Late October brings the first early morning frost, you wrap up warm to scrape the car window of ice and at that moment you go into hibernation for the next few months, waiting for the days to get longer again. The thought of a nice warm pub after work or you sofa and a cup of hot chocolate certainly seems more appealing than the gym!

I bet you have heard every excuse in the book from your friends and family, about why they can't start training now! I'd hazard a guess that some have slipped from your lips too…

“It's too dark in the evening to go for a run”

“I don't have any workout clothes that fit me”

“I have too much work on this month”

“There are just too many social occasions in December that will spoil my efforts”

“I'll be much more motivated in the New Year”

Will you??

The problem with conceding defeat now is that you'll be in more of a bind in two months time, your frustration and lack of self efficacy will be many times worse. At which point many of us will turn to the infamous “infomercial” products that promise that rock hard set of abdominals. Or we get duped into a weight loss plan that gives you an expensive bucket of powder and pills to consume every day.

The change of the clocks seems to mark the time when it is just too late to achieve anything for this year, so why bother starting? There has probably been a number of psychological studies done that give fancy names to this phenomenon.

SAD or not, it is time to buck up your ideas because in the remaining 2 months of this year it is actually possible to achieve your usual New Year's goals BEFORE new year!

The good news is that there are many things you can do today that will ensure your New Year's resolutions have a different feel to normal. There are workout plans coupled with the right nutritional strategies to cope with even the heaviest of party seasons.

Action is required on your part, you can't just sit there, nod and agree with my ramblings, So get off your butt and do the following 5 steps:

1. Either join a gym, or buy a stability ball, exercise mat and some small hand weights. This enables you to complete all the exercises you'll ever need.

2. Get out your scheduler for the next 4 weeks and mark on 4or 5 30-40 minute slots that you can get to the gym and/or do a quick routine at home. (If this means sacrificing an episode of “The Simpsons”, then so be it. It will get repeated )

3. Get a bit of paper and write down your 6 favorite and 6 least favorite bodyweight or free-weight exercises. Split them evenly into 2 workouts.

If you don't know any exercise, buy a copy of Men's Health or Women's Fitness and take some from there. Make sure you include some squats, lunges, overhead lifting exercises, and some exercises for the upper back and shoulders.

For the Men try to avoid the Bench Press(It is not big or clever!), Girls(and guys) steer clear of abdominal crunch exercises, your time is better spent elsewhere!

4. Alternate your workouts, so Monday do workout 1, Wednesday - workout 2, Friday – workout 1 again

5. On the days in between, and at any other time do a cardio workout. But make it short and intensive! After a 5 minute warmup, go really hard for 1 minute, then go slow for 2 minutes, repeat 5 times and finish with a cool down.

This cardio method has been proven by many scientific studies to be far superior for burning body fat than the “traditional” fat-burning zone cardio workouts. So avoid long, slow, (and quite frankly boring) walking or plodding on the treadmill.

We have found this and similar methods of workout to be the most effective way to burn body fat, drop a dress size and maintain a strong, healthy body.

One of my clients recently emailed me to tell me she bought 2 new pairs of jeans that were 2 sizes smaller than her size before following this system of training. She told me she wanted to buy more, but was afraid her husband would notice them on the credit card bill! I was actually more pleased to see a complete turn around in her confidence with her body in just over a 2 month period.

So you see the action you take NOW, as soon as you are done reading this article, really can make the difference. Yes it is tough getting through the long dark winter months, but the solution is not beyond the realms of possibility is it?

In fact it is pretty straight-forward to plan in some short workouts into your busy week. You don't need expensive equipment, and sacrificing a little TV time is a small price to pay for a whole different set of New Years resolutions.

What will be your New Years resolutions come January 1st, because it looks it we have got your weight loss covered already!!!

Tim