Most people don’t have a problem setting a fitness goal. The problem is actually sticking to it.
You might tell yourself you’re going to lose 20 pounds, start training six days a week, completely change your diet, and do cardio every morning. It sounds good when you’re motivated, but motivation isn’t going to feel the same every single day.
A good fitness goal should be something you can realistically build into your life and continue doing even when you’re not feeling 100%.
Before worrying about the workout program, ask yourself what you’re really trying to accomplish.
“I want to get in shape” is a start, but what does that actually mean for you?
Maybe you want to get stronger. Maybe you want to lose body fat. Maybe you want to build muscle, improve your endurance, feel more confident, or simply become more active.
Once you know what you want, make it something you can measure.
Instead of:
“I want to work out more.”
Try:
“I want to train three times a week for the next eight weeks.”
Having a specific goal makes it much easier to see whether you’re actually moving forward. Goal-setting methods such as SMART goals focus on making a goal specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and connected to a timeframe.
This is where a lot of people mess up.
You don’t have to turn your entire life around on Monday.
If you currently don’t train at all, going straight into six hard workouts every week probably isn’t the smartest place to start. Start with something you know you can consistently handle and build from there.
Even official physical-activity guidance recommends gradually building activity instead of trying to do everything immediately. Mayo Clinic also recommends starting slowly and progressing as your fitness improves.
There’s nothing wrong with starting small.
Two consistent workouts every week are better than six workouts for one week followed by three weeks of doing nothing.
Your program has to work with your life, not somebody else’s.
Work, school, family, sleep, money and everything else you have going on will affect how much time you can realistically put toward fitness.
So if you only have three days available to train, build a good three-day routine.
If you can only train for 45 minutes, make those 45 minutes count.
You don’t need the most complicated program. You need something you can repeat.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services even provides an activity planner built around choosing activities, setting goals and creating a weekly plan that works for the individual.
You don’t have to obsess over every number, but you should have some way of knowing whether you’re improving.
Depending on your goal, that could mean tracking:
Sometimes the mirror won’t show you the progress you’re making as quickly as your training numbers will.
If you went from struggling with 20-pound dumbbells to controlling 35-pound dumbbells, something changed.
That matters.
You also don’t need to live inside the gym to become more active.
For general health, current U.S. guidelines recommend that adults work toward at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week, or 75 minutes of vigorous activity, along with muscle-strengthening activity on at least two days per week. The activity can also be broken into smaller sessions throughout the week.
That’s a health guideline, not a perfect workout program for every person. Your actual training should depend on your goal, experience and ability.
You’re going to have bad workouts.
You might miss a day.
You might have a week where your strength barely moves.
That doesn’t automatically mean your program stopped working.
Long-term fitness is about what you do consistently over months and years, not what happened during one Tuesday workout.
If something isn’t working, figure out why and adjust it. Maybe your schedule changed. Maybe you aren’t recovering enough. Maybe the goal you originally made was unrealistic.
Adjusting the plan doesn’t mean you failed.
Sometimes it’s exactly what keeps you going.
Your goal shouldn’t only be getting to a certain number on the scale or lifting a certain amount of weight.
You should also be building habits that make it easier to stay there once you reach it.
Regular physical activity is connected with benefits including better sleep, reduced anxiety, improved cardiovascular health, stronger bones and muscles, and lower risk of several chronic diseases.
That’s why fitness shouldn’t just be something you do for eight weeks and forget about.
Build something you can actually live with.
At Musclen, the goal isn’t to give everybody the exact same routine. Different people have different schedules, abilities and goals. The point is to understand where you are now, figure out where you want to go, and build a realistic way of getting there.
You don’t have to change everything today.
Just start moving in the right direction.
