People often make commitments to better health habits they don’t keep more than a month. Part of the reason so many people fail to reach their fitness goals is that they never set realistic goals. Look for fitness goals examples that can actually help you progress. By properly setting your personal training goals, you can create a reasonable set of achievements that will better drive your fitness journey.
While it’s easy to conceptualize ideas for your fitness goal, it is another animal to turn those ideas into meaningful motivation. Properly setting objectives should create a fire in you to, if not passionately exercise, at least passionately attack your goals.
The second aspect of our fitness goals to set you up for success is accountability. Vague ideas get vague results. By setting proper personal training goals, you are making a commitment to yourself and/or your workout partners that you will meet certain performance metrics.
Setting Goals
The SMART method is an effective system for goal setting.
Specific - Your goal should be specific and clearly stated. Remember: Vague goals get vague results.
Measurable - Choose objective criteria rather than subjective. You want something that gives you a chance to look at hard numbers or results.
Attainable - Don’t set yourself up for failure. Keep it doable.
Relevant - If it is not directly related to your fitness, pick something that is.
Time-bound - Set a deadline. Keep the deadline. Own it.
The great part about SMART goals is that they can be used for short range and long range targets. In fact, it works great to have a long-term SMART goal that is supported by a series of Short-term Smart goals. This gives you plenty of validation on your journey as you hit “mile markers” along the way.
Fitness Goals Examples
Let's take a look at a few examples of effective fitness goals. For the first one, let’s start with a goal that is virtually guaranteed to get you plenty of couch time.
“I am going to eat better and get in shape.”
What are you doing with that? Nothing. It’s not specific, measurable, or time-bound. It isn’t attainable, because you didn’t actually create anything to attain. It also isn’t relevant since you’ll repeat it every few months with the same lack of results. It’s an all-around terrible fitness goal idea. Here is a better option:
“By this time next year, I am going to have a nutritionally sound diet, lose forty pounds, and run in the [favorite charity] 5k.”
Alright! We have specific personal training goals that focus on a measurable metric, forty pounds, a specific event, the 5k. We also have nutritionally sound diet, which is not overly specific but much more so than simply eating better. There are two deadlines involved, one year from today and in time for the race. All three goals are attainable by a reasonably healthy individual and relevant to the general goal of better fitness and physical health.
To support this one-year-away goal, smaller goals can be created. Some fitness goals examples to support the long-term plan are:
“I am going to walk on the treadmill before work every other day and lower my fat intake to less than 50 grams of fat daily for the next month.” - This goal is all about setting a lifestyle pattern of diet modification and exercise.
Now we’re talking. This goal is still specific, measurable, and begins a progression towards the ultimate goal.
Progression is the key to setting short-term goals that lead to your long-term target. Each incremental fitness goal idea should move the needle a little more toward the endgame. By doing this, you are chopping a larger task into smaller, easier to accomplish pieces. It gives you a feeling of accomplishment and that much more motivation to hit your next mark.
Meeting The Challenge
The last part of attaining your training goals is commitment. Your goals are a contract with yourself (and others if you are joined on your fitness journey by friends or family). You need to find a way to keep it front and center, not just at the gym, but in your life. Three popular fitness goals examples are:
Physical Reminder - Some people will wear reminders, such as a bracelet or rubber band, others will write encouraging notes by their bed, bathroom mirror, computer screen, and steering wheel.
Call In Backup - Others will ask a friend to be a source of accountability, someone who will ask them regularly about their progress and remind them of their goal on half-price milkshake night.
Give Yourself A Reward - Bribery can get you everywhere. For this fitness goal idea, you can buy yourself a “goal t-shirt” or some other prize that you’ll be able to wear once you hit your target.
However you do it, you must make and keep the commitment to your personal training goals if you want to be successful. That doesn’t mean you can’t have cheat days, occasional times when you loosen the reins a bit, but they need to be kept to no more than once a week.
Tying It All Together
Creating and maintaining a healthy lifestyle can be the journey of a lifetime. By setting SMART goals like our fitness goal examples, and understanding how to keep them, you set yourself up for success. If you need more fitness help or a place to train, call or stop by a Krav Maga Worldwide location or affiliate today. We have classes that can help you get fit while teaching you real-world self-defense. Come train with us.
