Understanding Your Goals

Understanding Your Goals

Many people every year embark on a journey, an attempt to get in shape, without having a clear or realistic idea of their goals. When someone says that they’re trying to get in shape, if you ask them about what their specific goals are, they rarely respond with anything really specific.

Instead, they respond with things like “wanting a flat tummy” or “just losing a few pounds.” In order to be able to make significant progress towards your goals, you need to have clear goals in mind, such as reaching a specific weight, running a mile in a certain amount of time, or lifting a certain amount of weight.

It’s fine to start out with more general goals, but you should try to sharpen them a bit so that you can get a very clear idea of what you’re working towards. For example, if you wanted to have a flat stomach, that’s a fine goal to work towards.

However, to achieve that, you’ll have to reach a certain weight and a certain body fat percentage. Find out what those numbers are for you using online tools and references, and then work towards that.

Another key part of your goals is to make them realistic. Having unattainable or unrealistic goals may just dishearten you when you don’t reach them. You need to know what you’re capable of doing in a certain timespan.

Let’s say there’s a man who is very overweight - around 40% body fat. If that same man’s New Year’s resolution is to drop down to 15% body fat by summer time, he’s likely not going to reach that goal...