The start of the year marks a turning point for many of us when it comes to health and well-being. We change routines, commit to new diets or fitness programs, and prioritize personal goals. These can all be very helpful, says Lucy Beaumont, as long as we remember to have fun and feel good.
“You want to be able to come into something and enjoy the process,” explains the Scout founder. broadsheet. “If you don’t enjoy the process you’re not going to stick with it.”
Since launching Scout Pilates, Yoga and Wellness Studio in 2019, Beaumont now runs three locations in Sydney – st peters, marrickville And redfern – and has established a reputation for creating inclusive and accessible living environments.
Here she shares her tips for creating a good health routine for 2026 and beyond.
Responses have been edited for length and clarity.
make it manageable
This time of year everyone throws themselves into “new year, new fitness,” but it’s often at an unsustainable level. My big takeaway would be to find something manageable and structure it – try to create a permanent routine around which days you’re working and which days you’re resting. It has to work with your lifestyle in the long run.
look at yourself
Connect back with yourself and work on what you want, not feel like you need to constantly keep up with the latest online trends. Look at your lifestyle and your work and your family life and work on what can be achieved.
Where is the pocket of time to move or take care of your body? What aspects of your life need a little change? Is it sleep? Is it more relaxing? Is it managing mental health? Is it stretching instead of going and doing a HIIT class? At Scout, we offer a wide range of classes to be accessible to everyone. We don’t expect everyone to come every day and do a strength reformer class – there’s also yin yoga and stretch classes and breathwork classes and meditation.
set achievable goals
Goal-setting should be a balanced approach to how you want to run your life. You want mental health, you want to feel fit and strong, you want to sleep well, you want to be able to come out to your friends and family.
The best goals are those that are achievable. Working out two or three times a week is a good achievable goal. You don’t have to come to class every day – it’s more about building healthy habits you can build if you want to move forward. And the same applies to other results you might be striving for, whether it’s body composition or strength or flexibility or mental health.
find something really fun
Try to find fitness habits that really speak to you. What works for your body? What really feels good? It’s not necessarily what everyone else is doing. Maybe for you it’s a walk in the park, maybe it’s swimming, maybe it’s Pilates, maybe it’s yoga.
Shop around and see what’s out there. Lots of fitness places offer introductory offers or discounted classes for newcomers, so you can try several different things before committing. Also check out council leisure centers and team sports. When you find something you like, you’ll usually stick with it.
Find Community
Most of us enjoy walking, but there are a large number of people who feel really nervous when visiting fitness places. That’s why we try to make a lot of community connections at Scout. Obviously, we have our own core classes, but we also do a lot of events and workshops and bring in guest instructors. This is often how people meet each other, so they see familiar welcoming faces when they’re in class.
We also think that transportation should be easy. It shouldn’t just be for fit 28-year-olds. It’s meant to be for everyone from teenagers to people 80 and older, and we certainly have customers in those demographic groups. So we have beginner classes, we have pre-natal and post-natal classes. We have strength classes, meditation, sound healing, sauna, ice baths. We want to appeal to everyone.
don’t forget to rest
Relaxation means being able to turn off your brain as well as your body. If you’re scrolling on your phone, you’re not actually switching off — you’re being hyper-stimulated. Try listening to a guided meditation, or just listening to music. Or something more guided: guided sauna sessions, contrast therapy, meditation classes, yoga, breathwork. All these things are becoming quite popular because it can be quite difficult to do it alone. People almost need that forced break, to completely switch off and be in their bodies.
create feel good habits
Try creating small habits — whether it’s getting off the bus one stop earlier or taking a walk around the block at lunch — that can really help you feel better at the end of the day. It is creating awareness about health and well-being, and how these small habits can contribute to a healthy lifestyle in the long run.
A lot of them are very simple. For example, try not to be on the phone as soon as you wake up in the morning. Eat breakfast before drinking your first coffee of the day. Try and move 30 minutes a day – whether it’s a walk or 30 minutes of stretching or 30 minutes of Pilates. Eat regularly, drink enough water, make sure you have a good pre-bedtime routine.
There is a simplicity in all this. There’s a lot of stuff online about how much work it takes to form a habit or how many milligrams of protein you need for each meal. It is not necessary that this happens. It’s about finding the little things that work for you and that also make you happy.
Broadsheet Access will host a special wellness day with the Scouts on February 15, which will include a guided meditation session, reformer Pilates class and a contrast therapy session with access to the Scouts’ Finnish sauna and cold plunge pool. Guests will also receive a free Pilates outfit from Lululemon including grip socks. For more invitations to such eventsJoin Access today. It’s only $12 per month.
