Setting Fitness Goals

Setting goals for ourselves in health and fitness is a great way to ensure success. This is not only a great way to achieve success in fitness, but also in all areas of life. Doing these few simple steps will put you ahead of about 99% of the population, and it gives you something solid and visible to work toward. This is not a time consuming process, and it is one that can make all the difference in the world.

The first step in achieving fitness success is to determine what your goals are. This could be anything. Do you want to lose five pounds over the next five days? Do you want to see your abs before the start of the New Year? Do you want to fit into your favorite jeans again? Do you want to walk up a flight of stairs without getting winded? Your fitness goals can be anything, but it is crucial to your success that you get a solid idea of what it is that you really want to accomplish, and then write it down in detail and look at it every day. Writing your goals down puts them in physical form so you know exactly what they are. They’re not floating around in your mind where they can change by the minute or be avoided, and it will also give you some accountability.

Once you’ve decided what your goals are, it’s time to take a look at how you’re going to accomplish them. With your fitness goals written down, you now need to write a plan of how you’re going to accomplish them. If you have a large goal or one that may take a lot of time, break it down into smaller, easier to attain goals. For example, if your goal was to lose 30 pounds over the next six months, step one could be to eliminate drinking soda. Step two could be to begin a cardio training program to work your way up to burning 300 calories a day. Step three could be to eliminate sweets from your diet. The list could go on and on, and it could be just about anything. The important thing is that you have a clear, defined path of how you are going to accomplish it.

The next phase in your journey is to put the plan into action. You have step one written down, now start doing it! Putting you plan in action is how you are going to achieve those results, and no one is going to do it for you.

Once you have your plan in action, you can refine and tweak it to continue moving forward. Let’s again take the example from above. Your goal was to lose 30 pounds over a six month period, but say you accomplished it in only four months. Great job! Now, do you stop and go back to the way you were? I would hope not. Write a new goal and plan to accomplish it. Maybe now you want to see your abs. Great! Write that down, and then devise a plan to achieve it and get to it!

Defining and writing down goals and their plan in fitness is a great way to improve your life. Again, you can do this with all areas of your life. I have my list of goals and their plan taped to my mirror so I see them every day. It gives me focus on what’s important to me, and I do not waste time on other unimportant matters. With your goals written down and firmly in hand, you may find that your life will start to improve rapidly and dramatically, in ways you never knew it could.

Tim Mielke is a former competitive bodybuilder and published author, with 20 years of experience in the health and fitness industry. He has written dozens of articles ranging from the organic lifestyle, to hyped-up supplements to steroids, for various health and fitness sources. His book, The Book of Supplement Secrets: A Beginner’s Guide to Nutritional Supplements, has received excellent reviews. Tim brings his knowledge and expertise to RightFitnessandNutrition.com, and is currently developing his own supplement line and writing two more books, which he hopes to have published in 2014.