How to set fitness goals!

If you've decided to change your lifestyle to lead a healthier life and to get fit, then firstly well done for making that mental decision to make a difference for the better. Your next stage is to strike while your motivation is high and get practical. That means setting fitness goals so that you can work out the right exercise program and strategy to follow. If you've no idea where you're heading then how can you hope to get anywhere, let alone know what to do?

Let's be clear, you don't have to be a pro-athlete or at the top of your fitness game to be serious enough to set fitness goals. You may feel that a general concept of getting in shape and perhaps losing weight or strengthening up is enough. However, while there's nothing wrong with focusing on an overarching plan to improve your health, fitness and wellbeing, goals can help lead the way and help you monitor your progress too.

If you're not sure how to set your fitness goals, then here are some top tips to get you started:

• Be honest about what you want - You can listen to other people or look at what others are aiming for but your fitness goals have to be personal to you. Don't feel under pressure to lose weight if you don't want to or feel you have to be able to run a marathon to be considered fit.
• Have a physical assessment - It's difficult to set goals if you don't know where your starting point is. You might have vague notions of how far you have to go but how far back are you starting? Don't just guess but get a trained professional to give you an objective opinion on your fitness status right now.
• Value what motivates you - What drives you needs to be incorporated into your fitness goals. If you really want to reach a certain level in a sport or compete in an sporting activity, for example, then gear your goals around this end. You are more likely to keep moving forward if you are connecting your activities to what interests you and what excites you.
• Explore different styles of training - Unless you are aware of all the different ways you can keep fit, you may not be clued-up on what is possible, in terms of results. Keep an open mind and discover new activities and ways of working out and let these feed into your goal-setting. Don't discount what you enjoy doing either as there are many ways you can ready your goals.
• Create mini-goals - Rather than just looking at end results or destination goals, what about creating some milestones along the way too. Mini-goals can help you along your fitness journey and also be useful in monitoring your progress too.
• Write your goals down - You need to formalize what you want by putting it down in writing. You could even pin your list up somewhere that you can see it each day so that you keep focused and your motivation stays strong.

Do you need help setting your fitness goals? Contact us and we will help you make that all important step towards fitness results.