or better” than prescription drugs or therapy.

Overall, he said, as you focus more on health and wellness, diet and exercise, “stay open-minded to new ideas, experiment. Be willing to learn and be patient.” Set reasonable goals, including some smaller goals that you can more easily achieve to help build confidence and keep you motivated, Sosin said. And don’t be afraid of trial and error.

The mental aspect is just as important as the physical to “break down barriers” that hold people back from being healthier, he said. “You can’t have one without the other.”

Sosin said he very much enjoys his own workouts (an hour or more a day, six days a week), and his work as a personal trainer.

“It’s very satisfying to see the impact it has on people’s lives,” said Sosin, who has a bachelor’s degree in psychology. 

“I’m kind of a therapist,” he said, “but in the gym.”