How to set Fitness goals with Expect Success Fitness. Wouldn't you agree that goal setting is paramount when it comes to fitness? Are you sick of setting goals that you never achieve? Learn to set goals the "expect success fitness" way and your goals of losing weight, toning up and getting a flatter stomach become a reality not a dream.
Your Fitness Goals whether they be weight loss, body transformation, getting into your favourite pair of Jeans or even your general goals for life, your career etc have been set up for failure if you don't go about them the right way. How many times have you set yourself a goal to find yourself further and further away from achieving it as each day goes by? It's disheartening isn't it? You're not alone in your frustration and don't worry it's not your fault....
Fear not though I'm going to teach you how to start goal setting the right way so you'll set yourself up for SUCCESS not failure. Your going to learn how to set your goals where you'll learn to EXPECT SUCCESS not failure. This technique has served me and countless others well and it's tailored specifically to Fitness but you can adapt it to other areas of your life also.
The technique itself is simple to understand but the effectiveness of it when implemented is where it shines. Your Fitness goals need to be smart or rather they need to be S.M.A.R.T.
They need to be five things: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic & Time bound.
I hear it all the time - What's your goal? Lose weight, get in shape, tone up, new job, new car etc etc. Sure they're goals but they aren't very specific are they? Who's goal are they? Your Fitness Goals need to be specific, you can't just say lose weight!!
What do you want to do? Why do you want to do it? Who is involved? How will this happen?
For example: Mrs Jones wants to lose weight, her original goal might be: "Lose weight." Now making the goal specific it becomes: "I want to start exercising three times a week so I can lose weight and fit into my favourite jeans." That is pretty specific isn't it?
(No actual Mrs. Jones was harmed in any way in the writing of this post :D)
Expect Success Fitness S.M.A.R.T. Goals Rule #1 - Make your Fitness Goals SPECIFIC.
Your goals must also be measurable, after you know specifically what you want you now have to be able to measure your goals. How much weight do you want to lose Half a pound, 10lbs, 20lbs 99.674lbs - well you get the idea. So we can take our specific goal above further by adding a measurable component to it.
For example using Mrs. Jones: She might say "I want to start exercising three times a week so I can lose 13lbs and fit into my favourite jeans."
Expect Success Fitness S.M.A.R.T. Goals Rule #2 - Make your Fitness Goals MEASURABLE.
The next step in your Fitness Goals is to make them actionable. Once your goals are specific and measurable you'll begin develop actions to help you achieve them, help them become more attainable. What can you do to help you achieve your goals? How can the goal be achieved? You'll start to think of ways to make your goals achievable, you'll develop the attitude, abilities, skills and financial capacity to succeed.
Mrs. Jones would say: "I will walk to work instead of taking the bus", or she would say "I will hire a personal trainer to help me exercise three times a week so I can lose 13lbs and fit into my favourite jeans."
Expect Success Fitness S.M.A.R.T. Goals Rule #3 - Make your Fitness Goals ACTIONABLE.
Next up your Fitness Goals need to realistic. This does not mean set yourself an easy goal - one you know you can achieve, your Fitness Goal must be a goal that you are both willing and able to achieve and it must represent progress. Set yourself high standards - and hold yourself to your own standards not anyone elses - I'll repeat that so it's not lost on you - hold yourself to your own standards not anyone elses - if your 120lbs overweight but your Fitness Goal is to become a professional Bikini model then that's your goal but remember you have to be willing and able to work hard towards that goal and you must be doing it for yourself not anyone else. Be realistic in your goal setting, aim high (so high it scares you!) but be willing and able to work for it.
So Mrs. Jones (who originally wanted to lose 13 pounds) might say: "I will hire a personal trainer and exercise for 45 minutes three times a week so I can lose 17lbs and fit into my favourite jeans. I know this will be hard work but I am willing and able to achieve this goal."
Expect Success Fitness S.M.A.R.T. Goals Rule #4 - Make your Fitness Goals REALISTIC.
Finally your Fitness Goals must be time-bound. They must have an end date, setting a time-frame for your Fitness Goals gives you a clear target to work towards. If you don't set a time-frame - your commitment is too vague and your setting yourself up for failure, you've no urgency to take action now.
Mrs Jones would now say (for example on the 15th of May): "I will hire a personal trainer and exercise 45 minutes three times a week so I can lose 17lbs and fit into my favourite Jeans by the 1st July. It will be hard work to lose 17lbs in five weeks but I am willing and able to achieve this goal."
Expect Success Fitness S.M.A.R.T. Goals Rule #5 - Make your Fitness Goals TIME-BOUND.
So bringing everything together now - which is the better goal?
A: "Lose weight."
B: "I will hire a personal trainer and exercise 45 minutes three times a week so I can lose 17 lbs and fit into my favourite Jeans by the 1st July. It's not going to be easy to lose 17lbs in five weeks but I am willing and able to work hard to achieve this goal."
The answer's pretty clear isn't it? When you set yourself S.M.A.R.T. Fitness Goals your setting yourself up for SUCCESS not failure. For example one of my goals for Expect Success Fitness was:
".......by 1st of January 2012 I have spent at least one hour every evening designing and building my Expect Success Fitness website with the help of Aaliyaan my web developer. I have a lot of distractions but this goal is important to me and I've willingly worked hard to achieve it....."
Did I achieve it? Hint: My first blog was posted on the 24th of December (1 week before my deadline), the actual website was up and running a couple of days before that.
Would I of achieved it if my goal was - "set up a website"? Very Very doubtful.
So to recap the Expect Success Fitness S.M.A.R.T. Goals Rules:
Expect Success Fitness S.M.A.R.T. Goals Rule #1 - Make your Fitness Goals SPECIFIC.
Expect Success Fitness S.M.A.R.T. Goals Rule #2 - Make your Fitness Goals MEASURABLE.
Expect Success Fitness S.M.A.R.T. Goals Rule #3 - Make your Fitness Goals ACTIONABLE.
Expect Success Fitness S.M.A.R.T. Goals Rule #4 - Make your Fitness Goals REALISTIC.
Expect Success Fitness S.M.A.R.T. Goals Rule #5 - Make your Fitness Goals TIME-BOUND.
Think about the last time you set yourself a fitness goal? Did you achieve it? If yes - excellent, well done, if no - if you applied these 5 rules would you had a better chance of achieving it? In the next post I am going to talk about bringing these five rules to the next level - I've already given you a "sneak peak" in this post somewhere, if you think you know what it is leave me a comment below and there'll be a special prize for the first person to guess right :)
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