Gym Goals
Fitness Goals
It’s the start of a shiny brand new year. Yay. I am hopeful that we are coming out of the arse end of what was a challenging year for many of us; challenging mentally and challenging in terms of our health.
With large periods of gym closures, homeschooling, reduced incomes and the constant temptation of being in the local vicinity of the fridge all day, every day, it’s been taxing for even the most strong-willed of us to eat well, move regularly, train consistently and generally retain our health and sanity.
There are probably very few people who haven’t decided, or even had a passing thought to themselves, that now is the time to ‘lose weight’, ‘get fit’ or some other fitness goals. But what does this really mean? Clearly taking steps towards weight loss via exercise and better eating habits will have a positive effect on your health, but giving thought to what you actually want to achieve will undoubtedly give you focus in the right direction and help you to achieve more than you believe you can.
This is where gym goal setting comes into play, never is it more relevant than in January, when we traditionally select a resolution, but many of us fail to put in the groundwork needed to achieve them, kinda makes sense why so many fail, right?
Why Set Fitness Goals?
I could talk all day about the importance and benefits of setting goals. But, instead, I’ll hit you with some that I think are pretty darn important.
Goals will increase your chances of seeing progress towards what you want to achieve
Goals make big change more plausible using small steps (micro goals!)
If your training is goal-oriented, goal specific, you will have a far better and more effective training plan
Goals can keep you motivated
If you don’t have a goal, how do you know you have succeeded?
SMART Fitness Goals Examples
There are many theories out there on effective goal setting, like many others, I like SMART goals. These aren’t fitness goals specific, they can be used for any goal setting, be that personal, work-related and/or self-developmental; SMART goals work for all. I recommend starting with one goal and ensuring that the goal ticks all of the below boxes. If you feel you can effectively go at more than one goal, then, by all means, give it a go, but ensure you regularly review progress and assess if these goals are realistic in parallel.
S - Specific.
This is a crucial one for me, so I’ll hark back to the intro - this is where there needs to be some real meaningful thought on exactly what it is that you want to achieve. Let’s use a common example of an individual wanting to ‘lose weight’. Think about the weight you would like to be, do you want to be a previous weight of x stone. Where you know you felt comfortable and your favourite jeans fit? If you don’t have a weight in your head as your ideal weight (most of us have) then perhaps google what your ideal weight should be for your age and height. That’s probably a good starting point. In short, there needs to be a goal that has a crescendo, you know what you are aiming for and you can know when you have reached it. That takes me nicely onto the next letter in the acronym…
M - Measurable.
You’ve got a specific goal, you want to lose x kg, ace, we are on the right track and that goal is absolutely measurable, with the help of a trusty, cheap and easily available set of scales. Can you see where the ‘lose weight’ goal would be falling over now? With a specific and measurable goal, you can track your progress and see whether you are on track. To give you another example, if your goal is to ‘get stronger’ you may set a goal to increase your bench press by x kg, this again is measurable as you can track progress each lift. Don’t forget that you’ll need to record the data somewhere, so for the weight loss goal, you can use a tracking app or device, like a FitBit or MyFitnessPal, for the bench, you can use pen, paper, your phone notes, a spreadsheet. Whatever works for you.
A - Achievable.
This is a no brainer and can make or break your goal. You need to set your sights on a goal that challenges you but is achievable. Going back to our ‘lose weight’ example, if you set a goal to lose an unrealistic amount of weight then you are setting yourself up to fail. I’d also like you to avoid setting goals that although achievable, result in an unhealthy amount of weight loss. Again, google BMI and ensure that you aren’t wandering into the unhealthy range. Ok, so BMI is a general tool which doesn’t fit well with those with large amounts of muscle mass, but for the average person, without a substantial amount of muscle, this is a good indication of a healthy weight range. Remember, strong is sexy, and to be strong you need to eat well and have a healthy level of body fat. Food will fuel an achievable goal.
R - Relevant.
Of course, your goal needs to be relevant and specific to you and what you want to achieve. If you are already of low body fat, losing fat probably isn’t the right goal for you, it could be a strength or muscle mass focused goal. If you do have excess body fat, then yes, fat loss would be a beneficial goal for you.
T - Time-bound.
There needs to be an end date in mind, to keep you focused and to allow you to split up your goal over the time period decided upon so you can track whether you are progressing fast enough. So, again going back to our weight loss example. If you want to lose 10kg in 10 weeks, it’s pretty easy to calculate what good progress would look like. 1kg a week should do the job, although you’ll likely find that you’ll have a jump in weight loss at the start and this will level out as you near your goal weight. Unless you have a time constraint, the goal could run and run and it’s hard to track progress. 3 mth goals are good, as you can easily keep motivated within this time frame and within 3 mths you have success, which you can, of course, build upon with a new SMART goal (or goals now you have confidence in the process).
How to create the path to hitting your fitness goals
Now you have your gym goals, you know what you want to achieve, you need to figure out how you’ll get there - you need actionable steps. I’ll be using the weight loss goal again here to give you an example of how you can create a process to get you from start to end.
How much weight will you lose per week, on average?
When will you weigh yourself or/and take other measurements?
You MUST take a starting picture so you can compare differences, the scales don’t always tell
the whole story
How many calories will you need to consume to establish a calorie deficit?
How will you track your food?
How often will you exercise?
What exercise will you undertake?
How will you track your exercise?
Is there anything else you can do to make yourself accountable?
10. How often will you review and evaluate your actions and goal to ensure
they are still SMART?
Once you have the actions that make up your fitness goals documented, all that is left to do is to start taking action. Understand that things don’t always go to plan and that progress is never a straight line, it’s wobbly, roadblocks are a natural part of development but when overcome, will give you a great sense of achievement. Working with an effective Online Personal Trainer will of course make the process simpler, take away the guess-work and provide support during times of roadblock.