Have you ever set a goal that isn’t exactly clear, so you find it hard to track your progress? For example, if your goal is to “lose weight”, “build muscle” or “tone up” how do you know when you have achieved it?
What are SMART goals?
SMART goals are:
S – specific
M – measurable
A – achievable
R – relevant
T – time-bound
Let’s break this down a bit…
SPECIFIC – your goal should include details of what you would like to accomplish, for example reach a certain dress size, or be able to bench press a certain weight.
MEASURABLE – you should easily be able to tell you have reached your goal, for example, you can fit into that outfit or push your goal weight in bench press.
ACHIEVABLE – your goal should be a challenge but still within your capabilities. They shouldn’t be too easy or equally they shouldn’t be too hard and out of reach. It should be doable with a little bit of time and effort spent working towards it.
RELEVANT – your goal should be relevant to you and no one else, even if you have a gym buddy. Your goal should be something that you want so that you are motivated to work towards it.
TIME-BOUND – your goal should have a realistic time frame so that it pushes you to keep working towards it. If you have a never-ending goal, then you can feel unmotivated as it will feel like you are always working towards it.
Setting a SMART goal helps to keep you on track and motivated. For example, if you have a goal of “losing weight” with no specific time frame then it can feel never ending and you won’t know when you have reached your goal if you don’t have a specific target to aim for. Whereas if you have a goal of losing 2 pounds in 2 weeks this is a lot easier to track and you will feel more motivated to work towards it and hit it.
You can also set short term SMART goals to help towards longer term SMART goals to help keep you working in the right direction towards a longer-term goal so you can still see your progress and keep motivated.
For help setting your SMART goals that are specific to you, speak to one of the gym team who will be more than happy to help!
Blog by Jo Davies – Personal Trainer (Jo Davies Fitness)