9 Ways To Set Better Fitness Goals & Actually Accomplish Them
Do you find yourself setting fitness goals year after year and then never quite getting there?
The really vague ones like:
“Get stronger.”
The kind of pointless ones like:
“Do 500 crunches a day.”
(Sorry not sorry but it’s true.)
The ones that aren’t actually fitness goals, but aesthetic goals like:
“Get toned arms.”
And then you just “fall off the wagon” or forget about it?
Stop it. This is why New Years resolutions get a bad rap. Because we do the same shit every January. Decide it’s time to reset, get back on track, and begin our relentless pursuit of fitness perfection yet again.
If you hate resolutions, cool. Don’t wanna set fitness goals? This year? Don’t.
But if you’re on the fence and wanna reconsider, keep reading before you decide that they all suck. They don’t. But the way you’ve been thinking about them kinda does, and it’s not your fault.
Before we get into this, I wanna be clear. This is not another article about SMART goals. We’ve probably all heard of these. . .
“Your goal should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-based.” (Said in the most obnoxious know-it-all voice possible.)
Thanks Captain Obvious. This post is NOT that.
I wanna go a little deeper today. Into things I’ve used to help my clients reframe goal setting so they can actually get stuff done and feel good about it. Instead of setting Regina George style goals like:
“I really wanna lose 3lbs.”
You’re better than that. And while the anti-diet world likes to come down hard on diet culture for pushing New Year’s resolutions, I’m gonna push right back and encourage you to do what feels right for you rather than rebelling just for rebellion’s sake. (Got that idea from Glennon Doyle and her book Untamed. If you set one goal for 2021 make it to read that.)
I personally love the clean slate of a New Year to set a fresh set of goals & intentions.
Of course, you can do this any time of year. But it’s so much more fun when you have a new planner, are potentially just coming back from a break from work or school, and have some time and space to reflect.
So if you’re with me, and actually kind of enjoy this sort of thing, go for it! Setting fitness goals is not inherently a diet culture thing.
So yes, fitness goals.
But let’s put some more thought into them.
And if 2021 allows, maybe even accomplish some of them too?
1. Set action based goals rather than outcome based ones.
We don’t have as much control over outcomes as we think we do. But we have some more control over our actions if we choose the right ones. So for example: “get stronger” could become something like “lift weights 3 times a week”. “Learn to do a pull-up” becomes “start following a pull-up training program“. Get the idea?
2. Set goals for the person you are TODAY, not some future or past version of you.
Shoutout to Shirin Eskandani for this gem. But seriously. It’s easy to get caught up in who you want to be or who you used to be. Both likely glorified versions that live in your brain. If “future you” wants to run a marathon but “today you” mostly just likes to run her mouth, start with something more attainable like a 5k. You can always add to/change your goals later if you want.
3. Think about what you might have to sacrifice to meet your goal. . .is it worth it?
While I encourage everyone to set fitness goals that go beyond weight loss & aesthetics, let’s entertain this for a moment. Let’s talk about 6 pack abs. Most of us were not genetically wired for this trait. If that were your goal you’d probably need to be super restrictive with food, spend most of your time working out, sacrifice social events, etc. Sound like fun to you? If not, reassess.
4. Rack up small wins.
If you have a big goal in mind, it can seem insurmountable at times. So break it into smaller, more bite sized steps. What needs to be in place for you to strength train 3 times a week? Do you need to get some weights for home? Hire a coach to program for you? Make sure you can consistently get it done once or twice a week before you go for more days? All small wins that are steps along the way.
5. Make sure your goals don’t conflict with each other.
This might seem like common sense, but sometimes we don’t stop to think about how different goals require opposite behaviors. It’s gonna be pretty hard to train for a half-marathon AND also crush your first powerlifting meet. The skills required for each are completely different. Do you wanna go to bed super early? If not, it wouldn’t make sense to set goals of getting more sleep AND waking up at 5am to work out. Ever think about that?
6. Expect the process to be hard, and don’t let it mean anything about YOU.
When you’re trying to build a new habit, learn a new skill, or work towards something big in your life, expect it to be hard. Getting back into ballet will be hard if you haven’t been to class in over a year. Strength training will feel hard if you’ve never picked up more than a 5lb dumbbell. It doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you. It’s just what happens when you do new things. It will feel easier over time, but you need to work through the challenge for awhile before you get to a place of ease. Go with it.
7. Know when you need to ask for help.
In many cases hiring a professional or finding a community can help you get closer to where you wanna be. Never underestimate the power of having other humans rooting for you. Or having someone who knows more about the thing you wanna do to help show you the way.
8. Allow your goals to change & evolve.
Changing your mind is not failing. And even if it was, failure is still an opportunity for learning and growth. At any point, you’re allowed to decide that: You no longer care about a goal you set. You need to lower your expectations and set a more manageable goal. That you need to raise your expectations and think bigger. Whatever. The moral of the story is that goals are not bad movies or boring books you have to finish anyway.
9. Make sure your goals are aligned with YOUR values.
I say this often, but set goals that are aligned with your values. Especially when it comes to fitness. It doesn’t make a difference what the “best” kind of exercise is if you hate whatever that thing is. On the flip side, if you align your goal to something that has a deeper meaning for you, you’re more likely to enjoy working towards it.
A word about body autonomy and weight loss:
you can absolutely want to lose weight or change your body “for yourself”. AND if you dig a little deeper you’ll probably notice theres also a little societal noise telling you that you “should”. Get curious about that. 😉
Use this post not only in the New Year but anytime you need to reassess your goals. Run your ideas through each of these points as a filter so that you can set meaningful fitness goals & actually accomplish them this time.
