Whether your fitness goals are to get leaner, build muscle mass, get stronger or simply be more active, it’s vital that you keep track of your progress (groundbreaking information for you, I’m sure)
Do you measure your fitness goals though? How are you measuring them or how do you deem whether you have successfully achieved them?
It’s all well and good saying “I want to lose 4kg’s before I go away on holiday in 2 months time”, but there is a process that gets you there (I know that sounds patronising but goal setting is a skill and it’s something that we focus on and help our members set when they start training at Foundry)
Here are a few things to consider when you’re setting a goal
The above example is what’s known as an “outcome goal”, simply the end result that you want.
If this truly is your goal and you can picture yourself after having achieved said goal; feeling more confident, being happier when you look in the mirror, being able to fit in to the clothes that are in the “I’ll get there one day” pile, then that is fine.
But what I would suggest is complimenting this with behaviour based goals.
An example of some behaviour based goals would be making it to the gym 4x per week, walking 12,000 steps every day, eating protein with breakfast every day, drinking 3 litres of water every day. These behaviour based goals need to be realistic, but at the same time be hard hitting enough to make an impact.
There is no point making the behaviour-based fitness goal of going to the gym 4x per week if you are currently only going once. At the other end of the spectrum if you currently eat pretty well and also train 3-4x a week, however the only thing you decide to focus on is drinking 3 litres of water a day, yes you may see some change, although it’s unlikely to be dramatic.
Setting these behaviour based fitness goals will allow you to monitor your progress over a day or a week, allowing you to re-asses or give you a kick up the arse.
Identify the barriers
There is a reason that your goal isn’t currently a reality. That reason is; because you aren’t currently doing what is required to be in the shape you want to be or at the level of fitness that you want to be. Do you like having a bottle of wine 4-5 nights a week? Do you order in fast food 3 nights a week with your spouse? These don’t make you a bad person, but you have to ask yourself if you are prepared to alter (not give up) these habits. It’s a trade off and if the answer is no then you may have to re-evaluate and manage your goal.
Be prepared to make sacrifices
Following on from the point above, especially if your goal is a body composition goal then you are going to need to make some sacrifices. Driving to a dinner with friends occasionally so you aren’t drinking, spending some time on a Sunday making sure you have some food ready for the next few days, foam rolling and stretching in front of the TV instead of lying on the sofa or going for a walk to get your steps in when you just want to chill out.
Tell someone about your goals
Telling your family or close friends about your goal will give you accountability and motivation when you feel like you cannot be bothered or when you lose the desire that you had when you made the goal. Who knows, maybe you will even motivate them into jumping in with you and taking on a similar goal. If that does happen then you have a training partner, and also one less person trying to convince you to hit the bottle or go out for a big curry.
So when we sit down with our members, we go through their fitness goals, we ensure that what they’re saying is actually the goal they want to achieve (and are prepared to achieve) and we set behaviour based goals with them, like the examples above. Then we keep them accountable.
That’s how we help you achieve what you want to achieve and why all of our members get incredible results.
Our mission is to help people live their best lives outside of the gym by providing the best possible standards of personal training in London.
Visit one of our Gyms in London:
- Foundry Gym in Bank
- Foundry Gym in North Kensington
- Foundry Gym in Old Street
- Foundry Gym in Richmond
- Foundry Gym in Vauxhall
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