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You don't need to be a superhuman to stay committed to your health and fitness goals. No matter how big or small your goal may be, whether it's the ability to run 5 miles or do 1 pushup, try out some of these tips to help keep you motivated toward that target.
How to set fitness goals that stick - Overview
You don't need to be a superhuman to stay committed to your health and fitness goals. No matter how big or small your goal may be, whether it's the ability to run 5 miles or do 1 pushup, try out some of these tips to help keep you motivated toward that target.
Setting the goal
You should be SMART when you set your mind to a goal: make it Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Result-focused, and Time-bound.
For example, the most common fitness goal is “I want to lose weight.” The issue with this is how vague and difficult it is to tackle. How do you get from point A to point B? If a goal isn’t specific enough it can feel very intimidating and needs to be broken down into smaller steps.
A great example of a specific and measurable goal is “I want to lose 8 pounds over the next month by cooking at home instead of eating out and going to the gym at least 4 times a week.” This approach proves to be so successful because breaking down the components into numeric terms, benchmarks, and a checklist helps keep you motivated and on track. Also, when making a goal achievable, the key is to take it step by step. In other words, slow and steady progression will be your best friend through this process. It will help you maintain all the hard work you are putting in and prevent you from getting burnt out on exercising.
The most important piece of advice is don’t forget to celebrate your victories!
When you hit those benchmarks, it is important to recognize all your hard work with a little treat. Now before you get confused, I'm not talking about eating a big ice cream cake to celebrate running a mile, but picking a reward that won’t counteract your goal and effort you have put into achieving it. Some good examples are a weekend getaway, spa day, movie night, or massage. Adding rewards that correspond to checkpoints on the way to your goal can help you progress faster because of the added bits of motivation. Thinking along these lines, it is also a great idea to create a schedule for your journey. Time management is a crucial component of achieving any goal and fitness is definitely not an exception. If time constraints are an issue, start planning exercise sessions by writing out your weekly schedule and see if there are any blocks of time that work out. You can also get creative with integrating fitness activities with everyday errands or tasks you complete to reach your goal. Also, applying the idea of creativity to this process adds variety and is beneficial to keeping things interesting, fun, and enjoyable.
The last piece of advice is to be forgiving. Slip-ups are completely fine because as mentioned before, you don’t have to be a superhuman to achieve your goals. There is no one in the universe that hasn’t stumbled or taken a few steps back on their path to success. It may be cliche but it is important to never give up on your dreams.
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About the Author:
Abigail is a 2nd year student at the University of Texas at Austin studying sports medicine. She's originally from Long Beach, California and loves being active. Her true passion for fitness shows and she couldn't be more thankful to get to share this excitement with readers seeking insight on a variety of health related topics.
