How to Set Your Fitness Training Goals
Setting fitness training goals is a first step toward giving direction to your exercise program. Goals project a path that leads to the level of health and fitness you envision. Clear measures of your expected outcomes crystallize your progress along the way.
Many can readily express their primary goal as, "to get fit". But what exactly will being fit look like, and how will you know when you have arrived?
There are many ways to demonstrate that your fitness level is improving. Subjectively, you may seem more vibrant, shapely, and toned. But you also need concrete ways of measuring improvements.
Correctly developed goals promote adherence to your fitness program. Witnessing visible progress inspires even greater effort toward achieving goals.
Ideal fitness goals are:
1. Stated in specific performance outcomes: The key is to select a few goals with clearly defined outcomes that exemplify the fitness qualities you hope to develop. Examples are: (a) wear size 12 jeans, (b) walk 5 miles without stopping, (c) bench press 200 pounds, or (d) reduce proportion of body fat weight to 25%.
2. Directly measurable: Each of these outcomes can be assessed early in training and evaluated throughout your program. They provide objective indicators of your improvement. There will be no question as to whether or not you have accomplished them.
3. Targeted for specific short-term and long-term completion dates: Set a date when you expect to achieve your long-term goals. Then establish short-term goals that you at specific dates along a time line (e.g., monthly, every 6 weeks). Short-term goals are mile markers-check points of your progress toward your long-term goals.
4. Realistic and achievable: Given your starting point or current condition, could you potentially achieve these fitness goals within the projected time line?
Goals should be challenging, but not overly aggressive or virtually impossible to reach. If you mistakenly set your goals too high or too low, adjust the targeted values and/or dates accordingly.
Examples of good goal statements are:
*Fit into size 14 jeans by April 1 and size 12 jeans by June 1.
*Walk 2 miles without resting by February 15, 4 miles by April 1, and 5 miles by June 1.
*Bench press 75 lbs. 5 times by April 15 and 100 lbs. one time by June 1.
*Achieve 30% body fat weight by March 1, and 25% by June 1.
Be patient as you navigate the path you set forth. Even if it takes longer than anticipated to achieve your fitness goals, celebrate your milestones and keep going!
Dr. Denise K. Wood is an educator and sport and fitness training consultant from Knoxville, TN. She is the creator of [http://www.womens-weight-training-programs.com]
Dr. Wood is an inspirational motivator with an extensive toolbox of training techniques based in science and delivered to accelerate the learning curve. She has trained a wide range of clients from beginners with special needs to Olympians. Her mission: Teach sound principles, inspire life-changing actions.
Dr. Wood is a former track and field champion with extensive international experience. She was mentored by world-class Olympic lifters and a former Soviet coach. As a graduate assistant at the University of Tennessee during the peak years of her athletic career, she coached many elite athletes in the field events and strength training. She has held many national positions in Olympic Development and with USA Track and Field.
As a career educator, Dr. Wood has been recognized for her work as an outstanding professor in the exercise sciences and research/statistics. Her experience with clients in physical therapy, allied health fields, and corporate fitness has further broadened her knowledge of human performance.
Dr. Wood earned her B.A. from Montclair State University in Health and Physical Education with teacher licensure, and both her M.S. and Ed.D. in Exercise Science from The University of Tennessee. Her areas of concentration were Motor Learning, Social and Psychological Aspects of Sport, and Research Design and Statistical Analysis. Dissertation topic: The Effect of Two Free Weight Training Programs on Selected Closed Motor Skills. She is a professional member of the American College of Sports Medicine, the National Strength and Conditioning Association, the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity, and the American Society for Training and Development.
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