5 tips for setting your fitness goals

Five tips for setting your fitness goals

Finally, you have decided to make some lifestyle changes and hit the gym or a yoga center to become fit. What was the reason behind it? Was it the number on the scale, or was it the feelings in your lungs after climbing some stairs? Whatever the reason is, you should not directly get into the gym without any guidance and planning. If you do so, then you might lose some weight and get a little stronger in a few weeks, but you won't be happy. And, that's because doing so will lend you somewhere in the middle of a fitness journey whose end you won't know. Setting fitness goals for yourselves is one of the most important factors to consider while starting your fitness journey.

You cannot complete a project if you don't know what you want from the project. The same is true for fitness. You cannot complete your journey if you have not set your fitness goals. Take most of the tasks people do, whether simple or complex. All those tasks are done with a goal in mind. For instance, people put in efforts to create a shopping list before going shopping so that they know what they want to buy. And then, they can also track their success by checking off all the purchased items from the shopping list. Similarly, setting fitness goals help you track your performance and improves your chances of achieving your desired outcomes. Listed below are some essential tips that you must consider while setting your fitness goals.

1. Break them apart

Rome was not built in a day, and neither will your body. Hence if you are setting some high fitness goals for yourself, then break them into parts. A big reason for the failure of most fitness journeys is lofty goals. It will help in your journey if you never try to do too much with your body at a single time. Trying to do so is like setting yourself up for failure. For instance, if you think of losing 50 pounds by the end of the year, then it might look like something major. But, if you think of losing 1 pound every week or 4 pounds every month, then it seems much more maintainable and achievable. Hence, it is always good to break your end goal into several small goals so that you can get motivated each time you achieve a small goal.

2. Set something realistic

Everyone wants instant gratification when it comes to fitness, but it is important to be realistic. There is no harm in dreaming big, but your goals must be realistic. Speaking of realistic: your goal should be attainable and not something that will only lead you to failure on your fitness journey. Setting realistic goals will make you believe that you can achieve them. And, once you start believing that you can achieve your fitness goals, then you have already walked through every minute mental obstacle that could have possibly thwart your progress. Keeping your goal realistic will help you set pathways to achieve it.

3. Make them time bounded

Fitness goals need to be time-bounded, but why? Fitness goals need a deadline so that you can focus on that deadline. Without any time-limit, you will have no urgency to reach your goal and hence no reason to push yourself. Placing a time-bound on your fitness goal will help you make plans to achieve it. It will create a sense of urgency and also keep you motivated to achieve your end goal. Placing time-limit on your goal will motivate you to measure and track your everyday performance, which will give an idea of where exactly do you stand on your road to the fitness goal.

4. Set what you can stick to

Have you ever watched the body of Brad Pitt in Fight Club and thought of having a similar physique? You probably would have. But that's not how it goes in real life. Never set a goal that is too hard to stick with. You might enjoy such goals for a few weeks at the start. But then you will feel as if you are pushing yourself towards the gym to achieve your end goal. To avoid making such mistakes, you should include some fun workouts or sports that you enjoy in your routine. Setting a goal that you can stick with will never build much mental pressure on you, and always keep you motivated to walk through your entire journey and achieve the end goal.

5. Make them specific

Your goals should be specific and accountable. For instance, if you say that you want to get healthy, then it becomes too vague, doesn't it? There are several ways to get healthy. But how do you want to get healthy? Is it by losing weight? By running? Or by starting to exercise? Hence, instead of setting a vague goal like getting healthy, you should set a specific goal like losing 10 pounds of weight by doing exercise. Setting specific goals helps because they hold you accountable for what you are doing and gives a sense of responsibility.

Setting an ideal fitness goal for yourself will help you enjoy the path towards it. Hence it holds major importance in a person's fitness journey. I hope that these tips will help you avoid some pitfalls and set an ideal goal for your fitness journey.