What fitness goals should you be setting next year?

Longevity Exercise Physiology Drummoyne, Edgecliff, Marrickville, Bella Vista, Randwick, Pymble and Balmain, and Neutral Bay discuss New Year’s Resolutions and what SMART fitness goals you should be setting for 2022 to set yourself up for success!

Leading into 2022, goal setting is crucial in keeping us accountable, driven and challenged with our fitness. Setting yourself goals adds more meaning & purpose to your training and will help you to cope with the sometimes temporary discomfort and grind of consistent and individually prescribed training sessions with your Exercise Physiologist. New Year’s is a time overwhelmed with constructing rushed & unrealistic goals which people frequently never end up achieving. Through using SMART goals, you can formulate realistic, individualised, and intelligent goals that will help to give you an extra incentive to persist with your training and stay motivated throughout the year.

SMART goals is an acronym that stands for the following:

S – Specific

M – Measurable

A – Achievable

R – Relevant

T – Time bound

Specific

Make your goal as clear & detailed as possible. Having a more specific goal enables you to focus your efforts and avoid being distracted. Try thinking about:

• What do you want to achieve?
• Why is this important to you?
• Who is involved?
• What resources do you need to achieve your goal?

Measurable

Being able to keep objective measures on your goal means you can keep track of your progress and assess whether your training is effective. It also encourages you to stay motivated especially when you can see progress in the process.

Achievable

Make your goal is realistic. There is nothing worse than being overly optimistic as you will set yourself up for failure. Ensure that your goal is challenging but also attainable otherwise this may demotivate you in achieving your goal.

Relevant

Is your goal specific to you and compliments any other goals that you may have set out to achieve? By considering factors like whether it is the right time to achieve this goal or if it is appropriate for the current socio-economic environment, this will help you to determine if it is a relevant goal for you.

Time-bound

Set a target date for when you aim to reach this goal. This gives you a solid deadline to work towards and will keep you accountable and on track. Further breaking down the time frame and developing smaller goals on the way to your big goals will provide you with opportunities to check in and keep on track.

Whether your SMART goal for 2022 is to run 5km once a week in 6 months or to complete 10 push ups in a row in 12 weeks, using the SMART goal structure will support you to stay motivated and set you up for the best success to accomplish your 2022 fitness goals!

 

Written by Ellen Spencer

If you want the guidance and help of an Accredited Exercise Physiologist in constructing SMART goals and helping you to achieve your goals leading into 2022, contact Longevity Personal Training and Exercise Physiology on 

1300 964 002 to enquire today.

References

McCoy, J. (2019, Jan 3). How to Set Realistic Fitness Goals You’ll Actually Achieve, According to Top Trainers. Retrieved from Self: https://www.self.com/story/how-to-set-realistic-fitness-goals

MindTools. (2021). SMART goals. Retrieved from MindTools: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/smart-goals.htm