The Workout Excuse the Tone It Up Girls Want You to Stop Making

The Tone It Up girls—otherwise known as Karena Dawn and Katrina Scott—know a thing or two about reaching fitness goals. After all, they've built a whole business on helping women transform their bodies and find motivation, not just at the New Year but year-round. So, what's the number one complaint they hear—and the first thing to change—if you want to actually reach your workout goals in 2017?

"Not having enough time for workouts is the most common struggle women in our community share," Scott says. But if you tell yourself, ok, I’m going to work out for an hour at the gym every day, you're probably setting yourself up for failure since a lot of times that's just not realistic, she says.

And the thing is, you don't actually need that much time, or a gym for that matter, to see changes in your body. "You don’t have to work out for an hour every day. You can get in a quick total-body 20-minute workout or do any of our routines at home before work, or even on your lunch break with your co-workers in a short amount of time," Scott says. (Case in point: This less-than-30 minutes per day dumbbell challenge the Tone It Up Girls designed for us, which is all about efficiency and getting "as much as you can out of every every single move.")

Another major setback? Crashing and burning too early with resolutions, Scott says. "It's all about making goals that are attainable, which is why we made our January #LookForLove challenge six weeks, which feels really doable," Dawn says. "After working out and following the nutrition program for six weeks, hopefully after that you have your habit established and you stick with it. It's really about taking it step-by-step." Scott seconds: "First, focus on getting to Valentine's Day, and then you can continue for the rest of the year."

Scott and Dawn also emphasize the importance of having a healthy way to treat yourself when you hit a milestone. "We tell the Tone It Up community to set a goal for themselves and then set out a way they want to reward themselves. Not necessarily something you eat, it could be downloading new music or getting a new workout outfit, which is why we've partnered with Kohl's since they have great affordable workout gear from so many brands," Dawn says. "New workout gear encourages you to work out more. When you feel good in your workout clothes you want to go the extra mile."

How to apply this when you're feeling bogged down by Blue Monday, let's say? "Tell yourself, I'm going to work out four times this week, and this weekend I'm going to get a new sports bra!" Scott says. Done and done.