The Importance of Having Goals

I almost thought about skipping this post, because even though it’s not the most interesting it’s still very important. I want to talk about setting goals. Setting fitness goals is extremely important. Without goals and some sort of direction, you have very little chance of becoming successful. Strong goals are the foundation of a successful fitness program. So where do we start?

First off you need to identify what you want to achieve. You can’t have that blanket New Year’s resolution response, “I want to start working out!” that will get you nowhere and will give you nothing to achieve. Do you want to lose weight? Gain weight? Put on muscle? Take off fat? Look good in a bathing suit? Get in shape for a sport? Realizing what you want to achieve is going to give your workouts direction so you don’t end up quitting the gym after a couple weeks.

The next step is to identify your motivation. What is your motivation? This could be anything! Very few people have strong intrinsic motivation, (motivation that comes from within). Maybe you want to workout, because you love it and you like the way it makes you feel and it’s fun for you. Very few people say this and that’s ok, but you should at least have some sort of intrinsic motivation. After all what’s the point in making a lifestyle change if you don’t like it? There is none! Most people that read this are going to find their motivation extrinsically, (motivation that comes from external factors). Examples of this might be: (my personal one) you have been that scrawny little shrimp all your life and you’re sick of it!, you want to be able to fit in an old pair of jeans, or maybe you want to live healthier and longer to be able to enjoy being a part of your loved one’s lives. Whatever the case, you need to find the motivation of your goals to give them validity.

The secret to having success when setting a goal is to make your goals SPECIFIC! I can not stress this enough! So many times I hear people’s general goals: “I want to lose weight.” “I want to gain muscle.” “I want to look good in my bathing suit for Spring Break.” “I want definition.” It’s unfortunate in our society today that people think all they have to do is say the magic words, “I want to lose weight.” and it happens. This method of goal setting is ingrained into the minds of the countless lost souls of society’s fitness failures, and unfortunately it’s a completely useless form of goal setting. Do not fear though, because The Gym Maniac is here to set everyone straight! So how can we make these goals more specific?

Well for example: “I want to gain 10 lbs.” is better than, “I want to gain weight.”

“I want to gain 10 lbs. of muscle by February.” Is even better, and “I want to gain 10lbs. of muscle while maintaining my current body fat percentage, in time for Valentines Day, February 14^th, 2012.” is better yet!

Having specific goals will give your workouts purpose and meaning and you will be more likely to keep to your workout plan when you give yourself an end point.

In keeping with making specific goals, you also need to keep specific how you are going to achieve these goals. For instance say someone wants to lose 40 lbs. They need to be specific in how they are going to achieve this. Maybe go to classes at their local gym twice a week and work with a personal trainer twice a week. They will also need to come up with a specific diet program. This is the part in which you may need to consult with a health professional in order to do this.

Another factor you will need to take into consideration is a time limit for your goals. Many people may find this easy, because a lot of fitness goals coincide with a specific date: “By spring break”, “By such and such’s wedding”, “By this important date”. But for those of you who are not trying to meet fitness goals for a specific event you need to come up with a timeline. It is important to put a time limit on what you are trying to achieve, because it gives you that sense of urgency and motivation to get it done. Think if you told some construction workers to build you a house and to get it done when they can, it would never get done!

Keeping your timeline in mind as well as, what you want to do, and how you are going to do it, you must also make everything reasonable. It wouldn’t make much sense to set a goal to gain 20lbs of muscle in 2 months. That just isn’t reasonable. You also want to make your goals challenging. A goal to lose 10 lbs. of muscle in 4 months is way to easy! When setting a goal make sure that you will challenge yourself, but at the same time it is very important to know your limitations. Part of knowing your limitations is realizing how much work you are willing to put into achieving your goal. Don’t fool yourself into thinking you can go from not working out to joining a gym and attending five to six days a week. You will undoubtedly burn yourself out before you get a chance to achieve anything. It takes a long while to get used to any habit and you need to give yourself the time to make the changes in order to be successful.

Lastly now that you have all these goals in mind you need to write them down! What’s the use in all of this brainstorming if you don’t write any of it down? Writing your thoughts down will help you visualize and bring validity to your goals. They will get ingrained into your mind and you will also be more likely to remember them. You can even write them down and put them in a place you look all the time. Maybe a dresser drawer, where you put your alarm clock, the bathroom mirror, or maybe the refrigerator. Whatever the case may be this will give yourself a reminder of what you want to achieve everyday! Another method that helps, that I like doing is to tell people what you plan on achieving. This gives yourself some sort of accountability to other people to achieve your goals. You are going to look pretty silly when Fred at the office comes up to you three months later and says, “How’s that workout going Bob?” and you have to say, “Uh well… I… Uh…” Wouldn’t you rather be able to say, “Splendid! I’ve been losing a lot more than I thought already and I feel great!”

Developing goals are going to be the number one factor in your fitness success. This is something that is going to make or break your entire workout regimen. Without goals you will have n direction. So remember to find your motivation, make them specific, give yourself a time limit, and be reasonable when developing your goals.

Good Luck!

The Gym Maniac