Tired of not meeting your fitness goals? Are you setting yourself up for failure before you even get started? Let’s learn how to use S.M.A.R.T goals to create your fitness plan.
Let’s take a look at how S.M.A.R.T goals can help you achieve both your short-term and long-term fitness goals. Grab a pen and piece of paper and we are going to help guide you through the process of setting up S.M.A.R.T. goals. As you will see, this method will help set realistic goals and attainable goals. From previous experience, you probably already know that setting overly aggressive or unrealistic goals can set you up for failure before you even start working on achieving your goals.
How to Use Smart Goals to Achieve Your Fitness Goals
SMART goals can help you develop a good strategy to meet your fitness goals this year.
Specific – Goals should always include specific details. For example, a goal to exercise more often too broad. But setting a SMART goal to walk 30 minutes 4 days a week is an ideal example. Written goals are there to help remind you of both short and long-term fitness goals. Remember to make sure that you can obtain each goal as you are writing it down. It is important that you break your long-term fitness goals down into several goals. Having smaller goals on in your fitness plan is important because you are able to see progress as it is happening.
Measurable – Always come up with measurable goals. Measurable goals are goals that have measurable outcomes. For example, set a goal to be able to walk 2 miles by a certain date (ie 4 weeks from your start date). As you can see, this is a measurable goal because you can easily track how far you can walk in 4 weeks. By the end of 4 weeks, you can either say you met the goal or you need to keep working on it.
Never beat yourself up if you miss a goal. Instead, continue moving forward and keep working to achieve it. Then cross it off your fitness plan, once you achieve your goal.
Attainable – Never set goals that aren’t attainable. Doing so will only lead to disappointment. Focus on coming up with achievable goals that will work around your schedule, even if you have a busy lifestyle. Do keep in mind that you need to account for the time that you have available in your schedule that you can dedicate towards meeting your fitness goals. For example, if your schedule does not allow you to work out for long periods of time at the gym. Then don’t schedule a two-hour workout session. Instead, set aside at least 30 to 45 minutes when you are available to work out. You can even schedule smaller increments of time throughout the day. Even shorter workouts make a difference.
Realistic – Set yourself with realistic SMART goals. Do break larger goals into several realistic goals. As you are meeting your smaller goals, it is easy to look at your fitness plan and see how much effort that you have made along the ways. Plus, being able to check off a goal is a great way to boost your confidence. Always celebrate your small successes too. Failure isn’t an option so don’t set yourself up to fail using unrealistic SMART goals.
Trackable – All of the SMART goals that you have included in your fitness plan should be trackable. It is important that you add trackable goals that you can record any achievements that you have made towards meeting your fitness goals.
Always refer back to your S.M.A.R.T goals when life gets in the way or when you are struggling to find the motivation to work on your fitness goals. Looking back over your fitness plan can help you remember why you started working to become physically fit this year. Don’t be afraid to modify or add new goals to your plan if something isn’t working. It is better to make changes so that you can see continued success.
