Setting Fitness Goals

As the summer starts to wind down and the backyard BBQs and pool parties start to be less frequent, many of us start to settle into a more structured daily routine. With vacations out of the way and the holidays not yet creeping up on us, September is the perfect time to start, or refresh, our fitness routines.

Whether you want to lose weight or increase your endurance, it's important to structure your workout program to fit your goals. Sounds simple, right? Actually, only 5% of people who begin a fitness routine on their own succeed, largely because they do not have a real goal in mind. It’s only simple if you know how to set SMART goals.

SMART goals are specific, measurable, action-oriented, realistic, and time-sensitive.

If you are not specific when setting your health and fitness goals, it is going to be extremely difficult to determine whether you have met your target. I often hear clients saying “I want to lose weight” or “I want to tone up”. These goals are not specific. How much weight do you want to lose? Do you have an old pair of jeans that you want to get into? By answering these types of questions, we can set more specific fitness goals.

The next step is to take your specific goal and turn it into something measurable. If you are currently a size 18 and those jeans a size 8, you now have something to measure your progress against. Each time you drop a size you are a set percentage closer to reaching your goal.

If your desired fitness goals are not measurable, it may be because the goal is not specific enough. For example, a common fitness goal is "to be healthy." The concept of healthy is very general. How do you measure overall health? If you answer is something like, "I will use my blood pressure to assess my health," then you should consider "reduce my blood pressure" as your goal rather than "to be healthy." It is much more specific, and, measurable.

The next aspect of good fitness goals is that they are action-oriented. For a goal to be action-oriented, we have to be able to create specific actions to achieve the desired result. For example, to fit into that smaller pair of jeans, you may decide one of your actions is to reduce the number of calories you eat per day. In addition to deciding the general action, you should break this down into specific things that you will change. Perhaps you will start using skim milk instead of cream in your coffee. These are specific actions that will help you reach your desired goal.

One of the easiest ways to set yourself up for failure is to set a goal that is unrealistic. Losing 50 pounds per month is simply not realistic. Running a marathon in under 3 hours may or may not be realistic depending on your current fitness level and time frame. If your health and fitness goal is not realistic, you run the risk of failure and disappointment. Breaking up a larger goal into smaller components will help you to assess whether your goal is realistic.

For example, if your goal is to lose 100 pounds, that may not seem doable at first glance. However, if you break that goal down into smaller components, such as, lose 5 pounds per month, or 1 to 2 pounds per week, then those goals are more reasonable.

Finally, your goal must be time-sensitive. Give yourself a due date. Be careful, however. How you set your time-bound can take a goal from being realistic (to lose 100 pounds) to being unrealistic (to lose 100 pounds in 2 months). When setting fitness goals, always consider how long it will take you to get there. Then set a date, and stick to it.

Repeatedly failing to reach your fitness goal might mean that your goal was not SMART in the first place. It may also mean that you just haven't figured out how to reach it. Once your goal has been established, it’s time to flesh out a plan of action to assure that you see your desired results. But how?

The amenity that sets us at Best Fitness apart from most other health clubs that I have seen is not something tangible. You can’t see it or touch it when you tour our club. We pride ourselves in YOUR results. Our Fitness Professionals are there to not only help you set SMART goals, but also to help you create a plan of action and walk beside you every step of the way until you reach all of your health and fitness goals.