Time To Get Serious

Well it is that time of year again, September! The summer holidays are winding down and school is about to start. The party is over and it is time to get serious again.

On the bright side, it is a good time to take stock of life and to set some goals and, since this is a fitness blog, hopefully some fitness goals. Before setting your goals you need to know what it is that you want:

Do you want to lose weight, gain muscle mass, improve your cardio fitness, improve your strength or train for an event?

To help you really achieve your goal it is good to apply the SMART principles to it. SMART – what is that you say? Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely.

Let us use one of the most common fitness goals, to lose weight, and apply the SMART principles to it.

Specific – means just that. A Specific goal is more likely to be achieved than a general goal. So saying you want to lose weight is not as specific as saying I would like to lose 10lbs over the next three months. Get specific.

Measurable – there must be a way to measure your progress towards getting to your goal. In the case of weight loss you have to use the number on the scale. I know that once I see weight loss it motivates me and spurs me on to stay on track with getting to my goal.

Attainable – notice that I didn’t say that I wanted to lose 100lbs in three months. No matter what you do, crazy stuff like the HcG diet or other radical plans, you won’t lose 100lbs in three months

Realistic – If I weighed 100lbs and said that I wanted to lose 40lbs that would not be realistic as an adult.

Timely – a goal should be grounded within a timeframe. To say you want to lose 10lbs but not put a time frame on it puts no sense of urgency or importance on it. Your subconscious mind will know and be more focused if there is a time frame.

So now you have the idea. Stop thinking about things and start setting those fitness goals. 6 months from now you will be thanking yourself.