How should you set your fitness goals?
February, 2023
A mistake that many people face when taking the plunge to get fitter is training without clear goals.
I come across a lot of fitness enthusiasts who aren’t sure what they want to achieve. While exercising in general has lots of benefits, including both physically and for your mental health, I always think that training with a goal in mind is important.
It ensures that you have something to aim for and the progress you make will encourage you to keep going.
However, how do you set a fitness goal? Let’s look at some tips for setting your targets for the coming year.
Set realistic targets
One thing that I see many people falling foul of is setting unrealistic targets that simply aren’t achievable in the timeframe they want.
Whether this is losing weight or training for a challenge, make sure the goals you set for yourself are realistic. You won’t be ready to run a marathon after a few weeks training and you won’t lose 20 lbs healthily in a fortnight either, but what you can do is a set a realistic target that you can achieve.
Remember, your goals are personal to you whether it is purely physical or improving your mental health.
Make sure your goals are measurable
Another piece of advice when setting your fitness goals is to ensure that you can track them over time.
If you simply set a vague goal of becoming fitter and being able to run further, how will you measure this to ensure that you achieve success? Set yourself a realistic goal that you can measure such as running 5k in under 30 minutes or losing 6 lbs over a month, this will help you track your progress better.
Set micro-goals along the way
A good idea is to set what we call micro-goals.
If you want to be able to run a half-marathon (just over 13 miles), don’t focus solely on this end result. Set yourself smaller goals leading up to 13 miles. For example, aim to be able to run 5 miles, then 8 miles, then 10 miles.
If you achieve this smaller goals on the road to your final target, you’ll feel much better about the progress you achieve and this will help you to keep improving.
Focus on one target
Lastly, I think it is better to focus on just one goal at a time. Whether that is losing weight, running a certain distance, or lifting weights, concentrate on one thing.
If you start setting yourself lots of different goals it can be easy to get sidetracked and ignore the targets you have set.
How a PT can help you set your goals
Your fitness goals are personal to you, but setting a realistic goal and knowing the best way to achieve it, is hard.
This is where a personal trainer comes in.
With expert advice and guidance you can stand a much better chance of setting and achieving your fitness targets. Get in touch and start your journey towards attaining your goals for this year.
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