Why Your Fitness Goals Should Be SMART

The start of a new year is a great time to set new fitness goals, but it’s not enough to just write them down and hope for the best. To achieve your fitness goals and ensure they are realistic, it’s essential to use a SMART approach.

SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. By adopting this approach, your fitness goals will become clearer, more attainable, and more meaningful.

Let’s dive into each of these five elements of SMART and see how they can make a difference in your fitness journey.

Specific: Be clear about what you want to achieve

“I want to get healthier and fitter” -sounds like a great goal, doesn’t it? But the problem is it’s too vague. When setting fitness goals, you need to get specific.

“I want to lose 20 pounds in three months” or “I want to be able to run a 5k in under 30 minutes” are much more specific goals than “getting fitter.”

By being specific, you give your fitness goals a target that you can work towards. You’ll know exactly what you’re trying to achieve, and that will motivate you to keep going.

Measurable: Track your progress

It’s essential to measure your progress when working towards a fitness goal. Without measurable progress, it’s easy to become disheartened, lose motivation, and ultimately give up.

Measuring progress can be as simple as tracking the number of steps you take each day, or as complex as measuring changes in blood pressure or body fat percentage.

Whatever method, measuring progress enables you to tweak your workout and dietary habits if necessary and seek help if you are stuck.

Achievable: Set realistic but challenging goals

Setting goals that are too easy won’t push you, and setting goals that are too challenging can be demotivating. You may set yourself up for failure by doing this.

That’s why setting achievable goals is critical. You need to set a target that’s demanding enough to be motivating but not so high that you may see it as unreachable.

The outcome here may vary as you grind harder. Be sure to assess you can reach a new level of your goals as you accomplish earlier goals.

Relevant: Pick goals that align with your life

When setting fitness goals, consider how they fit into your lifestyle. Don’t choose a goal just because it’s a trend.

Having it aligned with your lifestyle means fitting your goals into your routine, which often means sustainable and part of your daily routine.

For example, if you know that you don’t like running and find it difficult to stick to, setting a goal to run every day won’t be helpful. Instead, find an exercise that you enjoy doing and build your goals around it.

Time-bound: Set deadlines and checkpoints

It’s important to set deadlines and checkpoints for your fitness goals. This helps you stay on track and focus on achieving the goal. Deadlines and checkpoints are also essential for measuring progress and making changes to your routine if necessary.

Instead of setting a deadline far into the future, set smaller, incremental deadlines. This will help make the goal feel more achievable and help you stay motivated.

Conclusion

Using the SMART approach means setting fitness goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. This approach ensures that your fitness goals are realistic, achievable, and, most importantly, motivating.

Be sure to measure your progress, set realistic goals, pick goals that align with your lifestyle, and set deadlines and checkpoints along the way. This will help you achieve your goals and lead to improved health and fitness in the long run!