Make Your Fitness Goals Work
When you are developing a fitness program, there has been a motivation for you to do this. You want to lose weight. get stronger, fit those jeans again, or one of a million other motivations. Your fitness goals are the targets you attach to these activities so you know you are actually accomplishing what you set out to do. Here are some tips to help you do this.
First be specific establishing a goal that has a definite, written in stone, measurable accomplishments. For example, don’t say, “I am going to start a running program.” It is far too open ended. The problem with these broad open ended goals is that it is hard to tell if any real progress is made. You may have started running, ran for five minutes and quit. Did you really accomplish anything here? A better way to state the goal is, “I will run two miles, on three different days this week.” There is very little wiggle room here in this statement. Either you achieve the goal or not. This is vital in keeping you motivated.
Another factor is creating good goals is to make them action oriented. You have to perform some physical task for an assigned amount of time. This accomplishment of the physical goal will let you look at yourself with a pride in accomplishing something. Basically, you focus your goals on what you will do to accomplish your goals and not what you will accomplish by doing them. An example would be to set a goal that you will walk four times a week for thirty minutes, rather than set the goal at I will lose five pounds from walking. There are too many factors outside of exercise which contribute to weight gain or loss to make that the ultimate goal.
Make goals that are manageable short term entities. It is great to have broad, long term goals for your health, we all should, but to achieve the long term, you have to build in many short term milestones to get you there. If you were driving across the United States and your ultimate destination is California, are you going to ignore all of the states in between? Of course not. You have to pass through them to get to your ultimate destination and stopping to enjoy what they have to offer will be fun, exiting and interesting.
Don’t worry about being the best, worry about being your best. It is important to not waste time and energy worrying about things you can’t control. By this I mean, don’t compare your progress to someone else or a preconceived notion. If you are weight training, you shouldn’t compare your progress to someone who is stronger or has more experience than you. You are just looking for ways to hurt your self esteem when you do this. You may not be benching more than everyone else at your gym, but if you have consistently seen you strength increase, that should be celebrated. You should recognize that accomplishment, and be proud of it and yourself. Focus on this and how much you enjoy the new strength you have built.
Follow these simple tips when you are setting up your fitness program and I think you will find that the ultimate reward will not only be a better physical appearance and health, but a stronger feeling of self worth and accomplishment. Make your fitness goals work for you and not against you.
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