No matter what your fitness level is we all have to set goals. Without a fitness goal, it is hard to make any decent amount of progress. 

With the sheer number of things going on in our lives it is so easy to forget or even get sidetracked from our fitness programs.

That’s why so many people fail at either losing weight or improving their fitness levels.

Why Is It Good to Set Goals?

So why should you set goals anyway, I mean it can’t make that much difference, right?

In a word. “FOCUS!” 

Anything you put your mind into and focus gets your 100% attention.

With this amount of attention, you are giving yourself every opportunity to succeed because of that famous “F” word. Focus.

In essence, goal setting allows you to strategically pick the right actions to achieve that goal. With effort and focus, you will increase your overall motivation.

With more motivation, you start enjoying the process and the more you enjoy it the easier it is to achieve your goals.

Can you see how strategic goal setting helps with weight loss and fitness? 

It’s that powerful!

By setting goals it gives you something to aim for and encourages you to push through the pain and tiredness you may sometimes feel.

Without having a goal this wouldn’t be as motivating.

Setting a goal isn’t just about a number, it’s also about picturing a vision of where you would like to be in the future.

This is normally on the scale of changing where your life is now for something better.

So as you can see, it’s not so simple. It goes deeper than just picking out some magic number.

These goals need to have deep meaningful reasons, otherwise, they won’t have any effect at all. A weak goal is as good as having no goal at all.

What are the most common fitness goals?

Body Type

One of the most popular types of goals people choose is normally linked to their body type. The vast majority of people just aren’t happy with their body proportions. 

It might be the fact that you feel your waist should be slimmer, your thighs are too chunky, your arms are too flabby, or bubbly behind. Whatever the reason is, the body type is one of the most common reasons to set a goal to change it.

To be fair, there are a lot of people that are just blessed with what is perceived as the perfect figure. However, that is all it is. A perception. 

What is perfect for some people is the exact opposite for others.

Here are the 4 realistic changes you could make to rectify your shape:

1. Change the amount of body fat you have.
2. Increase or decrease muscle mass.
3. Improve your cardiovascular ability.
4. Improve your joint and body flexibility.

Weight Loss

To be honest, this could have quite easily have been at the top of the list. It’s one of the main reasons why people set fitness goals. To lose weight.

Losing weight isn’t just a vanity project either. There are many people that want to live a much healthier life and getting fit is part of that equation.

Build Muscle & Get Stronger

In a strange way, a lot of these goals intertwine really. In order, to achieve one goal you have to incorporate another one. So, you normally find building muscle and getting stronger falls into a lot of the same categories really.

Improve Endurance

Again, similar to the last point of “building muscle.” Improving your endurance is linked with the other goals in this article. 

In order to lose weight, you need to improve your endurance so you can exercise harder and longer. When you do this you build muscle mass which in turn improves your endurance.

Improve Athletic Ability

Improving your athletic ability is another popular fitness goal. This could be for a number of reasons and it is normally sports-related. 

Depending on the sort of exercises you are doing. Improving your athletic ability might be a goal that could help you with that exercise.

Whether it is increasing the number of reps, the weight you can lift or your overall technique.

Tone & Sculpt

Another popular fitness goal is to tone and sculpt your body. There are a lot of people that are happy with their size and even their weight. However, they are looking to go that extra mile and actually tone up certain parts of their body.

What Goal Will You Choose?

This is a really important question to ask yourself and will determine which road you choose to go down really.

Is the goal to feel great and look good naked, get healthy or simply be happy? The answer may be all three.

Whatever the reason is, you need to be crystal clear in your “why.” It’s only when you come to terms with this question can you move onto the next step. 

To be honest, having a collection of reasons is ideal. If the goal is to simply lose weight, then this isn’t a strong enough reason and not specific enough. 

The more specific the better. The deeper you go with your emotions the easier it will be for you to push through when you feel you are struggling. It also means you are dedicated to putting both the time and effort to make it work.

Part 1 - Identify and focus on that goal

1. I want to lose 30 pounds.
2. I want to pack 20 pounds of muscle.
3. I want to be able to fit into that dress I haven’t worn in years.

Part 2 - Write down what you feel you would accomplish

1. What is your “why” I won’t feel embarrassed when I start dating again.
2. My life would start to improve and I will feel better about myself.
3. Who am I doing this for? My wife, my husband or myself?

Part 3 - Be realistic - How often can you train?

1. I can train 3 days a week for a couple of hours. 
2. I’m a single mum and can only train once a week at the weekend, probably a Saturday
3. I’m a machine. I have no problem training every day for a few hours at a time.